Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Books I Loved As a Teen

This is a book meme over at The Broke and the Bookish.

I realise that the theme this week is actually top ten books that every teen should read. As a tutor though I learned that so long as the teen is reading at all to leave them alone. Don't get me wrong, I am all for encouraging them to broaden their horizons so I'm not completely against the idea. Plus all those books about the right of ascension I usually hated. Instead I thought I would list top ten books that met a lot to me as a teenager.

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I know I hated all the characters and most of them have been listed on one of my top tens in a negative way. I still loved that book. Must have appealed to my dark side as a teen because it was back then that I read it over and over again.

2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Not the first classic I read but certainly one of the first classics by a woman (if you don't count children's classics). I devoured this book and loved every page. Sadly I haven't read it since. It's overdue a reread.

3. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. The first Dickens book I read was the Christmas Books. The first one I loved was the next one, David Copperfield. I think this was my real introduction to classics and how wonderful they can be. I loved ever it and loved all the characters. Even the nasty Uriah Heep who still manages to give me the creeps.

4. Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I think this was my first science fiction book which led me to so many more. I loved the entire series plus it was something my mum, dad and I would pass round each other.

5. The Stand by Stephen King. Not the first King book I read but certainly the largest book I had read at that point (it was early in my teens). I was steadily working my way through King books at the time and this one stood out above the rest. They were all about good and evil but there was no getting away from that theme here. It fascinated me at the time.

6. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I picked this book for an extended essay and although I must have had to read it about four or five times I never got bored of it. It was my introduction to dystopian novels which was quickly followed by Fahrenheit 451.

7. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. This is a fantastic book. It means more to me than just a fantastic story though. I had loaned it to a friend. When another friend saw her with it and asked if she was reading it she scoffed at the idea (I am sure this other friend couldn't care less). It was then I decided that I wasn't going to be like that. I wouldn't let anyone embarrass me just because I liked to read.

8. To Kill A Mockingbird by Lee Harper. Okay, I am going to eat my own words here and say everyone should read this. It was one that got passed round all my friends and I don't know a single person who has read it and not fallen in love with it.

9. The Diary of Anne Frank. Well, I admit I wasn't a teenager when I first read this. I don't know how many rereads I was onto as a teen. I think though, as I neared the age Anne was I understood the real horror of it.

10. Dracula by Bram Stoker. If you don't count the point horror books I read this was my first real introduction to vampire stories. I compare all vampire books to this one now.

What's your top ten?