Young Writers Society

Do you remember reading some books when you were younger and for whatever reason you just can't read them today?

I used to LOVE Brian Jaques' Redwall series- I still own every book, and they're all worn from being read over and over again when I was just in 5th grade- maybe 10 years old.

I re-read the first book in the series two nights ago because I was bored- it took me no time at all to finish what would have taken days back then...Brought back a ton of memories, but it just wasn't the same. I enjoyed it, but wasn't at all captivated like I used to be since the series was written for kids. I guess I just grew up without realizing. It's funny because some books are timeless for me- I read LOTR when I was in 4th grade, and I can still pick it up today and it has the same effect. Other books, not so much. It kind of makes me sad to think that a series I loved so much just isn't as interesting as it used to be!

Does anyone else have that kind of book? The kind you loved so much but just isn't quite the same? List them, talk about them- remember them! I bet they'll bring back good memories for you like Redwall did for me

Same here!!!!!! I tried reading one a couple of times, but I just couldn't get into it. I think I'd read every other book before though in that series. I just can't get into them anymore.

Redwall... the simplistic view of good and evil annoys me. I also quickly realised that they all had pretty much the same plot. I simply cannot read it anymore.

However, the Animorphs series, my favourite series years ago, is still pretty good in my opinion. I would read through my entire collectiong of them if I had the time. I still wanna get the last ten or so books I'm missing... it's just hard to get your hands on some of them.

I used to ADORE Redwall. I watched the TV show on PBS and I was disgusted that it didn't match the book very well. Brian Jacques also has a book of scary stories for young adults, and I still like it.

-Boxcar Children
-Nancy Drew
-A WRINKLE IN TIME (OH YES!) and it's still great
-Artemis Fowl...still good
-Lots of Garth Nix, especially the Abhorsen series
-Just So Stories, Grimm's Fairy Tales, all the classics like that
-The Secret Garden
-Lots of Bruce Coville
-Magic Tree House - now that I remember those books, I realize they were the dumbest things I've ever read....

I remember reading The Devil's Arithmetic when I was seven or so and it freaked me out...

Oh, yes, and Roald Dahl! I haven't read him in a long time but I still think I would like his stuff.

It makes me so sad when I love a book and then I reread it and I don't love it anymore. A lot of times that keeps me from reading books that I haven't read in a long time.

I remembered The Devil's Arithmetic being incredibly poignant from when I read it in sixth grade, but then I read it again three or four years later and it only took about half an hour to read, and it wasn't as incredible as it was before. And that made me sad.

Redwall used to be absolutely epic, but sooner or later you come to the realization that it's a bunch of mice in tights frolicking about.

I remember Captain Underpants as being this hilariously funny bit of playground folklore, and rereading it is just tedious and repetitive. It was grand in its day, though...

The one thing I thought was wonderful and clever back in third grade and still think is really good now is "The Westing Game"- it still puzzles me how that girl and her boyfriend figure it out. Bah. Great fun, though.

The Saddle Club series. I had over 100 of those books. I stopped reading them after the eighth grade, and when I went back to them a year later, they all seemed extremely short and made me wonder why I had cared about these characters so much. Then I gave the books to charity. *sigh* It was fun while it lasted, though.

I've outgrown the Redwall series as a whole, but Mossflower still makes me feel like running around with my wooden sword.

I really loved the American Girl books when I was younger. It's not that I don't think that they're good, but they're just aimed at a (much, much) younger audience, and I'd still recommend them to eight year olds.

I've found the same thing happens with fanfiction, only much quicker. I'm currently re-reading a fanfic I used to love. I thought it was the most well written fic in the world. Now that I'm older, I'm like "wow, this sucks."

I've outgrown Harry Potter. I used to be obsessed with the series, and while it is a brilliant storyline, Rowling's writing style is rather bland now that I read it again.

Awww, the Redwall books! I read every one of them in middle school, but now I can't even get through the first few pages because my taste in genres has changed.

From probably fifth through seventh grades, I LIVED in Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I haven't read them in a while, though, because I don't think I would think about them the same way, and I don't want to go back on fond memories.

Star Wars books- still have them all, sadly they're up in my attic, though
Goosebumps- YAY R.L. Stine!
Fear Street- YAY R.L. Stine again!
Boxcar Children
Animroph books
American Girl books, specifically Samantha

I don't think we outgrow books, as much as we leave them behind. Our perceptions of what constitutes good literature changes. How many of us would be embarassed to walk into school with a Boxcar Children book in our hands? They're not bad books, not by a long shot, but we've left them behind. To me, Harry Potter is still a great story, but I don't find the writing nearly as compelling as I did when I first read it in fifth/sixth grade.

Today, actually, because I saw this thread, I went to the library and picked up some Star Wars books I loved a few years ago, and still love what I remember of them. They're technically classified as YA (which annoys me, as it's sci-fi written by one of the authors of the adult Star Wars books), and are considered "geeky" to boot. I started reading them. They don't hold the same magic they once did, but I remember that magic, and I love the them for that. For keeping me reading. For reminding me why I write, and what brought me back to writing six years ago (was it six years? Goodness. yeah, six/seven years ago).

re: Harry Potter, I think Rowling's stylistic awesomeness has declined as her popularity increased. Books 1-3 are much, much better than Books 4-6, and that makes me sad. Here's hoping that Book 7 rocks socks.

(... and you all should join the read-a-long. 'Cause I said so.)

OMG, so many books...

Famous Five, Secret Seven, Secret Island, etc. -- all of the mystery stories by Enid Blyton
Animorphs
Saddle Club
Sweet Valley Twins/High/Jr. High/University
Gymnasts
Scrambled Legs
Tamora Pierce
Traci Harding

...I used to read a LOT lol. Sadly, most of the books I loved are no longer the wonderful reads they once were. Most of them are too simplistic now, and I think my interests as well as my tastes have changed. I mean, I used to read predominantly fantasy, but now I'm more into realism/supernatural stuff.

But not all turn out this way! Some books from my childhood/YA years that I do still enjoy are the "Biggles" series, Artemis Fowl, Meg Cabot's "Mediator" series and the "1-800 Where R U" books (aka "Missing"). They're fun for a light read and keep me entertained when I cant find anything else.

For me, it's gotta be The Merlin Effect. That was the first "long" novel I read, in the third grade, and I loved it. It was a library book when I read it the first time, and it took me years to find it. I finally bought it last summer, but I don't think I'll ever read it again. It's more just for the memory.

I remember asking my teacher about the word "abyss," and "chaos."