What I read in my pre-teens and teens

In class nine, when I was in West Bengal, I discovered the work of P.G Wodehouse. Loved stories of Jeeves and Wooster, Blandings Castle, and some of his standalone books. As I mentioned in another post, a friend from Sahaganj gave me 'Indiscretions of Archie', one of Wodehouse's less popular works.

I also read a few classics like 'Little Women' by Louisa May Alcott, 'Little Men', and 'Jo's Boys', and 'The Old Fashioned Girl' by the same author. I was a pre-teen then.

My teen years were filled primarily with bestsellers by Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follet, Erich Segal, Robin Cook, and Michael Crichton. Of course, as I mentioned in another post, Gone with the Wind at 14 dominated my life, as did Thornbirds later.

My friend in class 11 gave me a copy of 'The Firm' by John Grisham on my birthday and that led me to read most of his other books, too, like 'The client', 'The Runaway Jury' , 'A Time to Kill' etc. I loved reading 'Disclosure' by Michael Crichton in class 12 on the train journey to Delhi. 'Rising sun' by Crichton was my favorite and I recall discussing it with a friend at a dance! I was fascinated by the art of saving face in Japanese culture at the time, which the book covered at length.

I remember reading Sidney Sheldon's 'Nothing Lasts Forever' after reaching Delhi. I think there was a scene involving a crude attempted abortion, which scarred me. I also read Twelve Red Herrings by Jeffrey Archer on the same trip in 1995.

The aforementioned friend from school gave me 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho in class 12 for my birthday the following year, but I didn't find it life changing or anything. I did read a few of Coelho's books over the years.

I remember reading 'The man from St. Petersburg' by Ken Follet and 'The Third Twin' by the same author in my teens from libraries. I also read 'Pillars of the Earth.' and a few other of his books.

I read a couple of Arthur Hailey's bestsellers, too. 'Moneychangers', 'In High Places', and 'Hotel' were among them. 'Moneychangers' made me feel good about having taken up commerce in high school:)

I loved Erich Segal's 'Doctors' and 'The class'. Wasn't a huge fan of 'The Love story' and 'Oliver's Story.

Even my taste in movies reflected my taste in books at that time. I enjoyed legal and political thrillers.

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