Reminiscing Over My Favorite Books From My Teenaged Years

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases.

As I recently finished reviewing The Selection series here on the site, I began reflecting back on my teenaged years. More specifically, what books I was obsessed with way back when. At this point we all know I love The Selection series, but what else? What titles were I constantly reading as a young teen? Well I'm gonna tell you.

Honorable mention goes out to The Hunger Games. I was a freshman in high school when the first film came out. I was primed to become obsessed with this series as a teen. And rightfully so. I’m only giving The Hunger Games an honorable mention spot as I didn’t want to fill this list up with the heavy hitters of early-2010s YA literature.

Now onto the list!

5. Kicking off this list is the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. This series ran from 1975-2010 with the final, posthumous entry being published in 2017. Ancient Egypt was my special interest as a child so I gobbled this mystery series up as a teen.

4. Keeping with the ancient Egypt theme, next up is Sphinx’s Princess and Sphinx’s Queen by Esther Friesner. I loved both the Sphinx’s Princess series and Nobody’s Princess series, but as I just said, ancient Egypt was my special interest. Plus, Nefertiti, who the Sphinx’s Princess series follows, is such an interesting historical figure. Of course the Nefertiti in these books is a fully fictionalized version, but she still makes for a fantastic protagonist.

3. Next up is the 13 Little Blue Envelopes duology by Maureen Johnson. As a young impressionable teen, I wanted to be sent on an all-expense paid trip around Europe by a distant relation like the main character in this book. My unformed frontal lobe loved this fantastical summer adventure novel. 

2. If you’ve read Reading Has Ruined My Life for some time now then you may know my reviews on the Heist Society trilogy by Ally Carter. I have not found a heist novel that gives me the same high as Heist Society. I am desperately seeking that high. Ally Carter, if you’re reading this, please, please, please consider writing a new entry to the Heist Society series with grown up versions of the characters. I love the characters of this series and want to know what escapades they’re up to and what they’ve stolen recently. Please and thank you!

1. Finally, this list would not be complete without mentioning The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. The amazing film adaptation came out in 2012 and being a book lover whose celebrity crush was Logan Lerman, I was primed to become obsessed with The Perks of Being a Wallflower like I was The Hunger Games. But if any book on this list truly deserves to be obsessed over it is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking story that will forever live on my bookshelves.

Thus endeth our list! Tell me, what titles were you obsessed with back in your teenaged years.

And with that, I shall bid you all adieu. Thank you very much for joining me today, Books Nerds. I hope you had a lovely time here and I will see you all again next week with a very special review. If you can’t wait that long then I highly suggest giving Reading Has Ruined My Life a follow over on Instagram (@ReadingHasRuinedMyLife). I post there almost daily so come back often to revel in literary goodness. You can also follow the blog on Twitter and BlueSky (@RHRMLBlog). If you want something not related to books, then I highly suggest checking out my podcast Nothing to See Hear. The show stars me and two of my dearest friends as we talk about everything and anything. We have episodes on Disney, Scooby-Doo, Barbie and so much more. Nothing to See Hear can be found on Spotify and YouTube with new episodes releasing every Wednesday evening.

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

See y'all then, bye!