Literary agent Nathan Bransford posed the question "What was your favorite book as a teenager?" on his blog the other day, and my first thought was THE STAND by Stephen King. And, according to the comments on that post, I wasn't the only one.
I was a voracious reader (then and now!) and loved a lot of what I read, but I think the reason THE STAND stands (ha ha) out for me - besides the fact it's a great story with amazing characters - is because it's the one book I remember clearly where I cried when a main character died. Now, obviously, I had read CHARLOTTE'S WEB and THE OUTSIDERS and others where characters died and I have to believe I cried for them, too, but for some reason it's THE STAND where I clearly remember sobbing when one of the main characters dies. (I don't want to say who, don't want to ruin anything for anyone who hasn't read it!) I thought, "no, he can't be dead, he's a main guy" and flipping back a few pages to see if I missed something. Then, I flipped forward, thought "it's a trick, a dream, it was faked." But no.
To be able to do that to a reader? For a reader?
It's one of the reasons why I write. So I can - hopefully! - do that to, for, another reader, out there, somewhere...
Anyone else want to share a favorite teen read? Or one that struck a chord for you in some way?
One of the best things I like about The Stand is that every time I reread it, I find something new that I hadn't discovered before. I love that!
ReplyDeleteI think one of my fav teen reads was the The Outsiders. Maybe because the guys in the movie were so cute!
I absolutely agree about THE STAND.
ReplyDeleteI thought THE OUTSIDERS movie did a pretty good job representing the book. It's funny how so many of those actors went on to be famous (or relatively so, for some of them!)