I loved those books! I went off reading as teenager and SE Hinton was one of the only writers who captured my attention! I think she appealed to boys well, although I may be wrong on that one.

And a fantastic film version of Rumblefish that followed.

Little Lost Kitten!

Mum read it to me - again and again and again and again! She put on different voices for each animal! I loved looking at the pictures and was fascinated that she said the same words every time. I was determined to learn to read - and pretty much taught myself before starting school.

(We also had a wonderful book of animal stories - but it was in the old German script and it took me a few years before I could manage to read that....)

Enid Blyton did it for me - the Faraway Tree books to start with (these were my mum's favourites as well - and I inhereted her copies), followed by the Famous Five and Mallory Towers.

 So lovely to see my own daughter working her way through her gran's copies now!

Can't put my finger on one in particular. Had a love of reading as a kid (Mum's doing) and then read nothing whilst at unit. Maybe because you were forced to read, taking the pleasure out of it. Then started reading again as a NQT as a way of unwinding. Never been without a stack of books by the bed since (much to wife's annoyance!)

In an attempt to answer the thread, it was probably Adrian Mole, Ben Elton or a crime thriller.

 Forever Amber.

A big, very soppy historical adventure / romance. 

Ahhhh, twas all i dreamed of, as a teenager!