Guest post: author Tamsyn Murray on her favourite teen reads

Today, I'm thrilled to present a guest post from Tamsyn Murray, author of YA novels My So-Called Afterlife and most recently My So-Called Haunting. Take it away, Tamsyn!

Six of the Best: YA Books I Loved as a Teen

I’m often asked which authors I read as a child but I don’t often get to expand on my choices. These are some of the books I read as a teenager – YA books before the name had ever been thought of. They influenced the way I write now but that’s not why they’re listed here. More than anything else, every single one is a cracking read. Look them up if you don’t already know them.

A Traveller in Time – Alison Uttley

I was given this book, about a girl called Penelope who slips back to the sixteenth century world of Babbington House, when I was eleven years old and I immediately fell in love with it. I read it over and over again, savouring the rich language and sumptuous story telling. With each reading, I found something new to delight me and by the time I was fifteen, I could appreciate the delicate but doomed romance between Penelope and Francis Babbington and when I began an A Level in Sixteenth Century History, I realised just how tragic the story was. I still have that same copy of the book, it’s old and battered, with a name I no longer use scrawled in the front. And I still love it.

Sweet Valley High: Double Love – Francine Pascal

I discovered Sweet Valley High when I was around fourteen, and had outgrown most of the books in the kids’ section of my local library. Along with the Sweet Dreams Teen Romance books, they formed the bulk of my reading for the best part of a year. The ups and downs of impossibly gorgeous twins Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield were the stuff my dreams were made of and I lived every sunny day through them. I’ve never gone back to them; I’d probably need to be fifteen again to appreciate them. But Francine Pascal’s California tales passed many an hour for me as I grew up in a grey UK town. They weren’t great literature but who cares? Elizabeth and Jessica had different lessons to teach me, like how to practice kissing on my pillow. Past boyfriends owe them a lot. :)

Wuthering Heights – Charlotte Bronte

When I was taking my GCSEs, my English teacher made the class read a sample of a number of classic novels. The Mayor of Casterbridge was one (ugh, pass), Pride & Prejudice was another (looked at it but couldn’t get on with the author’s style – two years later, I adored it) and Wuthering Heights was a third. The book was A5 size and red hard-backed. The type was tiny but something about it caught my attention and I took it home to read. I finished it in one sitting.

I don’t know whether it was Catherine and Heathcliff’s love-hate relationship or pity for the way Heathcliff was treated as he grew up which stirred me; all I knew was that I loved the entire gloriously moody journey and it showed me that classics were called that for a reason.

Locked in Time – Lois Duncan

Another much-read favourite, Locked in Time tells the story of Nore, whose father has remarried soon after his wife’s death. Nore isn’t crazy about her new step-family; Lisette seems far too youthful to have teenage children, Gabe and Josie, and they seem old for their years. I loved the dark edge to this supernatural thriller and enjoyed the on-off flirtation between Nore and Gabe. As Nore uncovers the family’s terrible secret, I found myself feeling sorriest for Josie, who will never blossom into the beautiful young woman she is on the edge of becoming. A perfect introduction to the darker side of YA fiction.

Mort – Terry Pratchett

Strictly speaking, this isn’t a teen book but I discovered Terry Pratchett when I was sixteen and that means I can include it here. Mort is set on Discworld, a fantasy land carried by four elephants on the back of a giant turtle, and if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about the slightly mental style of writing, nothing will. It’s the story of what might happen if the Grim Reaper decided the reaping of souls was getting a bit too much for him and took an apprentice. Mort was a delight from start to finish and started a life-long love affair with Terry Pratchett’s writing. Along with Neil Gaiman, he was a massive influence on the way I use humour in my own books. And he made the moody teenage me laugh until I cried, for which I’m very grateful.

Forever – Judy Blume

This book was shrouded in mystery when I was at school. It was whispered about behind the bike sheds, the ‘bad’ girls had all read it and hinted that us ‘good’ girls wouldn’t understand it. I couldn’t find it in the library, couldn’t afford to buy it and my curiosity nearly drove me mad. Finally, a friend loaned me her copy and I devoured it in one night, clicking off the bedside light and pretending to be asleep whenever anyone passed by my bedroom door. It felt like I’d grown up a bit the next morning. At last I could join in with the whispered conversations; Katherine (with a ‘K’ – how cool?) and Michael were in love in the true sense of the word. They met and acted on their love – they actually did ‘it’. And Michael called his trouser bits Ralph – who knew boys did that? The whole thing was a revelation and the fact that my family would have gone mad if they’d caught me reading it only made it sweeter. It’s still a bestseller now, which means right now, there’s probably a teen reading it and learning what love is. I really like that idea. :)

My So-Called Haunting is out now. You can find out about my books at http://www.tamsynmurray.co.uk/.

A huge thanks to Tamsyn for an awesome guest post! It's always great to see classic YA getting some blog love.

You can read my review of My So-Called Haunting here.