# data[].attributes.body
Teenage years were characterized by formal readings in school, often in history classes that included local history books I have a difficult time recalling (such as about The Johnstown Flood).  Although the term "readicde" was overly dramatic in the previous chapter readings, the formal books reduced enthusiasm for a lot of reading and most of my recreational reading became comics.  As Chapter 3 mentioned readers not growing out of comics, the comic books of teenage years gave way to more complex and involved graphic novels in adulthood.  The advantage of a controlled pace of reading as the chapter described was also helpful in teenage years with balancing schoolwork.  Being able to freely choose reading materials in adulthood also gave way to other genres that I had limited exposure to in school, such as narrative nonfiction.

# data[].attributes.body
My relationship with books in high school was one of anger. Every book I read at the time was required reading for school. I didn't want to read them. They were either incredibly boring, incredibly sad, or incredibly chauvinistic. Most of the stories were about people looooong dead (i.e. Pioneers, medieval lords, renaissance nobles, 1930's great depressionists.) Women were consistently side-characters and always either demonized or sexualized. There was lots of suicides and murder, mostly parricide, in some form or another. I could relate to none of the concepts except chauvinism. Being a female in the early '90s, I was immersed in a society very much with old views on traditional gender roles (which is still an issue today, I might add.) I wrote my papers vehemently expressing my opinion that these books were a waste of my time. Consistently, I was told that, because I felt that a canonical book was stupid or trash, then I just wasn't REALLY understanding the book. I still got good grades on the construction of my papers, but I was always chastised, in the margins, for my opinions. I think things are changing in required school readings but, when I was in school, that was not reflected in the curriculum yet.

# data[].attributes.body
During my teen years, I loved fantasy specifically books that reimagined Arthurian legends. One of my favorites was Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon. At over 800 pages, the novel was a commitment and heavy to carry, but well worth it!

# data[].attributes.body
My relationship with reading was always a very strong one. I have had a book in my hand as long back as I can remember. However, when I was in my teenage years and had to read Shakespeare, Beowulf, and other texts that I didn't find any relevancy or connection in. Also going through college (and relevant now) free reading completely slipped off. However, in between I am an avid reader. I actually set goals for the number of books or the number of pages that I would/should read in a year. Reading is literally so ingrained in my life that I cannot imagine not doing it. I would be at a an extreme loss.

# data[].attributes.body
I read constantly during my teen years. I always carried a book with me in my bag. I also went to high school a few blocks away from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Main branch and spent a lot of time there after school exploring the stacks. Reading what I wanted to read was a relief in contrast to many of the books I was required to read for class. I think I have mentioned this before but reading Lord of the Flies my freshman year of high school stands out as one of the worst reading experiences in that time period. I honestly cannot remember the educational takeaways from that book, only the thought that I did not like struggling through this book, and the irony that I was at an all-girl high school forced to read about an island of dysfunctional boys. Apologies to anyone who likes that book!

# data[].attributes.body
As a teen, I read anything and everything. I didn't mind the books assigned for classes and also had several going at a time I chose myself for escape reading. My 10th grade ELA teacher read Catcher In The Rye out loud to the class, that had a lasting effect on my reading views.

# data[].attributes.body
Fun fact - I've been writing down every book I've read since 1996 in a tiny book that I still carry with me. Mixed in among the books I was required to read for school (Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm), I read a lot of science fiction and discovered my love of thrillers. Clive Cussler was one of my favorite authors at the time. There are three books that I remember had a particular impact on me: Clive Cussler's Sahara (thriller with Cussler's adventuring character Dirk Pitt), Timothy Zahn's The Icarus Hunt (a science fiction adventure with a Han Solo-type hero), and Susan Kay's Phantom (a dramatic retelling of The Phantom of the Opera from the Phantom's perspective). I also read many Star Wars novels, and I still have them!

# data[].attributes.body
I was an avid reader as a teenager and books were an extremely important part of my life.  Of course there were the books that I was assigned to read in my high school English classes, but they felt like an obligation and I do not remember enjoying many of those books.  Most of the titles I remember  were the ones I selected and read on my own time.  For the most part, my parents allowed me to read whatever I wanted when I was a teen.  I was a huge Stephen King fan and I read many of his books in high school.  The reason I enjoyed this author was not because of the "horror genre", but because he always developed such deep and interesting characters.  I was very shy in high school and experienced a lot of anxiety.  Getting lost in a story, particularly in a long and complex story, was a terrific way to escape and distract myself from the stress of high school.

# data[].attributes.body
As a teen, my friends and I were naturally obsessed and very curious about love, romance and ahem, S-E-X so we all devoured the romance books of the day which included titles like Barbara Conklin's P.S. I love You and Judy Blume's  Forever and Deenie.  I also remember sneakily trading Blume's adult novel Wifey (taken from the nightstand of my BFFs mom) among my friends.  Scandalous!  Though it seems cliche that we all gravitated to those types of books, I really feel they did make an impact, especially those written by Judy Blume because she in particular addressed real life issues that teens were facing.  Unlike most other teen novelists of that time she explored things like peer pressure, getting your first bra, starting your period, losing your virginity, broken homes, being diagnosed with scoliosis and so much more.  Given that even into the 80's things were still pretty conservative in that regard, it was really a revelation to a lot of us young women to read books meant for us (well, some of them anyway ;) with the kind of content we could relate to.  My folks were pretty open about that stuff, but it was an entirely different thing to read about someone like me who was experiencing those things.  Looking back, I realize that reading was such a healthy way to learn about and explore those topics, and I am really grateful that those books were available to me.

# data[].attributes.body
I would say that the biggest change in my relationship with reading is that I no longer really associate it with my personality or self worth. As a teen, I took a lot of pride in reading at or above grade level, reading at least a book a week, and voluntarily reading "hard" books. I was careful to hide any interest in comics because I felt that they were "too easy". Now I pretty much read whatever i want. I read a lot of graphic novels, many of which are written for children or young adults, and regularly enjoy picture books. I also read less traditional stuff like fanfiction and webcomics without any sense of shame or secretive impulse. My reading habits are much more self indulgent and sporadic. I no longer force myself to finish things that don't interest me. I just read what I want to.

# data[].attributes.body
I was full-on one of those teens that threw themselves into the dystopia and post-apocalypic craze of the 2010s.  I had particular fondness for Unwind by Neal Shusterman and the Gone series by Michael Grant. I think I primarily gravitated towards books where young people fought for their own self agency and/or were tasked with important responsibilities. I imagine it had a lot to do with my status as a nerdy suburban teen with almost no real independence.

# data[].attributes.body
I think I actually did read as much as a teenager as I did when I was younger, but the nature of it shifted. I had to read for homework for just about every class I took already, and with extracurricular stuff I just didn't have the time or energy to read for myself as often. I did still read, especially material like web comics that didn't feel like schoolwork, and I did still love to read, but academic demands mostly forced me to choose between reading for school and reading for fun. Academic readings take a while to get through, and if you stop halfway you could lose your train of thought, so sitting down to consciously read became a much bigger time commitment for me.

# data[].attributes.body
As a teen I feel that my time reading was often limited by extracurriculars and the required readings of school, meaning that I really didn't get a chance to discover the kinds of works that I would enjoy. As I have grown I have discovered new genres I never thought I would enjoy (folk horror!) and just developed my tastes for books. I will say as a teen I was more open to works outside my interests but as I have grown older my tastes have ossified somewhat and I tend to stick only to what I know I will enjoy.