As someone who spent my entire childhood with my nose buried in books, there's a certain nostalgia in looking back at the reads that stay with you long into adulthood. Like so many other avid readers, I grew up on a very 90s book diet, generously seasoned by the likes of Jacqueline Wilson, R. L. Stine and Roald Dahl. Then, as a teenager, I took a sharp (and somewhat self-serious) pivot towards Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë and Virginia Woolf. And, decades later, I can still remember exactly how these books made me feel the first time I read them.
Now that my nieces and nephew are devouring their own beloved books and series, it got me thinking about the magic of reading as a child, and then as a teenager, and the particular pang of love you have for the stories that still linger in your mind many years later. For World Book Day 2026, and in support of the National Year of Reading campaign, I asked some of my fellow Marie Claire UK editors which books they remember most. Here are the books that shaped them, fascinated them, or offered a refreshing new perspective for their younger selves.
Marie Claire UK Editors on the Books That Shaped Them
Picked by Mischa Smith, News and Features Editor: "I cannot overstate the impact Jacqueline Wilson had on my life as a tremendously shy and lonely child. The Illustrated Mum had the most profound impact on me; it gave me my first experience of reading about addiction, and the impact that it has on everyone in the addict’s orbit."
Picked by Amelia Yeomans, Junior Shopping Editor: "The first book I remember properly sitting down to read was The Butterfly Lion, and it made me fall in love with reading. I can hardly recall the story now, but there are certain details and descriptions from it that have stuck with me."
Picked by Jadie Troy-Pryde, News Editor: "Noughts & Crosses was the first book that ever made me cry - like real, blubbering sobs. I vividly remember racing through the pages, finishing it, and then weeping until I fell asleep."
Picked by Maggie Joyner, Junior Social Media Editor: "I loved Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging so much as a teen growing up in Australia. It's how I learned about British culture, and it's what made me want to move to the UK. I re-read it a million times."
Picked by Katie Thomas, Beauty Editor: "My parents used to read this to me all the time, and when I'd go on school trips or to sleepovers they'd put a note in my bag with the final paragraph written out for me. I now read it to my children."
Picked by Ana Ospina, Senior Art Editor: "I have absolutely no idea why, and it's a bit of an unusual one, but I became obsessed with The Da Vinci Code when I was a teenager. I don't even know if I really understood it - but I ended up reading the whole series, and was hooked."
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