17 Books You Definitely Read If You Grew Up In The '00s

There's no shame in once thinking Genovia was a real country.

1. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison.

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This felt very grown up because it had both the words "thongs" AND "snogging" on the front cover. Although that also made you low-key embarrassed to read it in front of your parents.

2. The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren O'Shaugnessy.

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Telling the story of half-vampire Darren Shan, this series got pretty dark at times and also a tiny bit terrifying, but was the ideal alternative if you liked your vampires to be less glamorous than the ones of Twilight.

3. A Series Of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.

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The agony of having to wait in between books was way, way too real for you. You may have thought Lemony Snicket was the author's real name – it was actually Daniel Handler – and you definitely spent a lot of time wanting to shout "WHO THE HELL IS BEATRICE?!"

4. The Angel Academy series by Annie Dalton.

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In this series, 13-year-old angel Mel Beeby travels time to help people, and made you inadvertently kind of learn stuff about history along the way.

5. The Spiderwick Chronicles by Toni DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

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You followed the Grace children over the course of six years, and probably got really excited when Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You was released as an actual book.

6. The Artemis Fowl series, by Eoin Colfer.

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Featuring the most sarcastic protagonist of all time, criminal genius and child prodigy Artemis Fowl. It also had the most quotable lines ever, such as “Hit that back-stabber where it hurts, right in the ambition".

7. The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot.

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You were heavily invested in the life of Princess Mia, and may have thought Genovia was an actual country for a little while. Which is fair because it is described in very exacting detail.

8. The Mediator series by Meg Cabot.

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After you'd finished The Princess Diaries and needed more Meg Cabot. Teenage girl Suze speaks to the dead and is also in love with a ghost, thus making your experience of being a teenager incredibly underwhelming.

9. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

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It was an experience going at midnight (or making your parents go) whenever a new book came out, and then going to school and desperately wanting to walk around with your hands over your ears just in case someone reveals a spoiler.

10. The His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman.

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These fantasy novels covered Lyra and Will's journey through a series of parallel universes. And if you hadn't already been reading them, these definitely got you into Terry Pratchett books.

11. Holes, by Louis Sachar.

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You still remember the perimeters of those holes they had to dig (five feet deep and five feet wide). And of course, the hex on the Yelnats family courtesy of Stanley's supposedly "no-good-dirty-rotten pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather".

12. The Two of a Kind series.

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This occupied a pretty blissful world, in which whole books could revolve around making sure your sleepover was perfect a popular girl was coming round. It also probably made you want an identical twin more than anything on this Earth.

13. The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson (or any Jacqueline Wilson book)

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You have fond memories of Tracy Beaker and her arch nemesis Justine Littewood, even though you're not sure people really talked like they do in this (what does "awful cropper" mean?)

14. The Girls series by Jacqueline Wilson.

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You would have moved on to these Jacqueline Wilson books. With references to the dangers of chatrooms, pressures to have sex and other adult things. You were probably still just under their target audience when you read them though, so reading them made you feel all ~adult~.

15. Eragon by Christopher Paolini.

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This may or may not have awakened an odd and short-lived phase of you being a teeny bit obsessed with dragons, and also a strong conviction that maybe one day you would stumble upon a dragon egg.

16. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

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The first in a trilogy, this book was proof that whilst the idea of being able to summon characters from books sounds cool, IRL it would definitely be a pain in the arse.

17. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares.

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The ultimate book on female friendship. Plus now you're older and have experienced buying clothes, you realise just how mythical the idea of jeans fitting four people perfectly is.