Growing up I read a lot of the Nancy Drew books that my sister would borrow from the library and her friends. I got hooked on reading because of these books. Short and fast paced, I generally liked them better than the Hardy Boys. Being a guy though, and out of the fear of being ostracized out of my already small all-male friend circle, I had to read them in secret and couldn't discuss anything related to the stories or the characters with my friends :)