I've always been a bookworm. I'm pretty sure I could read even before I entered kindergarten, so that's a good sixteen or so years experience. I've read some great books, and I've had books that I've refused to finish. And even though I have stacks of books at home that I haven't yet read, I keep buying new ones. My favorite genre tends to be sci-fi/fantasy, leaning more towards the fantasy end of that spectrum.

One of the first fantasy books I ever read was Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce. It featured a girl right around my age who could talk to animals, who had a horse, and who had acquired a baby dragon by the end of the book. I was hooked. All of Ms. Pierce's books are YA fiction, but I still read every one. I would recommend them to any girl around the ages of 13-14.

From here, I ventured to Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey. McCaffrey's Pern series was a little too dense for me at around 14-15, but Lackey's Velgarth series was perfect. A whole slew of magical critters, and not a complete overload of characters. McCaffrey's Harper Hall of Pern trilogy was short enough to keep me interested, though; the rest of her Pern books can get overwhelming.

Other random recommendations include the Harry Potter series; George R R Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series; Joanne Bertin's Last Dragonlord series; Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide; Peter David's Sir Apropos series and his King Arthur series; Kristen Britain's Green Riders books; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith; The Dreyfus Affair by Peter Lefcourt; The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (if you couldn't get through the trilogy, try this one, it's not as long and complex); Sharon Kay Penman's The Queen's Man; William Goldman's The Princess Bride; Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (bring the tissues for the end -- it makes me sob every time I read it, and I rarely cry at books); Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom series; Jennifer Roberson's Sword Dancer series; Michael Ende's The Neverending Story; Garth Nix's Lirael series; Piers Anthony's Xanth series; Lillian Jackson Braun's Cat Who...mysteries; and various others that I can't currently recall. So if you're bored, go out and read a book!