I also enjoyed reading the classics because I was a vocabulary junkie and nobody could understand how I could sit through Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Jane Eyre, and Crime and Punishment as a middle-schooler.
I started a little earlier – in elementary school – but I’d read most of the Western classics by the time I was 13. Though I have never read Jane Eyre, and probably never will.
For some reason, Moby Dick was my favorite when I was a kid, perhaps because I read it so early (8 or 9). I’ve since read it again and didn’t care for it nearly as much.
Lately, I jump back and forth between reading YA, short stories and textbooks. For instance, at the moment I am reading a book of dystopian short stories called Brave New Worlds, Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, Alice Munro’s Who Do You Think You Are?, Marcus Chown’s Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You and An Introduction to Middle English by Simon Horobin and Jeremy Smith. The latter is a textbook.
That doesn’t count any technical reading that I do (related to IT) which also happens/is happening at the same time, which is usually another 2-3 books but right now is only one, title not important.
I usually read more than one textbook at the same time, but the Middle English one is difficult enough that I just can’t.
And that’s about my typical sort of reading list, though strangely there is no YA book or series that I’m actually into at the moment.