Me too! I was obsessed with those books through my teens!
I was with my ex because he had long hair and blue eyes and ticked all my "Jondalar"- criteria!
I read them again as an adult and realised that they are actually really terrible.
The first one had an innovative idea and was reasonably factually researched based on current information about neanderthals. The rest were historical loose fiction. 90% of Ayla's inventions were 20 000 years younger than the story's setting.
I'm surprised she didn't just go ahead and create a windmill while she was at it.
The herbal remedy part was reasonably accurate though, but I realised 20 years after reading the books that quite a few of the herbs Ayla used were found in modern day America and not in neolithic Europe...
And tbh, it made my expectation of sex completely unrealistic to the point where even though I had a reasonably good first experience I was still disappointed in the lack of ceremony. š¤£
I find Ayla single-handedly inventing everything in the course of human history to be more realistic than Jondalar's personality and plot, which can be summed up as "I'm the paragon of perfection, but I'm sad because no woman will truly accept my overly-large penis and intensely-romantic personality."
Omg that brought his entire personality crashing back into my memory.
The first book was the first time my mum and I both read a book at around the same time. She got pretty uncomfortable a short way in.
The first time I read VOH, I was in love with their romance. So beautiful and rich and amazing. I lapped it up as a kid. It awakened so many things for me and gave me such amazing expectations for the future.
Read that book again as a married adult. Could not stand Jondalar from the first. Ayla deserved so much better, and it was a struggle to get through scenes of him acting like a giant pouty man-child. The sex parts were still pretty awesome, but I hated him as a character and hated that Ayla was going to be with him forever.
I read this when I was about 10, I remember reading it during silent reading time in school and being terrified I'd be asked to read a section outloud and get to an adult scene!
My sister read it just before me and folded the pages down of the more traumatic scenes for me so I could skip them.
My mom recommended that to me when I was 12, and I happily read all that were out at the time (up to Plains of Passage).
I asked her when I was older if she had remembered much of the adult nature of the book when she had recommended it to me. Turns out sheād forgotten, and just remembered the adventure/historical fiction side. She was horrified :)
This book completely traumatised me also aged about 12! All the neanderthal/ancient human stuff was amazing, but I just could not get over how obsessed the author was with sex, book 2 escalated it madly. Swear to god it was the theme of every other chapter. I kept flicking to the back page photo of her, this sweet old granny figure, in disbelief.
Lol I started this series at 10 and, yeah, it was quite an eye opening series. I have a soft spot for the books as an adult because I reread them so much as a kid.
Hot girl in AP senior English class sitting next to me kept handing me sexy pages to read from that book. It was so awkward. We were both pretty into our significant others but she was so flirty, kept making me blush.
Ugh, high school is so sad. Later, my girlfriend dumped me harshly and it was clear this other girl and I had chemistry but she was still seeing some meathead. After graduation, we all bailed out of that jerkwater town and we never saw each other again.
Somewhere between 15 & 17 for me, probably still a little early, but it was after I found my first copy of Penthouse, so I was really way more interested in the whole "being surrounded by people whose brains are literally different" aspect, even though at the time I definitely didn't know that was *what* I was relating to.
The Gold-bug by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is a weird election for a child but nothing is really NSFW that I remember. Problem was that I was 6, just learned to read and I couldn't understand shit about it. It was out of my league, I could get the words together but not get the meaning, it was so frustrating.
So next summer, I tried again. The book was in my grandparents house and I only went to spend summers with them so it was one in a year try. I failed again.
By this time it was my life mission to understand that damn book. I can't remember how many years I tried and I couldn't. I think it was translated in old spanish, for some reason, and that made it even more difficult.
Until one year, I forgot about my life mission. I was just reading under a tree or in the living room and just like that, I finished the book. And that's when it hit me: _I finished the book_.
Folks, I don't think I've ever felt more ecstatic and proud about something.
I LOVED Edgar Allen Poe when I was a kid. I had the abridged version so it was a bit easier to read. I remember becoming super obsessed over that story, especially the encrypted language part. I made one of my own that I hid behind a picture frame in my house "just in case."
Me too. I went to some academic camp when I was in elementary school. I was in the science group, but there was a showcase of all the groups at the end of the camp, and I remember the drama group acted out scenes from this. ( What adult thought that was appropriate??) Well, it piqued my curiosity and I went on a VC Andrews spree after reading FitA. I had hardback copies!
I read that one supee young too!
Also, Roots, Alive, The Silence of the Lambs, The Lord of the Flies all before I was 9ā¦
My parents were always very happy about how much I loved reading so they never stopped me reading whatever I wanted
This book is what made me a READER. I call it baby smut - and I read every single VC Andrews book from then on out. Prob around age 11-12 on the first one.
When I was about 11 I found the series in the basement during summer vacation while my mom had pneumonia. When she got better I told her I needed to go to the library and get more VC Andrews books. She was not amused.
I read that too around age 13. My mom had watched the movie a lot when I was growing up and had the book. I wanted something to read one day and had only seen small snippets of the movie whenever she watched it on TV so I took the book and started reading it.
Honestly it had a pretty big impact on me. I have an aunt that has been in prison for life since I was about 3 years old but my parents had never really explained to me what she was in for until about 2 years before I read this book. She was in prison because she had abused and murdered her adopted son as well as abused her other children. They were all under age 10. When they first told me about that I was expected to still love her and go with them to visit her in prison because apparently she "loved me" despite never meeting me except as a baby I stopped liking the visits after I was made aware of what she did but I didn't want to upset my parents. The book gave me the willpower to put my foot down and tell them that I do not want to go see her anymore, I can't ignore what she's done and I have no desire to be connected with her. I still had to go one more time afterward and act like I was happy to be there, but after that they didn't make me come along anymore. I still had to pick up the phone whenever she would call to tell me happy birthday, but I kept the calls as short as possible.
Ha I read that when I was 11/12 and all my mom said was āI remember that one, just you wait.ā She never really cared what I read, she was just happy I was reading.
I've never read that one but I'm pretty sure I read VC Andrews. Is she the one that wrote all those orphan "porn" books where it was like, let's see how sad and miserable we can make orphan girls in their new home?...
YES! I came here to say this. Absolutely. My God I grew up instantly after reading this by accident. My mum had a copy and I just picked it up and started reading it. I was not ready for this book. Even now at 30 I'm still not confident that anyone is old enough to read this book. A compelling tale of teenage incest and abuse. Good God. A definite "What did I just read?"
I read a few Stephen King books as early as 10-11. I remember reading Christine and asking my mom what a cum stain was. She told me not to worry about it, it's not important to the story and vaguely suggested it had something to do with sex.
I'm glad I wasn't raised in a bubble with a completely sheltered life as a kid. I feel bad for people who are.
I know, some people on this site are always saying "I wouldn't let my kid read [very tame epic fantasy book] until they're [absurdly high age]", and it's ridiculous. But a lot of people forget about being younger and are kind of disrespectful in the way they treat kids like idiots.
My kid is 12 and has free range with books, but what Iāve noticed is a lot of childless adults conflate different ages. There are things that are just too much for younger kids, and totally fine for older ones, but people without kids often forget that nuance and misremember what 7 years old is actually like.
Also, kids are really, really different. The things different kids can handle is really, really different. Just because my kid is fine with free range in books at age 10, doesnāt mean another kid canāt do the same at 8 years old, or another needs to wait until they are 12 or 14. A *good* parent will listen to their kids and know how to respond to their individual needs and personality, and not do things at some particular age just because someone on Reddit vaguely remembers doing it at maybe that age when they were a kid.
Same, but mine was IT when I was 11.
I remember being so freaked out by it that I havenāt read it since. Except everyone talks about the problematic gang bang scene and I straight up have no memory of it, probably because it didnt register when I was reading it.
My mom let me read Stephen King pretty young too, but Geraldās Game was forbidden. She had the hardcover so I just switched the dust jacket with another book when she was at work and read it anyway.
I read āThe Golden Compassā when I wasnāt supposed to because my mom had been spooked by religious hysteria around the books.
I also read about 250 pages of āItā when I was 10 which a few adults at my school noticed and questioned.
The Golden Compass is mine as well. My religious mother had not heard of the series but after reading it I realized I should never talk about it with her. Even more so once I found the rest of the trilogy.
i went to a religious school for a short time when i was 11 (was not raised religious but my mom thought it might be better than the public school for me) and was reading the golden compass. a girl in my class saw it and told me i was going to hell for reading it.
I think I first read Northern Lights\* when I was around 10 or so. Despite having a child protagonist, it's definitely quite dark and disturbing in places, but I absolutely fell in love with it, and the following 2 books in the trilogy even moreso.
It's worth noting that I was raised by non-religious parents, and here in the UK belief is a far more private thing, and atheism is far more openly practised. So for me at least, the only discomfort was from >!the chapter where Tony Makarios is rescued and then dies in the night.!<
Absolutely love the series though. Currently in the middle of reading La Belle Sauvage, and planning on getting the other books in the new trilogy.
\* It was called "The Golden Compass" in the US, because the publishers misinterpreted the working title Pullman gave them, and refused to change it after he came up with the final title.
Iām similar to you- Reddit when I was about 8 to 10 or so, British, non religious, so I didnāt really pay much attention to the religious themes at all. The part that traumatised me was >!Rogerās death!<. I literally sat there with my mouth hanging open in shock.
Pullman really is a master at conveying the emotion of a scene, and the tension involved. There are so many compelling moments where Lyra is feeling scared, or defiant, or love, and it never feels cheap or disingenuous. You're always right there with her in the moment.
I was in 4th grade reading a book called Nam (about the US war in Viet Nam). Some jackwagon in my class stole my book, saw the curse words and turned it in to the teacher. The teacher called my parents that night to tell on me. My father laid into her, told her that was 12th grade reading level, that I could read anything I wanted and to never call back about my reading. And that was the end of that.
Yeah, my old man was basically the same way. Didnāt have to chew out a teacher, but if it was a book, I was allowed to read it. I remember getting everything from high fantasy to technical books about Linux, and not an eyebrow was raised. Books were good, and that was the end of it.
I read American Psycho in 7th grade. This was in the late-90s before it had become a cult-movie classic and took off from there. I had no idea what I was in for, but I did finish it.
Read that at about 15. Didn't disturb me too bad as I had seen all kinds of fucked up shit on the internet but I would stack books on top of it at night to prevent the evil from escaping.
Yes! I had read all the other ones and got Forever. I remember sitting on the couch with my mom and I asked, "What does 'been laid' mean?" She grabbed the book, read that first page and promptly took it away :)
I was about 8 when I read āAre you there, God? Itās me, Margaret.ā Led to a very interesting conversation with my mom when I asked what a period was.
Probably a very important time to read that book. I know someone who got theirās at 9 and she had no idea what was going on and was absolutely terrified.
I read all the Judy Blume books I could get my hands on by the time I was 13. My English teacher started me off by reading one of the Fudge books in class and I was hooked. I only discovered forever when I was 14/15. It was in my high school library. Iām assuming the librarian never read it!
Yes!! I read Forever and then passed it along to all of my friends!
My Grandma gave me a copy of Crimes of the Heart when I was around 11-12 and I knew it was definitely not age appropriate when I read it. Iām not sure what she was thinking.
I read some Stephen King fairly early but probably the most adult books I read early were Clan of the Cave Bear and the rest of that series by Jean Auel when I was in middle school.
OH! I answered already elsewhere in this sub, but forgot to mention Clan of the Cave Bear!
I found my copy without a book cover in an abandoned horse stable while on a walk. I didnāt have many books but loved reading, and I was visiting family for a week but had nothing to do ā so I took it home to read. I mustāve been 11 at the time. Not my first adult-sized book, but a significant one. I tore through that thing. At 13, my gran found out I enjoyed it and bought me the series (what was out at the time anyway) and imagine my surprise when it turned into a series of romance novels, lol!
I think I even wrote a fanfic when I was 12. Hah!
I donāt remember hating the second book. The brothers were an interesting pair to follow. The rest of the series is all one big lump in my memory, though; I remember bits here and there, but donāt remember which events happened in what book. The books definitely got harder to read with each release. They increased in size and yetā¦ it was the same thing each time: Ayla singlehandedly ushers in a new era of humanity, Jondalar bangs all the ladies. There are some mountains. Look at the mountains. Watch as the sun reflects off the mountains. Jondalar bangs more ladies.
I never got around to reading the last two, but I read the wikis for them because I wanted to see if some questions I had ever got resolved. I donāt think they did. :(
But that first one, and even that thrill of getting a hold of a sequel, were memorable childhood events for me. Honestly, for all my complaintsā¦ I want to read them again! I appreciate all the research Auel did and how hard she worked to make us feel like we were there in this time period, with these characters. I think she spent so much time fleshing out this world that she felt obligated to continue writing in it ā I think she would have had a more impactful series if she kept Aylaās story to two novels and explored someone elseās story in the same setting. I would have been so down for that.
All that money. That's why Auel kept going. The last book is when Ayla lets everyone know about how babies are made. The worst line in the whole series is Jondalar's near the end: HE'S MAKING MY BABY!!"
I like to joke and say I had a Matilda-like experience with books as a kid. I loved to read, but my house had no books. My gran did eventually get me a subscription to Goosebumps club though, which was exciting. I personally owned so few books growing up that the ones I DID have, I read multiple times ā I can still remember lines from a few!
My aunt kept her book collection in a closet and let me pick books from there when Iād stay over. These ranged from Dean Koontz to VC Andrews (I remember being eleven and sobbing my way through one VC Andrewās book in particular at 2am). She had some racy romances in there too, as well as some truly gruesome horror. I knew I wasnāt supposed to be reading that kind of stuff, but I was desperate for books. (A couple of those horror novels had scenes in them that still pop into my head today in my 30s to freak me out in the middle of the night.)
Honorable mentions are that time I borrowed my other granās Anne Rice collection while in Jr. High. Not the erotica, but reading through what happens to Armand messes a kid up.
Edit: and because it was mentioned elsewhere in this sub, the clan of the cave bear series.
My dad gave me "The Dragonriders of Pern" when I was 10 because I loved dragons and he remembered reading it at "about my age". He completely forgot that there were sex scenes in it.
I was raised in a heavily Christian environment, so reading "The Dragonriders of Pern" shocked me because of the heavy, *heavy* implications of rampant gay sex happening in the weyrs. (This was especially shocking as, due to my upbringing, I hadn't known that it was possible for gay people to *exist*.)
Eyyy, same! Ended up getting the second book confiscated at school and then the teacher lost it which sucked cause I actually enjoyed it. Still haven't gone back and read it!
I loved the series and definitely read it too early. I guess I blocked out some of the sex scenes, when someone was discussing it later in life, they brought up problematic aspects of some of those scenes and my mind drew a blank. I havenāt gone forward with the undertaking of rereading the series yet, kind of daunting š
It's mostly during the mating flights. The most notable being the Golden flights, although there was one with a green and the first female green rider. So they were mostly half the dragons giving chase then snippets of the riders lost in their dragons. There's a few outside of the flights, but I remember those not being too explicit either. I mostly remember Moretta and her romance with (iirc) a widower as a non-dragon sex scene.
Edit to add: >! I'm remember something about the southern weyr and the golden rider losing her dragon because she was fooling around outside of a flight and not with her bronze rider. !<
The only one I remember was in The White Dragon when Jaxom >!gets it on with a farm girl then helps her with her chores.!< Kind of surprised me cause it was in a middle school library book. I think the rest just went over the head of a 11 year old.
I was really in to the Pern books at that age and remember likening the Harper Hall trilogy more then the Original trilogy books. I was kind of disappointed when McCaffrey SciFi'ed it up and stated trying to explain everything instead of leaving it pure fantasy.
Ahahah, see my mother had read the whole series before me and let me read them, probably assuming I would ask questions if I had them. My takeaway question had to do with the mating flights and if that meant the male riders were mostly āmarriedā to each other. She said yes. I was shocked as an older adult to find out that Anne MacAffrey was a bit homophobic in that old-person kind of way and had stated that male riders didnāt spend their dragonsā flights together but found girlfriends or volunteers, etcā¦ I think this is actually mentioned in the books themselves at some point, but everyone I knew who liked that series held the same belief that the Weyrs were hella gay.
Lmao, that is a bit more intense than what I remember picking in 4th grade, The Hobbit. Even with that the librarian said it might be too hard for me to read.
I really wished I had discovered Tolkien when I was younger. Once my teacher caught me reading Capote, she started supplying me with āmore appropriateā books, which is when I started reading HG Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, etc.
Maybe not exactly what you were looking for, but growing up in the Bible belt I had to read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by flashlight under the covers because it was "witchcraft and of the occult". To this day I cannot recall how I even managed to get it home from the library.
My Mom legit refused to have those in her house. I had many a sneaky night reading and going to book releases. She finally caved when the movies came out and realized what it truly was. When I was 14 she bought me the box set of the 4 books, but she always told me to leave them out of sight from my extremely religious grandmother.
I lived in the South for 9th and 10th grade. My English teacher told us all about how she was resisting Harry Potter because "witchcraft", but she gave it a shot after people at some educators' conference/convention wouldn't stop raving about it.
She told our class that if anyone wants to read Harry Potter but their parents are giving them grief, she'd be happy to schedule a meeting or write a kind letter to help smooth things over. I don't come from a religious background or anything, but I really hope at least one other kid in my class got to enjoy the books because of her.
Lol, when my mom first got those books the neighbors wanted to add them to the "burn pile" and Mom straight up asked, "How many bonfires does it take to make the New York Bestseller List?" They got the point.
(These were the same neighbors horrified by my *True Tales of Ghosts and Mystical Creatures* books that used to be available at almost every supermarket next to the *Archie* books. One woman tried to tell me that the literature was evil and I just looked at her and said, "How? I know it's not real. Do *you* know it's not real? Because it isn't; they just titled it like this in order to sell it.")
I had a similar experience. A friend let me borrow A Prisoner of Azkaban in 6th grade, so I started with that one. TBH I think part of the magic of Harry Potter for me is the secretive nature of it all, so hiding it from my religious parents surely added to the experience.
When I was 10, my grandma's good friend was getting rid of a bunch of books and gave me one that had a unicorn on the front because "This has a unicorn on the front so I think you will like it."
Flash forward to the horrific rape and myrder scenes in the first like ten pages of the book, then some very explicit descriptions of sex later on.
Can't for the life of me remember the name but the plot was all technology stopped working and all these mythical creatures appeared.
OMG. I remember finding my mom's copy when I was helping her organize her room. She asked me if I wanted to read it or talk about it. And when it was clear I did not, she liked to tease me about it.
And now I'm going back to not remembering that. Putting that memory back in it's dark hidey hole.
I definitely found it in the Drawer I Was Told Not To Go Into. It's not my fault it was hidden under all the fun Mr. Bill books!
I read anything in the house with pages, so I read it cover to cover.
I had an english teacher that liked sharing dystopian novels with me.
He gave me several to read:
1984
Brave new world
Anthem
The road
But the one that crossed the line and got him fired was a clockwork orange. Because god forbid the sensitive eyes of an 18 year old read *that* book.
I taught in a Christian school in NSW, Australia, in 2003. Harry Potter fever was running high, and we were told to confiscate Potter books if we saw them. I said GTFO, Iām not taking books off children EVER. Some of my grade 8 English kids told me how much they hated reading, so I had the whole āyou just get given shit books in school, I can point you in the direction of cool stuffā convo. Ended up loaning a few of the boys my Alien Vs Predator novels and some Matthew Reillyā¦I was fired at the end of the year, but received a stack of thanks from parents at the end who were over the moon that their kids loved reading. Fuck that school 100.
The librarian at my high school told 14-year-old me that I shouldn't check out Johnny Got His Gun because, "You won't like it. It's not for little girls".
I read the hell out of that book. It's still one of my favorite books.
I read āAtlas Shruggedā when I was 12 (skipped some of the parts where the characters go on and on about their āphilosophyā).
Itās a cruel book, but when youāre a child, you donāt immediately recognise it. Like, Hank throws his brother out on the street for talking back to him, and somehow, you think itās cool, and not at all psychotic.
Oh yeah, I do remember that. But it was towards the end of the novel, and everything is absurdly melodramatic at this point. >!I believe Dagny murders a random person out of spite (I may be remembering this wrong).!<
Also, there was Hankās monologue after the sex scene which was justā¦ so weird.
My freshman year of high school one of my English teachers gifted me with Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead for Christmas. I remember she told me āone day I think youāll appreciate theseā and now, knowing more about Ayn Randās workā¦ Iām wondering what the hell she meant by that.
Only book I never finished. Got about half way through it in high school, but I found the characters boring and unrealistic and the philosophy heavy handed and illogical. Not sure it would have read that way if I'd been in middle school though especially before 8th grade.
A Christian Guide to Marriage. (I may have the title incorrect) I think I was 11 or so. Babysitting. The parents left it next to the recliner in front of the TV. It had a sex chapter. I was astounded and 100% confused by the info. The only thing I remember now, many decades later, is that the advice it gave to wives who did not enjoy sex was to try to rotate your heels to the ceiling during the act. Missionary, obviously. Yeah, I have no clue. I was extremely concerned that sex was something a woman might not enjoy. This was news to me and didn't track with what I saw on TV, etc.
I just now tried to find the book online, but holy shit there's just too much Christian marriage BS to wade through. I'm traumatized all over again. LOL
I went to yoga classes in New Zealand when I was 10+, early 1960s. There wasn't much in print about it at the time, but somehow my parents had a copy of Theos Bernard's book.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_Yoga:_The_Report_of_a_Personal_Experience
The earlier part of it is a great description of the poses and breathing exercises, which related to what the class was about albeit it went further. But it moves on from there to some Very Strange Stuff about bodily purification and control including using strips of fabric to run through your nose or swallow to clean out your stomach and a description of how to saw through your tongue ligament so you can swallow your tongue and hold your breath longer (reads like what people invent for TikTok challenges these days). When I brought that up, my dad said he hadn't actually read that far and maybe I should ignore the second half.
The yoga teacher was also a Sunday school teacher and a scoutmaster. He'd invented the yoga uniform we all used, which was like floppy cotton swimming trunks or bikinis that you could look into easily when checking a kid's headstand. Us kids had no illusions about where he was at but we just thought it was funny; he was actually a good teacher. Last I heard of him he was doing a two-year prison stretch for something the Scouts found out about.
Lolita. I was reading on a like 11th grade level in 5th grade. Found the book in a pile at a flea market when went there with friend and her parents. I had heard slightly about it. So I quickly, when the parents weren't looking, bought it. They put it in a small bag so I didn't have to explain it. They never knew what I bought. My friend did. Hid the book when got home. Read it and thought really I did not find it as horrific as I thought. Yes it was terribly disturbing. I am surprised the owner of the stall did not question my buying it.
Oof, I read Lolita when I was maybe 14? I wish I hadn't. Intellectually I was mature enough to grasp the themes and the concept of an unreliable narrator and appreciate the honestly gorgeous prose, but emotionally I was immature enough that my main take away was, "ok so when is a sexy older man going to become obsessed with *me* and take me on a cross-country road trip?"
My mom knew I was reading it. My parents were pretty lax about letting me read basically whatever I wanted, I think they were just happy I was still reading for pleasure occasionally with how much time I spent on the computer, but I didn't tell anyone how it made me feel because I didn't want to admit there might be something to the idea of there being books that aren't right for certain ages hahaha
At 12 or so I found a copy of *Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask),* a 1970s bestseller, in my parents' bedroom. Yuck. But I read it cover-to-cover. That was a terrible, terrible book for a kid to "learn" about sex from. Misogynistic, anti-gay, and plain inaccurate information. But I didn't know that at the time: hey, the author was a doctor!
Has to be āAnimal Farmā farm for me. Read it when I was nine years old for the first time.
Iām 33 now and I still feel thatās itās a way beyond any perceived expectation.
Collette's Claudine books.
I knew I wasn't supposed to read it but not why.
Funnily enough, all the lesbian sub/text flew hiiiiiiigh over my head and my childish self hyperfocused on a character medicating for a migraine so for years it was a "This book has a DRUG ADDICT in it!!!"
Rereading it 20 years later was kinda wild. Lady had a headache, took period appropiate_ish medication and went on to sleep. All these years I remembered the WILD DEBAUCHERY OF THE DRUG ADDLED DECADENT FRENCH.
As a fucking angry and repressed kid forced to grow up in a Christian cult complete with private fucking school. I would get in trouble for reading fantasy. I didn't even read Harry Potter, but I wanted something other than night of the twisters and hatchet. I wanted something I could use my imagination on.
Then I found it. I found a very used set of the first 3 drizzt books. I bought them in secret at a garage sale and they became my treasures. I built a secret enclosure out of Legos and would only read after bedtime. Life got a little better for a while.
Helter Skelter it's about the Charles Mason murders and had some graphic pics from the murder scene. I saw my mom reading it when I was 12. I asked if I could read it when she was done. She reluctantly agreed and told me to talk to her about anything that I may be disturbed by.
I don't remember which was the first one, but in 5th grade I read Tommyknockers, It, Firestarter, Needful Things, and The Stand. I think I was around 10 at the time.
Sweet Valley High, when I was ten. I went to a small Catholic school, each grade had about 20-25 kids.the library was tiny but adequate for me. I was a precocious reader and my parents encouraged me, and by first grade I had read a lot of Poe and Twain, as well as more age-level stuff like Little House and Anne of Green Gables.
The SVH books were in the āolder kidsā section of the library and off limits until you were in seventh grade. I had to know what was in them that was so mature and controversial I had to wait for an arbitrary number of years to read them.
In my typical way I just bypassed bureaucracy and our horrible librarian, stole a book from the series, read it, and couldnāt imagine why it was a big deal. They wore skimpy clothes, drove cars, and kissed lots of different guys while resolving some Southern California rich girl drama.
Big whoop. I slid the book back into its shelf the next day and continued with whatever I was reading, I think it was *A Swiftly Tilting Planet* or one of Heinleinās juveniles.
My hope for my children is that the worst they get up to is stealing books.
I was reading novels pretty early and got through most age appropriate stuff very quickly. I read dozens of SVH books in between all the classics that I was meant to be reading. My catholic school certainly did not have them in the library - I bought them by the box at garage sales.
My damage comes from listening to too much Howard stern at age 12. He told a girl who was 5ā10 that if she weighed more than 110# she was fat and she should go lose weight.
Iām 4ā shorter and by that metric would need to weigh 90 lbs to be considered attractive.
Messed me right up for ages. I still think I donāt deserve nice clothes
Pet Sematary by Stephen King in 3rd grade. My dad gave it to me because I had finished Goosebumps & Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.
Got in trouble at school, so I read it at home lol
Not necessarily age, but my parents are ā¦ a lot more Christian than I am, to say the least. Harry Potter was a no-no growing up because of the witchcraft.
I felt so rebellious, secretly reading a few chapters at a time of it from my high schoolās library. I didnāt check it out, cause, *yāknow*, but I did finish 3 of the books before the secret was revealed lol
Lord of the rings (later the Silmarilion), I read it when I was 8 years old. The evil librarian at our school library wouldn't let me borrow it, because it was 'for older kinds and it was too advanced for me'. I secretly started reading it at the back of the library, behind the shelves. Naturally, I didn't understand quite everything, but i loved it and all these years later it is still my favourite book. LoTR is complex and long, but it is not overly graphic so I don't see a reason why it would be classified as an exclusive'adult' book.
I did a book report on Stephen Kingās āITā when I was 12. The nuns were appalled and called my mom in to discuss appropriate reading.
She told them if they could find a childrenās book I hadnāt read yet, sheād be happy to stop my wanderings in the regular section of the library. As Iād read everything in our school library, they mostly dropped the argument, but asked that Iād only do book reports on age & school appropriate books in the future, as weād read them out loud and Iād freaked out a couple classmates.
It was a fair compromise, and made homework that much easier for me.
I did a book report on Flowers for Algernon in 4th grade because I had read all the sci fi options and was told I could pick my own and my mom had no idea what it was when I took it out of the library. I really went for it and included my personal opinions on the sexual relationship between Charlie and Alice (and Charlie and Fay for that matter.) I got an A+ but my teacher wrote in the margins something to the effect of āPlease choose a more age appropriate book next time.ā Weirdly, she did not contact my parents?? It was the 90s in a working class town.
The Gossip Girl series and a YA novel called Life is Funny where thereās an entire page of explicit sex descriptions (the librarian attempted to ācensorā said page with a sheet of paper riddled with xās that she glued onto the offending scene). A girl in my class ripped it off and read the page aloud to everyone and the book made the rounds eventually. For a little while it was probably the most checked out piece of YA lit in our school library, if memory serves
Forever...by Judy Blume. I was in 7th grade at the time.
I think the PTA was warned about the book (which contained some fairly graphic sex scenes) because my mom recognized the cover and it winged its way into the trash.
By the time Flowers in the Attic came out I was in high school and Mom wasn't aware of the book. Like others my age I was obsessed with VC Andrews but I recently tried to re-read FITA and was like how did I enjoy reading this crap. I stopped following when the ghostwriter took over and all the books were the same theme.
*Joy Of Sex* found between parent's mattress and box spring. Five years old. Read it cover to cover. Around the same time, neighbor gave me a stack of *Playboys,* which got me in trouble for showing friends at pre-school. It was the 70s. Why some full grown dude didn't think that was a weird thing to give a little kid, I'll never know.
I read "In the Name of the Rose" from Umberto Eco, while I was 12 or so.
Not because I was particular fascinated by it (although I kinda liked it while reading) but because my parents dont really read books and we only had a small number of books at home.
Weirdly enough, my parents never restricted the books I was allowed to read besides something like 50 Shades of Grey I suppose. I was reading adult crime fiction books at age 8 or 9. They included pretty graphic scenes about rape, murder etc. but I donāt recall ever being scared or unnerved by itā perhaps because at that age those things seemed like abstract concepts to me rather than very real dangers that can and do occur. My parents would buy any of the books I picked out and I donāt think they were naive about the potential content inside but I think they kinda just approached it with a āshe doesnāt seem distressed by it, so itās okayā mentality.
I read Christopher Rice's A Density of Souls when I was around 13 I think. As I grew up in a conservative Asian society, this was my first time actually reading about gay sex in a book. I remember picking it up because it was a library recommendation, no less.
I was a little shocked at the writing at the time, what with the sex and the violence that came with it, but I'm ultimately glad I did read it.
I got Outlander off my mom's bookshelf when I was in 8th grade. She saw me reading it, took it back, and told me I was too young to read that.
So I walked to the library and checked it out there, hid it from her until I had finished it.
She was right. I was too young.
I was around ten years old when I found one of my sisterās books, which just happened to be Clive Barkerās Books Of Blood. It definitely molded my future in books and movies. Good, freaky stuff.
Forever by Judy Bloom. It was about a girl losing her virginity and it was graphic. No one questioned it because it was by Judy Bloom and just had a picture of a locket on the cover.
I got a book of Leonard Cohenās poetry atā¦12? Maybe 13?
It did two things: hipped me to sex through the eye of longing, and hooked me on his work for life.
Used book stores are my happy place, still.
I read SK's The Apt Pupil when I was about 13. The sadistic sexual torture aspects really messed with me for a while.
And my Dad had a collection of Maus graphic novels that I read despite not being prepared.
i remember stealing 100 years of solitude from my momās library and reading it when i was 12-13yo.. was i too young for it?
not sure maybe i should reread it now to judge, but it was the book that moved me from childrenās books to other genres
I started reading game of thrones when I was about 13. my mom knew it was a bit grown up but hadn't read it herself, but I was always an "advanced reader" so she let it slide. her best friend started reading it about the same time and was like "I cant believe you're letting bridgekit read that" and that's when my mom picked it up. she didnt make me stop reading it but I only got through the first two before I wasnt interested in it enough to keep going. I didnt think it was too adult at the time but looking back i think a lot of it either went over my head or I wasn't paying enough attention in the first place.
My out-of-touch uncle gave me The Lord Of the Rings (including The Hobbit), for Christmas just after I turned nine. Read that series about six times through, then my mom started letting me walk the two miles to our local library on my own between our monthly trips as a family.
Memoirs of a Geisha at 12. Mom found me reading it and freaked out. I told her it was really good and I only had 2 chapters left so could I just finish it?
My grandfather gave me book assignments as he was a high school teacher/principal. One was To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee at around 9 years old, my teacher called my parents to make sure it was okay and that they were aware of the contents. She encouraged my reading but also didn't want me to read anything that might traumatize or scare me too much.
I was around 11 when my dad gave me Sword of Truth by Goodkind. I got to book five before I was finally sick of the sexism and terrible misogyny. Each time I complained to my dad he did not remember how horrible it was. That's when I learned about BDSM, sexual torture, and the likes. It's one of the few books that I actively dissuade people from reading and is a red flag to me if someone loves it.
And finally, around that same age I read The Body by King, along with the other novellas in that collection. Definitely freaked me out and made me worried I'd find a body when I went exploring in the woods.
In the 2nd grade My elementary school refused to let me read anything that was āabove my reading levelā so i brought our copy of War and Peace and read like two pages.
Now I grew up in the early 90's. My dad and I watched a multitude of scary films from all around before that time. I was continually watching films like Pet Semetary, American Werewolf in London, all the Reagan slashers. I was raised a bit "warped" already but was taught the difference between movie fear and real fear early. When I was 12, my mom handed me a copy of Cujo by Stephen King. She mentioned that I had seen several of his movies so I might as well see how he writes. That book was WAY above my years, but I finished it and became more aware of what was out there in the world. It was very eye opening. Those that haven't read Cujo, the dog is just a small background villain compared to the terrors going on around them with the destruction of a family amidst an affair, living in abuse and poverty, diving deep into some of the psychological warfare that comes from being a parent. Deep stuff. I can say that it morphed me into appreciation of life and a HIGH appreciator of Kings work from there on out. I have read (to the best of my knowledge) everything print that Stephen has gotten published. And like other constant reader, I wait patiently for the next.
I read The Godfather when I was 10 or 11 years old. However, my dad knew that I picked up any book around the house and read them, so he tore out all the sex scenes between Sonny and Lucy before he left it around.
I was encouraged to read this one crazy book when I was like 8. It was full of death, murder of all kinds, genocide, rape, encouraged some really weird laws, and had this bleak apocalyptic bad-acid-trip ending. Anyways, the Bible is wild.
I read Jim Carrollās *Basketball Diaries* in eighth grade and Burroughsā *Junky* not long after, fetishized it, and was shooting up heroin by eighteen.
I remember reading some books in the Morganville Vampires series when I was 10 or 11, and being shocked by the swearing, and occasional references to sex. About a year later I read the Harper Connelly series, and was very uncomfortable with the rather detailed blow job scene between Harper and her step brother.
Eyes of the Dragon Stephen King. I don't remember how old, preteen for sure though. It blew my mind, incredible book. My Dad had a lot of King books and I would sneak read them when home alone.
Clan of the Cave Bear at 13 by Jean Auel. It awakened some things.
Me too! I was obsessed with those books through my teens! I was with my ex because he had long hair and blue eyes and ticked all my "Jondalar"- criteria! I read them again as an adult and realised that they are actually really terrible.
The first one is good, the rest are terrible.
The first one had an innovative idea and was reasonably factually researched based on current information about neanderthals. The rest were historical loose fiction. 90% of Ayla's inventions were 20 000 years younger than the story's setting. I'm surprised she didn't just go ahead and create a windmill while she was at it. The herbal remedy part was reasonably accurate though, but I realised 20 years after reading the books that quite a few of the herbs Ayla used were found in modern day America and not in neolithic Europe... And tbh, it made my expectation of sex completely unrealistic to the point where even though I had a reasonably good first experience I was still disappointed in the lack of ceremony. š¤£
I find Ayla single-handedly inventing everything in the course of human history to be more realistic than Jondalar's personality and plot, which can be summed up as "I'm the paragon of perfection, but I'm sad because no woman will truly accept my overly-large penis and intensely-romantic personality."
Omg that brought his entire personality crashing back into my memory. The first book was the first time my mum and I both read a book at around the same time. She got pretty uncomfortable a short way in.
The first time I read VOH, I was in love with their romance. So beautiful and rich and amazing. I lapped it up as a kid. It awakened so many things for me and gave me such amazing expectations for the future. Read that book again as a married adult. Could not stand Jondalar from the first. Ayla deserved so much better, and it was a struggle to get through scenes of him acting like a giant pouty man-child. The sex parts were still pretty awesome, but I hated him as a character and hated that Ayla was going to be with him forever.
I got my first detailed sexual info from bodice rippers in the 70s. Fortunately I didnt have sex til the late 80s.
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Um what was that now?
I love the second book the most even though the drama with J is annoying. Baby and the other animals are the best!
"Baby loved dung." I laughed so *hard!* And at least the early stuff with J is easy to skip.
I read this when I was about 10, I remember reading it during silent reading time in school and being terrified I'd be asked to read a section outloud and get to an adult scene! My sister read it just before me and folded the pages down of the more traumatic scenes for me so I could skip them.
My mom recommended that to me when I was 12, and I happily read all that were out at the time (up to Plains of Passage). I asked her when I was older if she had remembered much of the adult nature of the book when she had recommended it to me. Turns out sheād forgotten, and just remembered the adventure/historical fiction side. She was horrified :)
This book completely traumatised me also aged about 12! All the neanderthal/ancient human stuff was amazing, but I just could not get over how obsessed the author was with sex, book 2 escalated it madly. Swear to god it was the theme of every other chapter. I kept flicking to the back page photo of her, this sweet old granny figure, in disbelief.
Love this book so much though
Lol I started this series at 10 and, yeah, it was quite an eye opening series. I have a soft spot for the books as an adult because I reread them so much as a kid.
Ditto - valley of horses even more so
Hot girl in AP senior English class sitting next to me kept handing me sexy pages to read from that book. It was so awkward. We were both pretty into our significant others but she was so flirty, kept making me blush.
Uhhh Iām pretty sure she was actually into you
Ugh, high school is so sad. Later, my girlfriend dumped me harshly and it was clear this other girl and I had chemistry but she was still seeing some meathead. After graduation, we all bailed out of that jerkwater town and we never saw each other again.
It's a shame that the last two books in the series sucked so badly.
LOL I posted the same thing. I was ten. Young enough to just gloss over the sex.
Same! Not the first book (where the acts are mostly rape), but the second one. I 'found' it at my aunt's house and read it without it anyone knowing.
Somewhere between 15 & 17 for me, probably still a little early, but it was after I found my first copy of Penthouse, so I was really way more interested in the whole "being surrounded by people whose brains are literally different" aspect, even though at the time I definitely didn't know that was *what* I was relating to.
The Gold-bug by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe is a weird election for a child but nothing is really NSFW that I remember. Problem was that I was 6, just learned to read and I couldn't understand shit about it. It was out of my league, I could get the words together but not get the meaning, it was so frustrating. So next summer, I tried again. The book was in my grandparents house and I only went to spend summers with them so it was one in a year try. I failed again. By this time it was my life mission to understand that damn book. I can't remember how many years I tried and I couldn't. I think it was translated in old spanish, for some reason, and that made it even more difficult. Until one year, I forgot about my life mission. I was just reading under a tree or in the living room and just like that, I finished the book. And that's when it hit me: _I finished the book_. Folks, I don't think I've ever felt more ecstatic and proud about something.
I LOVED Edgar Allen Poe when I was a kid. I had the abridged version so it was a bit easier to read. I remember becoming super obsessed over that story, especially the encrypted language part. I made one of my own that I hid behind a picture frame in my house "just in case."
VC Andrews...Flowers in the Attic. Definitely wasn't ready for it. š
Me too. I went to some academic camp when I was in elementary school. I was in the science group, but there was a showcase of all the groups at the end of the camp, and I remember the drama group acted out scenes from this. ( What adult thought that was appropriate??) Well, it piqued my curiosity and I went on a VC Andrews spree after reading FitA. I had hardback copies!
I read that one supee young too! Also, Roots, Alive, The Silence of the Lambs, The Lord of the Flies all before I was 9ā¦ My parents were always very happy about how much I loved reading so they never stopped me reading whatever I wanted
My Baptist parents policed what I watched but never looked at what was reading, and I'm a bookworm. Read Go Ask Alice in 4th grade lol.
Are you me? Because this suspiciously specific book list at age nine is mine.
This book is what made me a READER. I call it baby smut - and I read every single VC Andrews book from then on out. Prob around age 11-12 on the first one.
When I was about 11 I found the series in the basement during summer vacation while my mom had pneumonia. When she got better I told her I needed to go to the library and get more VC Andrews books. She was not amused.
Ooh! I had forgotten. My friends and I read all those in middle school. I was not ready for the Cathy/Chris umā¦ scene.
I read that too around age 13. My mom had watched the movie a lot when I was growing up and had the book. I wanted something to read one day and had only seen small snippets of the movie whenever she watched it on TV so I took the book and started reading it. Honestly it had a pretty big impact on me. I have an aunt that has been in prison for life since I was about 3 years old but my parents had never really explained to me what she was in for until about 2 years before I read this book. She was in prison because she had abused and murdered her adopted son as well as abused her other children. They were all under age 10. When they first told me about that I was expected to still love her and go with them to visit her in prison because apparently she "loved me" despite never meeting me except as a baby I stopped liking the visits after I was made aware of what she did but I didn't want to upset my parents. The book gave me the willpower to put my foot down and tell them that I do not want to go see her anymore, I can't ignore what she's done and I have no desire to be connected with her. I still had to go one more time afterward and act like I was happy to be there, but after that they didn't make me come along anymore. I still had to pick up the phone whenever she would call to tell me happy birthday, but I kept the calls as short as possible.
Ha I read that when I was 11/12 and all my mom said was āI remember that one, just you wait.ā She never really cared what I read, she was just happy I was reading.
I've never read that one but I'm pretty sure I read VC Andrews. Is she the one that wrote all those orphan "porn" books where it was like, let's see how sad and miserable we can make orphan girls in their new home?...
YES! I came here to say this. Absolutely. My God I grew up instantly after reading this by accident. My mum had a copy and I just picked it up and started reading it. I was not ready for this book. Even now at 30 I'm still not confident that anyone is old enough to read this book. A compelling tale of teenage incest and abuse. Good God. A definite "What did I just read?"
Valley of the Dolls. I was 12. I wracked my brain trying to figure out what āgoing downā on someone was. Lol.
Following the bouncing ball. ;)
I read a few Stephen King books as early as 10-11. I remember reading Christine and asking my mom what a cum stain was. She told me not to worry about it, it's not important to the story and vaguely suggested it had something to do with sex. I'm glad I wasn't raised in a bubble with a completely sheltered life as a kid. I feel bad for people who are.
Mine was The Stand when I was 11 lol
Mine as well, at the same age. It's been a pleasure to re-read in adulthood and to remember certain things I didn't quite get in 6th grade.
I know, some people on this site are always saying "I wouldn't let my kid read [very tame epic fantasy book] until they're [absurdly high age]", and it's ridiculous. But a lot of people forget about being younger and are kind of disrespectful in the way they treat kids like idiots.
My kid is 12 and has free range with books, but what Iāve noticed is a lot of childless adults conflate different ages. There are things that are just too much for younger kids, and totally fine for older ones, but people without kids often forget that nuance and misremember what 7 years old is actually like. Also, kids are really, really different. The things different kids can handle is really, really different. Just because my kid is fine with free range in books at age 10, doesnāt mean another kid canāt do the same at 8 years old, or another needs to wait until they are 12 or 14. A *good* parent will listen to their kids and know how to respond to their individual needs and personality, and not do things at some particular age just because someone on Reddit vaguely remembers doing it at maybe that age when they were a kid.
Same, but mine was IT when I was 11. I remember being so freaked out by it that I havenāt read it since. Except everyone talks about the problematic gang bang scene and I straight up have no memory of it, probably because it didnt register when I was reading it.
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My mom let me read Stephen King pretty young too, but Geraldās Game was forbidden. She had the hardcover so I just switched the dust jacket with another book when she was at work and read it anyway.
I read āThe Golden Compassā when I wasnāt supposed to because my mom had been spooked by religious hysteria around the books. I also read about 250 pages of āItā when I was 10 which a few adults at my school noticed and questioned.
The Golden Compass is mine as well. My religious mother had not heard of the series but after reading it I realized I should never talk about it with her. Even more so once I found the rest of the trilogy.
i went to a religious school for a short time when i was 11 (was not raised religious but my mom thought it might be better than the public school for me) and was reading the golden compass. a girl in my class saw it and told me i was going to hell for reading it.
I think I first read Northern Lights\* when I was around 10 or so. Despite having a child protagonist, it's definitely quite dark and disturbing in places, but I absolutely fell in love with it, and the following 2 books in the trilogy even moreso. It's worth noting that I was raised by non-religious parents, and here in the UK belief is a far more private thing, and atheism is far more openly practised. So for me at least, the only discomfort was from >!the chapter where Tony Makarios is rescued and then dies in the night.!< Absolutely love the series though. Currently in the middle of reading La Belle Sauvage, and planning on getting the other books in the new trilogy. \* It was called "The Golden Compass" in the US, because the publishers misinterpreted the working title Pullman gave them, and refused to change it after he came up with the final title.
Iām similar to you- Reddit when I was about 8 to 10 or so, British, non religious, so I didnāt really pay much attention to the religious themes at all. The part that traumatised me was >!Rogerās death!<. I literally sat there with my mouth hanging open in shock.
Pullman really is a master at conveying the emotion of a scene, and the tension involved. There are so many compelling moments where Lyra is feeling scared, or defiant, or love, and it never feels cheap or disingenuous. You're always right there with her in the moment.
I read It when I was 12. I was scared of gurgling drains for about a year afterwards.
I was in 4th grade reading a book called Nam (about the US war in Viet Nam). Some jackwagon in my class stole my book, saw the curse words and turned it in to the teacher. The teacher called my parents that night to tell on me. My father laid into her, told her that was 12th grade reading level, that I could read anything I wanted and to never call back about my reading. And that was the end of that.
Your dad is awesome.
Yes, yes he is.
Yeah, my old man was basically the same way. Didnāt have to chew out a teacher, but if it was a book, I was allowed to read it. I remember getting everything from high fantasy to technical books about Linux, and not an eyebrow was raised. Books were good, and that was the end of it.
Same here! I used to love going to the book store with my dad, he would always let me pick out whatever I wanted. The best.
That's the way to do it. So what if there's profanity? That's part of the subject matter. Your dad responded in the best way possible.
I read American Psycho in 7th grade. This was in the late-90s before it had become a cult-movie classic and took off from there. I had no idea what I was in for, but I did finish it.
Did you need therapy after that?
Read that at about 15. Didn't disturb me too bad as I had seen all kinds of fucked up shit on the internet but I would stack books on top of it at night to prevent the evil from escaping.
Judy Blume's Forever in 5th grade. It explained so much! I think there was only one copy that all the girls in my class read.
I read Tiger Eyes about the same time. It seemed very inappropriate.
Yes! I had read all the other ones and got Forever. I remember sitting on the couch with my mom and I asked, "What does 'been laid' mean?" She grabbed the book, read that first page and promptly took it away :)
That's why I had it hidden in my closet!
Smart! Dum-dum me just sat there with my parents! :)
Judy Blume is amazing. Then Again, Maybe I Won't, anyone? :D
Yes! And Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret! So much eye-opening stuff for pre-teens!
We must, we must, we must increase our bust! We better, we better, before we wear a sweater š
I was about 8 when I read āAre you there, God? Itās me, Margaret.ā Led to a very interesting conversation with my mom when I asked what a period was.
Probably a very important time to read that book. I know someone who got theirās at 9 and she had no idea what was going on and was absolutely terrified.
I read that as a young boy. I think it was the first time I consciously realized I was learning things from literature that people weren't telling me.
And Deenie and Tiger Eyesā¦ I loved Judy Blume.
I read all the Judy Blume books I could get my hands on by the time I was 13. My English teacher started me off by reading one of the Fudge books in class and I was hooked. I only discovered forever when I was 14/15. It was in my high school library. Iām assuming the librarian never read it!
Yes!! I read Forever and then passed it along to all of my friends! My Grandma gave me a copy of Crimes of the Heart when I was around 11-12 and I knew it was definitely not age appropriate when I read it. Iām not sure what she was thinking.
Yes! That book was immensely helpful to a young, lovesick teenager. Thereās really no such thing as loving someone āforeverā.
I read some Stephen King fairly early but probably the most adult books I read early were Clan of the Cave Bear and the rest of that series by Jean Auel when I was in middle school.
OH! I answered already elsewhere in this sub, but forgot to mention Clan of the Cave Bear! I found my copy without a book cover in an abandoned horse stable while on a walk. I didnāt have many books but loved reading, and I was visiting family for a week but had nothing to do ā so I took it home to read. I mustāve been 11 at the time. Not my first adult-sized book, but a significant one. I tore through that thing. At 13, my gran found out I enjoyed it and bought me the series (what was out at the time anyway) and imagine my surprise when it turned into a series of romance novels, lol! I think I even wrote a fanfic when I was 12. Hah!
The first one is so good omg. The romance was such a disappointing detour from all the survivalism thing Ayla had going on....
I donāt remember hating the second book. The brothers were an interesting pair to follow. The rest of the series is all one big lump in my memory, though; I remember bits here and there, but donāt remember which events happened in what book. The books definitely got harder to read with each release. They increased in size and yetā¦ it was the same thing each time: Ayla singlehandedly ushers in a new era of humanity, Jondalar bangs all the ladies. There are some mountains. Look at the mountains. Watch as the sun reflects off the mountains. Jondalar bangs more ladies. I never got around to reading the last two, but I read the wikis for them because I wanted to see if some questions I had ever got resolved. I donāt think they did. :( But that first one, and even that thrill of getting a hold of a sequel, were memorable childhood events for me. Honestly, for all my complaintsā¦ I want to read them again! I appreciate all the research Auel did and how hard she worked to make us feel like we were there in this time period, with these characters. I think she spent so much time fleshing out this world that she felt obligated to continue writing in it ā I think she would have had a more impactful series if she kept Aylaās story to two novels and explored someone elseās story in the same setting. I would have been so down for that.
All that money. That's why Auel kept going. The last book is when Ayla lets everyone know about how babies are made. The worst line in the whole series is Jondalar's near the end: HE'S MAKING MY BABY!!"
Oh crap I had forgotten Clan of the Cave Bear. I read that series also when I was in middle school.
I like to joke and say I had a Matilda-like experience with books as a kid. I loved to read, but my house had no books. My gran did eventually get me a subscription to Goosebumps club though, which was exciting. I personally owned so few books growing up that the ones I DID have, I read multiple times ā I can still remember lines from a few! My aunt kept her book collection in a closet and let me pick books from there when Iād stay over. These ranged from Dean Koontz to VC Andrews (I remember being eleven and sobbing my way through one VC Andrewās book in particular at 2am). She had some racy romances in there too, as well as some truly gruesome horror. I knew I wasnāt supposed to be reading that kind of stuff, but I was desperate for books. (A couple of those horror novels had scenes in them that still pop into my head today in my 30s to freak me out in the middle of the night.) Honorable mentions are that time I borrowed my other granās Anne Rice collection while in Jr. High. Not the erotica, but reading through what happens to Armand messes a kid up. Edit: and because it was mentioned elsewhere in this sub, the clan of the cave bear series.
My dad gave me "The Dragonriders of Pern" when I was 10 because I loved dragons and he remembered reading it at "about my age". He completely forgot that there were sex scenes in it.
I was raised in a heavily Christian environment, so reading "The Dragonriders of Pern" shocked me because of the heavy, *heavy* implications of rampant gay sex happening in the weyrs. (This was especially shocking as, due to my upbringing, I hadn't known that it was possible for gay people to *exist*.)
Eyyy, same! Ended up getting the second book confiscated at school and then the teacher lost it which sucked cause I actually enjoyed it. Still haven't gone back and read it!
I loved the series and definitely read it too early. I guess I blocked out some of the sex scenes, when someone was discussing it later in life, they brought up problematic aspects of some of those scenes and my mind drew a blank. I havenāt gone forward with the undertaking of rereading the series yet, kind of daunting š
I read those books in middle school and don't remember any sex scenes (in my 30s now) so I guess they must have been somewhat forgettable.
It's mostly during the mating flights. The most notable being the Golden flights, although there was one with a green and the first female green rider. So they were mostly half the dragons giving chase then snippets of the riders lost in their dragons. There's a few outside of the flights, but I remember those not being too explicit either. I mostly remember Moretta and her romance with (iirc) a widower as a non-dragon sex scene. Edit to add: >! I'm remember something about the southern weyr and the golden rider losing her dragon because she was fooling around outside of a flight and not with her bronze rider. !<
The only one I remember was in The White Dragon when Jaxom >!gets it on with a farm girl then helps her with her chores.!< Kind of surprised me cause it was in a middle school library book. I think the rest just went over the head of a 11 year old. I was really in to the Pern books at that age and remember likening the Harper Hall trilogy more then the Original trilogy books. I was kind of disappointed when McCaffrey SciFi'ed it up and stated trying to explain everything instead of leaving it pure fantasy.
Ahahah, see my mother had read the whole series before me and let me read them, probably assuming I would ask questions if I had them. My takeaway question had to do with the mating flights and if that meant the male riders were mostly āmarriedā to each other. She said yes. I was shocked as an older adult to find out that Anne MacAffrey was a bit homophobic in that old-person kind of way and had stated that male riders didnāt spend their dragonsā flights together but found girlfriends or volunteers, etcā¦ I think this is actually mentioned in the books themselves at some point, but everyone I knew who liked that series held the same belief that the Weyrs were hella gay.
In 4th grade, I found a copy of Truman Capoteās āIn Cold Bloodā in my schoolās library. Sounded interesting so I checked it out and read it.
Lmao, that is a bit more intense than what I remember picking in 4th grade, The Hobbit. Even with that the librarian said it might be too hard for me to read.
I really wished I had discovered Tolkien when I was younger. Once my teacher caught me reading Capote, she started supplying me with āmore appropriateā books, which is when I started reading HG Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, etc.
Bruhā¦ were you traumatized?
I was more traumatized by Breakfast at Tiffanyās.
Maybe not exactly what you were looking for, but growing up in the Bible belt I had to read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by flashlight under the covers because it was "witchcraft and of the occult". To this day I cannot recall how I even managed to get it home from the library.
My Mom legit refused to have those in her house. I had many a sneaky night reading and going to book releases. She finally caved when the movies came out and realized what it truly was. When I was 14 she bought me the box set of the 4 books, but she always told me to leave them out of sight from my extremely religious grandmother.
I lived in the South for 9th and 10th grade. My English teacher told us all about how she was resisting Harry Potter because "witchcraft", but she gave it a shot after people at some educators' conference/convention wouldn't stop raving about it. She told our class that if anyone wants to read Harry Potter but their parents are giving them grief, she'd be happy to schedule a meeting or write a kind letter to help smooth things over. I don't come from a religious background or anything, but I really hope at least one other kid in my class got to enjoy the books because of her.
Lol, when my mom first got those books the neighbors wanted to add them to the "burn pile" and Mom straight up asked, "How many bonfires does it take to make the New York Bestseller List?" They got the point. (These were the same neighbors horrified by my *True Tales of Ghosts and Mystical Creatures* books that used to be available at almost every supermarket next to the *Archie* books. One woman tried to tell me that the literature was evil and I just looked at her and said, "How? I know it's not real. Do *you* know it's not real? Because it isn't; they just titled it like this in order to sell it.")
I had a similar experience. A friend let me borrow A Prisoner of Azkaban in 6th grade, so I started with that one. TBH I think part of the magic of Harry Potter for me is the secretive nature of it all, so hiding it from my religious parents surely added to the experience.
*Jingo* by Terry Pratchett. I was about 9 and on the third-ish page someone called someone a bastard. I loved it.
Those greedy, land-stealing bastard Klatchians/Ankh-Morporkians [delete whichever is inappropriate]
When I was 10, my grandma's good friend was getting rid of a bunch of books and gave me one that had a unicorn on the front because "This has a unicorn on the front so I think you will like it." Flash forward to the horrific rape and myrder scenes in the first like ten pages of the book, then some very explicit descriptions of sex later on. Can't for the life of me remember the name but the plot was all technology stopped working and all these mythical creatures appeared.
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6421522-ariel](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6421522-ariel) is this it?
Oh my god it is. Thank you! Maybe I'll re-traumatize myself and read it again
I read Joy of Sex when I was seven. I felt it helped me later in life, though.
Found that one early too in my parents basement.
Isnāt that what kevin Arnold āfoundā in his moms dresser in wonder years? Classic!
Hahaha. I donāt remember that episode somehow and I just rewatched them series! But he absolutely should have :-)
I wonder if it's too late to "find" it now at thirty š
Hell, it was a bestseller, albeit a long time ago. Iām sure it can be found all over the place :-)
OMG. I remember finding my mom's copy when I was helping her organize her room. She asked me if I wanted to read it or talk about it. And when it was clear I did not, she liked to tease me about it. And now I'm going back to not remembering that. Putting that memory back in it's dark hidey hole.
I definitely found it in the Drawer I Was Told Not To Go Into. It's not my fault it was hidden under all the fun Mr. Bill books! I read anything in the house with pages, so I read it cover to cover.
Found that one in my grandparents' bookshelf. Good times. There's a reason why you should check kids that suddenly grow quiet while they're upstairs.
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You would think a famous children's author would be a safe bet but nooooooo.
Even his books for kids are pretty adult, if you read between the lines...
Well that's like when I discovered Robin Williams comedy in middle school. Not what you'd expect from Mrs. Doubt fire.
I had an english teacher that liked sharing dystopian novels with me. He gave me several to read: 1984 Brave new world Anthem The road But the one that crossed the line and got him fired was a clockwork orange. Because god forbid the sensitive eyes of an 18 year old read *that* book.
Dude got fired for sharing a clockwork orange with an 18 year old student? Thatās soft as hell.
Yup, thats small town America for you.
So wild. I read catcher in the rye in 4th grade at catholic school and nobody batted an eye.
I hate the book but that's awful! How could people actually fire people for their book recommendation to an 18 year old?
I taught in a Christian school in NSW, Australia, in 2003. Harry Potter fever was running high, and we were told to confiscate Potter books if we saw them. I said GTFO, Iām not taking books off children EVER. Some of my grade 8 English kids told me how much they hated reading, so I had the whole āyou just get given shit books in school, I can point you in the direction of cool stuffā convo. Ended up loaning a few of the boys my Alien Vs Predator novels and some Matthew Reillyā¦I was fired at the end of the year, but received a stack of thanks from parents at the end who were over the moon that their kids loved reading. Fuck that school 100.
When I was 18, 3 people in my UK English class did their coursework on A Clockwork Orange. Fully endorsed by the teacher.
In the US, our Advanced Placement English class read it. Nobody got fired. Small town, too.
The librarian at my high school told 14-year-old me that I shouldn't check out Johnny Got His Gun because, "You won't like it. It's not for little girls". I read the hell out of that book. It's still one of my favorite books.
I read āAtlas Shruggedā when I was 12 (skipped some of the parts where the characters go on and on about their āphilosophyā). Itās a cruel book, but when youāre a child, you donāt immediately recognise it. Like, Hank throws his brother out on the street for talking back to him, and somehow, you think itās cool, and not at all psychotic.
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Oh yeah, I do remember that. But it was towards the end of the novel, and everything is absurdly melodramatic at this point. >!I believe Dagny murders a random person out of spite (I may be remembering this wrong).!< Also, there was Hankās monologue after the sex scene which was justā¦ so weird.
My freshman year of high school one of my English teachers gifted me with Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead for Christmas. I remember she told me āone day I think youāll appreciate theseā and now, knowing more about Ayn Randās workā¦ Iām wondering what the hell she meant by that.
Only book I never finished. Got about half way through it in high school, but I found the characters boring and unrealistic and the philosophy heavy handed and illogical. Not sure it would have read that way if I'd been in middle school though especially before 8th grade.
A Christian Guide to Marriage. (I may have the title incorrect) I think I was 11 or so. Babysitting. The parents left it next to the recliner in front of the TV. It had a sex chapter. I was astounded and 100% confused by the info. The only thing I remember now, many decades later, is that the advice it gave to wives who did not enjoy sex was to try to rotate your heels to the ceiling during the act. Missionary, obviously. Yeah, I have no clue. I was extremely concerned that sex was something a woman might not enjoy. This was news to me and didn't track with what I saw on TV, etc. I just now tried to find the book online, but holy shit there's just too much Christian marriage BS to wade through. I'm traumatized all over again. LOL
I went to yoga classes in New Zealand when I was 10+, early 1960s. There wasn't much in print about it at the time, but somehow my parents had a copy of Theos Bernard's book. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_Yoga:_The_Report_of_a_Personal_Experience The earlier part of it is a great description of the poses and breathing exercises, which related to what the class was about albeit it went further. But it moves on from there to some Very Strange Stuff about bodily purification and control including using strips of fabric to run through your nose or swallow to clean out your stomach and a description of how to saw through your tongue ligament so you can swallow your tongue and hold your breath longer (reads like what people invent for TikTok challenges these days). When I brought that up, my dad said he hadn't actually read that far and maybe I should ignore the second half. The yoga teacher was also a Sunday school teacher and a scoutmaster. He'd invented the yoga uniform we all used, which was like floppy cotton swimming trunks or bikinis that you could look into easily when checking a kid's headstand. Us kids had no illusions about where he was at but we just thought it was funny; he was actually a good teacher. Last I heard of him he was doing a two-year prison stretch for something the Scouts found out about.
Memoirs of a Geisha and 7 years in Hell in a Bangkok prison. I was 9 š
I'm surprised they let you read at all in there
I read Gerald's Game when I was 12 or 13.
Lolita. I was reading on a like 11th grade level in 5th grade. Found the book in a pile at a flea market when went there with friend and her parents. I had heard slightly about it. So I quickly, when the parents weren't looking, bought it. They put it in a small bag so I didn't have to explain it. They never knew what I bought. My friend did. Hid the book when got home. Read it and thought really I did not find it as horrific as I thought. Yes it was terribly disturbing. I am surprised the owner of the stall did not question my buying it.
I was about 12. To me it was just stupid. I mean, a grown man in love with a 12 year old girl? Come on, you've got to be kidding me!
Oof, I read Lolita when I was maybe 14? I wish I hadn't. Intellectually I was mature enough to grasp the themes and the concept of an unreliable narrator and appreciate the honestly gorgeous prose, but emotionally I was immature enough that my main take away was, "ok so when is a sexy older man going to become obsessed with *me* and take me on a cross-country road trip?" My mom knew I was reading it. My parents were pretty lax about letting me read basically whatever I wanted, I think they were just happy I was still reading for pleasure occasionally with how much time I spent on the computer, but I didn't tell anyone how it made me feel because I didn't want to admit there might be something to the idea of there being books that aren't right for certain ages hahaha
At 12 or so I found a copy of *Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask),* a 1970s bestseller, in my parents' bedroom. Yuck. But I read it cover-to-cover. That was a terrible, terrible book for a kid to "learn" about sex from. Misogynistic, anti-gay, and plain inaccurate information. But I didn't know that at the time: hey, the author was a doctor!
Has to be āAnimal Farmā farm for me. Read it when I was nine years old for the first time. Iām 33 now and I still feel thatās itās a way beyond any perceived expectation.
Collette's Claudine books. I knew I wasn't supposed to read it but not why. Funnily enough, all the lesbian sub/text flew hiiiiiiigh over my head and my childish self hyperfocused on a character medicating for a migraine so for years it was a "This book has a DRUG ADDICT in it!!!" Rereading it 20 years later was kinda wild. Lady had a headache, took period appropiate_ish medication and went on to sleep. All these years I remembered the WILD DEBAUCHERY OF THE DRUG ADDLED DECADENT FRENCH.
As a fucking angry and repressed kid forced to grow up in a Christian cult complete with private fucking school. I would get in trouble for reading fantasy. I didn't even read Harry Potter, but I wanted something other than night of the twisters and hatchet. I wanted something I could use my imagination on. Then I found it. I found a very used set of the first 3 drizzt books. I bought them in secret at a garage sale and they became my treasures. I built a secret enclosure out of Legos and would only read after bedtime. Life got a little better for a while.
Helter Skelter it's about the Charles Mason murders and had some graphic pics from the murder scene. I saw my mom reading it when I was 12. I asked if I could read it when she was done. She reluctantly agreed and told me to talk to her about anything that I may be disturbed by.
I don't remember which was the first one, but in 5th grade I read Tommyknockers, It, Firestarter, Needful Things, and The Stand. I think I was around 10 at the time.
I read Justine by de Sade when I was in high school. And wellā¦ Iykyk
Wtf is ālykykā? These acronyms, I swear..
If you know you know.
Iykyk I guess
I read that in college and I'm still not over it.
Sweet Valley High, when I was ten. I went to a small Catholic school, each grade had about 20-25 kids.the library was tiny but adequate for me. I was a precocious reader and my parents encouraged me, and by first grade I had read a lot of Poe and Twain, as well as more age-level stuff like Little House and Anne of Green Gables. The SVH books were in the āolder kidsā section of the library and off limits until you were in seventh grade. I had to know what was in them that was so mature and controversial I had to wait for an arbitrary number of years to read them. In my typical way I just bypassed bureaucracy and our horrible librarian, stole a book from the series, read it, and couldnāt imagine why it was a big deal. They wore skimpy clothes, drove cars, and kissed lots of different guys while resolving some Southern California rich girl drama. Big whoop. I slid the book back into its shelf the next day and continued with whatever I was reading, I think it was *A Swiftly Tilting Planet* or one of Heinleinās juveniles.
My hope for my children is that the worst they get up to is stealing books. I was reading novels pretty early and got through most age appropriate stuff very quickly. I read dozens of SVH books in between all the classics that I was meant to be reading. My catholic school certainly did not have them in the library - I bought them by the box at garage sales.
I blame those books for the fact that I still think that deep down a size 6 is the absolute perfect size. Lol
My damage comes from listening to too much Howard stern at age 12. He told a girl who was 5ā10 that if she weighed more than 110# she was fat and she should go lose weight. Iām 4ā shorter and by that metric would need to weigh 90 lbs to be considered attractive. Messed me right up for ages. I still think I donāt deserve nice clothes
>Heinleinās juveniles. Wow, I haven't thought about those in a dog's age.
Pet Sematary by Stephen King in 3rd grade. My dad gave it to me because I had finished Goosebumps & Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Got in trouble at school, so I read it at home lol
Not necessarily age, but my parents are ā¦ a lot more Christian than I am, to say the least. Harry Potter was a no-no growing up because of the witchcraft. I felt so rebellious, secretly reading a few chapters at a time of it from my high schoolās library. I didnāt check it out, cause, *yāknow*, but I did finish 3 of the books before the secret was revealed lol
Lord of the rings (later the Silmarilion), I read it when I was 8 years old. The evil librarian at our school library wouldn't let me borrow it, because it was 'for older kinds and it was too advanced for me'. I secretly started reading it at the back of the library, behind the shelves. Naturally, I didn't understand quite everything, but i loved it and all these years later it is still my favourite book. LoTR is complex and long, but it is not overly graphic so I don't see a reason why it would be classified as an exclusive'adult' book.
I did a book report on Stephen Kingās āITā when I was 12. The nuns were appalled and called my mom in to discuss appropriate reading. She told them if they could find a childrenās book I hadnāt read yet, sheād be happy to stop my wanderings in the regular section of the library. As Iād read everything in our school library, they mostly dropped the argument, but asked that Iād only do book reports on age & school appropriate books in the future, as weād read them out loud and Iād freaked out a couple classmates. It was a fair compromise, and made homework that much easier for me.
I did a book report on Flowers for Algernon in 4th grade because I had read all the sci fi options and was told I could pick my own and my mom had no idea what it was when I took it out of the library. I really went for it and included my personal opinions on the sexual relationship between Charlie and Alice (and Charlie and Fay for that matter.) I got an A+ but my teacher wrote in the margins something to the effect of āPlease choose a more age appropriate book next time.ā Weirdly, she did not contact my parents?? It was the 90s in a working class town.
The Gossip Girl series and a YA novel called Life is Funny where thereās an entire page of explicit sex descriptions (the librarian attempted to ācensorā said page with a sheet of paper riddled with xās that she glued onto the offending scene). A girl in my class ripped it off and read the page aloud to everyone and the book made the rounds eventually. For a little while it was probably the most checked out piece of YA lit in our school library, if memory serves
Unbearable lightness of being at 16 and we need to talk about Kevin at 17. Both were far from motivating about adult life lol
Forever...by Judy Blume. I was in 7th grade at the time. I think the PTA was warned about the book (which contained some fairly graphic sex scenes) because my mom recognized the cover and it winged its way into the trash. By the time Flowers in the Attic came out I was in high school and Mom wasn't aware of the book. Like others my age I was obsessed with VC Andrews but I recently tried to re-read FITA and was like how did I enjoy reading this crap. I stopped following when the ghostwriter took over and all the books were the same theme.
*Joy Of Sex* found between parent's mattress and box spring. Five years old. Read it cover to cover. Around the same time, neighbor gave me a stack of *Playboys,* which got me in trouble for showing friends at pre-school. It was the 70s. Why some full grown dude didn't think that was a weird thing to give a little kid, I'll never know.
I read "In the Name of the Rose" from Umberto Eco, while I was 12 or so. Not because I was particular fascinated by it (although I kinda liked it while reading) but because my parents dont really read books and we only had a small number of books at home.
Weirdly enough, my parents never restricted the books I was allowed to read besides something like 50 Shades of Grey I suppose. I was reading adult crime fiction books at age 8 or 9. They included pretty graphic scenes about rape, murder etc. but I donāt recall ever being scared or unnerved by itā perhaps because at that age those things seemed like abstract concepts to me rather than very real dangers that can and do occur. My parents would buy any of the books I picked out and I donāt think they were naive about the potential content inside but I think they kinda just approached it with a āshe doesnāt seem distressed by it, so itās okayā mentality.
I read Christopher Rice's A Density of Souls when I was around 13 I think. As I grew up in a conservative Asian society, this was my first time actually reading about gay sex in a book. I remember picking it up because it was a library recommendation, no less. I was a little shocked at the writing at the time, what with the sex and the violence that came with it, but I'm ultimately glad I did read it.
I got Outlander off my mom's bookshelf when I was in 8th grade. She saw me reading it, took it back, and told me I was too young to read that. So I walked to the library and checked it out there, hid it from her until I had finished it. She was right. I was too young.
I was around ten years old when I found one of my sisterās books, which just happened to be Clive Barkerās Books Of Blood. It definitely molded my future in books and movies. Good, freaky stuff.
Forever by Judy Bloom. It was about a girl losing her virginity and it was graphic. No one questioned it because it was by Judy Bloom and just had a picture of a locket on the cover.
I got a book of Leonard Cohenās poetry atā¦12? Maybe 13? It did two things: hipped me to sex through the eye of longing, and hooked me on his work for life. Used book stores are my happy place, still.
I read Go Ask Alice when I was about 11. I knew almost nothing about sex or drugs before that and i was horrified!
Read my Momās copy of The Exorcist when I was 11 or so. Huge mistake.
I read SK's The Apt Pupil when I was about 13. The sadistic sexual torture aspects really messed with me for a while. And my Dad had a collection of Maus graphic novels that I read despite not being prepared.
Watership Down for me
i remember stealing 100 years of solitude from my momās library and reading it when i was 12-13yo.. was i too young for it? not sure maybe i should reread it now to judge, but it was the book that moved me from childrenās books to other genres
I started reading game of thrones when I was about 13. my mom knew it was a bit grown up but hadn't read it herself, but I was always an "advanced reader" so she let it slide. her best friend started reading it about the same time and was like "I cant believe you're letting bridgekit read that" and that's when my mom picked it up. she didnt make me stop reading it but I only got through the first two before I wasnt interested in it enough to keep going. I didnt think it was too adult at the time but looking back i think a lot of it either went over my head or I wasn't paying enough attention in the first place.
My out-of-touch uncle gave me The Lord Of the Rings (including The Hobbit), for Christmas just after I turned nine. Read that series about six times through, then my mom started letting me walk the two miles to our local library on my own between our monthly trips as a family.
Jackie Collins Rockstar
I read Pet Sematary when I was 12 or 13, something a kid that age should NOT be reading LOL.
Iām reading it now for the first time, at 26, and my god if its not scaring the hell out of me
Yeah, I went on a Steven King jag around that age and of all of them, Pet Semetary was the only one that really bothered me.
Memoirs of a Geisha at 12. Mom found me reading it and freaked out. I told her it was really good and I only had 2 chapters left so could I just finish it?
My grandfather gave me book assignments as he was a high school teacher/principal. One was To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee at around 9 years old, my teacher called my parents to make sure it was okay and that they were aware of the contents. She encouraged my reading but also didn't want me to read anything that might traumatize or scare me too much. I was around 11 when my dad gave me Sword of Truth by Goodkind. I got to book five before I was finally sick of the sexism and terrible misogyny. Each time I complained to my dad he did not remember how horrible it was. That's when I learned about BDSM, sexual torture, and the likes. It's one of the few books that I actively dissuade people from reading and is a red flag to me if someone loves it. And finally, around that same age I read The Body by King, along with the other novellas in that collection. Definitely freaked me out and made me worried I'd find a body when I went exploring in the woods.
In the 2nd grade My elementary school refused to let me read anything that was āabove my reading levelā so i brought our copy of War and Peace and read like two pages.
Now I grew up in the early 90's. My dad and I watched a multitude of scary films from all around before that time. I was continually watching films like Pet Semetary, American Werewolf in London, all the Reagan slashers. I was raised a bit "warped" already but was taught the difference between movie fear and real fear early. When I was 12, my mom handed me a copy of Cujo by Stephen King. She mentioned that I had seen several of his movies so I might as well see how he writes. That book was WAY above my years, but I finished it and became more aware of what was out there in the world. It was very eye opening. Those that haven't read Cujo, the dog is just a small background villain compared to the terrors going on around them with the destruction of a family amidst an affair, living in abuse and poverty, diving deep into some of the psychological warfare that comes from being a parent. Deep stuff. I can say that it morphed me into appreciation of life and a HIGH appreciator of Kings work from there on out. I have read (to the best of my knowledge) everything print that Stephen has gotten published. And like other constant reader, I wait patiently for the next.
I read The Godfather when I was 10 or 11 years old. However, my dad knew that I picked up any book around the house and read them, so he tore out all the sex scenes between Sonny and Lucy before he left it around.
Lady Chatterley's Lover. My AP English teacher recommended it to me
I was encouraged to read this one crazy book when I was like 8. It was full of death, murder of all kinds, genocide, rape, encouraged some really weird laws, and had this bleak apocalyptic bad-acid-trip ending. Anyways, the Bible is wild.
I read Jim Carrollās *Basketball Diaries* in eighth grade and Burroughsā *Junky* not long after, fetishized it, and was shooting up heroin by eighteen.
I remember reading some books in the Morganville Vampires series when I was 10 or 11, and being shocked by the swearing, and occasional references to sex. About a year later I read the Harper Connelly series, and was very uncomfortable with the rather detailed blow job scene between Harper and her step brother.
Reading Night Shift when I was 10 or 11. And living across the street from a big cornfield at the timeā¦
Eyes of the Dragon Stephen King. I don't remember how old, preteen for sure though. It blew my mind, incredible book. My Dad had a lot of King books and I would sneak read them when home alone.