What did you read when you were a “kid” that you probably shouldn’t have read? That the “adult” you would snatch out of your (or your child’s) hand if you caught them reading it before they were 18?
Not saying they were “bad” books, but definitely looking back, they were books I should not have been reading at that age. LOL
The ones that come to mind for me are several by VC Andrews, including the Flowers in the Attic series and Anne Rice’s Cry to Heaven (which I love, btw). Surprisingly enough, the VC Andrews books were available in my high school’s library. There were several Stephen King ones I probably shouldn’t have read at the age of 12-14. LOL (Is it any wonder I’m warped? LOL)
So come on, fess up in the comments. It’ll be our secret… LOL
Heh, my Gran’s entire collection of Chinese Erotica when I was about nine/ten. I had no idea what I was reading. When my gran found out, she went a bit pale and locked them away.
*snort*
The Exorcist at the age of 11. I got 2 copies at the library sale. One for me, one for my bestie, 10 cents each. We read it on the long drive from Worcester, MA to Dover – Foxcroft, Maine. Hmm…..When I was about 14 or 15, I started reading my aunt’s vast collection of Harlequin romances.
I can’t really remember anything else I shouldn’t have read. Unless you throw in Steven King books. I devoured those.
Stacy Wilson
dragn_lady at yahoo.com
I was about 12 when I got into my mother’s romances. I would sneak them into my room and read them with a pen light at night when everyone went to bed. I’d read quite a few naughty ones by the time she caught me and starting to sensor the ones I was allowed to read. 🙂
I remember reading The Shinning at about 12 at night with a flashlight. We lived in the woods and my room was way on the back. I scared the s**t out of myself.
In 8th grade I was reading a book by Judy Blume. Can’t remember the name but my English teacher was instructed to take it from me and the school was banning it. She did let me finish it but after the school took it out.
I was mostly a boring reader as a kid and didn’t do things my mom said I shouldn’t. However, what she didn’t know, the lady I babysat for had a nice collection of naughty romance. I babysat a lot. 😉 As for my kids – well different story. They were much more adventuresome. I had to work to keep up with them. My son read the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind at the ripe old age of 14. No I did not take them away from him, (I mean he had already read them and was upfront about it by recommending them to me.) but we did have some in dept discussion.
V.C. Andrews-Flowers in the Attic when I was 13.
I also read V C Andrews, Judy Blume & my Mom’s romances. I also looked through The Joy of Sex & read Cosmopolitan by the time I was 10. I was an adventurous reader & still am!
Lolita. It was shocking@!! And all the Jackie Collins books…..
and I swear I remember one book where a woman had sex with a horse.
I read anything and everything I could get my hands on at the school library, then the public library which I worked at after school [in high school]. I bought every Nancy Drew mysteries I could afford on my eager allowance and read them numerous times. Really sad I did not keep them.
I read anything & everything I could get my hands on in the school library. Worked at one after school [in high school] and got to read bestsellers before anyone else. As a kid I bought Nancy Drew mysteries with my allowance when I could afford them.
I don’t remember the titles but at about 12/13 the local or school library had a series about a motorcycle group where the activities were quite graphic. I am sure that the adults had not bothered to read them because they would have been removed from the shelves if they had. Although we had to read “Lord of the Flies” as part of the English program in Yr 8 and I cannot believe that that book is considered a classic by some (just my opinion) because I disliked that book intensely. we had a family discussion a few years ago while a friend who is a librarian was visiting, about that book – my kids – about 14/15 thought it was quite tame although they found the writers style difficult to read. It is all about perspective.
in referencing Barbara’s comment about a story with a woman having sex with an animal … presuming the book was from a while ago ….. and it is only recently that some people think that it is the younger generation is causing the world’s demise…. I am convinced that some have convenient ‘forgeteries’ where their memories used to be as to what they & older generations did. (huge amount of sarcasm inserted but with a smile)
Yes, Vanessa…..HUGE sarcasm. Altho when I mentioned that book to my cousin, who read nearly everything I read………she vaguely remembers that book as well. I really think it was a Jackie Collins…..set in Hollywood. (but weren’t most of them?)
I remember overhearing my mother and my aunt discussing Mandingo..
a very racy novel about the old South. But I couldn’t get my hot little hands on it. They kept hiding it!
http://flavorwire.com/409714/40-trashy-books-that-are-actually-worth-reading/view-all
I read most of them. geesh. Altho I don’t see Gone With the Wind as trash.
“Cry to Heaven” is definitely on my list that I probably read at way too young an age, along with many other Anne Rice. Stephen King’s “It” and “Misery” made me ask some pretty inappropriate questions when we took vacations to Maine to visit family. My parents trusted me to ask questions if I didn’t understand anything was the best part. I think they were just happy I was reading instead of getting into trouble like my siblings. 🙂
When I was six, I told the librarian I had read all the Nancy Drews, all the Bobbsey Twins, all the Borrowers books, all the Curious Georges and Pippi Longstockings and Babars and was almost done with a Roman mythology book some idiot had let me check out. Troubled, she steered me toward the special of the month, science fiction. Prominently featured was _The Rolling Stones_, by Robert Heinlein.
If she had known any better, she would have let me read all about those randy Roman gods. Reading Heinlein shaped so many of my attitudes and beliefs going forward — about politics, and what I expect of myself and others, about life and how it should be lived. Rah, rah, RAH!
When I was about seven, I got my hands on a 40’s-era sex manual I assume belonged to my mother, since my father had been married twice before and, presumably, knew what to do (!!!). I called myself hiding the book, but one day it disappeared, and I didn’t find it ever again. It was pretty explicit — “penis” and “vagina” and “don’t ever say no to your husband” and “be careful of your wife.” I don’t remember much of the actual text, but I fantasized …!
In high school, I worked in the school library. I’d been reading Robert Heinlein since I was six, but only the juveniles. In high school, I got ahold of the adult Heinleins. I also discovered Jorge Amado in that library, and read the most salacious stuff with what felt like permission from the school.
By the time I got to college, I was a lost cause …!