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Original poster

books i read too young... and yours?

41 replies

tyaca · 26/02/2008 23:36

ooohhh.... satanic verses & unbearable lightness of being are the first ones to spring to my mind. aged about 13. actually, maybe the title shouldnt be "books i read too young" but should instead be "books i only persevered with because i was so young... nowadays i would not be othered after page 4".

OP posts:
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sherby · 05/03/2008 19:16

ROFL at turquises link

turquoise · 05/03/2008 18:55

The Naked Ape sex chapter (attracted by naked people on the front) aged about 8.

I looked like this for weeks, but boy was I well informed. I was the NQC of the primary school

McDreamy · 05/03/2008 18:41

A Clockwork Orange - I was about 13

MrsCarrot · 05/03/2008 18:40

I read everything in the house from Jane Eyre and holocaust accounts to Flowers in the Attic and The Amytiville Horror. I was way too young for most of it. I vividly remember being 11 or so and being afraid of seeing demon piggy eyes at the window.

PandaG · 05/03/2008 18:34

Hollywood wives! I was about 13 and pretty innocent! I read it as I wasn't aware it was so 'adult' in content, and neither was my mum.

throckenholt · 05/03/2008 18:32

Holocaust at about 12, quite a few by Leon Uris at that age too, I also read Pride and Prejudice at about that age.

sherby · 05/03/2008 18:30

Catcher in the Rye again.

I felt unbelievably depressed for about a year after reading it. I still have it on my bookshelf. I may read it again one day but I almost shudder whenever it catches my eye.

I don't even know why it made me feel so depressed I just know it felt really dark to me

Aged 14 maybe.

Ledodgy · 05/03/2008 18:29

Forever by Judy blume when I was 10, page 73 of the hardback version was when she met 'Ralph' my friend and I sneaked it out the library in my mum's bag on wheels.

Nemoandthefishes · 05/03/2008 18:28

The colour purple at the age of 10

ChicaLovesHerLocalGreengrocer · 05/03/2008 18:25

I read The Story of O that my parents had on the sitting room shelves!!! prob about 11 or 12!!! My mum found it in my room and got v embarrassed and said that it was a 'nasty book' and not for children.

On a more serious note, I read quite a few Tom Sharpe novels when I was about the same age, and really didn't get them. Reading again now, I wonder what the heck I was thinking of.

Ditto Sons and Lovers, Pride and Prejudice and White Swans (although I think I didn't finish that one.

Minkus · 28/02/2008 19:54

Catcher in the Rye- about 13, but realised even then that there was a lot more to it than I was getting

Pride and Prejudice- about 12 thought it sooo dull at the time

Sons and Lovers- the poigniancy was obvious to me but I was too young to feel it at 16/17.

georgiemama · 27/02/2008 21:23

ooh, I like this thread. I LOVE Persuasion and The Pursuit of Love. I cried and cried at the latter, all the characters are fab, and I think it has the most lovely, pull you in openings in almost any book I have read.

I think for me, Jane Eyre. I read it so young the early part with Helen Burns still feels more heartflt and resonant with me than the later relationship with Mr Rochester, because subsequent readings of it are completely coloured by early impressions. I can't read it as an adult, I'm still 12 when I read it, viewing it as I did then.

chopster · 27/02/2008 14:50

Fanny Hill at 10.

poodlepusher · 27/02/2008 14:47

definitely Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

I was 12

RosaIsRed · 27/02/2008 01:00

Persuasion. You have to be over 30 to appriciate the poignancy.
Paradise Lost. I think I am old enough to reread it now I am over 40, but whether I have the time is another matter.
The Great Gatsby. I loved it as a teenager, thinking it incredibly romantic. I reread it this year and realised that it is actually unbelievably sad.

suzywong · 27/02/2008 00:18

Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry
not appropriate for A level students, now I am jaded 40 year old then perhaps

BoysAreLikeDogs · 27/02/2008 00:18

at railway timetables

Off to bed my lovlies

JeremyVile · 27/02/2008 00:16

The Joy of Sex.

At about 5.

Wrongwrongwrongwrongwrong

Original poster
tyaca · 27/02/2008 00:15

BALD - the only reading matter in our loo were railways timetables which used to keep my dad engrossed.

then there are the books that are just ruined by a too-young read. i met an uber-bright 10yo who had just read pursuit of love and when she looked at me blankly when i suggested the ending was quite sad, i couldnt help thinking she should have waited...

OP posts:
RedJools · 27/02/2008 00:13

I stole "Love Without Fear" from my parents room, aged 12, and read it red-faced at the thought of my MUM and DAD getting up to these things

slim22 · 27/02/2008 00:13

Too many to list.
Was one of those bespectacled smart asses.
Glad I did though. Like you, wouldn't go past page 4 now!

I find novels so boring now. Unless it's a bio or historical or travel writting.

madamez · 27/02/2008 00:11

Rather a lot of HP Lovecraft, which gave me nightmares. And I used to sneak into parents' room when they were out and read bits of things like The Dice Man when I was about 13 (now there is an utterly rubbish book - interesting concept but one long misogynistic wank...)

Funnily enough I re-read The Long Walk when in hospital having DS. Not reading I'd recommend for a gas&air hangover and the shellshock of just having given birth...

northender · 27/02/2008 00:11

Danielle Steel over here! Was chuffed when they made hard cash for me at a car boot sale though

BoysAreLikeDogs · 27/02/2008 00:09

Ewww flowers in the attic

Further to my list is

Rogue Male - why would anyone ever want to read such twaddle, stupid O levels. Sheesh

Oh, and Reader's Digest, always there in the bathroom when you had to have a 'sit-down'

havalina · 27/02/2008 00:08

OMG I remember that long walk book, the first horror book I read is a bit vague, but the one I remember is pet cemetary, loved that one.

I read horror as fast as my mum and have loved it ever since, I'm just glad I didn't get into the whole de'sade etc stuff, which my mum read when she was young. She did kind of restrict my reading, but I read most of what she did.