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Original poster

Books you enjoyed as a young 'un and now think are utter nonsense

192 replies

LadyJaye · 21/12/2020 19:25

Inspired by a previous thread.

The Catcher In The Rye: brilliant when you're 14, insufferable at 41.

On The Road: ditto

American Psycho: the only book I've ever refused to finish reading

Anything by Tolkien: my undergraduate degree was in linguistics.

OP posts:
Original poster
LadyJaye · 21/12/2020 23:24

@HopeClearwater

think I am influenced by him as an author, because it turns out he is a bit of a dick in real life

So many middle aged white male novelists turn out to be dicks in real life ...

Ain't that the truth...
OP posts:
thelegohooverer · 21/12/2020 23:31

Malory Towers - it was my first chapter book and I got hooked on reading. I read the first chapter with dd when she was 7 and she immediately felt sorry for Gwen and thought the others with awful bullies. I don’t know why that wasn’t as obvious to my generation.

Cheeseandlobster · 21/12/2020 23:35

Jane Green wrote another book called Mr Maybe which was my favourite about a woman called Libby who gets engaged to a guy because he is filthy rich. He is shit in bed - he calls sex playing bouncy castles and has a hang dog expression when he does anything wrong despite being commanding at work. Libby soon realises she loves Nick, her friend, who is shock horror - poor. But its ok because whaddya know. Nick has landed a 6 figure book deal so its all ok after all.

I lent it to a friend a few years ago who kindly didnt comment when she gave it back. So I read it again and was so embarrassed as it was utter shit. But my 21 year old self loved it

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August20 · 21/12/2020 23:36

Catcher in the Rye is enjoyable at any age - Holden is meant to be insufferable.

@thelegohooverer I never read Malory Towers as a child but read it a couple of years ago while babysitting - couldn't believe how cruel Darrell was just in the opening chapters!

PickAChew · 21/12/2020 23:37

Roddy the roadman.

Turns out it's not an umbrella.

steppemum · 21/12/2020 23:39

I had the complete set of Joan Aitken books, beginning with The Wolves of Wilboroughy Chase.

i reread them a while ago, they are very bad. Very Victoriana moralistic.

SarahAndQuack · 21/12/2020 23:45

Oh, no?! Really?

I've not read the whole set through for a while, but I loved Wolves of Willoughby Chase. I always thought she was sending up Victorian melodrama.

SarahAndQuack · 21/12/2020 23:46

@HopeClearwater

think I am influenced by him as an author, because it turns out he is a bit of a dick in real life

So many middle aged white male novelists turn out to be dicks in real life ...

This is so very true. Why I read mostly books by women now.
steppemum · 21/12/2020 23:51

@SarahAndQuack

Oh, no?! Really?

I've not read the whole set through for a while, but I loved Wolves of Willoughby Chase. I always thought she was sending up Victorian melodrama.

hmm, no don;t think so.

I adored these books and was terrified by the wolves all my childhood. I kept my treasued set too.

When my own kids were old enough to read them, i thought i'd read them aloud. Luckily Iread them through muself first.
And sent them to the charity shop Sad

SarahAndQuack · 21/12/2020 23:54

Oh, that's depressing. I must read them again to see.

Misbeehived · 22/12/2020 00:02

I love so many people read Sidney Sheldon. I used to tell people that my favourite book was Master of the Game! (I was 12 though) And came to say Flowers in the Attic. What on earth was anyone thinking with that one?!

PerveenMistry · 22/12/2020 00:05

Scruples.

HerBigChance · 22/12/2020 00:14

Oh no! Sidney Sheldon has been on my 'to reread at some vague point ' list. I loved those novels as a teenager.

To the PP who mentioned Truman Capote above, 'In Cold Blood' is superb.

electronVolt · 22/12/2020 00:24

All the later Robert Heinlein books

Oh god. I was,obsessed by the 60s era Nebula Award Sci Fi, and bloody loved RH. Spent hours and hours in the library reading my way through everything they had. over and over.

Downloaded a load on my kindle last year so I could have a happy re—read. Nope. Insufferable misogynistic shite. One dimensional characters acting inexplicably. Sigh.

VienneseWhirligig · 22/12/2020 00:30

Flowers in the Attic, Blue Lagoon, Leslie Thomas books. All trash, all read at between 10 and 12 because they were on my bookcase in my bedroom at my gran's where I lived half the week. I also read a collection of Victorian erotica called the Pearl which was even dodgier than Virginia Andrews although with similar themes. And The Carpet Baggers.

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 22/12/2020 00:42

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Wuthering Heights yet. I loved it as a teenager, and thought it was so romantic! Re-read it and realised Cathy and Heathcliff were bloody horrible people!

ClearingSpaceOnTheTrophyShelf · 22/12/2020 00:50

my contribution is the Unbearable Lightness of Being. I think you have to be 17 to read it.
Agree with all those saying bloody insufferable Catcher in the Rye, although I feel sorry for him too.

I expect Lace is a cringe fest too even though I loved it as a teen with my eyes on stalks at the sex scenes. Something to do with a goldfish bowl or did I make that up?
No, there is something gross with a goldfish!

ClearingSpaceOnTheTrophyShelf · 22/12/2020 00:51

don't get the Judy Blume hate????

ClearingSpaceOnTheTrophyShelf · 22/12/2020 00:54

@Igglepigglesgrubbyblanket

Came here to say on the road
Do you mean On The Road (hippy shit, very influential in it's day) Or The Road by cormac Mcarthy? Because I thought that was one of the most brilliant things I've ever read. If you meant this, why did you hate it?
whichminoguesister · 22/12/2020 03:58

I used to read Sweet Dreams books. American teenage love stories, with cool looking 80's girls on the front with lots of lipgloss.

whichminoguesister · 22/12/2020 03:59

@Audreyseyebrows

Judy Blume!
Are you there god? It's me, Margaret
onewhitewhisker · 22/12/2020 06:27

cheeseandlobster I remember Mr Maybe! And not only did Nick get a book deal she also discovered he went to public school which totally changed her opinion of him... all weirdly presented as though she'd been on a massive journey whereas she was clearly just as shallow at the end as she was at the start.

SarahAndQuack I've recently reread some of the Willoughby Chase series to my DS and still love them! Especially once Dido comes into them. So there's hope. He loved Midnight is a Place and the Shadow Guests too.

Misbeehived · 22/12/2020 07:05

@ClearingSpaceOnTheTrophyShelf oh no! what’s wrong with the unbearable lightness of being? Haven’t read for years and used to love.

(alongside all the Sidney Sheldon!)

BloodyFreezingOutHere · 22/12/2020 07:21

In the vein of Sidney Sheldon and Jackie Collins, I would love to re-read Lace by Shirley Conran as I loved that as a teenager. Now I think I'd be horrified!

Haha, same here. These were all on my secondary school book club list along with Jeffrey Archer and we used to sit on the field at break time discussing them.

I can't remember what the general feeling about them was now though.

cremuel · 22/12/2020 07:21

always, I immediately thought of Wuthering Heights. Not sure it really counts for me as I still think it’s a great book. But as a teenager I thought it was about powerful Love with a sexy, brooding hero who I would have tamed if I were Cathy. Now I realise it’s about awful, fucked-up people doing awful fucked-up things to each other. A good book still but very bleak.

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