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

[LadyJaye]

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.

Judy Blume!

When I was 10, I asked mum mum for a copy of Forever. I then lent it to the other girls in my class until one of the mums contacted mine about it and it was confiscated.

My mum had rubbish hiding places though so I found it and lent it out again. We were all just a bit more careful about hiding it ourselves

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.

Likewise!

I read voraciously as a teenager - my parents couldn't keep up so I worked my way through the library and their book cases.

My mum as a huge Catherine Cookson and Norah Lofts fan and my dad had a fair few Dennis Wheatley books. It was an interesting mix...

@BloodyFreezingOutHere

I read voraciously as a teenager - my parents couldn't keep up so I worked my way through the library and their book cases.

My mum as a huge Catherine Cookson and Norah Lofts fan and my dad had a fair few Dennis Wheatley books. It was an interesting mix...

I worked my way through my parents bookcase also.

Erica Jong Fear of Flying with pencilled doodles of penises in the margins was a particular lowlight.

(My mother swore blind that this was her sister's book that she 'must have left behind')

I'd forgotten that u til now!!

Erica Jong Fear of Flying with pencilled doodles of penises in the margins was a particular lowlight.

Easy Connections - by Liz Berry. I thought it was the height of romance when I read it age 15 however "Dev" is in fact a coercive, controlling POS despite looking like David Essex on the cover. I think a lot of books aimed at teen girls SVH etc, gave them hugely damaging messages about how they should expect to be treated by men and what relationships were supposed to be. I was a voracious reader and do think that they contributed to a my inner blue print that allowed me to let men treat me like absolute shit for years because jealousy and controlling behaviour was actually Real Love wasn't it?

I'm surprised to see Judy Blume on here. I think some of her stuff still stands up today and she's also written some books for adults, which are pretty good.

Yes, I still occasionally re-read my Judy Blume collection.

Jonathan livingston seagull inspirational as a teenager, unmitigated shit when I read it earlier this year.

@Cheeseandlobster

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

Yes- on the back of Bridget Jones and early Mariam Keyes I gobbled up all the Jane Greens, Freya North etc. All utterly dreadful really, and following the trope of Girl next door, salt of earth, hair smells like lemons, no makeup because she doesn't need it. Ever so quirky. Handsome, rugged, flawed hero. Always way more interesting than lemon haired girl. Sex between the two at inappropriate moment Tears and booze New but wrong partners for both Meet again surprisingly "oh it's you" Go home alone Interesting man arrives to tell lemony he loves her.

Oh fuck off.

I loved them

Tolkien. I think it's weird NOT to grow out of Tolkien

I’ve not read the whole thread, but my contribution is Jilly Cooper. Riders, Polo etc. I imagine if I read it now I’d see it as a complete load of drivel!

I had forgotten all about Judy Blume. Used to love those books.

And Lace by Shirley Conran!

This thread is like a blast from the past.

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous. I thought it was actually the diary of a girl who went down the path of drug addiction in the 60's. Instead it's a novel by some uber-religious type who made it all up. Bah.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Ask_Alice

Dennis Wheatley...very old fashioned now.
The Joy of Sex 😀

Roald Dahl, particularly Danny the Champion of the World. Probably the rest as well, but I can't be bothered reading them to check. I read a couple of chapters of Danny to my son a few years back and almost nodded off with boredom.

All the horse books, Silver Brumby, Black Stallion, my friend Flicka etc. I think Patricia Leitch might still hold up, but in general, dull as ditchwater.

And Lace by Shirley Conran!

I forget whether it was Lace or Lace 2 but, my overriding memory of that book is that a woman is awoken in the morning by a man under the covers going down on her.

I think of it often when I read posts in here where it would be described as always sexual assault.

I used to think its sounded pretty amazing but was always a little concerned about personal hygiene after sweating in bed all night 🤢

Anything written by the flowers in the attic author, or under her name. Complete and utter shite.

I’ve come back because I’ve just seen a tweet by Naomi Woolf - I get the feeling No Logo may not be as intellectually robust as I imagined at the time.

@PerveenMistry

Scruples.

I re-read them all last year ( 3 of them) they were still fine. Maybe I just still have bad taste!

I did enjoy sone Jane green stuff but newer ones have been library only as not as good. But I read all then as an adult.

@onewhitewhisker totally agree. Her first one was also very similar. Shallow awful heroine who I think plays 2 best friends off against each other. I may be wrong though. Her latest ones are all "grown up" now and are often about a heartbroken but fiercely independent woman in her thirties living somewhere in America like Connecticut or Nantucket who falls in love with her neighbour or rugged local guy who is not educated but great with his hands who turns out to be oh so intelligent and just perfect. Based on her own real life experience apparently

My friends and I read The Rats and Lair by James Herbert. Lots of gruesome bits interspersed with quite a lot of sex. We were horrified and intrigued in equal measures

I’m not keen on Roald Dahl either - even as a child I found the stories either cruel, disgusting or both. I think they didn’t appeal to my sense of humour. However I did like his autobiographical books, and still remember the horror I felt at that moment in The Witches when the woman starts taking her wig off ...

The only pony books I read as a child were Ruby Ferguson (Jill books) - I really like them although Jill and Ann should have gone on to magnificent horsy careers (preferably together) and not gone to learn typing or whatever.

Does anyone remember a book called You Remember Me! by Nicholas Fisk? It had a scary cover picture. I re-read it a few years ago and enjoyed it.

Piers Anthony
I was a big fan.

@TornadoOfSouls You Remember Me and Grinny! Loved those so glad if it holds up.

Remembered another one. Harry’s Mad liked as a child had to reword casual racist bits when read to my son. Always wondered why it wasn’t as affectionately remembered as the Sheep Pig.

Sweet valley high books. Loved them as a tween. Reread some. Last year and the are the dame thing over and over again