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.

@whichminoguesister I found one of my old Sweet Dreams books while clearing out my mum’s house. Sat down to flick through it and was still there half an hour later.

I loved them

I didn’t like TCatR even when I was 14 but I did like some proper rubbish. I ended up doing an English Lit degree (and Masters degree) so I’ve read a lot of heavyweight literature but I was a teenager at the height of chick lit so read a lot of Jane Green and Arabella Weir et al and thought it was good. Oh Christ also Jodi Picoult too, she featured heavily on every basic teenage girls bookshelf in the early noughties. Remembering loving My Sisters Keeper and talking to friends about it with great enthusiasm.... we all loved it. Absolutely rubbish.

@Thechase

The famous five, I recently read it again and Nancy Drew. I suppose I was looking for a happier time long before COVID. It didn’t work.

Aww. I bought a Famous Five box set and read the whole lot over summer once. It took me right back to my childhood and the role play adventure games I used to play with my friends. The might not be the best books I've ever read, but I absolutely loved the nostalgia!

This is great. I love finding people who have read the same books as me. My Gran bought me Lace when I was 11. I don’t THINK she knew what it was like. I still have it so will dig it out to check it is as bad as everyone says.

I adored Jemima J but reread it and it made me very sad.

@HmmSureJan - Easy Connections! It seemed so glamorous when I was 12 but I read it again when I was at university and wow, the way that girl was treated. There was a sequel too.

@froggywentacarolling

I found a big pile of my old children's books a while back and have been re-reading them. So many of them don't stand up!

Noel Streatfeild's the Painted Garden (aka "Movie Shoes") which I remember as a delight, totally spoiled by the blatant favouritism of two of the children and massive scapegoating and emotional abuse of the third. The parents' behaviour reminded me of about a thousand MN threads on how to deal with difficult parents. For example the "plain untalented" daughter lands a huge movie role, understandably struggles a little bit to adjust (then soon finds her feet and works incredibly hard and gives an amazing performance). During the time she's struggling the dad goes around telling everyone including the other children how shit she is at acting and how she's going to be fired. When she brags about how good she's getting at playing a musical instrument the mum immediately turns round and announces to her siblings "no she's not she's total shit lol I spent all my time apologising for what a terrible racket she makes." It's painful to read, especially when the entire book makes out she's a bad little girl for being angry and miserable.

There's also a really weird bit where the oldest child concocts a plot to give the famous dancing maestro a sexy glam photo of herself because she's certain that's the way to get his attention and then he'll take her on as a dancer. Even though she's been in his dancing classes for months and singularly failed to impress him.

The parents also go on holiday with the wife's best friend (who lives with them and goes everywhere with them wtf) leaving the kids alone with their aunt, who is completely demonised even though she lets the entire family plus best friend stay with her for free for a year, has to put up with them making constant demands, and the aunt clearly has some kind of serious illness.

Yes to this! The weirdest bit of The Painted Garden is the wife's best friend, who comes to live with them when the first baby is born as the wife can't cope and is still living with them 13 years later, basically nannying the 3 kids with apparently zero salary and zero time off.

An even worse Streatfeild book is Apple Bough, which I loved as a child but in fact is basically about the oldest child in the family being horrifically neglected for years.

I remember reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance at 17 and thinking it was amazing, like, so deep, man

Now the idea of re-reading it makes me want to cry

The word 'chautauqua' gives me flashbacks

Another vote from another linguistics grad for Tolkien.

Jackie Collins I still love, I think you have to approach it as she's a cracking storyteller if not a literary writer. Same is true of Jeffrey archer his short stories are fabulous fun but won't be well regarded. I still regularly read "not a penny more..." it's very much along the lines of things like tv shows hustle and white collar?

I agree Jackie was totally self aware, I've heard she COULD have been a more literary writer and perhaps was under a super secret pen name there are apparently rumours.

Lace was ruined by the mini series who changed who her mother was - that was the whole bloody point!

Flowers in the attic and the other ORIGINAL Virginia Andrews I loved but I tried one of the ones by her child? But under "her" name? Dreadful!

More disturbingly it was my mother got me started on them at 13 with "my sweet audrina" NOT suitable for a 13 year old!!

Virginia Andrews is questionable though, it was all incest and very weird.

What's even weirder is that "flowers" was based on a true case of 2 pubescent children discovered that were being held captive akin to the situation with Joseph Fritzl and similar there was a 3rd child discovered who was initially thought to be a 3rd sibling but turned out to be the elder 2 siblings child

I'm now wanting to know what is wrong with Tolkien if you are a linguist?
Please?!

Linguistics lecturers are fucking obsessed with him! So as a student you end up OVER studying the damn things! Impossible to enjoy anything you've been forced to thoroughly deconstruct.

Sorry but I still love wuthering heights 

@BloodyFreezingOutHere I went through a phase of reading Catherine Cookson but they're ultimately all the same very formulaic

One series I ALWAYS thought were crap were "a woman of substance" and the follow ups, dreadful writing with literally PAGES describing the fucking upholstery! The one time the adaptation was MILES better than the books!

My Paul Zindel books also were terrible, when I remember adoring them as a teen.

Omg! Flashback! Pigman! 

@CurlyhairedAssassin Excellent post
yesterday 1733, context inc historical is key

My dd is now studying literature (having spent the best part of her teen years denying being anything like me ) and we are having some very interesting discussions about her reading list

I can still remember getting a look myself when a lecturer spotted me reading Marian Keyes in the canteen, to which I asked "have you read anything of hers?" And of course they hadn't - a lit lecturer LITERALLY judging a book by its cover, I was reading Rachel's holiday which is about an addicts road to recovery inc exploring the dysfunction of their family of origin, he'd just assumed it was "chick lit" romance novel

Love this thread. I was in a bookshop the other day and exclaimed over St Claire’s books and omg they are horribly insufferable. I think that was the point - they would be brought down a peg or two but even their father tells them they’re spoilt brats (they are).
I also wonder how much of me was formed by solid reading of Jilly Cooper from age 12-15. My dislike of feeling “done up”, my horror of seeming too try hard, not caring when my car is “absolutely filthy” and more worryingly, my feeling that the only thing needed to change a man is the love of a good woman are all based entirely on Jilly.

OTOH, I had to read “A child in time” for A Level and it really went over my head and then I read that a few years ago (now I have children) and thought it was brilliant. I re read Anne of Green Gables series when my first son was about 1 and just sobbed at Matthew, the “little white lady” (her stillbirth), Ruby Gillis, their marriage, loads of it!

I didn’t read this til I was an adult but just want to wholeheartedly agree with @SarahAndQuack about what a bag of shite The Bone People is.
I really wanted to love On The Road, but hated it even as a student.
One book I remember thinking was amazing and so cool and grownup was Wilderness Edge. I had a look at it recently and dare say it wouldn’t stand up well to re-reading.
OP did you get as far as the urinal tablet scene in American Psycho? One of my favourite book chapters ever 😄

I also couldn’t finish American Psycho, I gave up at the rat scene

@Graphista; you mentioning Catherine Cookson reminds me of this quote from Victoria Wood. "If they’re in carriages and their bosoms are, like, just under their chins, that’s Jane Austen. Catherine Cookson…there’d be, like, an horse and cart. And they get pregnant a lot, and chop the heads off mackerel. And it’s raining. And their bosoms’d be a lot lower.*

@froggywentacarolling and @IrenetheQuaint
Yes, both of those books have issues when you read them again. And Tennis Shoes where the poor girl gives away umbrellas and her punishment is to receive umbrellas for her Christmas present and birthday present for two years! Seems harsh to me.

I have been reading The Secret Seven to dd, she loves them (as I did when I was her age) but I hate them now. From the fact they wear badges with SS on them (which means I keep seeing them as some closet neo-Nazi group!) to Peter’s horrendous arrogance and superior attitude to all the others.

I loved Noël Streatfeild as a child, I’m not going to go back there after reading the comments- don’t want to ruin it for myself!

@sueelleker Victoria wood spot on as ever bless her!

Oh also Douglas Coupland

@Jhust

Oh also Douglas Coupland

I read Generation X as a young teen and really didn't get it.

Re Sweet Valley - did anyone read the "adult" one they did about 10 years ago now with Jessica and Elizabeth as grown ups? I had such high hopes and it was one of the most dreadful things I've ever read.

I was really into Anne Rice at 18 and zipped through a chunk of the Interview with a Vampire series. I tried picking one up again a few years ago and couldn't get into it but thinking I might give it another go.

Also does anyone remember a book (no doubt a part of a series) about a teen called Cara who is forced to move to the countryside (maybe Wales) with her family and hates it but takes solace in her new horse and becomes a rider or show jumper or something - what was it called?

I also reread Charbonnel and The Menyms a while ago (both kids books as opposed to teen) and still loved them. Same with Harry Potter.

*Carbonel: King of the Cats (not Charbonnel)