Which books did you read before you were really old enough to understand them?

[PineappleSeahorse]

I was a voracious and precocious reader as a child and I became obsessed with my library’s copy of Animal Farm when I was 7. I loved it but of course I had no idea what it was really about.

I suppose that I could have made more inappropriate choices of reading material but I’m curious to know which books you read as a child that you probably shouldn’t have.

Jane Eyre. I don't recall how old I was, but remember I didn't understand how Rochester could not know whether Adele was his daughter. The fact that Adele's mother had been his mistress went right over my head.

I did The Handmaid's Tale for A-level (so I was 16).
I totally didn't understand it at 16.
I also read The Giver by Lois Lowry when I was 18 and much of what was really going on in "the community" went totally over my head.
I re read it as an adult and was it was like a different book. Considering it's aimed at teens of around 13 it's pretty intense.

Valley of the Dolls, Jacqueline Susann
The Women's Room, Marilyn French
Helter Skelter about the Charles Manson murders
All when I was about 12

I read silence of the lambs when I was 11. I did understand it though, I was into horror. I read all tbe steven kings I could between 10 and 12 and also remember reading Shogun and Lord of the Rings.

The Greek Myths by Robert Graves. There was a lot of ravishing going on. I was in primary school. Karma sutra (very dull).

Mills and boon.

I read Alice in Wonderland and Jane Eyre when I was in about year 3. Don't think much went in.

Same here! I got them from the school library! Totally inappropriate

Arthur Millers plays. Found my A level extended essay the other day- omg the examiner must have been eye rolling so badly. I understood them on a superficial level but missed a lot of the nuance.

On another note I think a lot of people ( are forced to) read Catcher in the Rye at school without fully grasping the concept of the unreliable narrator so don’t really get it.

Goodnight Mister Tom - there's so much about child abuse in it, I was probably about 10?!

Lots of unsuitable books from my mum's bookshelf as a young teen eg the Outlander/Cross Stitch series.

Wow interesting some of the titles that my DM also had lying around in the late 70s, sex and feminism. Now I know where I got it all from!

Yes the first one I read that I hadn’t really got the life experience to appreciate was The Thorn Birds. I loved the TV version though - it helped put it all into context.

Animal Farm. I read it because it's one of the books Matilda gets from the library in the Roald Dahl book. I was about 9😂

When the Wind blows.

Terrifying and gave me nightmares for many, many years. I was probably 7 or 8 when I read it. And then I was shown the film!!!

@InfoSecInTheCity I read that too first year of secondary school. I was very confused about the women assuming the position. But Valley of horses was deeply instructive 🤣

Racy books about a French woman called Emmanuel we bought on the ferry to France on a school trip. Thorn Birds.

Also Bridget Jones' Diary. I read it in the late 90s when I was about 15 so a lot of the more subtle humour went over my head.

Ana Karena age 12 no clue why I kept going I think I fancied myself a lot more mature than I was.

In fairness, it’s a perfectly valid question. Why is Rochester such a cock, who, quite apart from trying to bigamously marry his teenage governess, boasts lengthily to her about his various European mistresses, makes her jealous by pretending to be about to marry someone else, locks her in a room with a badly injured stranger, and dresses up as a gypsy woman to try to get her to admit she fancies him?

I read Pride and Prejudice aged ten or eleven, and knew Mr Collins’ proposal was supposed to be funny, but had no idea why.

The thorn birds, flowers in the attic series, a woman of substance series. All kindly shared with me by my grandma when I was about 10 😮 not sure I would recommend any of them to a primary age child! Interestingly I have reread most of them since and there were huge chunks I just didn't remember - presumably because they went completely over my head at that age...

James Herbert horror novels (The Rats etc) when I was about 8. Full of gore and sex.

Salems Lot and Christine, when I was older, about 11, but still too young. I remember being very spooked.

Jane Eyre and Moll Flanders when I was about 10

There was a book we read in year 9 English that terrified me. Can't remember the name, but it was about a brother and sister surving after a nuclear war. Someone had a baby which was born without a mouth, the image the author created of that baby has horrified me for 30 years. Why on earth the teacher thought it was a good reading choice is beyond me

Edited to add, I googled it! It was called Brother in the land. It's actually aimed at kids 🧑‍💻

I don't remember specific titles but I read loads of my nan's trashy romance books when I was around 9-11. I used to sleep over at her house and she had bookshelves in the spare room and I would read whenever I wadn't being supervised.

I remember googling various terms like 'loins' 'tumescence' and 'erogenous' and finding it all quite funny especially some book that mentioned a man with 'suprising yellow briefs' or something like that. Obviously innapropriate looking back on it, but anything too bad probably went over my head.

Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye when I was 11.
Trainspotting when I was about 13, although I don’t remember finding that difficult to understand.
I’m sure there were more. I was a very avid reader!

I read everything and anything I could find. For Whom The Bell Tolls when I was 10 or 11 was very upsetting.

Snap. All my friends did this!!!!