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.

IT. By Stephen King.
If you know. You know.

Yes the Virginia Andrews books. I read them before I even knew what sex was. Not the best introduction.

Also, The Fan Club. Was in a box of books that my parents left in my room. Horrible.

And lots of James Clavell because my dad read them. Also too soon for a child to read.

I read silence of the lambs when I was 10 and had nightmares for months 🤣 I used to sneak to sit on the toilet in the middle of the night and read it because my mum had forbidden it

From the age of about 8 or 9 onwards about 75% of the books I read were for adults, and that included loads of crime fiction and psychological thrillers, gothic potboilers, a lot of horror and fantasy and all the James Bond books, among a lot of other things.

I still wouldn’t consider myself ‘too young’ for any of them though, really. I certainly read about a lot of stuff Mumsnet would deem extremely unsuitable for kids/teens but I don’t remember being disturbed by any of it and, oddly, I don’t really remember anything going right over my head either.

Battle royal
Game of thrones
(Some of) dracula - too scary

Papilon

Omg I definitely read that too. Horrifying….

Brave New World.

I did a book review of animal farm in primary school absolutely not getting it- she gave me a b and said was brilliantly written but I should look into the actual meaning of the book!

I don’t think it was implied she was a prostitute - I think William and Trudy were supposed to be the result of ill-advised (and possibly abusive?) relationships with men who left her. She was actually very religious, I seem to recall.

1001 Arabian Nights.
I thought it would be children stories like Alladin's cave and flying carpets. It's basically Game on Thrones on steroids full of rapes and killings dressed up as fairytales. Only as a grown up I realised it appears to be a manifesto about religion too. In addition, women are really not well regarded at all in these stories.

My nan used to give me Mills & Boon books she'd get secondhand at flea markets. Eye-opening for a 10-13 year old.
When I left home my mum said she'd cleared out my room and found that I'd turned down the corners of all the pages with rude scenes in so i could find them more easily! It was certainly an education but it did give me very unrealistic expectations!

Animal farm second year of senior school a class book. I enjoyed it as a story but the meaning went over my head.

Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as a teenager

Children of the New Forest. A relative always bought me a children's classic for Christmas, and they were nearly all too old for me.

"I'm the king of the castle" by Susan Hill when I was about 8. On my mother's bookshelf. Chilled me so much that I've never read it since. I think she saw it as an instruction manual - not that I realised it at the time...but it rang a deep bell.

Loads of Dick Francis books, before I was 11 and went to grammar school. My dad loved them. Bunch of Neville Shute books, I remember Trustee from the Toolroom and A Town like Alice best. Jaws, when it came out in ‘74, Valley of the Dolls - bit of an eye opener. There were always Readers Digest books in the house too. I did have Enid Blyton in my shelves, but I was a voracious reader and liked something with a bit more depth. I loved Watership Down and The Plague Dogs, but was 13 or so by then. Various James Bond books. My parents were not fussed as long as I was quiet.
I did read the Flowers in the Attic series, I got the first as a birthday present. Heaven knows why I read all of them. They weren’t fantastic page turners.

I used to babysit for a couple who had Deep Throat on their bookshelves. I read it one night and had no idea what was happening. I was 15 and went to an all girl school and my social life revolved around church. It was quite an eye opener!

I've just remembered the beginning of Winnie the Pooh where Christopher Robin says 'don't you know what ther means?' and the narrator quickly agrees and tells the reader he hopes we do too as it's all the explanation we're going to get. I was so frustrated thinking there was actually something to understand, beyond a mild piss take of how illogical small children are!

Definitely Tess of the D'Urbevilles for me too.

Also Jilly Cooper - I read Appassionata because I like music, my uncle saw me reading it and was horrified!

Animal farm and 1984 for me too, but I loved them so much and got something out of reading them each time.

Go Ask Alice, a book about drug addiction, when I was about 9 and had no way to relate to any of it!

Rumer Godden's books about ballet schools, so much sex in them and I read them at my middle school library aged 10 or 11.

On the flip side, one book I read when I was too "old" for it was On the Road (Jack Kerouac), I couldn't get into the exciting transient lifestyle because I was too busy thinking "his poor mother, how must she be feeling!" I love the 10000 maniacs song where she sings "hey Jack Kerouac I think of your mother and the tears she cried" because that's literally my view too!

Clockwork Orange when I was about 10 😅

I'm glad I was intimate sci-fi and fantasy until about 13 when I caught up with Jilly Cooper.

I still remember in one of her girls name stories the character thought you shouldn't trust a man who would only eat half a bar of chocolate. Reader, I married him.

I vaguely remember the book having 3 or 4 sections of crime scene and other photos. Very suitable for a 12 year old 😂

A Child Called It.

How old were you, we read both those at school?