To say my DM was not unreasonable to let me read adult books aged 11?

[CraveThatRadox]

I adore reading and in school, was very natural at English and History. I actively spoke about these things and I've always been a very passionate person on topics of interest. When I look back, I owe this to my DM giving me grown up books.

I was in Year 6, so about 11 (I'm a September baby), when I stumbled upon her 'Pillars of The Earth' book.

I said "Oh what's this about?". I was given a rough idea but couldn't stop asking. She then said "read it, if you like. It's quite dense though".

I did read it. I couldn't put the thing down. I had read the whole thing within two weeks or so. I brought it to school to read during reading time once, and it got confiscated

itsallgoing tobefine

American Psychological

Id have no problem him reading a text book

(JOKE!!!!)

I read The womans room at quite a young age

I remember being 11 years old and very small (so looked younger), i had 10 Christopher Pike and point horror books in the library which i took to the desk to check out, i had a cap on and was looking down and the librarian says 'are you sure? Some of these are very scary.' So I looked up at her to tell her to call my mum who would say it was ok, she sees my face and says 'oh, its you, ok then.' and just lets me have them.

I was reading John wyndham, clark ashton smith, george orwell, dennis Wheatley and bram stoker before secondary school, as that was what was on my mums shelves - leading to asimov and heinlein and pratchett later. I am an avowed sf&f fan now.

My dd who is almost one will never have a shortage of books to read.

I think it is a shame to read some books too young. Just because a child can read and know the meaning of every word in a book doesn't mean that they understand the subtext.
I read Jane Eyre when I was 9. I understood every word and remembered and followed the story but I didn't understand the themes and inferences until I reread at 25 and the pity of this is that, although I enjoyed the book, I have never loved it and I think that I would have done had I not read it too young.
Three of my children are big readers but I have tried to suggest that it may be better to wait a bit if I think that a book may benefit from a bit more maturity even if they can read and understand every word. There is plenty of time and there is no prize for being the youngest to read a book.
Whilst there may be no harm in reading adult books as a child, there is no shame in reading children's books either.

Omg yes, Would not let my dcs anywhere near American Psycho, was stunned in my twenties (still an amazing book) Hide that one until they're older - adults- I'd say. Hopefully if they came across it very young they'd get bored/confused with the unusual syntax anyway. 🤞🏻

Not sure. My Mum stored her books under my bed and I was reading her Stephen King books when I was aged 12. I was terrified of the dark and had nightmares for years after. Also no 12 year old should be reading Jackie Collins 😵

Jackie Collins is pretty tame imo. I'd rather 12 year olds read her books than watch you tube or porn on line,even if they don't directly access it someone will be waving a phone around at school.

I was a horse mad child who's parent couldn't afford a pony, I would devour any books I could about horse riding. I read Jilly Cooper's riders when I was about 11. I initially thought it was just about showjumping...

Pillars of the Earth is one of the shittest books out there in my opinion, but other than allowing your kid to read dross, I certainly don't think there's anything wrong with letting your child read what you believe suits their reading age. I was certainly reading books beyond my age group and it stood me in great stead for my undergraduate degree!

JemmyBloocher

We read it for my book club and no one finished it!

Agh, Brett whatshisface's books are shite. Whiny, pseudointellectual teenage-posturing 'look at me I'm so edgy and deep' shite and I draw the line there for my future children.

Ahem. I may be holding a grudge.

**DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen

I read it until about 75 pages before the end and then deliberately stopped in disgust at its sheer lameness and because I could not give a flying monkey crap about any of the characters. So badly written it makes my head hurt even now about 5 years on.

panda I liked American Psycho but agree re his other stuff. Misogynistic twat of a writer now.

The late, brilliant David Foster Wallace said of American Psycho that "... it panders shamelessly to the audience's sadism" and that, "Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it'd find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it. You can defend 'Psycho' as being a sort of performative digest of late-eighties social problems, but it's no more than that".

I'm in two minds about 11 year olds reading adult books. I have always read a lot, and quickly and had free acess to my parents' books. Some of it I wished I hadn't read so young - not so much the really well written literature like Lolita but my mother had a whole heap of 60s and 70s feminist books that I steadily made my way through. The feminist message wasn't the problem and reading it at 11ish was a good age to be introduced to it but there was a sort of aggressive focus on female sexuality and a (probably deliberate) casualness to a lot of the sexual encounters depicted.

We all had a furtive trade in Jilly Cooper books in our last year of primary. Together with Judy Blume's Forever we had a pretty solid sex education. But then we were born in the 70s, a different time.

I was NOT happy when my 8 year old was found to be watching a youtube video called "how to pick up to girls" and all sorts of chats and restrictions were held. I feel differently about books. My boys are so reading phobic I would probably let them read anything.

Rufus I hope you're joking and I'm missing something here

Otherwise, he's an adult and you have no right to control what he reads

Obviously crave

Voracious reader here too, and I wasn't censored at all - Stephen King, James Herbert, mills and boon, Jilly Cooper etc etc - had free rein of the bookcase and mum's books. Similarly, my dcs have been read to since they were bumps, and now read anything they like. I have 4 full bookcases, a kindle and an audible account - there's no shortage of books chez Viking, and they're all up for grabs. Dd12 will ask if a book is scary, I'll outline the plot and let her make the decision. Children need to read, adults need to read - it's how we bridge the vocabulary gap. Many bookworms don't like e-readers but I do, because it's easier to look up a word you don't understand. Looking up the dictionary isn't that arduous, but having an inbuilt one makes it even easier.
could talk about books and literature all day

I'd been reading the News of the World since I was four, nothing shocked me.

Yep, me too. I spent a lot of the time reading the News of the Screws at a very early age. As kids we spent a lot of time with my grandparents and the only reading material in the house was the Daily Mirror and the News of the World and The People on Sunday.

At a slightly older age I was mistified as to what a steamy romp was that all the celebrities seemed to be having.

I used to read my mums historical romance from about 5 or 6. There were some steamy bits looking back but I was totally clueless!!

@Rufus haha yes my brother is eleven years older so when I was in yr 7 he wouldn't even have been at home and it was his book!! Think he'd done it for GCSE. It was a girl in my class' mum and they were quite religious so probably why she was so against it maybe!

I'm also loving the amount of people who read flowers in the attic! I read it on holiday to France, around 8 or 9 years old, my teenage cousin brought them with her and I read them at night in the room we shared. I have read them again as an adult and oh god they are quite, err, incest-y!

I had read everything in the children's section of our library by 10 and was working my way through the adult section. My grandmother introduced me Dennis Wheatley (the Devil Rides Out) and I introduced her to Henry Miller.