What was the first adult novel/book you read, and how old were you?

[Antarcticant]

Inspired by a comment on the 'Rather Dated' thread.

What was the first book you read that wasn't written for children? How old were you and what did you think of it? Did it become a favourite?

Mine was 'Animal Farm' and I was eight. I think it had been mentioned on Radio 4. I was fascinated by it. Orwell went on to become an author I love. I read 1984 in the year in question when I was 10 (everyone was going on about 1984 in 1984!) and gradually worked my way through my mum's collection of Orwell novels.

I also read 'Jane Eyre' around this time and was bowled over by it. I continued to like it well into my 20s, but later become disillusioned with it when it crossed my mind that Rochester wasn't really a very heroic man.

I used to read my Dad's Spike Milligan war memoirs when I was a about 9 or 10. My first adult novel was either a Shirley Conran or Jackie Collins at about 12 or 13. We used to share them round at school and read out the naughty bits.

That is an amazing cover! It isn't a book I'd heard of, I think I'd like to read it too.

Jennie, by Paul Gallico, if that counts as adult. I remember crying and crying. I must have been about 9. My main bridge between child and adult books was Agatha Christie, my nanna’s house was full of them. I was scared silly by And then there were None.

Aged 9, Anne Franks diary.

Probably set texts at school. Put me off for life. All very male. War if the Worlds. Lord if the flies. Put me off reading for years. I probably started reading about 19/20I love reading as an adult.

I used to read anything I could get my hands on. On holidays I would read my books, then my mums, then Dads then find a bookshop!

The ones I really remember reading were Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha (I would have been 10) and Whit by Ian Banks (12). I particularly loved Whit, and reread it many times- might have to dig it out again!

One summer I found an English bookshop in a small town in Spain and read loads of classics. Printed on wafer thin paper in about size 4 font.

Something by Jean Plaidy. Not sure what, a toss-up between The Wandering Prince and The Young Elizabeth, followed by Madame Serpent.

What all these books had in common was that they start with the protagonist as a small girl (though in hindsight Madame Serpent gets pretty dark pretty quickly ). Slightly smaller than me in fact - it was in the new house so I was probably 7.

I learnt a lot of church schism history very quickly! Also learnt that you could have babies without being married and this was considered a Bad Thing (but ok if it was a king).

Didn't quite grasp what was meant by Lucy Walter dying of "a condition often suffered by those who had led her way of life". I assumed she was exhausted from all the rootless travelling around!

Jane Eyre when I was 10.
little women when I was 9.
dad’s reader’s digest from the age of 7.
And my aunt’s Cosmo from the age of 6!!! 😂

I think that my comment on the other thread gave rise to this thread. It was “A Summer Birdcage” by Margaret Drabble. A schoolfriend with a keen interest in books (she is now an editor) lent me her copy. We were 12, so I was a late adaptor of grown-up books compared to some on here! I bought my own copy many years later and have reread it twice.

I also enjoyed Agatha Christie and have kept all my original copies of her books.

I went through a Jackie Collins phase at about 13. I think that her books would make interesting retro reading now. I remember the character named Lucky and her love of soul music, but that’s about it.

I read Travels with my Aunt by Graham Greene when I was 12. I don't remember much about it other than I was quite a well developed and tall (5'10") 12 year old and I was reading it in the park and a man approached me. I think after talking to me a few minutes he got worried he'd made a huge error in judgment and asked if it was a childrens book... he was probably early 20s and poor guy couldn't get away fast enough when he realised his mistake.

Gosh, so many.
raiding parents' bookshelf at about age 10 or just turned 11 (went to boarding school st 11-1/2) -- The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley (highly unsuitable) A Town like Alice by Neville Shute, Peyton Place.
on a lighter note -- My Family and other Animals by Gerald Durrell and The Darling Buds of May by HE Bates.
When i first got to secondary school it was all historical romance, like Katherine by Anya Seton and The Winthrop Woman, ditto. Then Brave New World, (Aldous Huxley)
Cold Comfort Farm, Lord of the Flies and Pincher Martin (William Golding) and The Diary of Anne Frank, when i was around 11-13.
these days it's mostly thrillers😳😳

The Jilly Cooper books that were named after girls - I think Imogen, ?Felicity etc
Would quite like to read again as I loved them!

Imogen, Octavia, Bella and Harriet - I’m going to re-read!

Another young Flowers in the Attic reader here! I also remember reading Jilly Cooper's Riders at about 13, and a few other bonkbusters that were passed around school. Also read all my mum's Mills & Boon books for light entertainment.

I had already read LOTR by that age, and had a love of sci/fi fantasy, so read loads of that genre throughout my teens. Still love to read now.

My DS13 just doesn't "get" reading for fun at all, so hardly ever does, which I find a bit sad and frustrating. There is so much other readily available entertainment these days, he thinks he doesn't need books, despite me trying to convince him otherwise. Maybe it's a boy thing?

I still have my copies of those. It's interesting, re-reading, to observe how much attitudes have changed since they were published.

LOTR. It follows from the hobbit which is a kids book. So I assumed it was a kids book too. Bilbo Bagins had a birthday party in the beginning which re enforced that impression!

I did stick with it but gave up on the Simerillion (sp?) not sure I could read that now as an adult.

Kim by Rudyard Kipling, and The Call of the Wild by Jack London, aged 9.
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong, at 10 (found it hidden on top of a wardrobe, so guessed it was a book to be read surreptitiously).

Pride and Prejudice, when I was 8, followed by just about everything else. By the time I was 11, I could and did read everything -- suitable and unsuitable. Then I commandeered my boarding school library selections at every age group, and finally the school library fiction shelf. It was bliss!

The King Must Die ( Mary Renault). For some unknown reason it was in the school library ( primary school).I must have been about eight.

it set the course for much of my life.

Mila 18 by Leon Uris when I was around 10. I liked the cover. I had a few questions afterwards for my parents.

Basically when I was growing up my father thought that television rotted the brain and in a house full of books I read for entertainment. They never said I couldn't read specific books. Lace and everything by Jilly Cooper and Sidney Sheldon were all favourites.

The second I left for University they rushed out and bought a tv to watch midsomer murders.

Lots of interesting stuff whilst still in school - I was really into reading, but the first book I bought myself was when I was 15 or 16 and I bought Crime and Punishment. I still remember the moment, it was in the back of a small used book store, and I came across this and recognised the name name Dostoevsky and had a notion that he had been A Great Writer and that this must be a great work of art. I was embarrassed because I was an exceptionally poor student and didn't want people to laught at me for choosing a book beyond my capabilities, so I kept it hidden. It remains one of my favourite books, but I also have about 200 favourite books!

I'm not sure but it was likely ether The Thirteen Problems or The A.B.C Murders.

I was reading Jilly Cooper / Judith Krantz / Jackie Collins at 13 ish.

i picked up a Judith Krantz when I was at my mums last week, it’s fire filth

Something slightly different in criteria was an abridged version of David Copperfield that I read in primary school.

I read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights when I was 8. My mum bought them for me as I had read the Dickens books she had got from a jumble sale (!) and thought I would enjoy these as well. She always said that I would rather read the back of a cornflake packet rather than not read.