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 read* ffs wish there was an edit button!

Not really adult more teen but if felt adult.
Judy Blume Forever

Also remember reading flower's in the Attic, Virginia Andrews.

And a lot of the classics - little women, what Katy dud etc.

I was eight and holiday in Portugal having run out of books with at least a week to go, my mum agreed to buy The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie which is a collection of short stories. I absolutely loved them.

Another one for Jean Plaidy here! It was Boxing Day when I was 11 and my Aunt had given my Mum the Mary, Queen of Scots duo. I read the first book in a day and couldn't wait to get down to the library to find others. Absolutely loved them.
Started Agatha Christie around the same time and still have all my paperback copies from that era.

I read The Chrysalids by John Wyndham on the recommendation of my step father when I was 10. We had just watched a film version of Day of the Triffids also by Wyndham. When I read Chrysalids I was enchanted by the name Sophie and vowed to call any daughter I had by that name. My Sophie is now 36.

I don't know what was the first, but remember reading The Go Between after seeing the film. I must have been about 14.

Rebecca

I read Pride and Prejudice in my early 20s. I'm not a fiction reader but thought I need to try something. I found school books uninteresting to me. Eg To kill a mockingbird, Kidnapped, Brave New World, the Pearl, The Inheritors.

P&P I picked cos I loved the TV series!

I really liked the book too. I was surprised how similar it was to the series.

I'd never re read it or any other Austen (despite owning them all!) But have researched the TV series many times.

Heidi and Little Women at around ten or eleven. I think they were on the bookshelf at home. I don't think we had many books though. Then Jean Plaidy and Agatha Christie from about twelve or thirteen from the library. And the 'Ann' books. I was a frequent visitor to the library :)

It was probably an Agatha Christie but the one I can remember was lady chatterley’s lover. I was 12 and the librarian insisted on ringing my mum when I tried to take it out. My mum dismissed her concerns and the librarian - having noted our address - decided then that mum didn’t know what it was about. Big mistake. Couldn’t hear what was said but I know it was a lecture. This was early 90s. I watched the tv show after and decided I preferred the book.

Anne! Not Ann...!!

I read Frost in May aged about 14.

Also a lot of Agatha Christies from 12 or 13 onwards.

Catherine cookson, Agatha Christie in primary 6

Jane Eyre - I think I was about 9 or 10. It was the Sunday serial on TV and I bought it with a book token I was given. The Sunday serial at that time introduced me to quite a few classics.

I think it was Wuthering Heights and I was ten. Loved it and cried copiously when Heathcliffe begged Cathy to haunt him but not leave him.

I was going to say ‘Misery’ when I was 13 because I’d been on a bit of a reading hiatus and that was a really grown up book when I’d previously been enjoying the likes of Malory Towers.

But then I remembered that I read the Complete Works of Lewis Carroll when I was 9… really crazy and I didn’t understand it. I bought the chunker of a book in Woolies on holiday and couldn’t put it down even though it meant nothing to me (I obviously got the surface leveL gist of the Alice books.)

I then read abridged versions of Great Expectations and Mutiny on the Bounty that I found in Poundstretcher and liked both of those.

My grandmother bought me Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights when I was seven but I didn’t feel confident to read either until many years later. Jane Eyre became my favourite book.

It would have been either Lace, The Thorne Birds or Flowers in the Attic. I would have been about 10 or 11 - upper end of junior school. It was a recommendation from my granny and aunties who were all reading it and thought I would love it too! I remember not being sure if my mum would agree, but taking it anyway and loving it!

I remember finding a copy of Jane Eyre at my Gran’s house when I was about 8 and reading it. I enjoyed the earlier part of the book where Jane is a child/teenager, admittedly though the majority of the book was over my head haha! To this day though Jane Eyre is one of my favourite books.