I read a lot of Stephen King in middle school and high school. Most of it didn't bother me, but the group sex scene at the end of It was very disturbing to my 12 year old brain.

Anonymous wrote:I read American Psycho when I was 12 because my visiting uncle had brought it and left it in the guest room.

Oh my god, it messed me up. For those of you have only seen the movie and not read the book, the book makes the movie look like a Hallmark film. It is narrated in the first person, with detailed descriptions of rape and torture.

I was horrified but could not stop reading it. My mom was FURIOUS at my uncle when she found it in my room and thumbed through it.

one of the few books I would actually ban my kid from reading.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think any books I read were inappropriate. If a book grosses a kid out, they'll generally stop reading, or go ask questions.

oh you sweet summer child.

I learned a lot by reading the dictionary. And VC Andrews and Clan of the Cavebear, and that one Judy Blume book.

A couple posters mention Stephen King's The Stand. I'm no fan of King these days, but I remember reading The Stand in the summer between 7th and 8th grades. It was the first "big" novel I read, with lots of characters and interconnected plot lines. I loved it.

My older sister had passed it along to me, and I passed it along to a classmate, whose mother flipped her lid when she found her daughter reading it. She returned it to my mother and gave my mom an earful about it. My mom, to her credit, just told me to stop lending books to people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:VC Andrew’s messed up my worldview for years

Still messed up from that one!

Wifey, of course, like all good 80s kids. It was inappropriate but I don't think it harmed me to read that so young.

+1 to Wifey. - 80s kid

AUTGT? It’s me, Margaret in
third grade (I was 8) quickly led to Deenie then Wifey & Forever.

Joy of Sex - everyone else’s parents had this book except for my own. Read at sleepovers in elementary school.

Teen brothers had Jaws, VC Andrews, Lolita (that book by Nabakov referenced in Don’t Stand So Close to Me).

Super creepy now to admit but a single next door neighbor kept a stack of playboy magazines fanned out on his cocktail table. I know because I was asked to bring in his mail, feed his fish anytime he traveled. I read every issue.
I was 11.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember being a bit baffled by Judy Blume.

What do you mean?

I mean I was 11 or 12 and reading about a teenage girl "moving around on top" of her BF when they were having sex in her parents house. And I didn't understand it. I do now, obviously.

Anonymous wrote:I read my first V.C. Andrews novel in middle school & it never messed w/me emotionally or on a social level.

Yes I knew that Cathy + Christopher were siblings who were committing incest (sorry for the spoiler!) but the story was a fictitious story and I knew that how they interacted was not normal.

But V.C. Andrew’s books always had a very creepy air about them and that is what made them so mysterious and good reading.

This. These books are not responsible for messing (otherwise 'normalish' kids up). They are a cornerstone of our tweens, and I think kids are better adults when they are not censored as kids. We learned to censor ourselves. I still do it. No horror movies for me!

Anonymous wrote:I remember being a bit baffled by Judy Blume.

What do you mean?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How times have changed.

I felt guilty reading parts of Forever by Judy Blume which was on a shelf at the center where I got tutoring in middle school.

I remember reading Forever in the library because I was afraid to check it out. Probably around 6th grade?

I read Flowers in the Attic and the second book in that series in 7th grade. While I know generally what was happening, I don't think I really understood. I remember a lot of girls go into Danielle Steele in 7th grade. I've still never read any of her books.

Danielle Steel’s best books were in the past…
Her newer books are no fun to read since they have become so predictable as well as too perfect to ever be real.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't thought about VC Andrews in years. I remember Flowers in the Attic from my childhood but nothing about it.

Worth re-reading? I'm sort of curious to after all this discussion.

I’m a PP and will admit to rereading them when I saw that Lifetime was making all the books into miniseries. /ashamed voice

I have loved reading all of VC Andrew’s books since adolescence.
I am now in my fifties!

Her unique stories are always fun to read…..though I must admit, I liked her original stories best such as those from the Heaven series.

There was a Male ghostwriter who took over her work when she passed away from breast cancer.
His books are good but in my humble opinion not as great as the great Virginia Andrews herself. 👵🏼

I read my first V.C. Andrews novel in middle school & it never messed w/me emotionally or on a social level.

Yes I knew that Cathy + Christopher were siblings who were committing incest (sorry for the spoiler!) but the story was a fictitious story and I knew that how they interacted was not normal.

But V.C. Andrew’s books always had a very creepy air about them and that is what made them so mysterious and good reading.

I remember being a bit baffled by Judy Blume.

Anonymous wrote:I haven't thought about VC Andrews in years. I remember Flowers in the Attic from my childhood but nothing about it.

Worth re-reading? I'm sort of curious to after all this discussion.

I’m a PP and will admit to rereading them when I saw that Lifetime was making all the books into miniseries. /ashamed voice

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in elementary school when the tv adaptation of The Thorn Birds aired. I wasn’t allowed to stay up and watch it, so I checked the book out of the public library. I learned the word “flaccid.” 😊

I started reading the Thorn Birds in 7th grade. I had only read the first few chapters about a young girl on a farm in Australia, so it was interesting. I was so proud of reading an 'adult book' that I brought it to my catholic school and sat it on my desk. The book was confiscated, and I was assigned detention shortly after.

I’m sorry you got detention but this made me laugh!

Anonymous wrote:I read all of the Jackie Collins books when I was in MS. Not sure how I got them, but knew they were "bad" because I recall slouching down in my seat on the school bus and reading the book inside of a large history or science book. Probably why I became so promiscuous as a teen

I also read ALL of Jackie Collins (and Judith Krantz) books in middle school. My mom was strict about movies- no PG13 until we were 13 and no R-rated movies until 16. However, she let us buy and read anything. I was never promiscuous, although I was well educated in sexuality!