Remember when you stumbled upon a book you weren't supposed to read? It might have been Jackie Collins or Harold Robbins, but somehow we all sneaked these adult books and dogeared the best parts.
Despite the mature content, these books taught us some important — and strange — life lessons. 👀
*Props to Wendi Aarons for inspiring this discussion.
Which books did you read as kids/teens that were not appropriate for our age? What did you learn from them?
Apr 27, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson
The book Lace, which was made into a mini series with Phoebe Cates "Which one of you bitches is my mother"? So inappropriate, but a ton of sex scenes in the book. Not good for an 11 year old!
Apr 27, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson
I read a ton of Jackie Collins books, not even sneakily, when I was in elementary school! Also the Flowers in the Attic series...how creepy was that family?
Apr 27, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson
Scruples at age 10. My father came home from work one day and said, "The girls in the office said you shouldn't be reading that book so please stop." "Okay, papa," I said, and totally ignored him. I will say that I did read the book without understanding what a "glory hole" was, but that didn't stop me from loving everything else about it. One of the highlights of my career was interviewing Judith Krantz for the NYT Styles section years later. As we were getting off the phone, she said to me, "Call me anytime you want to talk about sex. I only have sons and need a daughter to talk to!" And stupidly I never took her up on it. Still, lucky me to have even talked to her!
I just watched the Judy Blume documentary on Netflix last night, and it reminded me that when I was a little girl, I discovered a copy of Wifey in my mom’s bedside table, and I would sneak it out for like no more than an hour at a time so she wouldn’t know it was gone. Definitely way more information about sex than I’d learned about from the copy of Forever we passed around the Locker room.
Uh...hey you asked (and you might be sorry!) The first real adult title I read cover to cover was Valley Of The Dolls. At 9! Sure I’d sampled a page or two of Ian Fleming’s iconic spy series my father left in the bathroom, I’d happened upon my (much) older brothers’ Playboys now and again but The Dolls were my entrance to the secret world of women. Sex. Hollywood. Unfortunately I was already familiar with the drinking, drugs and infidelity (thanks Mom & Dad!). But VotD was definitely an entirely new genre for me, having grown bored of A Wrinkle In Time, my fave book until I met the Dolls. I also read the disappointing sequel. Of course I had to read VotD several times over the next 5 years just to understand it all. I think the last time I read it (for the 10th time) was in the early 80’s and by then my own life was more interesting. Whether because I was older and jaded or because Hollywood was older and jaded I’ll never know. But a couple of other titles I cherished in puberty were The Exorcist (omg, Catholic unknowns revealed!!) and Jaws, the book adapted of the movie that I didn’t get to see for another 3 years, and was just as scary but fun since we didn’t live on a coast. There were a few others, long forgotten, but I learned all I need to know that my Mother would never tell me from those books, amen.
Goodbye Janette by Harold Robbins - steamy, ridiculous, wildly inappropriate (wasn’t Janette like a teen having sex with an older man??). But I’m not sure I actually *read* the book. I barely recall the plot except Wikipedia tells me it’s “a woman and her daughters who survive a World War II prison camp and move into the world of high fashion” 👀
Clan of the Cave Bear rocked my pre-teen world in a terrible way although I was too young and naive to really grasp how rapey it was until later in life.
Apr 27, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson
I definitely ready Flowers in the Attic. So creepy you couldn't put it down. I read Danielle Steel books, but I can't remember how racy they were. I think my mom took either Forever or Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret Away from Me in 6th grade. But of course didn't follow it up with any conversations about why.
Apr 27, 2023·edited Apr 27, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson
I was such a voracious reader, so the Christmas after I turned 10, I unwrapped ALL of the VC Andrews books that were available at that time. My dad was so proud to have asked the salesperson at Waldenbooks what would be good for my reading level, and to this day I wonder if he had ANY idea how much dysfunctional sex I was introduced to. I know people have mentioned "Flowers in the Attic" but "My Sweet Audrina"? Anybody remember that one? I also devoured the book "Fame" because I loved the TV show, and there was some hot dancer sex in that.
Apr 27, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson
I found Lady Chatterly's Lover in my parents' bookcase when I was about 10. That book was my initial instruction in sex. I read and re-read all the sex scenes and really don't remember anything else about the book's story!
Apr 27, 2023Liked by Margit Detweiler, Liz Thompson
Master of the Game and the Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon. He was a phenomenal story teller! The Wanderers by Richard Price (I never knew who wrote it until I just looked it up and realized that he's a prolific novelist and screenwriter.
Whew! All the Judith Krantz books, the VC Andrews, The Flame and the Flower, (my first 'romance' book). I also read 'Sheila Levine is dead and living in New York' and the sequel of sorts 'David Meyer is a mother'. The last three courtesy of my mother, who bought books and then brought them down to bookcases in our basement and I don't remember her caring if I read them. (The line "I think we have that book in the basement" was uttered many times by my mother but no, she didn't buy every book, despite what she thought).
Oh my... I read all of the above and Lace, but I also managed, by age 11... to sneak Edie: An American Girl--Edie Sedgwick's oh-so-scandalous biography by Jean Stein... out of the public library. It had this wonderfully deceptive pink and green pastel cover so no one had a clue. I learned everything I ever needed to know about intravenous drug use and Warhol's Bacchanalian art orgies... hoo boy. And here I was, such a little Nancy Drew-like dork, lol... so inappropriate :)
My parents owned a bookstore for 45 years and never worried about anything my siblings and I read. Besides leafing thru all the 'dirty' magazines, I remember reading anais nin and thinking I shouldn't blab to anyone about reading her. I haven't read her since but probably should after 45 years:)
The book Lace, which was made into a mini series with Phoebe Cates "Which one of you bitches is my mother"? So inappropriate, but a ton of sex scenes in the book. Not good for an 11 year old!
I read a ton of Jackie Collins books, not even sneakily, when I was in elementary school! Also the Flowers in the Attic series...how creepy was that family?
Candy by terry southern. At 12 or 13 Totally missed that it was a (loose) parody of Candide but was horrified by the incestuous conclusion.
Scruples at age 10. My father came home from work one day and said, "The girls in the office said you shouldn't be reading that book so please stop." "Okay, papa," I said, and totally ignored him. I will say that I did read the book without understanding what a "glory hole" was, but that didn't stop me from loving everything else about it. One of the highlights of my career was interviewing Judith Krantz for the NYT Styles section years later. As we were getting off the phone, she said to me, "Call me anytime you want to talk about sex. I only have sons and need a daughter to talk to!" And stupidly I never took her up on it. Still, lucky me to have even talked to her!
Bloodline by Sidney Sheldon. What a terrible, misogynist book! But at 12 it was totally titillating and exciting to sneak-read.
I just watched the Judy Blume documentary on Netflix last night, and it reminded me that when I was a little girl, I discovered a copy of Wifey in my mom’s bedside table, and I would sneak it out for like no more than an hour at a time so she wouldn’t know it was gone. Definitely way more information about sex than I’d learned about from the copy of Forever we passed around the Locker room.
Uh...hey you asked (and you might be sorry!) The first real adult title I read cover to cover was Valley Of The Dolls. At 9! Sure I’d sampled a page or two of Ian Fleming’s iconic spy series my father left in the bathroom, I’d happened upon my (much) older brothers’ Playboys now and again but The Dolls were my entrance to the secret world of women. Sex. Hollywood. Unfortunately I was already familiar with the drinking, drugs and infidelity (thanks Mom & Dad!). But VotD was definitely an entirely new genre for me, having grown bored of A Wrinkle In Time, my fave book until I met the Dolls. I also read the disappointing sequel. Of course I had to read VotD several times over the next 5 years just to understand it all. I think the last time I read it (for the 10th time) was in the early 80’s and by then my own life was more interesting. Whether because I was older and jaded or because Hollywood was older and jaded I’ll never know. But a couple of other titles I cherished in puberty were The Exorcist (omg, Catholic unknowns revealed!!) and Jaws, the book adapted of the movie that I didn’t get to see for another 3 years, and was just as scary but fun since we didn’t live on a coast. There were a few others, long forgotten, but I learned all I need to know that my Mother would never tell me from those books, amen.
Goodbye Janette by Harold Robbins - steamy, ridiculous, wildly inappropriate (wasn’t Janette like a teen having sex with an older man??). But I’m not sure I actually *read* the book. I barely recall the plot except Wikipedia tells me it’s “a woman and her daughters who survive a World War II prison camp and move into the world of high fashion” 👀
Clan of the Cave Bear rocked my pre-teen world in a terrible way although I was too young and naive to really grasp how rapey it was until later in life.
I definitely ready Flowers in the Attic. So creepy you couldn't put it down. I read Danielle Steel books, but I can't remember how racy they were. I think my mom took either Forever or Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret Away from Me in 6th grade. But of course didn't follow it up with any conversations about why.
2 words: ROSEMARY. ROGERS.
I was reading Love Play at way too young an age. LOL
Oh so legit. All VC Andrews, Anne Rice’s “Sleeping Beauty” trilogy? Also - I read George Orwell’s Animal Farm for a book report in the 5th Grade.
(Tell me you’re Gen-X without telling me you are Gen-X)
I was such a voracious reader, so the Christmas after I turned 10, I unwrapped ALL of the VC Andrews books that were available at that time. My dad was so proud to have asked the salesperson at Waldenbooks what would be good for my reading level, and to this day I wonder if he had ANY idea how much dysfunctional sex I was introduced to. I know people have mentioned "Flowers in the Attic" but "My Sweet Audrina"? Anybody remember that one? I also devoured the book "Fame" because I loved the TV show, and there was some hot dancer sex in that.
I found Lady Chatterly's Lover in my parents' bookcase when I was about 10. That book was my initial instruction in sex. I read and re-read all the sex scenes and really don't remember anything else about the book's story!
Master of the Game and the Other Side of Midnight by Sidney Sheldon. He was a phenomenal story teller! The Wanderers by Richard Price (I never knew who wrote it until I just looked it up and realized that he's a prolific novelist and screenwriter.
Whew! All the Judith Krantz books, the VC Andrews, The Flame and the Flower, (my first 'romance' book). I also read 'Sheila Levine is dead and living in New York' and the sequel of sorts 'David Meyer is a mother'. The last three courtesy of my mother, who bought books and then brought them down to bookcases in our basement and I don't remember her caring if I read them. (The line "I think we have that book in the basement" was uttered many times by my mother but no, she didn't buy every book, despite what she thought).
Oh my... I read all of the above and Lace, but I also managed, by age 11... to sneak Edie: An American Girl--Edie Sedgwick's oh-so-scandalous biography by Jean Stein... out of the public library. It had this wonderfully deceptive pink and green pastel cover so no one had a clue. I learned everything I ever needed to know about intravenous drug use and Warhol's Bacchanalian art orgies... hoo boy. And here I was, such a little Nancy Drew-like dork, lol... so inappropriate :)
Oh yes, I had those versions also! 🤣
My parents owned a bookstore for 45 years and never worried about anything my siblings and I read. Besides leafing thru all the 'dirty' magazines, I remember reading anais nin and thinking I shouldn't blab to anyone about reading her. I haven't read her since but probably should after 45 years:)