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?
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?
Same. We passed all those books around, and marveled at the depravity. I also found many, many paperbacks in my parents' libraries that were incredibly inappropriate for 10-12 year olds...(sex AND violence) but of course I read them anyway. For the most part the sex scenes went right over my head. (I liken it to watching Grease over and over at 15, and loving it for the songs and dancing and missing every sexual reference. Watching it again at 22...Oh! It's ALL about sex!). Finding this kind of reading was just one of many ways we learned about such things before actually trying such things. And in any case, it seems tame compared to what kids can on the internets these days...
I remember in one of the sequels the original twins becoming grandparents and one or more of their grandchildren catching them going at it... does that ring a bell?
I still have all of my 'Flowers in the Attic' books; I thought I had the whole series, but I'm missing a few. There were the original ones with the cut outs on the cover so you had creepy family portraits to look at!
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!
oh my gosh. My classmate read this in maybe grade 4 or 5 - I came home and asked my mom for it and I will never forget her reaction! I don't know what she said exactly but her face said "uh hell no"
I remember reading Princess Daisy after watching the miniseries on (Primetime !) TV. It must have been a 1983 trend because The Thornbirds also came out as a miniseries that year.
Am soooooo jealous you got to talk to Judith Krantz! Legend.
OMG — I was obsessed with The Thorn Birds mini-series. The early scenes with the priest and still-girl Meggie were creepy in retrospect, just like a lot of other things from that time period. I was only 8 years old. My best friend was like "Your mom let you watch that!" Yeah my mom was pretty laid back about a lot. But honestly, watching soaps and made-for-TV movies with her were huge bonding moments. It was like the few times she wasn't working, cooking, or cleaning.
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.
This is so great! I saw Jaws at a drive-in with with my parents... I was eleven. 👀 They were so into disaster films of the 70s and it's probably why I'm deathly afraid of sharks (le Jaws), tall buildings (Towering Inferno), and have yet to go on a cruise (stupid Poseidon Adventure).
I finally bought copy of Jaws and read the book last summer—one of the few times I hated the book vs. loving the movie.
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.
I'm curious how other parents out there are handling "inappropriate" material with your tweens/young teens today. I recently found out my kid is into stuff that is majorly inappropriate and I need a pep talk about how to handle it.
I'm also in need of some guidance. My child (12) has been looking at highly inappropriate websites and I'm working on locking down that access, which I thought was already locked down, but I know that there's an ocean of porn out there, how do I navigate that?
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 :)
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!
But delicious fun. I used to reread Scruples and Lace, which I first read when I was 10 and 12, as therapy throughout high school and college.
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?
Epically creepy!
Flowers in the Attic and its sequels were required reading in middle school
100%
Same. We passed all those books around, and marveled at the depravity. I also found many, many paperbacks in my parents' libraries that were incredibly inappropriate for 10-12 year olds...(sex AND violence) but of course I read them anyway. For the most part the sex scenes went right over my head. (I liken it to watching Grease over and over at 15, and loving it for the songs and dancing and missing every sexual reference. Watching it again at 22...Oh! It's ALL about sex!). Finding this kind of reading was just one of many ways we learned about such things before actually trying such things. And in any case, it seems tame compared to what kids can on the internets these days...
I remember in one of the sequels the original twins becoming grandparents and one or more of their grandchildren catching them going at it... does that ring a bell?
Sadly, yes. It does ring a bell, but it might just be my nightmarish imagination. :)
I still have all of my 'Flowers in the Attic' books; I thought I had the whole series, but I'm missing a few. There were the original ones with the cut outs on the cover so you had creepy family portraits to look at!
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.
Fun facts about Candy (ex. Terry Southern appears on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band): https://groveatlantic.com/10-scandalous-facts-about-the-1958-novel-candy/
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!
oh my gosh. My classmate read this in maybe grade 4 or 5 - I came home and asked my mom for it and I will never forget her reaction! I don't know what she said exactly but her face said "uh hell no"
Wow, so cool you got to talk to Judith Krantz!
Amazing story Pavia!
I remember reading Princess Daisy after watching the miniseries on (Primetime !) TV. It must have been a 1983 trend because The Thornbirds also came out as a miniseries that year.
Am soooooo jealous you got to talk to Judith Krantz! Legend.
OMG — I was obsessed with The Thorn Birds mini-series. The early scenes with the priest and still-girl Meggie were creepy in retrospect, just like a lot of other things from that time period. I was only 8 years old. My best friend was like "Your mom let you watch that!" Yeah my mom was pretty laid back about a lot. But honestly, watching soaps and made-for-TV movies with her were huge bonding moments. It was like the few times she wasn't working, cooking, or cleaning.
Bloodline by Sidney Sheldon. What a terrible, misogynist book! But at 12 it was totally titillating and exciting to sneak-read.
I thinks it's hysterical that we seem to all share the same "young adult" reading list ;)
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.
This is so great! I saw Jaws at a drive-in with with my parents... I was eleven. 👀 They were so into disaster films of the 70s and it's probably why I'm deathly afraid of sharks (le Jaws), tall buildings (Towering Inferno), and have yet to go on a cruise (stupid Poseidon Adventure).
I finally bought copy of Jaws and read the book last summer—one of the few times I hated the book vs. loving the movie.
I rewatched the movie not too long ago and it is such a great great film. Beautiful shots, horrifying, campy, about so much more than a shark...
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 remember not liking the movie like at all.
Valley of the Horses, the sequel, was a total sex fest and I learned a lot 👀
My mom had figured out the deal by the time that one got published so I never got my horny little preteen mits on it
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.
I'm curious how other parents out there are handling "inappropriate" material with your tweens/young teens today. I recently found out my kid is into stuff that is majorly inappropriate and I need a pep talk about how to handle it.
I'm also in need of some guidance. My child (12) has been looking at highly inappropriate websites and I'm working on locking down that access, which I thought was already locked down, but I know that there's an ocean of porn out there, how do I navigate that?
2 words: ROSEMARY. ROGERS.
I was reading Love Play at way too young an age. LOL
Hilarious
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.
YES! I read My Sweet Audrina, although don't remember the plot at all.
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!
Have you seen the movie? I think it's on Netflix?? I have not yet but curious.
I have not; I wasn’t aware that a movie had been made. I’ll check it out, thanks!
Same!
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:)