What books did you read as a pre-teen or teen that you now can't believe?

[Sandwich in Wi]

Oh, forgot all the Clan of the Cave Bear series (oh, Jondalar!)

 

and Princess Daisy. naughty, naughty book

 

blessings,

Sandwich

[Katrina]

:001_huh: Okay, I'm ashamed to admit it...but I was also a big VC Andrews fan. What was the appeal with those books? Next time your in a bookstore, check out the VC Andrews section. They've multiplied like rabbits. How many times can a bad story line be repeated before people stop reading???

 

I liked a few of the Sweet Dream books as well. The first book PS I Love You was my favorite book in 6ht grade, and caused me to purchase many other Sweet Dream books, but I realized after a while that most romance novels just aren't my genre, so I gave them up. (I do still have many fond memories of "PS I Love You" though.)

 

I also read half of John Jakes books.

 

In junior high I read tons of Lois Duncan books.

 

Oh...in 6th grade I also read Amityville Horror. I had to sleep with my grandmother (who I was living with at the time) for two weeks straight after reading that. She's get onto me saying "I don't know why you read books like that," but never actually forbade me to read it, although I don't know if it would have done any good. (Okay...here's the stupid part...I'd read that book, get scared out of my skull...then 3 months later I'd forget how scared it made me and read it again...then three months later I'd read it yet again...)

 

I didn't start reading Stephen King until late highschool/college. I have to say I have a love/hate relationship with his books. Some of his books like "Salem's Lot" I loved. Others if his I just can't stand. I couldn't even read half of "Pet Cemetary" before closing that book. I haven't been tempted to read any of his for a long, long time.

 

I also went through my Anne Rice phase right after I got married.

 

Okay...digressing away from books I am ashamed to have read...

 

Anyone else read the Beverly Cleary teen books? I guess they would have been the forerunners of the Sweet Dream books in their own way, but I loved them. I know they were old fashioned when I read them in highschool in the 80's, but there was something sweet and appealing about them.

 

Finally...a couple of my favorite books from preteen/teen years. Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster and Up A Road Slowly by Irene Hunt. I've read hundrends of books but those two stand out in my memory.

[TeacherZee]

Another one for Danielle Steel, and Sweet Valley High. And when I was about 16 a disturbing amount of Harlequin novels. I don't think they did any permanent damage. My friends and I would discuss them and borrow from each other. Considering what others at our school were doing at the same time I think that Danielle Steel was practically high culture:glare::tongue_smilie:

[SquirrellyMama]

I wasted my preteen & early teen years on The Babysitter's Club, Sweet Valley Twins, and Sweet Valley High. I believe I read every single book in all of those series.

 

Me too, so sad.

[gandpsmommy]

I was very naive, prudish, and religiously devoted to preserving my innocence, so I never ventured into the world of trashy romance novels.

 

I was the biggest scaredy-cat ever, so I was repulsed by horror novels, murder mysteries or anything with dark themes. I had to read Truman Capote's In Cold Blood for English class my junior year of high school, and I was terrified at nighttime for years because of it.

 

Unfortunately, though, I didn't have much guidance, so I only discovered a few classics during my preteen and teenage years. I mostly wasted my time on Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley Twins books, Christian romance or Christian historical fiction.

 

Happily, I did discover Little Women with help from my 7th grade English teacher, and it became my favorite book. I also read the Anne of Green Gables series, The Diary of Anne Frank, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre on my own in high school. Other than Little Women, Johnny Tremain was my favorite book in junior high. How funny is that? I spent the summer between 7th and 8th grade reading through the entire Bible from Genesis through Revelation. My mom started to get worried about me because I spent so much time up in my room reading.

 

I wish, though, that someone would have provided a bit more direction for me. I read several classics as assigned reading for high school, but I remember wandering around the school library trying to find something to read on my own time, without any clue where to start. If I stumbled on something worthwhile it was completely by accident. In my senior year my British lit. teacher recommended seeing Sense and Sensibility (the Emma Thompson, Kate Winslett version that was in theaters at the time) because she thought I would enjoy it. I did, and I ended up buying the Complete Works of Jane Austen that summer.

[JWSJ]

Chemical Engineering textbooks

 

(I was a geek.)

[LNC]

When I was upper elementary we lived in a beautiful small town in western Mass. I used to ride my bike to the old library 2x a week and check out lot of vintage books to carry home on my bike book rack! I devoured 1950s "malt shop" romances by authors like Janet Lambert and Rosemary Du Jardin (bc her series were about twins and so am I). They have been republished, and I may buy one series to read this summer to remember why I was so drawn to them.

 

http://www.imagecascade.com/MM021.ASP?pageno=71

[Rhonda in TX]

I think I read them all. I read "Forever" without my parents knowing, but all the others (Blubber, Deenie) were not hidden from them. I recently looked them over at the library and there is no way my DD will read those with my permission! Good grief! I don't remember all that garbage in them. My mother obviously did not have a clue what was in them or she would not have let me read them.

[BritAnnia]

Interesting that so many of us read Stephen King back then. A whole continent away I also was reading books by King and another horror author, James Herbert. He wrote some icky nasty stuff.

I have a report card with a teacher's noted concern about my reading choices though I don't recall my parents sharing that concern.

[Pajama Mama]

I read some V.C Andrews-yuck. I also read some trashy romance novels and Stephen King books. I also liked books by Robin Cook(Coma and other "medical" mysteries).

[carla36301]

Well, I was always reading far above my grade school level (don't think my kiddos have inherited that), so in 7th grade (age 12 or 13) I read "The Godfather" and did a book report on it. My Language Arts teacher was horrified.......

[AuntPol]

I too read Stephen King and Judy Blume as a preteen, as well as the Amityville Horror book.

 

In jr. high, it was all VC Andrews.

 

 

I read very, very few classics. I had no one to guide me to good literature. Even in English class, we had very few assignments and I just used the cliff notes.

[Marie in Oh]

in early middle school- 6th, 7th grade. I do rememeber readign one VC Andrews, but I was pretty disgusted by it. Then I started reading Janeate Oak books in 8th and 9th. Lots of fluff. I did read a couple of noteworthy books, mostly for school. I wish I wouldn't have squandered my time so much.

[VanessaS]

Oh, forgot all the Clan of the Cave Bear series (oh, Jondalar!)

Cracking up here. I remember reading one of the books (perhaps "The Mammoth Hunters") and thinking: is there a plot or just sex scenes? :001_huh: It bored me even as a teenager. I kept thinking: "How many times can you read about people shagging before it becomes repetitive?" By the third book I just skipped over the sex scenes to get back to the dialog. That cured me of THAT.

Now if I buy a book I flip through to make sure there's not a bunch of gratuitous sex in it. *yawn*

 

I read "The Godfather" and did a book report on it. My Language Arts teacher was horrified.......

:lol:

[TravelingChris]

I guess I am an oddity among homeschoolers. There are books that Iread that I wish I hadn't but mostly I don't remember their names. I did read the first VC Andrews book and never read another one. I read one or two romances both Harlequin and tied one more racy and thought they were either insipidly stupid and boring or in the case of the racy one, bordering on pprn and wouldn;t go on.

 

I read Agatha Christie starting when I was 11 and loved them and still do. I read Stephen King either in high school or maybe college. I like some of his stuff and not others. I still read him.

 

I am a mystery fan and almost always am reading one. I read many types.

I also read true crime stories like Ann Rule's Perfect Stranger. It lead to my profession so I don't stop my kids from reading things, except if they wanted to read sex heavy books or Satanic books or that sort of thing. (I am not talking about Harry Potter).

[melhouse]

:001_huh: Okay, I'm ashamed to admit it...but I was also a big VC Andrews fan. What was the appeal with those books? Next time your in a bookstore, check out the VC Andrews section. They've multiplied like rabbits. How many times can a bad story line be repeated before people stop reading???

 

 

 

Okay...digressing away from books I am ashamed to have read...

 

Finally...a couple of my favorite books from preteen/teen years. Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster and Up A Road Slowly by Irene Hunt. I've read hundrends of books but those two stand out in my memory.

 

I, too, read the VC Andrews books, along with Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Irving Wallace.

 

I wanted to comment on Up A Road Slowly. I adored that book!! It doesn't seem to be one too many people have heard of. I must've read it five or six times. My dds have read it and enjoyed it, too. I also loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the Anne books, and Girl of the Limberlost.

 

Fun thread.

 

Melissa

[mom2jjka]

Judy Blume (can you believe our school library had ALL of her books?:eek:)

Steven King (Christine, Cujo)

"Jaws"

and way too many stupid "Silhouette" romance novels:tongue_smilie:

[dangermom]

My mom was a librarian and complained all the time about people who only checked out Harlequins or Stephen King. So I didn't read those. I did like the Sweet Dreams romance novels for teens when I was 12-13--they were entirely unobjectionable. (My mom didn't know about the VC Andrews, she would never have let me read them.)

[scrapbookbuzz]

My mom should have monitored what I read! I think I was reading VC Andrews at the age of 10 or 11. I was fascinated by it then. By the time I'd read my 4th,5th or 6th book by her, however, I was really bored with it. It's really all the same garbage. Plus, I read some really DARK stories that I didn't need to be reading while my body was going all hormonal (read: reaching puberty).

 

I don't exactly agree with censoring books, either, but, there are some books that just shouldn't be read until one can logically discuss them.

[WTMindy]

I read a ton of junk!! But, there are a few that stuck out in my mind after all these years, and they have all been mentioned already. The VC Andrews books rank right at the top of the list! BLECH!!!!!!!

[LG Gone Wild]

I read a lot of Harlequin Romances, Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steele, and Eric Van Lustbader. Oh...uh I did read Harold Robbins (think that was his name). Don't let your kids read that sh...err, junk. It's h@rd core you know what.

 

VC Andrews was demented, Harold Robbins is nasty. The worst book I read was from Ann Rice, it was essentially S and M.

[LG Gone Wild]

Oh, forgot all the Clan of the Cave Bear series (oh, Jondalar!)

 

and Princess Daisy. naughty, naughty book

 

blessings,

Sandwich

 

 

LOL! Others have mentioned that series but your post takes the cake. .:cheers2:

[pereztribe]

I think everyone around our age group read the same things. My age group is 35-40 BTW.

I remember reading Stephen King, VC Andrews, Gone With The Wind, and John Saul.

My parents didn't really look into what I was reading either. I think I was 10-12.

Looking back, I would never allow her to read what I had been reading back then.:blink:

[freeindeed]

Like a pp mentioned, I also read Sweet Valley High. Yuck!:001_huh: I also read lots of Stephen King and V. C. Andrews. It's a wonder I'm not really messed up in the head now!:willy_nilly:

[Mommy22alyns]

Flowers in the Attic series, but I got bored with them after about the second book. I probably read a little Stephen King back then too. And definitely Gone With the Wind.

 

I never read a Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley High, or Goosebumps book. I wasn't really interested in them and my mom didn't want to pay for a book I'd zip through in no time.

 

By the time I was 15 or so, I was making monster trips to the library on my own time and reading crazy things like Balzac, attempting James Joyce and Proust, and anything else I could dig up. I probably spent more time in the library than in school that year.

 

I wrote my junior year English paper on The Bell Jar, and my teacher was rather worried. I don't think she realized that I'd read the book at least five times already.

 

At some point I became that wonderful geek who LOVES the summer reading lists. I still do. I live in the summer reading section at the library.

Edited May 29, 2009 by Mommy22alyns

[Kareni]

Well, I was always reading far above my grade school level (don't think my kiddos have inherited that), so in 7th grade (age 12 or 13) I read "The Godfather" and did a book report on it. My Language Arts teacher was horrified.......

 

Another Godfather reader here!

 

Other fine works I read were:

 

Agatha Christie novels

 

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex but Were Afraid to Ask

 

James Michener books

 

Every Barbara Cartland novel under the sun

 

the Angelique books by Sergeanne Golon (I was forbidden to read these before age 16, so naturally I grabbed them as soon as my parents left the house!)

 

plus much much more!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[cathmom]

Anybody mention Jackie Collins?

[Amber in SJ]

As a pre-teen I read sci-fi fantasy. I read the Hobbit in first grade and that was the only genre I would read voluntarily. The summer I turned 12 a friend of my mother lent me my first bodice ripper & I was hooked. I burned through those at a clip of 1-2 per day! I read about thousands of pirates and their captives, cowboys seducing city girls, rogue lords and impoverished ladies. I may have been sheltered enough at 12 to have never heard the correct anatomical terms for reproductive organs out loud, but I sure knew every silly euphemism. :D My mom didn't read romances so she had no idea just how graphic it was.

 

I read tons of other stuff too; classics, political thrillers, historical fiction, mysteries, biography, and my beloved sci-fi/ fantasy; everything except horror. I still read almost any genre, but I can't believe the sheer volume of romances I read in my early teen years.

 

Amber in SJ

[laughing lioness]

Another Godfather reader here!

 

Other fine works I read were:

 

Agatha Christie novels

 

James Michener books

 

plus much much more!

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

 

add in Summer of 42' and tons of other well-written smut...

[Sharon H in IL]

I read sci-fi fantasy.

 

I burned through those at a clip of 1-2 per day! I read about thousands of pirates and their captives, cowboys seducing city girls, rogue lords and impoverished ladies. I may have been sheltered enough at 12 to have never heard the correct anatomical terms for reproductive organs out loud, but I sure knew every silly euphemism. :D My mom didn't read romances so she had no idea just how graphic it was.

 

but I can't believe the sheer volume of romances I read in my early teen years.

 

Amber in SJ

[blush] Me too, Amber! :lol:

 

These days I can tell when a bout of depression is coming on soley by my craving for a regency romance. If I want to read about lords & impoverished ladies, it's a sure sign. What's up with that? :001_huh:

[Kay in Cal]

Ugh... yeah. I read all the VC Andrews in 5th and 6th grade. Yuck yuck yuck. Oh, and Clan of the Cave Bear.

 

Piers Anthony isn't well written, but I don't remember it being such trash.

[cin]

I remember long happy Saturdays digging in bags and boxes in our basement looking for my parents' contraband books......

 

:001_huh:

 

 

Ditto. Only I KNEW where the contraband books were. Bodice rippers. BOXES of them. From my aunt, who had passed away. Put a box full of s3x books in a basement with a 14 yr old girl and what's she gonna read?!

[Mothersweets]

I read the entire Kent family chronicles by John Jakes. Remember these? They were uber popular in the 70's after the bicentennial. I read 1/2 the series the summer I was 10 1/2 and the other half when I was 11 1/2.

 

Now that I have a 10yo daughter I can't believe I was reading adult fiction at that age. I would have to look back through them to see what I was exposed to!

 

http://www.johnjakes.com/kentchronicles.htm

 

I read those, too!!! Twice!

 

I also loved the Wagons West series (:001_rolleyes:yeah, I know) by Dana Fuller Ross. http://www.amazon.com/Independence-Wagons-West-Dana-Fuller/dp/1564311120/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

I think, I mean, I know I read these twice, at least. Not great literature by any stretch of the imagination but they did pique my interest the history of that time.

[Mothersweets]

Oh...in 6th grade I also read Amityville Horror. I had to sleep with my grandmother (who I was living with at the time) for two weeks straight after reading that. She's get onto me saying "I don't know why you read books like that," but never actually forbade me to read it, although I don't know if it would have done any good. (Okay...here's the stupid part...I'd read that book, get scared out of my skull...then 3 months later I'd forget how scared it made me and read it again...then three months later I'd read it yet again...)

 

I read that when I was 10! Yikes!! And was scared out of my mind when I went to bed at night.

 

I didn't start reading Stephen King until late highschool/college. I have to say I have a love/hate relationship with his books. Some of his books like "Salem's Lot" I loved. Others if his I just can't stand. I couldn't even read half of "Pet Cemetary" before closing that book. I haven't been tempted to read any of his for a long, long time.

Yep, Stephen King was a fav, too. When I was....10. Double yikes!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Anyone else read the Beverly Cleary teen books? I guess they would have been the forerunners of the Sweet Dream books in their own way, but I loved them. I know they were old fashioned when I read them in highschool in the 80's, but there was something sweet and appealing about them.

 

I have read her books as an adult and loved them! I agree -sweet and appealing describes them so well. My dds have loved them as well.

And Up a Road Slowly is a fantastic book!

 

 

Finally...a couple of my favorite books from preteen/teen years. Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster and Up A Road Slowly by Irene Hunt. I've read hundrends of books but those two stand out in my memory.

 

 

All I can say now is, where were my parents when I was reading this junk?

[RubberChickenGirl]

Ditto. Only I KNEW where the contraband books were. Bodice rippers. BOXES of them. From my aunt, who had passed away. Put a box full of s3x books in a basement with a 14 yr old girl and what's she gonna read?!

 

I've heard of Corsette Busters but not bodice rippers!:D Same diff, eh?

[Slartibartfast]

VC Andrews, Sweet Valley High, Thorn Birds and Helter Skelter. :lol:

 

I read good things but I did read some real garbage.

[Karenciavo]

Whoops, misread the original post. I'm not sorry I read Huxley or Dostoyevsky. Even Vonnegut, but as a 14 yo, not so much.

 

My favorites were:

Kurt Vonnegut

Carlos Castaneda

Rosemary Rogers (don't ask :glare:)

Edited September 22, 2009 by Karenciavo

[caitlinsmom]

VC Andrews - wish I could bleach my brain!

 

 

I still have dreams about My Sweet Audrina. The "good" Audrina and the "bad" with the swiss cheese brain. Good grief I wasted a lot of time on those books!

 

I too loved Danielle Steele and read everyone that was out at the time.

 

The book that has always stuck with me though was Go Ask Alice. The librarian made me get a not from my parents to read it in 6th grade. My parents didnt blink and let me read it. I also read Jays Journal, but I cant remember much about that one except satan worshiping or something like that.

[Karenciavo]

I also loved the Wagons West series (:001_rolleyes:yeah, I know) by Dana Fuller Ross. http://www.amazon.com/Independence-Wagons-West-Dana-Fuller/dp/1564311120/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

I read these too. I was so upset when Whip and Cathy died. What was it an avalanche? I couldn't stand that hussy who was taken by the Indians and then married Whip. :lol:

[kalanamak]

II chomped through STACKS and STACKS

 

Me, too. The only one I look at now and raise an eyebrow was pulled out of a box of books my father got at a garage sale. I'm betting neither of my folks read it, given the title: Diary of a Mad Housewife.

[caitlinsmom]

I also went through the phase of reading all the teen death books. The ones where a sweet 16 yo girl would find out she had cancer and the bad boy would change his horrible ways to be with her while she died. I cant remember the author but I think the last name was McDonald or something like that. I am not a crier but I always loved those books because they were so sweet without any garbage.

 

I was also facinated by stories of girls with eating disorders. I would scour the library shelves looking for them and then read them over and over. I used to want to be an eating disorder counselor because of those books!

[Audrey]

I also went through the phase of reading all the teen death books. The ones where a sweet 16 yo girl would find out she had cancer and the bad boy would change his horrible ways to be with her while she died. I cant remember the author but I think the last name was McDonald or something like that. I am not a crier but I always loved those books because they were so sweet without any garbage.

 

I was also facinated by stories of girls with eating disorders. I would scour the library shelves looking for them and then read them over and over. I used to want to be an eating disorder counselor because of those books!

 

Lurlene McDaniel! Oh gods those were awful. I read them all, too.

 

I remember the John Jakes series. I think I read them all (8 or 9 of them at least). I also remember reading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley all in one long weekend marathon reading session. I couldn't put it down. Then, I couldn't stop thinking about it for months. I re-read it several times.

 

I tried re-reading it recently and it just didn't have the same je ne sais quoi.

[Word Nerd]

The most embarrassing to me now were several of the VC Andrews' series. :tongue_smilie: I would also sneak my mom's romance novels and especially liked Johanna Lindsey.

[Tangerine]

I read The Midwife, because I wanted to be one. Maybe I should have. I could have had quite a racy life according to the book. ;)

[Dayle in Guatemala]

Flowers in the Attic.

 

Anyone remember these? I still can't believe I read it--it was a tad twisted. I think I read it because it was so far from something my parents would have been okay with and I was too chicken to rebel outright, so I read twisted books. :001_huh:

[Sara in AZ]

I read this in fifth or sixth grade (and I was ahead a year so I was probably 9 or 10.) Heavy stuff!

[Apiphobic]

5th and 6th grade I remember reading the Trixie Belden series because of a friend. Another friend got me started on the Phenwick Women series.

 

My mom read a lot of romance so I started reading those. Celeste de Blasis (Wild Swan trilogy, The Proud Breed, and The Tiger's Woman), William Stuart Long (The Australians series), Clan of the Cave Bear series, Wagons West, VC Andrews, and others I can't remember for certain. I think they included Phyllis A Whitney, Kathleen Woodiwiss, and Victoria Holt.

 

My dad read scifi, but I didn't read as many of his books. I do remember reading a lot of Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

Edited September 22, 2009 by Apiphobic

[Spy Car]

I've never heard of VC Andrews. Should I feel "out of it"? :D

 

Bill

[dangermom]

You should definitely head down to the library and get Flowers in the Attic. Read it, and then think about the fact that people who now complain about the non-literary nature of the Twilight books all spent their young teen years reading THAT.

 

Lurlene McDaniels is still in print!

[Mothersweets]

I read these too. I was so upset when Whip and Cathy died. What was it an avalanche? I couldn't stand that hussy who was taken by the Indians and then married Whip. :lol:

 

Yep, an avalanche. And I believe the hussy's name was Eulalia. :)