# First grownup book?



## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

I thought it would be interesting to know what was the first grownup book you remember reading. Mine goes way back. It was "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and I was about ten years old. What was your first grownup book?

Joyce


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## jeremy young (Feb 28, 2014)

I read a lot of history books as a child by such people as Arthur Bryant and AJP Taylor.

The first adult novel I read - if Treasure Island and Oliver Twist are not allowed - was Candide by Voltaire, aged about nine or ten, because of Voltaire's connection with my then hero Frederick the Great.


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## musclehead (Dec 29, 2010)

I considered White Fang pretty grown-up when I read it at 12. Full of big words, adventure, heart-stopping action, and frigid north country. I've wanted to live in Alaska ever since then. Plus, it mentions cribbage on the first page. I loved cribbage, but I didn't know anyone else had even heard of it.

I read Alas Babylon at 15. That was the first time I'd read any post-apocalyptic, what-if, type book. I loved it, btw. I no longer fear the bomb, or anything else. Even if disease and natural disaster wipe out two-thirds of the earth's population, and all our modern conveniences, I know the human race will survive.


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

I remember plucking _Jaws_ from my mother's bookshelf when I was 10 or 11. I doubt she would've approved had she known, but I was clever at hiding it. Boy, was that an eye-opener. Of course, I loved it...


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I don't really know what might be considered as the first for me, but I remember that in 7th grade (I think) for some reason I decided to read Jack London's _The Sea Wolf_ for a book report, and the teacher asked me if I was sure. Fortunately, I did not let her dissuade me, and actually quite enjoyed it. It was definitely the thickest book I'd read up until that time.


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## joyceharmon (May 21, 2012)

I remember as a kid checking books out from the 'adult' side of the library, though the librarian would actually argue with me about my selections and try to shoo me over to the kids side. But the first named grownup book I recall was Rosemary's Baby, because she wouldn't let me check it out! So I went to the local book store and bought a copy and read it. So there - nyah!


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## Carrie Rubin (Nov 19, 2012)

joyceharmon said:


> So there - nyah!


Haha, loved that!


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## Alessandra Kelley (Feb 22, 2011)

I read "The Hobbit" at seven and Asimov's "Pebble in the Sky" at ten.

On the other hand, I read "The Graphic Work of M.C. Escher" at three.  I was fascinated by how he talked about the making of his art.  

I was tremendously disappointed that another "Graphic Work" book by some other artist wasn't nearly as interesting.

Shortly after that I read the two volume set of Aubrey Beardsley's work, but I don't know if that should count since it had almost no text.

It sure was adult, though.  Wow!


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## Mandy (Dec 27, 2009)

Joyce DeBacco said:


> I thought it would be interesting to know what was the first grownup book you remember reading. Mine goes way back. It was "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and I was about ten years old. What was your first grownup book?
> 
> Joyce


Mine was also A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and how I loved that book! Just reread it recently. I don't really consider it my first "grow up" book so much as my first thick book. My first truly grown up books were John Saul's Suffer the Children and Stephen King's Needful Things.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

I had an adult library card from the time I was 7 after my parents convinced the librarian they would check out anything for me if she wouldn't let me check them out myself.  The first book I remember checking out for myself that day was Pearl Buck's The Good Earth.  I still love everything she wrote.


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## Scott Hsu-Storaker (Feb 14, 2014)

The Rings of Tantalus by Richard Avery. Looking back at at it I would probably define it as juvenile in the way Conan or Buck Rogers are, but as a 10 year the sex and violence were way out of my league. The basic premise of the story was that hardened criminals were conscripted to be interstellar explorers and the did not like each other very much. Kind of Star Trek meets Riddick. 

I vividly remember desperately not wanting my mother to find out what was in those books I was reading during the summer.


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## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

Quite a varied selection of books here. Some of them are even too "grownup" for me now. LOL. 

I also remember reading "The Good Earth" around that age, but for some reason I just didn't remember it until someone mentioned it here.

Joyce


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

I know what you mean about too grownup for me even now!  The first book I remember reading that was far beyond my age, but not my reading comprehension, was The Exorcist.  It was the only book my mother had forbidden me to read, so of course I read it immediately.  I might have been around 10.  Scared me to pieces. I should have waited on that one.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

Funny coincidence....I asked this question in my book club meeting last week:

Mine was _*Peter Freuchen's Book of the Seven Seas *_










I still have my original copy !!


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I don't think I'll remember the first book. Its just that I don't remember starting to read, I just did. I do remember as a very young child I had to do stories on tape as I had my eye taped up, the good eye that is. Attempts to make my left eye better. So I couldn't see anything. But at 5-6 they gave up on that and I started reading stuff then. I never was into childrens books though as far as I remember and I read whatever was on the book shelf at home. 

I know Karl May was in there somewhere in the very early years. Fantastical adventure stories from Baghdad to the American West. Winnetou and old Shatterhand.  

Somewhere around 11-12 thereabouts my mother gave me the Angelique series and well, here I am, still addicted to Historical stuff.  

I do remember my mom having some very naughty stuff on the shelf. Old, but naughty. I got to read whatever I liked.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Robert Heinlein's_ Farnham's Freehold_. Or it might have been John Wyndham's_ Chocky_.

But I credit Aldous Huxley for an extract from _Brave New World_ (the bit with the babies on the floor) in a school text book. I read it aged 9 and adored it. Promptly got the book out of the library and I suspect didn't understand a word of it - but it got me started on a love of science fiction and fantasy that has stayed with me ever since.


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## ekerrigan (Feb 28, 2014)

Good topic!  

Mine I think was also "The Hobbit", but another memorable mention is William Bell's "Forbidden City". I think technically Forbidden City is young adult, but I was only about 9 or 10 when I read it. It's a very powerful novel about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Atunah said:


> I don't think I'll remember the first book. Its just that I don't remember starting to read, I just did. I do remember as a very young child I had to do stories on tape as I had my eye taped up, the good eye that is. Attempts to make my left eye better. So I couldn't see anything. But at 5-6 they gave up on that and I started reading stuff then. I never was into childrens books though as far as I remember and I read whatever was on the book shelf at home.
> 
> I know Karl May was in there somewhere in the very early years. Fantastical adventure stories from Baghdad to the American West. Winnetou and old Shatterhand.
> 
> ...


This. I can't remember the first grown up book I read; it's easier for me to remember the kids books I adored (the first Curious George book, A Snowy Day). But it was probably right around 10-11-12 that I read my first grown up book. My mother always encouraged me to read because she was (and still is!) a voracious reader, so I have no doubt whatever that book was, it was clean enough for a kid to read. 

I wish I could say I read The Hobbit as my first grown up book, but I didn't hear about the Tolkien books until I heard a burnout in school happen to mention it, and then finally read it for the first time at the ripe old age of 24. 

 I envy those of you who read that when you were so young.


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

I was 9 when Clan of the Cave Bear came out and I read it, but it wasn't my first "grownup" book", I don't remember what that was. I was reading by 2, and bored with kids books by first grade. I know that when I was 10 I found James Michener's books and read them, and then I hit SKing's, and by the time I was 12 I had read GWTW about 15 times.


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## Joyce DeBacco (Apr 24, 2010)

My goodness, we have a couple child geniuses here. Reading at two and three. I remember being so proud at the age of four when I could spell egg. I spelled it "ag". LOL.

Joyce


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Cujo - Stephen King.

I loved the book and went down to a branch of the Chicago public library and checked out Firestarter -  however, I was interrogated and lectured by the librarian about my age and choice of book (I was in the 6th grade). After that I just bought my horror novels.


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## Alessandra Kelley (Feb 22, 2011)

Joyce DeBacco said:


> My goodness, we have a couple child geniuses here. Reading at two and three. I remember being so proud at the age of four when I could spell egg. I spelled it "ag". LOL.
> 
> Joyce


I think it depends what you're interested in. I grew up amidst a lot of fascinating books; I couldn't let them alone. On the other hand, I didn't manage to hit a baseball pitch until I was ten.

When I started kindergarten they made me read various Little Golden Books aloud to various adults to demonstrate that I could.


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## Adrian Howell (Feb 24, 2013)

I wasn't much older than ten when I first read Orwell's _Animal Farm_, but it was only years later when I reread it for my Eng.Lit class that I discovered that it wasn't really about animals.


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

Hemingway's _The Old Man and the Sea_. I picked it up because I was into fishing as a kid, and the library version that I got hold of had a cover with -- inaccurately -- someone standing up in a boat with a bent fishing rod. It blew me away completely, and strengthened my conviction to become a writer.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

Alive.


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## Alessandra Kelley (Feb 22, 2011)

Adrian Howell said:


> I wasn't much older than ten when I first read Orwell's _Animal Farm_, but it was only years later when I reread it for my Eng.Lit class that I discovered that it wasn't really about animals.


 



Kat S said:


> Alive.


Oof, that's a toughie. I had to read that for eighth grade social studies, and it was pretty grim.


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Kat S said:


> Alive.


I'm sure I got that free in some kind of giveaway when I was about 12. Excellent book - might have to go and buy another copy now.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

crebel said:


> I know what you mean about too grownup for me even now! The first book I remember reading that was far beyond my age, but not my reading comprehension, was The Exorcist. It was the only book my mother had forbidden me to read, so of course I read it immediately. I might have been around 10. Scared me to pieces. I should have waited on that one.


see? Mother does know best! I hope you told her about this story later, including the part about how you should have waited as she suggested!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

When I was still in first grade, my father ordered a gorgeous large format 314 page (I looked it up) book from Reader's Digest called Marvels & Mysteries of Our Animal World. It was a book of short popular articles on various nature topics, gorgeously illustrated with full page color photographs that helped hold my interest. It was challenging reading, but I loved it, and my father never got his hands on it again once I appropriated it! I read it over and over again, and combined with indoctrination from the TV show Jonny Quest, it set me on my lifelong path of fascination with science and traveling to see stuff for myself. I read an article about researchers who capture and band birds, and wanted my parents to take me out so we could do that. I still have the book, and can easily lay eyes on it from where I sit while  using my desktop computer.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

The Hooded Claw said:


> see? Mother does know best! I hope you told her about this story later, including the part about how you should have waited as she suggested!


Yes, I was the "good child" and always confessed when I broke the rules because my guilty conscience worked overtime. 

Turned out she knew I was reading it when I did, but wasn't going to censor my reading, and wished she hadn't forbid it, making it more attractive to read. We've talked about it many times over the years and I'm pretty sure she would tell you the same story today if you asked her about adult books I read as a child.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I've been thinking about this and I really can't remember when I first started reading grown-up books. I know I started a horror phase fairly young and read _Carrie_ for the first time around age 10 .... but by then I had already read quite a bit of Asimov and other science fiction and fantasy authors. I got a collected H.G. Wells for my 7th or 8th birthday .... it all fades into the deepest darkest past.

I think I read Alex Haley's _Roots_ around age 12 .... that was pretty grown up ....


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## metal134 (Sep 2, 2010)

That's a tough question to answer, because I don't think the line between kids books and adult books is quite so black and white.  That said, I do remember reading the Lord of the Rings when I was about 8.


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

The Lord of the Rings is interesting because it's not just a single kind of book. The Fellowship is really a kids book or young adult book, but as you move on with the books, it becomes more sophisticated, not just in terms of plot, but also linguistically.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Well and back in the 70's when I was a kid, there were children's books and some few books aimed at older children but not all that many.  YA as a genre didn't exist.  So, once I worked through Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and the Boxcar Children by the end of 2nd grade, I really had to move on to grown up fiction.

But I'm sure a lot of us on this board got at least talked to by teachers or librarians for reading outside our age group ....


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I remember when my mother realized I'd read everything in the children's section of the library -- she knew because she started seeing the same books over and over -- so she took me up to the 'grown up' area and pointed me to HS level books.  And told the librarian I could borrow what I wanted.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

The first one I remember reading is _Jane Eyre_. I think it _was _a bit too grown-up for me, as a certain scene (


Spoiler



the mad wife in the attic


) gave me bad dreams - and for ages afterwards I used to leap into bed from a distance.  Apart from that, I loved it.


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## leigh7911 (Sep 16, 2011)

I have a precocious and voracious 5 year old reader on my hands. I've been dreading for a bit when her reading level will surpass what is appropriate. Ok, if I'm honest it did quite awhile ago, but I haven't had to truly *deal* with that yet because she'll still read anything she can get her hands on, including picture and even board books. Anyway, this thread and what some of you read at young ages has in turn both reassured and terrified me.


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## leigh7911 (Sep 16, 2011)

As to the actual question, I wish I could remember. I read so much as a kid and teenager that I guess they kinda just gradually morphed into each other.



Adrian Howell said:


> I wasn't much older than ten when I first read Orwell's _Animal Farm_, but it was only years later when I reread it for my Eng.Lit class that I discovered that it wasn't really about animals.


This made me smile.


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## Alessandra Kelley (Feb 22, 2011)

leigh7911 said:


> I have a precocious and voracious 5 year old reader on my hands. I've been dreading for a bit when her reading level will surpass what is appropriate. Ok, if I'm honest it did quite awhile ago, but I haven't had to truly *deal* with that yet because she'll still read anything she can get her hands on, including picture and even board books. Anyway, this thread and what some of you read at young ages has in turn both reassured and terrified me.


I think there are some threads around here for recommendations for young kids at high reading levels. It's a balancing act to find things that are advanced enough to be interesting and challenging without traumatic or confusing levels of adult experience.


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## balaspa (Dec 27, 2009)

Stephen King's Cujo


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## Speaker-To-Animals (Feb 21, 2012)

> Well and back in the 70's when I was a kid, there were children's books and some few books aimed at older children but not all that many. YA as a genre didn't exist. So, once I worked through Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and the Boxcar Children by the end of 2nd grade, I really had to move on to grown up fiction.


My memory is the YA stuff was out there, but it was all "afterschool special" types of things that were both preachy and depressing.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I have no idea.  Probably one of the Harold Robbins' books on my parents' bookshelves.


Betsy


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## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Geoffrey said:


> Well and back in the 70's when I was a kid, there were children's books and some few books aimed at older children but not all that many. YA as a genre didn't exist. So, once I worked through Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and the Boxcar Children by the end of 2nd grade, I really had to move on to grown up fiction.


Me too. There was no YA that I recall - it was Nancy Drew, Willard Price, Malcolm Saville, Honor Arundel and straight into Robert Heinlein. Although I do recall a library book about a couple of teenagers who broke into a department store and stayed overnight. I remember thinking - wow, this is a bit modern and edgy!


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## Avis Black (Jun 12, 2012)

Call of the Wild, which I read when I was ten.  I absolutely loved it and read it umpteen times.  But these days I prefer White Fang, because I know that once out on his own, a dog's life is probably going to be nasty, brutish, and short.  'The Romance of the Wild' is an overrated concept.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

I have no clue but I would guess one of the classics since mom got them all in 1968.  I know I read the Scarlet Letter before I turned 13.


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## KarlaGomez (Mar 16, 2012)

Hmm. Some replies made me LOL. Hiding and going to sections not allowed. Haha.

I stuck to YA for a while. I was around 19 (late compared to many of you) when I got Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles. Years later and I'm still not done XD

It wasn't until I found out about Charlaine Harris that I entered a whole new stage of reading. That was during my college years. Of course, I also read books assigned in college. Most were world lit. books. Very interesting and intense. Has anyone read The Butcher's Wife? I believed it was first published in China. Oh, and Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller. Books that had me scared to go on to the next page.


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## KarlaGomez (Mar 16, 2012)

Oh. Are we counting books in high school for school? I can't recall if they had us read legit "adult" books. Honestly, I can't even recall the books I read in high school.


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## Anne Berkeley (Jul 12, 2013)

I can't remember the exact age, but it was between thirteen and fifteen, and it was the Exorcist.


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