What waas the first book for adults to make a big impression on you?

1. 71

   KrisLposted 11 years ago

   What waas the first book for adults to make a big impression on you?
   
   This question may apply particularly to those of us who were schoolchildren and young teenagers before today's huge number of young adult books in every genre.
   
   What was your first important book bought with your own money from the drugstore rack or borrowed from the adult section of the library?

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2. 86

   SidKempposted 11 years ago

   Boy, I read so many books. Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars series with John Carter - I lived inside that for years. The first time I picked up a book because it was literature, I took myself through Moby Dick in a summer. Looking back, I bet the teacher chuckled at the classic "what did you read during the summer" book report that I wrote on Moby Dick!
   
   Around then, I also read The Lord of the Rings. That has probably made the biggest changes in my life.

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   1. 71

      KrisLposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I read the Lord of the Rings the summer before my 12th birthday, and (as you know, Sid) it was life-changing for me too.

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   2. 86

      SidKempposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I just realized I was only thinking about fiction. At the same age - about 11 - my brother was in a high school human sexuality course with the classic "all about sex" books of the era, and, with my mother's encouragement, I read them all.

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3. 60

   duffsmomposted 11 years ago

   My first adult book is a real oldie, in fact it was old when I picked it up off our home library shelf.  The book, Suds in Your Eye, by Mary Lasswell is about 3 old gals who move in together during WW II, face problems, money troubles etc., all with wicked senses of humor.
   
   I must have been about 10 when I read it and loved every minute of it. There were a couple of adult references in there like one character referring to something being "better than four bare legs in a bed" that I totally did not get. I since have read that book countless times and ended up finding the entire series and love every one of them.

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   1. 71

      KrisLposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      That sounds like a great book! It's making me think of the ones I picked up around my parents house too -- not always such happy choices. (I ended up reading Eli Wiesel's Night far too young).

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4. 84

   Austinstarposted 11 years ago

   Well, my all time favorite adult book that I read as a young teen was Catch-22. I read it about seven times. It was so convoluted and funny and horrible and crazy. Took me years to figure everything out. Maybe I never did.
   I read Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, which I would have bought with my own money, but my mom had a copy of it laying around. An excellent ghost story book!
   The most important book I ever read was The Source by James Mitchener. That book opened my eyes to religion and the world.

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   1. 71

      KrisLposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Three great books to read as a young teen!
      I think the experience of stretching yourself to understand is important -- especially when you do it for fun. I wonder if teens today have as much chance to get that experience.

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