Comments on: Deadeye Dick’s Last Shot, or All for the Love of Bessie Burton

By: RSmith

RSmith — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:51:14 +0000

When I was in 10th grade I had a friend whose mom read Harlequins. She would bring me a brown paper grocery bag full of her mom’s books, which I would finish in about a week, and then she would bring me another bagful. But I think my first romances were Grace Livingston Hill which I discovered in the church library in 6th or 7th grade.
My parents never commented on or questioned what I read, but they did on what I watched. When I was home from college one weekend my sister and I were planning to stay up late and watch Psycho, and my dad told us we weren’t allowed!

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By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 19:53:37 +0000

The only time my mother made a comment on a book I was reading is when I came home with The Graduate at age 12. She explained that it was an adult book, that she didn’t mind if I read it, and that I’d probably not understand it.

For the most part she was right. I understood the relationships parts of it, but not the underlying themes.

I just recently downloaded a free copy of The Graduate for Kindle and will be re-reading it. Maybe I’ll understand it now that I’m 47…

By: AARPatH

AARPatH — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:48:10 +0000

Not only did my parents not censor my reading but they abetted it. When I grew up in the Midwest in the 1950s, the public library was divided into two parts: adults and childrens. Until you were 16, you had to get books from the children’s section, no exceptions. So I would write down a list of the titles I wanted to read (the central catalog had both adult’s and children’s books), and my parents would check them out for me. Like I said, abetting was their MO.

By: Leigh

Leigh — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:10:12 +0000

Thanks everyone for the responses. Sounds like for the most part we experienced the same type of parental attitudes toward our choices in reading

By: AndyR

AndyR — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:25:29 +0000

My parents never paid attention to what I was reading–they were doing their own. Mom reads mostly magazines and Dad prefers westerns (I’ve read some of them). After my dad retired, in the winter when he couldn’t be out in his garden and was bored, he actually started reading some of my romances. He’s stuck with the sweeter ones.

By: Tacilija

Tacilija — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 03:33:59 +0000

My parents never ever censored my reading, except on one occasion – my dad did not want me to read “Christiane F: Autobiography of a Girl of the Streets and Heroin Addict” (I was 13 or 14 at the time), but after a while he changed his mind. I do not control my daughter’s reading, either (she is 12). I do not think reading will hurt her in any way, and it is better to be informed than not. She’s read the Twilight series a while ago and when I asked her how did she like romantic parts, she told me that she skips them because they are boring

By: Linda

Linda — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 02:18:26 +0000

I was in 6th grade and bored with the ya books available at the time, so I asked my mom if I could have one of her books to read, she is a long-time romance reader, and she gave me a Barbara Cartland book to read. If anyone has ever read her, you will know that they are as clean as can be. From there I went on to the series romance lines (silhoutte and harlequin) which were not very explicit at the time, then as I got older I moved on to more “descriptive” romances. I think it all depends on maturity, kids are exposed to a lot more sex then they used to be. I think that around high school age is fine for the more “racy” romances, maybe it takes some of the mystery of it away.

By: Virginia DeMarce

Virginia DeMarce — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 00:54:59 +0000

Plus, a lot of “racy” books weren’t romances. “Children of Kaywana” was on the fiction shelves in our high school library. Once we hit 9th grade, we could also wander freely through the adult stacks at the public library in town and nobody questioned what we checked out.

There were Sax Rohmer books on the shelves (with the heroines constantly being abducted for nefarious purposes), not to mention Forever Amber. While Leslie Charteris didn’t include sex scenes in the “Saint” mysteries, it was pretty clear that Simon Templar and Patricia conducted both a sexual relationship and an open relationship.

By: farmwifetwo

farmwifetwo — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 22:44:00 +0000

I was reading Anne of Green Gables… all LMM books.. by age 8 and Nancy Drew so by the time I hit 13 teenage books weren’t interesting. Mom told me I couldn’t read “The Thorn Birds” but since she was working shifts and Dad wasn’t home until supper I just sneaked it and put it back. Who needed a sex-ed class after it

When I started working at the library just after my 15th birthday I discovered regencies, historicals and cozy mysteries and that the 600′s had the “sex” books when we were shelf-reading on Sat mornings.

My niece is 13 going on 20 and my SIL IMO gives her a little too much freedom in her reading but she seems to be ok with it. She’s very tall and you forget that she’s not as old as she looks. When I see what she’s reading at my MIL’s I usually make a comment so she knows I’ve read it or heard of that author if she’s interested in talking about the book. She took a box of my books a month ago. Deal was her Mother had to agree to it and I weeded out the “after you turn 16″ erotica, the romances I left. I told her when she turned 16 I’d introduce her to ‘good trash’ and she laughed – which was the point, and yes, I’ll keep my end of that bargain.

They teach sex ed younger all the time. They can find anything on tv/internet and parents for the most part aren’t careful about what they or their kids watch on tv so sensoring doesn’t help. IMO give them the books to read if they are interested. They know, that you know, what they are reading and you are willing to discuss the book. They may or may not want to talk about it… which is fine. But I wouldn’t censor without explanation, but I’d still give a little too. They need to trust you or like I did, they’ll hide what they are reading/doing and that can lead to problems.