![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impy Discussion over in the land of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
bsc_snark over references made me remember a discussion Mums and I had not too long ago. I don't remember what sparked that convo, but basically it dealt with the types of books I read as a kid/pre-teen. I think it came about because we were discussing the pros and cons of picking out your own books and where one draws the line with what's appropriate and what's not.
I don't know about you, but I'm fairly sure my reading preferences were a little... off. Not by all that much, but enough that at various times I stood out for what I was reading. Second or third grade brought the BSC, and by fourth grade I was mainlining SVH. The BSC wasn't really a big thing since every other girl in my class who read for fun was doing the same thing. Ditto the Scary Stories books that came out either the same year or the following (definitely by third grade) even though I really, really don't think anyone under fourth grade should be allowed to even see the covers of those books. The nightmares those books caused! I swear, I could not sleep for three months (off and on, but I'm dead serious about the time frame) due to a story in one of them as well as the accompanying artwork. Some of the art still freaks me out and I know I'm not alone.
Sorry, got sidetracked. Anyway, SVH was a bit unusual in that I read them in a book-a-day format and it was noticeable. I have memories of people in class being shocked any time a book took more than a day for me to read it. I also remember clearing out the library's shelves of all their SVH books and the librarian giving me The Look that clearly said, "You cannot read all of these fast enough to justify taking them ALL. Do you know how rude you are being?" and me not really giving a rat's ass at that point.
(Come to think of it, I don't have many warm fuzzy memories of any librarian outside of our school librarian from childhood. That's just sad given the amount of time I spent in the library.)
Sixth grade, prior to R.L. Stine breaking out amongst the sixth graders (first book fair of the year), Mums picked out Slumber Party for me to read because she didn't think I was ready for Stephen King and I'd run through most of the books I had any obvious interest in the juvenile section thus far. To this day I think I've only completed one full length SK novel and that was Carrie. (I tried Christine. Yeaaaaaaah...)
So. Back to the beginning. Mums said something when we had our talk recently, and I remembered that she didn't really pre-read my books for me. I asked if it was a conscious decision or if it was simply at that time our book preferences didn't match up at all/she trusted me/whatever came to mind. She said that she and Dad figured that so long as I wasn't reading anything with a bunch of sex in it, they didn't see any reason to intervene. (I suppose V.C. Andrews doesn't exactly have a *lot* of sex, right?) I pointed out that what I was reading at the time had a fair amount of violence, usually murder, and she shrugged and said that they figured they could handle the violence.
This made me snicker quite a bit.
bsc_snark over references made me remember a discussion Mums and I had not too long ago. I don't remember what sparked that convo, but basically it dealt with the types of books I read as a kid/pre-teen. I think it came about because we were discussing the pros and cons of picking out your own books and where one draws the line with what's appropriate and what's not.I don't know about you, but I'm fairly sure my reading preferences were a little... off. Not by all that much, but enough that at various times I stood out for what I was reading. Second or third grade brought the BSC, and by fourth grade I was mainlining SVH. The BSC wasn't really a big thing since every other girl in my class who read for fun was doing the same thing. Ditto the Scary Stories books that came out either the same year or the following (definitely by third grade) even though I really, really don't think anyone under fourth grade should be allowed to even see the covers of those books. The nightmares those books caused! I swear, I could not sleep for three months (off and on, but I'm dead serious about the time frame) due to a story in one of them as well as the accompanying artwork. Some of the art still freaks me out and I know I'm not alone.
Sorry, got sidetracked. Anyway, SVH was a bit unusual in that I read them in a book-a-day format and it was noticeable. I have memories of people in class being shocked any time a book took more than a day for me to read it. I also remember clearing out the library's shelves of all their SVH books and the librarian giving me The Look that clearly said, "You cannot read all of these fast enough to justify taking them ALL. Do you know how rude you are being?" and me not really giving a rat's ass at that point.
(Come to think of it, I don't have many warm fuzzy memories of any librarian outside of our school librarian from childhood. That's just sad given the amount of time I spent in the library.)
Sixth grade, prior to R.L. Stine breaking out amongst the sixth graders (first book fair of the year), Mums picked out Slumber Party for me to read because she didn't think I was ready for Stephen King and I'd run through most of the books I had any obvious interest in the juvenile section thus far. To this day I think I've only completed one full length SK novel and that was Carrie. (I tried Christine. Yeaaaaaaah...)
So. Back to the beginning. Mums said something when we had our talk recently, and I remembered that she didn't really pre-read my books for me. I asked if it was a conscious decision or if it was simply at that time our book preferences didn't match up at all/she trusted me/whatever came to mind. She said that she and Dad figured that so long as I wasn't reading anything with a bunch of sex in it, they didn't see any reason to intervene. (I suppose V.C. Andrews doesn't exactly have a *lot* of sex, right?) I pointed out that what I was reading at the time had a fair amount of violence, usually murder, and she shrugged and said that they figured they could handle the violence.
This made me snicker quite a bit.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-12 02:59 pm (UTC)My parents didn't pre-read books for me, either (honestly, I find that fairly bizarre), but then, my mother used to recommend the books she was reading to me if she thought I'd like them. Once I started exploring the adult section of the local library, I started reccing things to her, LOL. I still have a soft spot for that dinky little local library, even though the one I have access to now is 1000x better.
Oh, memories ♥ I think my mother thinks I'm crazy for re-collecting and re-reading all those series books from when I was a kid, but she's definitely of the mindset of, "whatever makes you happy..."
ETA: ...and going back to read that thread reminds me of why I don't read that comm anymore. Wow. Did these people NEVER do things behind their parents' backs?! o.O
(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-12 07:27 pm (UTC)Two books! I'd do that when I was close to finishing one (or thought I might finish early). Your elementary school had the SVH books? *is shocked* I don't even think our book fairs got them. Mrs. Kishi must have been behind the book ordering. :p
Huzzah for book recs with mothers. :D
As for the snark, I feel like the only person on earth who didn't really question the 'retro tv habits' of the books. I swear, at the time tv stations (and not Nick at Nite, because my mother commandeered the TV after dark, so I was watching Midnight Caller, The Equalizer, or Highlander) played a boatload of Brady Bunch, Lucy, Lassie, Flipper, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie... basically the stuff the BSC was referencing. I'm not saying middle schoolers would be watching it, but the kids the books were written for? Yeah. They might be watching the same old television shows.
And Dawn would totally be sneaking Stephen King on the side. Hell, I'm not even sure Sharon would notice. :P (Tangent again! Christopher Pike books in my social circle in middle school helped get me on the "you are a bad influence" list with my best friends... and nightmares were had by others, and all because we were sneaking the books behind our parents' backs. And, in retrospect, we were decidedly the 'good' kids. So... yeah.)