Did you read any adult books when you were a teenager or younger?

Always did. I remember reading Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais when i was 8 and thinking "Wow! Now that's a weird book!" lol Not that i understood much of it but i thought it was funny. Read Bulgakov at 10,loved that and still love him. Sneaked a copy of Lolita from the family library at the age of 11,my mother wouldn't have approved but i think it's a beautiful book. Even at that age i thought there was nothing offensive or obscene in Nabokov's works

Yes, by the age of about 10, I was reading 'adult' books, having gotten bored with children's and teenage books (I used to read several books a week back then. Wish I still had the time to do that now.) By the time I began high school, I had read most of Shakespeare's work and several Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters' novels.

I used to read Shakespeare and a lot of Jane Eyre when I was around ten, up into my teen years all the time. At that time in my life I wanted to get away, and in my mind when I read those books and plays, I could. I did get a lot of 'yeah right' comments when someone would ask me what I was reading and I'd tell them.

I read Portnoy's Complaint when I was twelve. My mother never knew. She probably would have thrown a fit if she did.

Yes! I lived in a very small town and there were no bookstores within 20 miles of us, so by the time I was 8 or 9 I had read all the children's books on the library truck and in the school library. In elementary school, by 3rd grade I had read the books up to 7th grade (we didn't have middle school; we attended the same school from 1st through 7th grade.) Then I started reading the adult books. I mostly read historical fiction, but I read Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald and many others. I also discovered science fiction and read Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlein, and more. I did not understand everything I read, but I did understand most of it.

hi bd200789, yes, i did. i love debate, investigative story.. but today, i rather watch it than read it thorougly... loving visual effects, digerati

I've always been a huge fan of reading so I definitely read a lot of the classics.

I was starting to read about physics when I was thirteen, I was reading books for teens when I was five, and I just kinda worked my way up to adult books when I was a tween. I read alot of classics when I was younger too. Though mostly opera and plays. I think it's silly of people to say what others can and cannot believe based on age. It's like saying all twenty year olds are idiots, lol. While everyone's got a right to their own opinion it makes me angry when its parents who say these things and won't allow their kids to read anything above their age level. Hell, some adults don't even understand the classics. If the child can, for goodness sakes they should be allowed to. Maturity is not a matter of opinion, and is a personal thing and varies from person to person...assuming anything on stuff like this is foolish, in my opinion.

I agree with you. I read books like that growing up as well. I think I understood them, just as well as many adults do. Reading is a highly personal experience as well. People take different things from the same books. I feel age is too important. Not everything has to do with age. It has a lot more to do witt what kind of person you are and what experiences you have opened yourself to.

I started reading adult books in my teens. Loved some and just wasn't ready for others. I think the people who made such comments to you were just showing their own ignorance. I do, however, believe that you should reread some of those books you read at 10 because you will get a whole new set of meanings out of things. Not because you were not mature enough to understand them then but because you have surely evolved as a person.

I never read any classics, but when I was in 6th grade I read a lot of Danielle Steele. Now I can not believe that I read them at that young of an age, but my friends and I all did .

Yes, I read almost all of Austen's books by I was 13. I also ready Hardy and Dickens at around that age, I was always advanced for my age and never really enjoyed books aimed at children (apart from Roald Dahl of course).

I was partly home-schooled in rural Louisiana by my mom & maternal g-parents. They had a few children's books ("Golden Books," mostly), & only a handful of other (adult) books on our farm. As they only had Sear's Catalogue to suppliment that meager supply, I soon began jonesing for more. I got so desperate in fact, I began writing my own. (Not as much fun reading a thing you already know the ending of, however.../o) I began 1st grade at 5 & 1/2, & by grade 5, I'd plowed my way through the entire school library (such as it was, it being a 12 grades in one building school), & discovered the small town (Noble) had a tiny public library. Soon, I'd devoured it, too. ALL the books were young adult/adult-level books, from the classics such as "Robin Hood," "King Arthur," or "Little Women," to poems from the masters, to all of Shakespeare -- ALL read. And since an _annotated_ Shakespeare was at hand, I most certainly _DID_ understand it! Mom bought lots of books for me later on, & eventually I came to live with her & my stepdad when moved to Houston. I'll never forget my first _city_ library exposure; I was in reader bliss! I HAUNTED the place, & spent countless hours learning/loving new authors. Kids can -- if they learn to read early -- almost school themselves. Certainly far better than today's gummint skoolz.... Just my tuppence. Maggiepie

Started reading at a young age. Read the classics at a young age. Read the writings of Ayn Rand as a young teen. Read City of God and Confessions of St Augustine as a young teen. Also read Marcus Arulieus as a young teen. I have reread many as an adult. I think our understanding and perspective of these books change with our perspective of life. It is easy to say that we understood these books as young people. We likely understood the words and possibly some of the basic concepts. However, without the life experience it would be impossible to fully comprehend the full nature of the philosphophy, morality, and ethical structure of many of the "adult" concepts. Just my opinion mind you.

No, I watched adult movies.

I read adult books from the time I was about 11. My Mom brought some of her book collection from her Mom's house and I read every one of them. I didn't have any problems understanding them...except for one. lol I just could not get into "Wuthering Heights" until I was older. I tried several times to read it, but just didn't get it. lol Now I have a nice collection of classics and I still enjoy going back and reading them again.

Yes, I read a lot of Jane Austen when I was a teenager....

We didnt read anything as highbrow as that..but we read Dickens...and i enjoyed those at the time...but you know i cant remember a thing about them now.But as a child my father joined a book club...and i got a new book every month...well this was the highlight of the month...the postman coming..it was wonderful.....I loved the Heidi stories ...and there were lots of others .. istill have a few of them....which i have kept for old times sake...when i was a child a book was a treasured thing...and we kept hold of it for evermore!!!!..but now the paperbacks are getting very much more affordable...in the big chains they are really good value.....i dont remeber my kids ever reading aqnything like War and Peace...though one of my daughters read some Chaucer at one time ..loll...she had to try to translate it and it was so funny....but in a way quite easy to translate....I did read Jane Austen though....and i love watching her stories on the tv..they have done some good adaptations,,,

I read anything I could get my hands on when I was a child. My mother taught me to read right before I started Kindergarten, & I've had a book in my hand since then. (By 1st grade I was bored with Nancy Drew, so I started reading Agatha Christie.) I would say that I had read the majority of the classics before the majority of my peers.

Yes I have been reading since I was 10 and I was always looking for more, every time I would hear a book referenced in a movie I would go ask my parents to buy it for me. Im also making it a priority for my children, my girls are 10 8 and 5 and weve already done, The Red Pony, Pigman, The Outsiders, and right now we are working on Little Women, I read most of it to them but I will stop and let the two older girls do a chapter here and there. I love it when they stop me and ask me what a certain word means and we also have discussion on it each night to make sure that their paying attention to the details, using their imaginations and understanding whats going on. I cant wait until they start looking for books on their own and asking me to buy ones their interested in reading