Comments on: Titillation Part Two

By: Shelly Kneupper Tucker

Shelly Kneupper Tucker — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:48:53 +0000

You are a good Momma to read what is required for your kids before they do! However, I agree with you that young adult fiction can be pretty doggone good.
I know you like those true crime dramas, but they often make me afraid of my own shadow!

By: Shelly Kneupper Tucker

Shelly Kneupper Tucker — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:16:25 +0000

Dang! Mel, you were in a tough position. I know all about that small town stuff. But, I can’t believe they wouldn’t let you read John Updike!
Oh, I don’t read horror either! Ghost stories for sure, but not blood and guts.
I didn’t censor my kids either … and I wasn’t always good at guiding their reading. I don’t think it harmed either of them.

By: Shelly Kneupper Tucker

Shelly Kneupper Tucker — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:14:02 +0000

I knew you were into the romance novels, but again it’s not my cup of tea. I like mysteries, and enjoy biographical novels. Given a choice, it would be just short story reading for me. My short attention span showing there?

By: Shelly Kneupper Tucker

Shelly Kneupper Tucker — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:59:42 +0000

I bet the lady at the church got an earful! But, aren’t you proud of yourself for “knowing” enough about yourself to put off reading the book? I find that pretty amazing.

By: Shelly Kneupper Tucker

Shelly Kneupper Tucker — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:54:48 +0000

I’m not familiar with “Not As A Stranger.” Was it one of those books my Momma wouldn’t let me read? Hmmm.
We didn’t have a bookmobile, either. When I was a kid, the “library” was a box of books at the 1st National Bank!

By: Jeni Hill Ertmer

Jeni Hill Ertmer — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:35:54 +0000

The only censorship my Mom ever put on me with respect to reading was that she said she really didn’t like those nasty magazines -i.e. “True Romance” or “True Love” things. Any hard bound or paperback I brought home to read though was accepted by her. Thus, I became by age 9, a huge fan of the bookmobile every time it visited our village. I read the huge book “Not As a Stranger” when I was 9 years old. Mom raised her eyebrows a bit -mainly over the size and also, knowing a bit about the story involved but she never said I couldn’t read it. I re-read that book twice -when I was about 13 and the 3rd time, when I was 16-17 years old and it was amazing how much more of it I understood each time! This post just gave me a bit of inspiration for a post of my own too now -provided I can keep “ownership” of the computer today anyway.
.-= Jeni Hill Ertmer´s last blog ..Finding a Match =-.

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:49:26 +0000

Hoo-boy. You got me with this one. My mother didn’t censor our reading in any way. As an English teacher, she did try to develop our sense of what was good reading as opposed to trash. I had the same sort of misadventure at age twelve as the one you describe, only it was with Mary McCarthy’s Vassar epic, “The Group.” I actually bought it at a church rummage sale, where the lady at the booth described it as “the adventures of some college girls.” Clearly she hadn’t read it. My mother saw it when I brought it home and simply nodded. She might have had a bit of a wary look in her eye. It was a long time ago. I read several of the other books I’d bought, and when I finally turned my attention to “The Group,” it didn’t take long for me to think, “Yuck! I don’t want to KNOW about this stuff.”
I actually took the book to Mom, handed it to her, and said, “I don’t want to read this until I’m at least in college. It’s just not a good book for me.” She replied, “It’s good that you figured that out for yourself. I’ll keep it on my bookshelf, and you can read it when you’re ready for it.” It stayed there for years. I eventually did read the book, but I was much, much older.
I thought she handled it well. She continued to encourage us to read anything and everything that interested us, but she also continued her subtle reinforcement of discriminating reading habits. And years later she told me that she did have a word with that lady at the church sale. I’ll bet she did!
.-= Anne´s last blog ..The News from Haiti is Not Good =-.