Monday, July 9, 2007

It Was Danielle Steele, Admit It

This was the conversation at lunch break, so I'll toss it into the blog-o-sphere and see who answers it.

What was the first adult-themed book that you read? For me, this was the biography of Harriet Tubman, "A Woman Called Moses". I remember being amazed by the fact that there was SEX in that book (even if it was just a little bit). My mom embarrassed me because she had read it, and when she saw me reading it, she said something like, "What a great book! It's a little salty, though. Well, good introduction to sex in literature." I don't remember my response, but it must have been something like, "Oh, gack! Moooooooommmmm!" (That's the 3-syllable "mom".)

12 comments:

Diane said...

Okay, time to change the photos at the top of the page...

Anonymous said...

"Toll Booth of Lust" ...
(insert Homer Simpson's drool here)

Sometime during my high school freshman year. That saucy little dog-eared item of literary magnificence made even Playboy Magazines' "After Hours" blush. I remember being all smug & deviant about getting my pubescent hands on it. You had to know the "right people" & have certain seedy connections to get a hold of that stuff back then. (I thought it was a guy-thing, until I discovered my sister & her friends were apparently more connected to our High School's underworld than me :) Oh, well.

Maybe we'll see a bio featuring both Dirk Diggler AND Lady Chaterly.

john

Anonymous said...

Me too..Good ole' Danielle Steele, had a lot of racey bits in them...

Maria said...

Peyton Place. It was banned by the Catholic church and my big sister had it tucked under her mattress. I read it with about zero comprehension.....

Anonymous said...

One of those Penthouse story magazines. Yeah, it left a bad impression, at least I like to think so.

Weber said...

I'm not sure I can remember that far back, but Peyton Place did come to mind. And I believe I "borrowed" it from my mom.

Kate said...

Well, John, I never got to read "Toll Booth of Lust", but "Locker Room" circulated when I was a Junior. I would read it in study hall, concealed by a text book. Until the day that the study hall monitor, Mr. Heath, crept up behind me and said, "What are you so absorbed in?"
"Nothing."
"You have a book inside that text book. What is it?"
"Nothing."
"Well, there are some books I'm a little embarrassed to read in public, too. I do like an occasional Louis L'Amour..."

He wandered off again, and I felt like I had narrowly missed the executioner's axe.

Rebecca said...

The first book I read that had any sex in it was Judy Blume's Forever. I believe when I was in 7th grade, all the buzz was about page 84 of the paperback version...Just a little, but very titillating for a 12 year old.

The first novel I read that was rife with sex was either Judith Krantz's 1978Scruples (Scruples 2 [1992] was totally scandalous, but I didn't read that until I was in my mid 20s)or Rosemary Rogers 1978 novel The Crowd Pleasers. The former was my mother's, the latter, I have NO idea how I got my mits on. I was around 14ish. That was VERY hot reading!!!

Didn't run into variations (penthouse) until I was in my early 20s.

Did I just totally date myself?

Katherine said...

Anyone remember THE THORNBIRDS? I was raised Catholic and couldn't believe when I saw a copy on the nightstand at our neighbors' house where I had a little cleaning gig. I mean...these people went to OUR CHURCH!!!!!

Kate said...

Katherine, I had The Thorn Birds, and when I was a teenager, I thought this book was realy sexy. I think it was my mom's.

Rebecca said...

Never read Thornbirds, but saw the made for tv miniseries. Richard Chamberlain was HOT.

Amrita said...

James Hadley Chase