Anyone get in trouble for reading

topic posted Fri, February 15, 2008 - 4:11 PM by  offlineJoe
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Did anyone ever get reprimanded for reading a certain book?

I know when I was a junior in high school, my English teacher was in shock when I carried a Harold Robbins book "Stone for Danny Fischer" into class with me. Took the book away from me, and wouldn't give it back until the end of class.

When I got it back was reprimanded and told to never bring that kind of trash into her room again. Then was asked what would my mother say if she knew I reading that kind of trash. Didn't have the heart to tell her it was my mother who gave it to me to read.

You know after that I had to read all his books
posted by:
Joe
online Joe
California
  • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

    Fri, February 15, 2008 - 8:13 PM
    There have been plenty of books that I have been reprimanded for, but only by my parents. One was "Fade" by Robert Cormier, The Phantom Tollbooth, Piers Anthony's Xanth series, and C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" were nixed also. I don't remember particular reasons, fantasy was a no-no in our house.
    I'm pretty sure my parents didn't realize that Narnia was supposed to be Lewis' version of Christian ideas for kids.
    Ah well, atleast there's one advantage of growing-up, lack of parents telling one what and what not to read.
  • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

    Fri, February 15, 2008 - 8:14 PM
    I used to sneak read at night with a flashlight.
    • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

      Sat, February 16, 2008 - 12:51 PM
      I did the same thing. Was always a night owl. These days when I can't get to sleep I'll go into another room so I don't keep my husband awake. (still getting into trouble lol)
      • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

        Sat, February 16, 2008 - 12:56 PM
        Me too! I was supposed to be in bed with the lights out.
        I tucked a towel along the bottom of the door and turned on the flashlight and read until I could stay awake no longer!
        • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

          Sat, February 16, 2008 - 4:17 PM
          I started to read "IT" when I was in 6th grade or so... mom caught me and straight up took it away from me and sold it to the used bookstore.

          She didn't want to have to deal with me having nightmares.

          Never really got into King after that. Except Dark tower.
        • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

          Wed, February 20, 2008 - 2:41 PM
          My mother didn't censor the content of my books, but I also got in trouble for reading way past bedtime.

          Once, I was "being punished" which in our house meant sitting on your bed, facing the wall. I didn't think that reading would be a big deal since it was still quiet, but got in trouble for that, too. "The point of being punished is to not have fun!" It's ok, I had fun imagining shapes out of the bumps in the wall anyway. :-)

          My brothers, on the other hand, actually treat reading like it IS punishment. *sigh*
  • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

    Mon, February 18, 2008 - 9:19 AM
    One of the reasons I read so much is that, though many movies and TV shows were unavailable to me (we moved a lot, usually to very remote small towns and foreign countries), I was allowed to read anything I wanted from the library. I dove into the science fiction shelves and general fiction at an early age. I avoided the children's and young-adult sections because the stuff I found in the "grown-up" sections were so much more fascinating. By the time we had other media available to me, I found them un-interesting compared to books.

    I don't watch TV anymore and watch only select movies. Still reading up a storm and loving it.

    I did, however, get in trouble for reading in classes where I should've been listening...
  • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

    Mon, February 18, 2008 - 1:05 PM
    There were two things my mother didn't want me reading before I was fifteen, that I had tried to. The Bee Season, and Perfume, both because of very screwed up explicit content. Didn't stop me though. I used to also get in trouble during my government class in high school for reading through lectures.
  • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

    Mon, February 18, 2008 - 6:10 PM
    People seem taken aback when I'm asked what my favorite book/author is, and my answer is Lolita by Nabokov.

    My guess is they are upset about the subject matter, but anyone that's read his writing has to give it up, it's like the whole thing is a massive poetic compostition.
  • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

    Tue, February 19, 2008 - 9:25 AM
    I discovered, and became obsessed with, mythology in first grade, while attending a catholic school.

    I remember asking the nun in religion class why our God didn't have interaction with everyday people like the Greek, Roman and Egyptian Gods did, and why our God wasn't as much fun.

    In third grade, I compared the old testement bible stories to Greek & Roman mythology in a different nun's class.



    • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

      Wed, February 20, 2008 - 12:14 AM
      <<In third grade, I compared the old testement bible stories to Greek & Roman mythology in a different nun's class. >>

      ha ! That would have been fun :)

      Do you meet Mr Ruler ?
      • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

        Wed, February 20, 2008 - 3:37 PM
        I once found "1984" under a table in highschool andstarted reading it. Then, after I took it home, it mysteriously disappeared from my school bag never to be found again...
        My only attempt ever at reading science fiction. The experience left me spooked about that book. My mother did not say a word.
        Happy to hear that you all had the same habit of reading secretly in bed until the small hours. I still do it sometime. ; )
  • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

    Thu, February 21, 2008 - 10:13 PM
    Not from reading a book, but got a mild rebuke for reading Playboy...a friend in middle school smuggled his dad's Playboy collection and doled them out to trusted friends and associates. I was sitting in typing class, reading an interview by my favorite author at the time (Ray Bradbury, in case you were wondering...), when one of my snarky female classmates ratted me out. The only thing that saved my bacon that day was the fact that my typing teacher knew what a goober I was and when I told her that I was reading the article, she believed me. Mrs. Klein told me to put "whatever" I was reading away and to remember this was a typing class, not a literature class. God bless her, she was a pal!
    • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

      Fri, February 22, 2008 - 12:50 AM
      Do you remember a few years back a waitress refused to serve someone reading Playboy?
      • Re: Anyone get in trouble for reading

        Fri, February 22, 2008 - 3:29 AM
        Whoa !
        Well, I went to a community center tea room for youngsters when I was 16, sat down and read the first edition of "Playgirl" that was sold in Germany... That is when my politically red-minded future boyfriend got interested in me and said;:"You are a remarkable girl !" ; )
        Later I tore out a page and had it as a pin-up next to my bed. My Mom did not like this at all. Even though I plastered the forgetmenot stickers from my pill over his private parts to make it look more decent...

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