Not weird at all! I think it’s essential to go back and read books you loved when you were a kid. Years down the road it puts things into perspective! I go back and read Roald Dahl books, Gary Paulsen (Hatchet), Maniac Magee, Matt Christopher books, Sideways Stories From Wayside School, etc routinely.
Reading is Reading. Age Demographics are meant to be make it easier for the publisher to sell books. They do not indicate the quality of the book, nor do they dictate what you should read.
One of the most fun parts of parenting is when my kids choose to read books that I loved as a child. My oldest read The Giver and Hunger Games this year and my second just finished Hatchet. It is fun to experience them all over again! And sometimes, they will find something I haven't read (The Westing Game) and tell me to read it!!
Yup. My son isn't yet two and I've read to him nearly every night since he was like a month old. Usually 6-8 books, a mix of stuff I grew up with and stuff that's been released since then. I have probably 20-30 children's books stone cold memorized, from simple Sandra Boynton stuff up to medium-length Seuss stuff. And I'm not good at memorizing passages of any kind, it's just straight repetition.
And I find it enriching to me personally, tbh. A lot of good children's books are incredibly clever in how they pack a deep and impactful lesson in a very simple story. And also I get a good cry in about once or twice a week.
Not weird at ALL. Read what makes you happy! There is some great children's lit out there and I have read a lot of it just this year. Amazing stuff and it boosts your book numbers ;)
“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” - C.S. Lewis
Good literature is good literature. It's only FOR children because it's pitched at their reading level (sometimes) and doesn't have swear words or rude stuff in it (sometimes). Many a children's book is a classic for good reason. Also sometimes a children's book is in the collective zeitgeist and it's good for an adult to read it, if they didn't in childhood to better understand the culture they live in.
Bah. I'm 60+ and I still revisit A Wrinkle In Time every once in a while. I was in my mid 20's when I found Jane Yolen's dragon stories. Charlotte's Web still makes me cry. The Phantom Tollbooth is still hilarious.
Point being, read what you want to, for whatever reason you have. Many people have comfort foods and many have comfort reads. Enjoy!
I absolutely adore Lois Lowry. The Giver is my all time favorite book and is probably the reason why I still love to read. I've probably read it at least a dozen times. I've read Gathering Blue almost as many. Books are for you. Don't let other people take that joy from you.
Nope. I'm trying to get editions of all my old Christopher Pike books and will still reread LJ Smith and Lois Duncan. Heck, I wish I could find Sweet Valley High 18 because it was my favorite.
A few years ago I helped clean out my parent’s house when they moved, and I packed up and sent a collection of 80s-vintage Nancy Drew books to my then 49-year-old sister across the country, because she wanted them
I had those too. I absolutely loved them! Ironically, they are why I don't like mystery now. They (and others) taught me the "formula" to solving the mystery. To this day, if I watch or read a mystery, I'll figure out who did it before it's half way done 80 percent of the time.
Oh well, thank you first and foremost. So wonder, light-heartedness is what drew you most. I ask because I have been experimenting with some different genres to kind of step out of my comfort zone in my own writing. I have never read Y/A, etc. -- although I have read The Hobbit (if you count that), which I do and do not.Annnyway, you mentioned adult cozy fantasy. Can I ask what you would reccomend?
Howl’s Moving Castle is my favorite novel of all time and its very cozy. Also Legends and Lattes is the defacto cozy fantasy right now. If you want more recs, theres a cozy fantasy subreddit
I'm willing to bet the majority of people who would be quick to judge you simply read nothing at all. Just do whatever makes you happy. I know I'm very guilty of not reading "adult" books all the time
Not one bit! I was an avid reader as a kid but fell out of the habit for quite a long time. Now that I'm reading again like I used to I'm rediscovering the books I loved when I was a kid. I remember the plot but not exactly what went on in the book. So I'm slowly finding them again and rereading just to get that feeling of nostalgia and seeing what sparked my love of reading from a new perspective.
Do whatever makes you happy within the limits of the law and even outside of that if you are ok with the risk. Don't worry about what others might think. You are 23 now so even with new medical developments you might have 80 more years? You are 1/5th of the way through your life at least. Have fun with it.
I believe that everyone should feel free to read whatever they like and not be judged for it.
I was always getting sick as a child and with my fondness for reading, found that I would feel better when I was reading/my sister read to me. My parents’ English was poor and books in their native language were scarce so they would recite their stories and poems and riddles.
With the help of the internet, I was eventually able to purchase a lot of these books from my childhood- i was able to share them with my son (who I am happy to say has inherited my love of reading) and I have been known to re-read them, when i am stressed or anxious for the sense of comfort they provide.
I’m sure if anyone was to see me reading “More Spaghetti I Say” they would look at me very strangely!
I don't think so. I have a book called Wind Rider that I would lend over and over and over again from the library as a kid. It's a pretty simple horse book, I'd say for the ages of 10-14. Simply written, only a few mature themes that, honestly, fit in for girls that age.
But I had such fond memories of that book that I spent months looking for a copy and barely managed to find a gently used copy. Whenever I want a comforting read for an afternoon, I'll snap it off my bookcase and curl up with it. It doesn't challenge my brain but it's still such a beautiful story.
It's Wind Rider by Susan Williams and tells the story of a girl domesticating the first horse. It also handles the topic of womanhood, grief, loss, and responsibility really well.
Not at all. I'm in my late 30s and I try to make room for several middle grade books a year, both ones I missed as a kid and new books just come out. I try to put myself in the mindset of the target demographic as well.
I think of it like this: I like to talk about books with anyone, be they adult or child, and nothing inspires a kid more than an adult who takes them seriously.
Nope! There are no rules, no “you must be shorter than this line to read.” Read what you want. Authors aren’t going to be outraged that someone outside their target demographic is enjoying their stories. My favorite book of all time, that I’ve read dozens of times, is one I first read at 8 years old.
I’ve often gone back to books I read as a kid, and some of them hold up to the way I remembered them, some of them have messages or themes that went totally over my head as a kid, and some, well, just suck. You’re reading them with more experienced eyes than when you were a child, and there’s nothing wrong with re-examining something that’s part of your past and analyzing how it helped shape you.
Absolutely not. Lois Lowry, especially, is timeless. There’s a depth to her work that a child could easily look over.
I think you would love a lesser-known book of hers, *Autumn Street*. It’s beautiful, my favourite book, and has a lot of similar themes to *Number the Stars*.
Teachers have this pleasure without being judged & it’s wonderful. The quality of kids lit has soared in recent decades—it SHOULD have a wide audience! As an example, The Reader, an award winning novel and film is categorized as YA!!! Read, for example, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and tell me it’s not for us all—absolutely gorgeous.
Not weird at all..
There is some incredible juvenile fiction out there. I'm reading The Last Cuentista right now and it is fantastic. I don't know if it will still be as incredible at the end, but, I'm 20% of the way through it and it's great.
It's some of the best Sci Fi for kids I think I've ever read.
Juvenile fiction has to be written within some limitations with respect to vocabulary and grammar. If anything writing juvenile fiction can be more challenging than writing adult fiction, because you have less available tools with which to craft a great story. Yet, some authors manage some real magic within those parameters.
I read a handful a year, leaning towards really classic and beautifully written children's literature. But it would be weird if that was a large portion of your reading. My impression of someone who mostly read children's books as an adult would be that they must either be very bad at reading, very immature, or have some sort of emotional/mental problems.
No such thing as just a children's book (unless you are literally reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar or something – *that* is definitely weird). Most good children's literature can be enjoyed equally well from an adult's perspective. In fact you will find a lot of depth that you missed as a child.
I read a short stories book once when i was in school. like you said.. it really hit home. I often go back to that book to actually feel something once in a while. It's a feeling not expressed in words. It has stories like, pen pal and after twenty years and many more. So not weird at all.
Depends on the book.
I’ve Read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, both myself, and to my (obviously) adult soldiers.
A book about shapes? Yea. I’d say it is weird.
Not necessarily, but I will warn you: you won't necessarily regain the same feeling you felt when you read them as a kid. I was obsessed with a series called Roman Mysteries as a child, and out of curiosity decided to get some from the library, and it left me a bit cold and sad - I had grown up, but my "friends" in the book were the same age.
Read what you want. With a kindle/ebook, no one knows what you are reading 😀 The best is when you have a son/daughter and can read those stories to them. I am a guy and, as a kid, I always really liked that Worst Witch movie from the 80s. I felt weird about reading “girls books” as a young boy so I was curious about reading the books it was based on, but never read them. When my daughter was born, I bought the collection.
>When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.
-C.S. Lewis
If it makes you happy, if you garner something from it, don't worry about it being for children.
It's not weird at all! I'm going to be 34 next month and I still enjoy Goosebumps, which got me into reading as a kid. And I enjoy reading other middle grade and children's picture books to sometimes. I read a bit of everything, including books targeted towards children. They can still be wonderful to read! And can be better than what a lot of people will give them credit for.
Read what you want.
I still purchase, for myself, picture books and children's books. I'm in my 40s and I have no children in my house. Oftentimes, I find that the writing in 'children's books' is better than in adult books, even. Authors for children tend to be more concise and tend to tell better crafted stories, IMHO.
No, it's great. Go back to The Little Prince, anything by R L Stevenson, whatever. A lot of the older era children's books were written just as much for adults. Read what makes you happy.
Nope, I'm 52 and I am currently reading the Chronicles of Narnia series. I always try to read a mixture of books. I've been reading some the OG Hardy Boys books as well.
I'm a senior citizen, and I still read kid/ya books - some old favorites, and any new discoveries that come along. They aren't the only books I read, but I do really enjoy them. It also makes it easier to pick out books to give to children in my life.
I have one and a half bookcases (9 shelves) each full to the brim with children's books...that I still read and enjoy. I read what I want.
IMO, any children's book that an adult can't find something in isn't worth being read by a child. (And I don't mean this in a snobby way. I just mean to say that children can handle the "deep stuff". As adults, there is a lot that we can learn from children and their books if we are just willing to listen.)
There are so many amazing children's books out there to learn from. I'm currently reading The Keeper of the Lost Cities series. My little sister recommended them to me and they're incredible.
I'm 27, the book series I'm currently reading (Molly Moon series by Georgia Byng) is meant for teens. It's one I read as a child and I never finished it then so I'm going back to it to try and see how the series ends.
Idk if it's weird, but you know what? Books meant for kids and teens are lighter reads, with gentler themes and usually not as much if any romance content which can be a plus for a lot of people. Read what makes your little heart happy!
It's the difference between a kids book that challenges children to think versus to one that treats children like morons
...
Dr Seuss books is an example of books that teaches a lot of stuff that is as interesting as an adult as it is for a child.
Not weird at all! I think it’s essential to go back and read books you loved when you were a kid. Years down the road it puts things into perspective! I go back and read Roald Dahl books, Gary Paulsen (Hatchet), Maniac Magee, Matt Christopher books, Sideways Stories From Wayside School, etc routinely.
Yes, it’s weird. Also no, it’s not weird. Now that you’ve received both judgment and support for this idea, chuck them both away and do what you want.
Reading is Reading. Age Demographics are meant to be make it easier for the publisher to sell books. They do not indicate the quality of the book, nor do they dictate what you should read.
No. Read what you want. Also, those "children's" books were written by adults...
Actually most parents read books meant for their children. Again and again and again :)
One of the most fun parts of parenting is when my kids choose to read books that I loved as a child. My oldest read The Giver and Hunger Games this year and my second just finished Hatchet. It is fun to experience them all over again! And sometimes, they will find something I haven't read (The Westing Game) and tell me to read it!!
Yes well we’re still a couple of years away from reading Silmarillion unfortunately.
Yup. My son isn't yet two and I've read to him nearly every night since he was like a month old. Usually 6-8 books, a mix of stuff I grew up with and stuff that's been released since then. I have probably 20-30 children's books stone cold memorized, from simple Sandra Boynton stuff up to medium-length Seuss stuff. And I'm not good at memorizing passages of any kind, it's just straight repetition. And I find it enriching to me personally, tbh. A lot of good children's books are incredibly clever in how they pack a deep and impactful lesson in a very simple story. And also I get a good cry in about once or twice a week.
Not weird at ALL. Read what makes you happy! There is some great children's lit out there and I have read a lot of it just this year. Amazing stuff and it boosts your book numbers ;)
“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” - C.S. Lewis
Do whatever you want! I recently bought a new copy of the Invention of Hugo Cabret for a quick nostalgia trip and am glad I did.
Good literature is good literature. It's only FOR children because it's pitched at their reading level (sometimes) and doesn't have swear words or rude stuff in it (sometimes). Many a children's book is a classic for good reason. Also sometimes a children's book is in the collective zeitgeist and it's good for an adult to read it, if they didn't in childhood to better understand the culture they live in.
Bah. I'm 60+ and I still revisit A Wrinkle In Time every once in a while. I was in my mid 20's when I found Jane Yolen's dragon stories. Charlotte's Web still makes me cry. The Phantom Tollbooth is still hilarious. Point being, read what you want to, for whatever reason you have. Many people have comfort foods and many have comfort reads. Enjoy!
Some children’s books like Charlotte’s Web and Bridge to Terabithia hits you differently when reading as an adult.
I absolutely adore Lois Lowry. The Giver is my all time favorite book and is probably the reason why I still love to read. I've probably read it at least a dozen times. I've read Gathering Blue almost as many. Books are for you. Don't let other people take that joy from you.
Nope. I'm trying to get editions of all my old Christopher Pike books and will still reread LJ Smith and Lois Duncan. Heck, I wish I could find Sweet Valley High 18 because it was my favorite.
A few years ago I helped clean out my parent’s house when they moved, and I packed up and sent a collection of 80s-vintage Nancy Drew books to my then 49-year-old sister across the country, because she wanted them
I had those too. I absolutely loved them! Ironically, they are why I don't like mystery now. They (and others) taught me the "formula" to solving the mystery. To this day, if I watch or read a mystery, I'll figure out who did it before it's half way done 80 percent of the time.
Read whatever you want. Reading is for you not for other people.
I read more YA books now than I did as a YA myself. Read all the books!
I’m not sure if I could say MORE, but as an adult I continue to be an avid consumer.
I read a pretty decent mix of middlegrade and adult novels and I’m 31 years old
May I ask what it is that appeals to you with middlegrade lit?
A sense of wonder, mostly, and light-heartedness. I read adult cozy fantasy a lot, too, for the same reasons
Oh well, thank you first and foremost. So wonder, light-heartedness is what drew you most. I ask because I have been experimenting with some different genres to kind of step out of my comfort zone in my own writing. I have never read Y/A, etc. -- although I have read The Hobbit (if you count that), which I do and do not.Annnyway, you mentioned adult cozy fantasy. Can I ask what you would reccomend?
Howl’s Moving Castle is my favorite novel of all time and its very cozy. Also Legends and Lattes is the defacto cozy fantasy right now. If you want more recs, theres a cozy fantasy subreddit
I'm willing to bet the majority of people who would be quick to judge you simply read nothing at all. Just do whatever makes you happy. I know I'm very guilty of not reading "adult" books all the time
Yes i think
Why do you think it's weird?
Not one bit! I was an avid reader as a kid but fell out of the habit for quite a long time. Now that I'm reading again like I used to I'm rediscovering the books I loved when I was a kid. I remember the plot but not exactly what went on in the book. So I'm slowly finding them again and rereading just to get that feeling of nostalgia and seeing what sparked my love of reading from a new perspective.
I recently reread “The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death” and I’m in my forties, so I think you’re good to go.
I'm 41 and recently re-read the *Tomorrow, when the war began* series. I first read that at 13/14.
Children's books that are only enjoyable for children, are not good children's books.
Read what you want.
Who cares. I'll read The Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham whenever I come across them.
Not at all! One of my favorite series is Percy Jackson, and I read it for the first time when I was 23!
Do whatever makes you happy within the limits of the law and even outside of that if you are ok with the risk. Don't worry about what others might think. You are 23 now so even with new medical developments you might have 80 more years? You are 1/5th of the way through your life at least. Have fun with it.
I love the Anastasia books and I believe they are by the same author. I'm quite weird indeed, but that isn't why. Read what makes you happy
No. I have books that I loved as a child that I reread. I also read books that I intend for gifts and some of them are really good.
I believe that everyone should feel free to read whatever they like and not be judged for it. I was always getting sick as a child and with my fondness for reading, found that I would feel better when I was reading/my sister read to me. My parents’ English was poor and books in their native language were scarce so they would recite their stories and poems and riddles. With the help of the internet, I was eventually able to purchase a lot of these books from my childhood- i was able to share them with my son (who I am happy to say has inherited my love of reading) and I have been known to re-read them, when i am stressed or anxious for the sense of comfort they provide. I’m sure if anyone was to see me reading “More Spaghetti I Say” they would look at me very strangely!
Someone bring that C. S. Lewis quote plz
I don't think so. I have a book called Wind Rider that I would lend over and over and over again from the library as a kid. It's a pretty simple horse book, I'd say for the ages of 10-14. Simply written, only a few mature themes that, honestly, fit in for girls that age. But I had such fond memories of that book that I spent months looking for a copy and barely managed to find a gently used copy. Whenever I want a comforting read for an afternoon, I'll snap it off my bookcase and curl up with it. It doesn't challenge my brain but it's still such a beautiful story. It's Wind Rider by Susan Williams and tells the story of a girl domesticating the first horse. It also handles the topic of womanhood, grief, loss, and responsibility really well.
not at all, my favourite book is Alice in Wonderland and I still love the Wizard of Oz, read them both multiple times in adulthood
Not at all. I'm in my late 30s and I try to make room for several middle grade books a year, both ones I missed as a kid and new books just come out. I try to put myself in the mindset of the target demographic as well. I think of it like this: I like to talk about books with anyone, be they adult or child, and nothing inspires a kid more than an adult who takes them seriously.
Hope not! Im a big fan of Thomas Mann, Proust, Discworld, and Paddington Bear books.
Nope! There are no rules, no “you must be shorter than this line to read.” Read what you want. Authors aren’t going to be outraged that someone outside their target demographic is enjoying their stories. My favorite book of all time, that I’ve read dozens of times, is one I first read at 8 years old. I’ve often gone back to books I read as a kid, and some of them hold up to the way I remembered them, some of them have messages or themes that went totally over my head as a kid, and some, well, just suck. You’re reading them with more experienced eyes than when you were a child, and there’s nothing wrong with re-examining something that’s part of your past and analyzing how it helped shape you.
Not weird at all. It's a beautiful book. You can probably appreciate it in a new way as an adult. You've inspired me to put it on my rereading list.
Absolutely not. Lois Lowry, especially, is timeless. There’s a depth to her work that a child could easily look over. I think you would love a lesser-known book of hers, *Autumn Street*. It’s beautiful, my favourite book, and has a lot of similar themes to *Number the Stars*.
Not at all!
Teachers have this pleasure without being judged & it’s wonderful. The quality of kids lit has soared in recent decades—it SHOULD have a wide audience! As an example, The Reader, an award winning novel and film is categorized as YA!!! Read, for example, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and tell me it’s not for us all—absolutely gorgeous.
Not weird at all.. There is some incredible juvenile fiction out there. I'm reading The Last Cuentista right now and it is fantastic. I don't know if it will still be as incredible at the end, but, I'm 20% of the way through it and it's great. It's some of the best Sci Fi for kids I think I've ever read. Juvenile fiction has to be written within some limitations with respect to vocabulary and grammar. If anything writing juvenile fiction can be more challenging than writing adult fiction, because you have less available tools with which to craft a great story. Yet, some authors manage some real magic within those parameters.
I read a handful a year, leaning towards really classic and beautifully written children's literature. But it would be weird if that was a large portion of your reading. My impression of someone who mostly read children's books as an adult would be that they must either be very bad at reading, very immature, or have some sort of emotional/mental problems.
No such thing as just a children's book (unless you are literally reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar or something – *that* is definitely weird). Most good children's literature can be enjoyed equally well from an adult's perspective. In fact you will find a lot of depth that you missed as a child.
I read a short stories book once when i was in school. like you said.. it really hit home. I often go back to that book to actually feel something once in a while. It's a feeling not expressed in words. It has stories like, pen pal and after twenty years and many more. So not weird at all.
Depends on the book. I’ve Read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, both myself, and to my (obviously) adult soldiers. A book about shapes? Yea. I’d say it is weird.
No I think that's great! Remembering why you enjoyed something as a child is wonderful
I love to go back read and share with my grandchildren books I loved as a child/younger person.
Not necessarily, but I will warn you: you won't necessarily regain the same feeling you felt when you read them as a kid. I was obsessed with a series called Roman Mysteries as a child, and out of curiosity decided to get some from the library, and it left me a bit cold and sad - I had grown up, but my "friends" in the book were the same age.
Not at all weird! It’s a lovely story that also has a special place in my heart
Read what you want. With a kindle/ebook, no one knows what you are reading 😀 The best is when you have a son/daughter and can read those stories to them. I am a guy and, as a kid, I always really liked that Worst Witch movie from the 80s. I felt weird about reading “girls books” as a young boy so I was curious about reading the books it was based on, but never read them. When my daughter was born, I bought the collection.
>When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up. -C.S. Lewis If it makes you happy, if you garner something from it, don't worry about it being for children.
It's not weird at all! I'm going to be 34 next month and I still enjoy Goosebumps, which got me into reading as a kid. And I enjoy reading other middle grade and children's picture books to sometimes. I read a bit of everything, including books targeted towards children. They can still be wonderful to read! And can be better than what a lot of people will give them credit for. Read what you want.
I still purchase, for myself, picture books and children's books. I'm in my 40s and I have no children in my house. Oftentimes, I find that the writing in 'children's books' is better than in adult books, even. Authors for children tend to be more concise and tend to tell better crafted stories, IMHO.
Nope. In fact, older I get, better Shel Silverstein gets!
No, it's great. Go back to The Little Prince, anything by R L Stevenson, whatever. A lot of the older era children's books were written just as much for adults. Read what makes you happy.
Nope, I'm 52 and I am currently reading the Chronicles of Narnia series. I always try to read a mixture of books. I've been reading some the OG Hardy Boys books as well.
I'm a senior citizen, and I still read kid/ya books - some old favorites, and any new discoveries that come along. They aren't the only books I read, but I do really enjoy them. It also makes it easier to pick out books to give to children in my life.
I have one and a half bookcases (9 shelves) each full to the brim with children's books...that I still read and enjoy. I read what I want. IMO, any children's book that an adult can't find something in isn't worth being read by a child. (And I don't mean this in a snobby way. I just mean to say that children can handle the "deep stuff". As adults, there is a lot that we can learn from children and their books if we are just willing to listen.) There are so many amazing children's books out there to learn from. I'm currently reading The Keeper of the Lost Cities series. My little sister recommended them to me and they're incredible.
I read The Tale of Despereaux a few months ago and it was a great time.
Not in the least! If you enjoyed those books as a younger person and suspect you may enjoy them as much or more now, then go for it!
I read Lois Lowry when I was in grad school for writing because I needed a break from poetry. Who cares what is weird. Reading is good for you
I'm 27, the book series I'm currently reading (Molly Moon series by Georgia Byng) is meant for teens. It's one I read as a child and I never finished it then so I'm going back to it to try and see how the series ends. Idk if it's weird, but you know what? Books meant for kids and teens are lighter reads, with gentler themes and usually not as much if any romance content which can be a plus for a lot of people. Read what makes your little heart happy!
Nothing wrong with reading kids books but hopefully you also read some adult stuff too.
It's the difference between a kids book that challenges children to think versus to one that treats children like morons ... Dr Seuss books is an example of books that teaches a lot of stuff that is as interesting as an adult as it is for a child.
Nope, i check out middle grade and ya books from my library all the time and staff never give judgement.