My family had grocery and dry goods stores in the small east Georgia town where I grew up. The store had a magazine and paperback book section and at some point I discovered that when new shipments came in the covers of the older ones would be ripped off and the books discarded. Oh that was a treasure trove for me when I was between the ages of 12 to 14 or so. I would sneak and peek through the discarded books and hustle home with them. I think I had a drawer in my bedroom where I stashed these treasures. Luckily for me my mother never went through my things.
Most of the books (well all of them) were written for adults, but I read & read. The first racy novel I read was Peyton Place written by Grace Metalious in 1956 and yes it was risque especially for a sheltered child as myself. Gracious me, my mother would have been furious if she had known. Not only was it a national bestseller, but also the center of controversy in many states.
"Canada declared it indecent and made the importation of the book illegal.Parts of Rhode Island, Indiana, and Nebraska followed suit arguing that the book would corrupt young minds. Wealthy communities banished Peyton Place. To read Peyton Place was to read it in secret and were sometimes discussed only among the closest of friends. Everyone was reading it college and high school students... " FreeEssays
I also read Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier. Written in 1942, it is a historical novel set in Cornwall during the time of Charles II and is the love story of Lady Dona and the French pirate she meets who has been using the creek on her husband's estate as a hide-away. Although there is no explicit sex in the book it was nevertheless a scandalous tale of a woman who has "everything" and would consider giving it up for love. I thought it was terribly romantic!
Another book read in high school in the early 1960s was Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank and is "the classic apocalyptic novel that stunned the nation with its vivid portrayal of a small town's survival after nuclear holocaust devastates the country." It was not a banned nor challenged book but it did stand out for me as a dire warning of the dangers of the world into which I was about to enter.
Happy reading!
