Brave New World traumatized me as an adult!
I don't recall any books but there were a few movies.
Nope. I guess I just loved reading so much that nothing disturbed me. My mom gave me an illustrated, annotated collection of Poe stories for my 8th birthday, and I gobbled 'em up. Tell-Tale Heart, Pit and the Pendulum, Murders in the Rue Morgue. Great stuff!
The only traumatic childhood book I remember was the textbook for Government class (now called "Political Science") back in Junior High (now called "Middle School").
I remember a book of Canadian Folklore and legend that included a section of urban folktales (cars and hands and aaarrrggghhh).
Quote Fbone
Brave New World traumatized me as an adult!
I don't recall any books but there were a few movies.
Have a watch of the TV series and let us know if it's as traumatizing as the book.
For my son it was the Bible. Specifically, the one the Nun used to hit him over the head with.
True story.
Apache
Edger Alan POE <pick almost any title >
I only recall 2 books that traumatized me as a child:
1) Swiss Family Robinson. The snake scene (eating the donkey) was extremely disturbing. Up until then, I didn't know snakes could get that big and I was horrified by the idea of the donkey being slowly digested (and the idea that the same could possibly happen to a human.) I don't know how old I was when I read it, but it was before I turned 9.
2) In middle school (10 to 12 years old) I read a lot of Stephen King. Obviously, many of his stories are creepy/scary. But the one that disturbed me the most was "The Apt Pupil", because the "monster" was a human and I found that scarier than anything that was obviously imaginary.
"Stranger Than Science," by Frank Edwards.
One event about spontaneous combustion scared the living crap out of me. The book is fascinating.
No trauma, but the beginning of a lifelong love for an author: As a child in school, I was 11-12 years old when the teacher told us to borrow a serious big book from the school library and read it through during the long summer vacations. I took "Stephen King - Pet Sematary". I didn't know anything about it and neither did the teacher, otherwise it was not allowed. I was scared but could not stop.
A world opened up to me. I am eternally grateful to the teacher.
