I hate getting books for Christmas in general because I’m such a mood reader, and I’ve plastered a fake smile on my face many a time and repeated internally ‘Its the thought that counts.’ as I unwrap a book I will not read.
But the worst one by far, given to me by my own Mother , who I know loves me, when I was fourteen years old! was >!Men are from Mars Women are from Venus.!< I am sitting there horrified thinking what is she trying to tell me? As my sisters are flat on the floor laughing to the point of puking. We eventually came to the conclusion she just saw an attractive cover on a bestseller table and grabbed it. Love to know your terrible gift stories.
No book at all. :( (Seriously, when I was a kid, they wouldn’t buy me books because “That’s not a present!”. Now that I’m an adult with grown kids, it’s “You work in a library, you don’t need it!” :stomps foot in temper:)
I did get an inappropriate book for Christmas when I was 14 - my Dad bought me a Robert Heinlein box set (great!), which included “Stranger in a Strange Land” (awesome), and a book which included some of his more sexually-charged works. One featured incest! My dad eventually read them all, and I got a cryptic “If you read something you don’t understand, you come ask me, ok?” When I got to that book, I was horrified, paralyzed by the knowledge that my DAD knew exactly what I was reading. :laughing:
That… doesn’t really narrow it down.
Neither does this.
Haha okay that tracks. I haven’t read much Heinlein but I remember being very confused at the end of Time for the Stars when his brother’s granddaughter was like “Hi uncle time-dilation with pop-pop’s DNA. Welcome back to Earth. We’re getting married now.”
“Sorry, what?”
“I grew up trading your thoughts. It’s not incest if you’re psychic.”