Books + Age = ??

When did society decide that there was an age limit to how old you can be to read a certain book and for it to still be considered acceptable?

For example, who's to say that I can't pick up a Mr Men or Little Miss book and read it from cover to cover and enjoy every word of it? This is with remembering that I am 18 years old and I could probably do that in around 5 minutes. I loved reading those books when I was younger and when I think about the stories now I still smile. I loved the adventures and the characters and how I could relate the things that they did to things that happened in real life. They made the world seem simpler and a little less scary.

The reason I was thinking about this was because I was on the bus yesterday reading Peter Pan by JM Barrie and people began looking at me strangely. I understand that it is considered a "children's classic" but the story is loved by so many people, all of a variety of ages, I just happened to be the one who decided to read it on the bus. I was reading this book not because I thought it would be a good read, I knew it would be. I was reading it because I love the story of Peter Pan. I enjoy reading it and it reminds me of my childhood.

I don't understand why there needs to be an age where you have to stop reading certain books. Who says you can't pick up a book that you read when you were 10 and read it again when you are 20 and still be just as in love with it. Who made these rules?

I mean Harry Potter is one of those books that you can read at any age. Just think about it. If you were to go into a coffee shop and see an old man sitting in the corner reading the first Harry Potter book while at the opposite end of the shop was a little girl reading the same story, how would you react?

I bet most of you would begin to think about your own memories of reading the book and how you felt when Harry, Ron and Hermione first met. I bet you think about how old you were when you first picked up the book. What if I was to tell you that the little girl was reading it for the second time while it was the first time that the old man had read those words. How would you react then? Would you judge the old man or would you smile and appreciate that he was taking the time to read it?

Ok, I understand that some books need an age restriction because of the content. I understand that it would be highly inappropriate to give a 10 year old a book like 50 Shades of Grey to read. But that is a restriction, not a limit.

Isn't one of the best things about books the fact that you can go back to them again and again and still fall in love with the story? But how can you do that if you grow up and exceed the age limit? I always find a new sense of love for a story when I re-read a book, even books that I read when I was 5 or 6 years old.

A lot of adults (I don't yet consider myself to be a fully-fledged adult) I know said that they couldn't wait until their children were old enough that they could read books to them. This was just so that they had a reason to go into a book shop and go to the children's section and pick up all of the picture books they loved while they were growing up. Yep, the truth is kids, your parents had you so that it was acceptable for them to read their favourite books again... sorry to break the news to you.

I know that the limit is just how books are categorised in bookstores and how advertising companies know how to advertise the book but it is still something that people stick to. In an ideal world people wouldn't judge others but that is not the world we live in.

The stares will just have be accepted.

Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Although the cover of this book gives off the impression of a cute little romance of two people who go on a road trip, which it is, it is so much more than that too.

The book starts with a series of emails and school reports followed by Amy sitting on the front steps of her house watching the world go by. This is before she meets the handsome young man that she is going to be travelling across the country with. This is before the detour and the healing.

The reason for the road trip in the first place is because Amy is moving and someone has to take her mother's car to the new house. Amy is moving because her whole family has fallen apart. Her mother has a new job, her brother is in rehab and her father died in a car accident that she blames herself for.

Though the main reason behind the book is to watch these two strangers fall in love in the most unlikely way, I felt that following Amy's journey of reconnecting with herself and forgiving herself for "the accident" was the best part of the book.

 Amy blamed herself for the accident because she was driving when she could have easily blamed her brother as it was him that they were driving to. This shows how much Amy cared about her father. He was more of her twin than her brother was and I think that is why it hit her so hard.

I could never imagine losing my father that way and him and I are not as close as Amy and her father. Losing a parent is just something that no child wants to think about, let alone try and move on from while you are alone.

I think that is why Amy had such a hard time coming to terms with her father's death. She closed herself off from the world and her mother and bother weren't ready to talk about it with her yet. I think the detour with Roger helped her to see that talking could help and that people can help you get through difficult times even if they don't know who you are.

I think that Morgan Matson was so clever with the way that she developed the romance throughout the book while also integrating Amy's life into the story. The development was so subtle that I barely noticed it until I was nearing the end. This is such a clever and insightful read for a romance book and I would highly recommend it.

A book you can finish in a day

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

"Don't Panic!" This book is a great read.

Yes, I know this book is not one that is normally read by an 18 year old who spends most of her life on a bus so normally would take longer than one day to read but let's just ignore that.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is just one crazy adventure.

There is one Earth-man left who's best friend is an alien from another planet. The two of them get thrown off of the ship which they got picked up by when the Earth got blown up before getting picked up by another ship seconds before they died in space. On this ship they come across a depressed robot and get taken to a planet that is run by mice.

Confusing, right?

Let me explain my theory on why it is written the way that it is.

I think that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is written in such a strange and complex way to give the reader a better idea as to how everything is being documented. It also helps the reader to understand how Arthur and Ford are seeing things. It gets across their emotions and views at a specific moment when something crazy is happening, such as talking to mice for example.

This book is definitely the kind of book that you would pick up when you wanted something fun to read. I wouldn't pick this book up thinking that it is an easy read because it isn't really. It's not that the language is complicated or that the story is hard to follow but the writing style can get confusing at times.

Overall I loved this story. I loved the crazy characters and the crazy world that they get to be a part of. I am most definitely going to pick up the rest of the books in the series.