book talk: appropriateness???

So, in further full-nerd disclosure, I have to update you on this series that Jake and I are reading together. We are half-way through the third book, and thoroughly sucked in, loving every minute of it.The series combines really well-developed characters with the kind of adventure/fantasy that makes me love The Lord of the Rings series.

However, as we were reading the other night, I started to wonder...how appropriate are these books for kids? Jake and I sometimes talk about our hypothetical children (a term my friend, Crys, thinks is hilarious!), things we want to share with "them" from our childhood, and among the stuff I want to share is more than a few books. Maybe even these books.

But when? 

When is it ok, for example, for a kid to read a sex scene? Or a really violent battle scene? Or swear words?

I ask these questions, because it is something my parents thought about with me--precocious twelve-year-old that I was, I picked up the Odyssey along with this book about Greek mythology--and had to have some interesting conversations with mom and dad as a result.

What about you? Were you ever not allowed to read certain books because of their content? Would you allow/not allow your kids (real or hypothetical) to read certain books?

book talk: full nerd confession

Hey friends! Today I'm going to talk about a book I'm reading. A book that, to be honest with you, I've become rather obsessed with. I understand that talking about this book will reveal the depths of my nerdiness, and how deep are those depths!

The hubs and I are in the middle of this book:

We started it last summer, actually, and Jake has already read it (and the rest of the series that is out) once. Oh man, it is so good, though! The premise is based in fantasy, but the characters are quite complex and very real. The story is so dense, and the book itself so thick, that when the hustle-and-bustle of the fall semester set in, we gradually had to abandon it. Not that it wasn't engrossing! It was, actually, so engrossing that we had to stop staying up so late to read! 

This summer, I was prompted to pick it up again when I read that HBO was making it into a series. It has gotten some good reviews and a few of my friends are already all the way through season 1.


I'm so in.

But, because of my extra-nerdy commitment to only watch movies or series after I read the corresponding book, I need to get to reading! What about you? Do you wait to watch something until you read the book first? Why or why not?