Timewaster's Guide Archive
Departments => Books => Topic started by: Azhev on December 15, 2007, 08:34:09 PM
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I was looking through the various threads here, and I couldn't help but wonder what brought most of us to this point? And by this point I mean readers of fantasy, sci-fi, non-fiction, and anything else we enjoy. For me, I started off with the Hardy Boys mystery series (and I mean the old ones where they used words like "jalopy"). I loved those as a kid. Couldn't get enough of them. Then my mom introduced me to Susan Cooper and Anne McCaffrey (Harper Hall trilogy) and Lloyd Alexander. I have been hooked on reading ever since.
I love reading.
;D
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I didn't really care for reading when I was really little, and as hard as it is for me to admit, what got me into it was Animorphs. How my brothers loved to make fun of me. Yes, the story of my life.
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If it had unicorns on the cover I read it. I read The Owlstone Crown, and still remember that book, it made quite an impression on my young mind. Then I moved on to Susan Cooper, Piers Anthony, Robin McKinley, Anne McCaffrey, and etc.
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My mom had an old, beaten up copy of Bulfinch's Mythology when I was a kid - I couldn't help myself, I began reading the Age of Fables and learning about Greek Mythology. That was around the age of ten or so. At school around the same time, they gave us The Book of Three, which is the first book in the Prydain Series by Lloyd Alexander. I love those books.
Combine that with have a library around the corner from my place; suffice to say, I got hooked to Fantasy very very early on and I've always been a bookworm. I was the type to run into my room and read after school rather than go outside with my friends.
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I read a bit of this and that, but I really got hooked with the Hobbit. I also read the Dark is Rising (starting with The Grey King, strangely enough) and enjoyed that. I don't remember much else.
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My older sister was really into fantasy and would read to me when I was little and then lend them to me when I was older. She read me Howl's Moving Castle when I was five, and I gobbled up everything else by Diana Wynne Jones after that as well as Robin McKinley, Patricia McKillip, and Anne McCaffrey. I thought it was great because the last three were always together at the library.
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My dad read me The Hobbit when I was little, then moved on to the Lord of the Rings (when I was still too little to really appreciate it--I still thought it was cool, though). That prompted me to get into fantasy, which I did with Lloyd Alexander, Madeline L'Engle, Anne McCaffrey, and Robin McKinley (those seem to be a common theme here). When I was 12 I found Fred Saberhagen in the library, and he Sword series convinced me not only that I was a die hard fantasy fan, but that I was destined to be a writer.
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You know, I know a lot of people who's first foray in fantasy was the Hobbit. Me, I'm glad it wasn't. I never liked the Hobbit and Bilbo just annoyed me. People always look surprise when I tell them that. Can't figure out why. ;D
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When I was growing up I loved Black Beauty, I read it about a hundred times (my husband was a little surprised at how well I knew the storyline when he rented the movie) and Black Stallion. Another of my favorites, that I quite literally read until it fell apart (then I taped it back together with Duct Tape and I still have it) is The Case of the Vanishing Boy by Alexander Key.
Those are the three that come to mind. I didn't even become interested in Fantasy until about 3 years ago. (around the time that LOTR came out in the theatre)
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My older sister was really into fantasy and would read to me when I was little and then lend them to me when I was older. She read me Howl's Moving Castle when I was five, and I gobbled up everything else by Diana Wynne Jones after that as well as Robin McKinley, Patricia McKillip, and Anne McCaffrey. I thought it was great because the last three were always together at the library.
I'm not much an anime kind of person, but my little sister is and she made me watch the English version of Howl's Moving Castle. It's become my favourite movie and I am sorely tempted to actually read the book; the trick is finding it in a small town.
And one of the few books that my mom bought for me was the Black Stallion. I ended up reading the whole series and I used to tape the show on television after I discovered it.
Am I the only one thinking of raiding the kids' section at the library after reading this thread?
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I had a hard time learning how to read. I went to kindergarten in Colorado where they didn't believe in teaching how to read until 1st grade. All you had to do to graduate kindergarten was write your letters and numbers. We moved to WVC Utah and when I showed up to 1st grade they expected you to know how to read basic words and such. My parents didn't agree with their method of teaching me to read (sight recognition) because I was behind but they didn't want to stigmatize me by putting me in a special class. I learned to read but very slowly and painfully.
By fourth grade the school implemented a policy that every student must read to a parent for 15 minutes every day (for younger students who didn't know how to read they had to be read to). I picked the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books to read. And bless my mother's heart because she sat there and listened while I read every single one of them. By junior high I moved on to Agatha Christie books. Read almost every one of those too before I got burned out on mysteries.
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Ooh and then there was the Indian in the Cupboard... I think I'll have to go find those ones again.
I was in the Library recently with my kids and ran across a little book I'd 'read' when I was probably 5 ish. Wow the nostalgia was like a tidal wave. I had to grab the wall for a second and thought, "Woah, I've read this before"
That was called "Mouse Tales" by Arnold Lobel
http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780060239411
I have no clue how to link things on this site...
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I remember Indian in the Cupboard and its sequels. Those were good reads too.
I also remember reading the Ralph S. Mouse books by Beverly Cleary. I always wanted a mouse that could ride a motorcycle. Santa never brought me one. :(
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Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Hardy Boys, Heinlein, Asimov, Tolkien, Tom Swift and Tom Corbett, Philip Jose Farmer.
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I started with the Hardy Boys. I'd finish one in about an hour or so. Then I progressed on to Goosebumps (eventually). I also read whatever was required at school, not really liking or hating most of it. I was finally introduced to the Fantasy genre in Middle School by a friend of mine and the books that REALLY got me going were the Belgariad by David Eddings and the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
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Oh, that'll be nice... I can see it now, my pre teen child reading about Padan Fain letting the Trollocs eat the women and children of his captives.
That sounds like a good series to read at that age! ;)
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hehe, I Devoured that stuff back then. It was even cooler BECAUSE it was so evil. :D
You know how Middle Schoolers are. :D
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I didn't read much in Jr. High and early High School. Well, more than I was required to, and poetry. I devoured poetry at that age. Such drama! I needed it then, so other than those two things I was to busy discovering boys to care about the written word.
I did have to take this class 'Developmental Reading' in 9th grade. I read The Birds, (meh) The Pearl (hated it with a passion that cannot be surpassed) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (I loved this book!) I can't remember if we read anything else, those were the ones that stuck out to me.
Then it wasn't until my senior year that I picked up books again (I'm sure I read a little I'm not alliterate in the least) That was when I discovered Nicholas Sparks. Which I still love to read.
So we can see the progression of my life through literature really, I think I should write an essay about this, or maybe just an entire book. "How does what we read affect how we behave and grow?"
hmmm....<wanders off to ponder>
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I was a born bookworm I suppose. From the time I was able to read this was my only hobby until computers showed up. Books are a way of breathing to me.
What did I read? First, the books of Jules Verne, Karl May, J.F. Cooper, Edgar Rice Burroughs. Later came R.A. Salvatore's full dark elf saga, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance trilogy, David Gemmel's Legend, Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. Tolkien's LOTR came still later, around 22, when I had the necessary strenght and curiosity to complete it. Terry Goodkind's full Sword of Truth series was a major step to me. He was my best English teacher in the university years. ;D James Clawell's Shogun is one of the best books I ever read to name a non-fantasy novel, too.
I did also read nearly all of the classics of literature taught in my high school. The russian writers have really deep stories, I have strong memories about their books, particularly from Dostoevsky. Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Brothers Karamazov are highly recommended readings for philosophical type of persons. I really enjoyed Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita.
Besides all of these books, I read the Bible more than once in my teens. For many years my favourite part was the Old Testament of course. The New Testament is too painful, sometimes even now.
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I read Nancy Drew and then when I was about nine I discovered LOTR and then didn't want to read "children's books." The library had a no children in the adult section rule and I had to get my Dad to get things for me. I raided his books and read a LOT of Heinlein way too early. Its scary to think how many of my opinions were shaped by Heinlein.
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The first books I ever read of my own accord were the Han Solo Trilogy. I remeber getting them out of a scholastic magazine in the sixth grade. Wow I loved those books and I think I still have two out of the three.
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I grew up on the stories of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris. The first books I read on my own where the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny.
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I didn't read much in my youth (waitaminute, I'm still young...), but what I did read is slightly embarrassing. Animorphs was all I really read from grade 3-5. In Middle School I think I attempted to read LoTR, but couldn't finish it. I actually think my favorite book during this time was "Halo: Fall of Reach", because I remember reading it over and over, and yes; I'm of the opinion that it is the only Halo story that should be converted into a movie.
And then in High School I didn't read anything. Only recently have I been reading everything I missed and didn't hear about then. This last year has been great. :) WoT, LoTR (actually finished), Mistborn, Elantris, Hobbit, the other Halo novels... I'm obviously trying to branch out.
I'm going to start diving into the deep world of Lucasworld soon, the parts of the story that he hasn't ruined at least.
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Oh, well, i should first say that, the only reason i started to read was because i was always grounded. For one reason or another. So it started off as a way to kill time. Then books like The Last Unicorn happened, and The Series of Unfortunate Events and Goosebumps. Oh, and there was...drat i don't remember--just know that the main characters would turn into animals. Not animorphs though... I'm not sure i want to remember. I also read Captain Underpants. And loved it as a kid. And loved it still as a man. Yes, i am a man. I came late into fantasy with the Inheritance Cycle. As i teen though i read more Neil Gaiman then anything else. I did read some classical fantasy with Mcaffery and Brooks's Sword of Shannara trilogy and even The Hobbit. These led me to more modern books and authors like The Name of the Wind and this Guy named Brandon Sanderson--not sure if you've heard of him...Anyway.
I wasn't sure how far back the question asked me to go. I guess i could say that the first CHARACTERS in a book that i actually loved and appreciated as real people, and not just names in a story, are those in The Series of Unfortunate Events. That could very well have been the work of fiction that compelled me to write. However, i'm not sure.
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So I shouldn't despair that my otherwise lovely, intelligent, charming children love Captain Underpants to the exclusion of any other fiction?
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So I shouldn't despair that my otherwise lovely, intelligent, charming children love Captain Underpants to the exclusion of any other fiction?
...No, i didn't say that. If you knew me, you'd know that I'm more then slightly demented and still where two pairs of underwear. I can't say that it is due to the nearly naked hero but he might have influenced me some.
however, i don't mean to startle you. Please don't be startled.
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*Is startled. Very startled*
Captain Underpants... I think I remember seeing those and (at the time) thinking they looked stupid.
I think now is the time to go back and read them.
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Started with my dad reading Lord of the Rings to me, as it seems is the norm for a lot of people lol. ;)
From there it branched off into the original Dragonlance books (Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Winter's Night, etc. etc.), Goosebump books, Clive Barker's "The Thief of Time," and the Shannara books.
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I really like the X-files books as a kid. They were like my favorites.
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I Started with Grimm's Fairy Tales. Let me tell you, that is not the kind of thing 5 year olds should be reading, hahaha! Fairy Tales from the brothers Grimm are not all that innocent.
I used to tell my parents to leave the hall light on and my bedroom door open. I think I had them convinced I was afraid of the dark. I wasn't, I just needed the light to read by. When I heard them coming down the hall, I would hide the book under my pillow and pretend to be asleep.
Starting at 8, I got into Madeline L'Engle, Marguerite Henry (I drew horse pics and sent them to her and she wrote back!), Jack London, and just about anything with horses or animals in it.
I kept re-reading the fairy tales until I was 13, though. :D
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AS a really young kid. Meaning a tot, I read a bunch of arther books (Meaning i liked to look at the pictures). I think he was a kangaroo but i'm not really sure.
He could have been an anteater...
What about those pamphlet looking books that had the pictures you were supposed to color in them, you guys remember those? Those were awesome.
There were so many books that my teacher handed out to us, it was great because we'd pride ourselves on who had the most books. And i'm sure none of us ever read them really. Just sort of collected them, like war trophies. We all know that kindergarten was war.
Then, abit later, there was Nate the Great, and a series of other books similar to it. I can't bring myself to remember the titles of any. Just know that they were picture books with a line or two--Where the Sidewalk Ends! Thatwas an awesome book.
I heard the author's dead now...
Now I'm mainly reading self-improvment books--for my writing not my flabby parts--and manuscripts of either mine or friends works.
What i'm trying to say is, i miss my picture books. So, so much.
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I'm pretty sure its Arthur the Aardvark. And I only know that because I used to watch the TV show...
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AS a really young kid. Meaning a tot, I read a bunch of arther books (Meaning i liked to look at the pictures). I think he was a kangaroo but i'm not really sure.
He could have been an anteater...
What about those pamphlet looking books that had the pictures you were supposed to color in them, you guys remember those? Those were awesome.
There were so many books that my teacher handed out to us, it was great because we'd pride ourselves on who had the most books. And i'm sure none of us ever read them really. Just sort of collected them, like war trophies. We all know that kindergarten was war.
Then, abit later, there was Nate the Great, and a series of other books similar to it. I can't bring myself to remember the titles of any. Just know that they were picture books with a line or two--Where the Sidewalk Ends! Thatwas an awesome book.
I heard the author's dead now...
Now I'm mainly reading self-improvment books--for my writing not my flabby parts--and manuscripts of either mine or friends works.
What i'm trying to say is, i miss my picture books. So, so much.
Are you talking about Shel Silverstein? Where the Sidewalk Ends was written and illustrated by him.
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AS a really young kid. Meaning a tot, I read a bunch of arther books (Meaning i liked to look at the pictures). I think he was a kangaroo but i'm not really sure.
He could have been an anteater...
What about those pamphlet looking books that had the pictures you were supposed to color in them, you guys remember those? Those were awesome.
There were so many books that my teacher handed out to us, it was great because we'd pride ourselves on who had the most books. And i'm sure none of us ever read them really. Just sort of collected them, like war trophies. We all know that kindergarten was war.
Then, abit later, there was Nate the Great, and a series of other books similar to it. I can't bring myself to remember the titles of any. Just know that they were picture books with a line or two--Where the Sidewalk Ends! Thatwas an awesome book.
I heard the author's dead now...
Now I'm mainly reading self-improvment books--for my writing not my flabby parts--and manuscripts of either mine or friends works.
What i'm trying to say is, i miss my picture books. So, so much.
Are you talking about Shel Silverstein? Where the Sidewalk Ends was written and illustrated by him.
Yeah. He died didn't he?
And he could be an aardvark but i don't think i knew what an aardvark was at the time.
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Yeah, he died in 1999.
I remember reading Where the Sidewalk Ends a long time ago.
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Yeah, he died in 1999.
I remember reading Where the Sidewalk Ends a long time ago.
I'm gonna have to find me a copy...
though i probably shouldnt say this but will anyway, wasn't the picture he had of himself in the back of the book frightening? it was a really, really close close-up.
As a kid i always found it hilarious.
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I vaguely remember the picture being intense and a little scary looking, again I was young at the time.
Another of my favorite books growing up were the Wayside Series by Louis Sachar. Good times.
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Louis Sachar wrote great children's books.
I always loved Bill Peet as a young kid. His books fascinated me.
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I blame my reading addiction on my Dad. Well, my Dad and my sister. When I was in third grade my Dad read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to me. The trick was he didn't read the entire book to me. He stopped about half way through, at a very exciting point, and told me I would have to read it myself if I wanted to find out what happened. Of course I had to find out what happened, so I read the rest of the book and then the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia. LOVED THEM. I still love to read them.
I remember reading the Indian in the Cupboard books at some point in Grade School, but for the most part I thought there's not much to read out there besides The Chronicles of Narnia, so I don't need to read any more books. I think I read on these forums somewhere that it's common for boys to stop reading between 4th grade and Junior High. I guess I fell into that statistic.
I didn't read anything again until 8th grade. My older sister lent me her copy of Pawn of Prophecy. She told me it was REALLY good, so I agreed to give it a try. It took me a long time to get half way through it, but then it finally got exciting and I was hooked. I devoured the rest of the Belgariad and every David Eddings book I could get my hands on. That's when I realized there are a LOT of good books out there to read and I became a reading junkie.
I read all of Lloyd Alexander's books in Junior High and loved them. It's fun to read that others of you enjoyed those same books. At that point in my addiction I was limited to the books in the Junior High Library and my sisters' book cases. Luckily between the two of them I found enough books to appease my hunger. I read The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist, The Shannara books, Robert Asprin's Myth series (so funny), a little Robin McKinley, and I'm sure there were some others I can't remember.
I think I found The Eye of the World in 10th grade and have been a Robert Jordan fan ever since. I had never read Tolkien, and I felt like I should since he is considered the father of modern fantasy. I tried the Hobbit, but it just didn't grip me and hold my attention like many other books I'd read. I ended up forcing myself to continue reading and finally finished the book years later. I then started The Fellowship of the Ring, but got completely bogged down (lost interest) in the Tom Bombadil section. I decided that Tolkien just wasn't my cup of tea and moved on.
This post is already plenty long. Wow! Hope I'm not rambling too much. It's fun to find out what got other people hooked. It also gives me some ideas on books to try out. Thanks everyone!
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I started on the Encyclopedia Brown stuff around 7 or so, then Narnia shortly thereafter, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and of course, at 9 I read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Around 10 or 11, I got really in WWII so I read everything abouyt WWII I could get my hands on, once I had read it all (yes, I think I had read every single book in 3 different libraries concerning WWII). I went back to fantasy/scifi with Chalker, Aspirin, Anthony, Brooks, Foster... I didnt pick up the Magician series by Fiest, nor Wheel until I was in college.
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Louis Sachar wrote great children's books.
I always loved Bill Peet as a young kid. His books fascinated me.
Louis Sachar was definitely one of my staples as a kid. Sideways Stories from Wayside School was always at the ready for me.
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I think when I was a younger kid I read all of the Little House on the Prairie books, I used to own them as well, and I read pretty much every Black Stallion book I could get my hands on at that age. I think I may have read them all at some point in my youth. I loved books about horses, and The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, when I was about eight I think. I started fantasy youngish....and scifi as well, although that didn't intrigue me quite as much. I read The Hobbit when I was at my dad's house for the weekend and looking for something to read, I must have been 12 or 13. But, I also read Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles about that time. I don't remember much about it though. I haven't re-read it since then, I think it would make much more sense now. I may have to look into that. :)
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I enjoyed fantasy books from the begin of my life because non-fiction to me is just plain boring. Fantasy to me takes me to a fantasy world were it's just the you and the character and nothing else.
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I thought kid's books were boring. Once I read all of Nancy Drew when I was 6 or 7 I wanted grown-up stuff. It is very funny to read things now that I loved then. Heinlein is much different as a 30-something than a 12-yr old. I read and re-read all the Piers Anthony books, can't stand them now.
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You read Heinlein as a 12-year old? My brain exploded during some of his stuff when I read it in college. Were you some sort of CIA Youth League Operative Ninja?
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You read Heinlein as a 12-year old? My brain exploded during some of his stuff when I read it in college. Were you some sort of CIA Youth League Operative Ninja?
I think we're on to her....
Really though I don't think all of his stories are complicated at all. He wrote...Red Planet, right? What about Tunnel in the Sky? Or am I thinking of Asimov...
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I am thinking more of his short stories I guess. All you zombies, And He Built a Crooked House, and They were some of the stuff I started with. I read Stranger in a Strangeland...and I honestly want the three months of my life that I spent reading that book back.
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I read The Number of the Beast and Time Enough for Love when I was in 6th grade. But I missed a lot, like all the sex. I just read what my Dad had.
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... I read pretty much every Black Stallion book I could get my hands on at that age. I think I may have read them all at some point in my youth. I loved books about horses, and The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, when I was about eight I think.
Ditto for me.
Loved Walter Farley's horse stories in 3-4th grade, especially The Horse Tamer, my fave. Loved Bev. Cleary's Ramona books at that time, also. I've read through Lord of the Rings about once per decade since junior high. Well, I may not read it again since it's nicer to put on the dvd and watch with kids now.
Was entranced by Heinlein in high school, but now reject his worldview completely. Didn't read anything memorable in school and missed many classics I've since discovered on my own, like My Antonia (most recent), Jane Austen and many others. So sad that any mention of "God" results in a book neglected by public school curricula these days.
Oh, and I used to read all my dad's Ian Fleming books and got hooked on the spy thriller. Best spy novels eventually discovered: almost anything by Len Deighton.
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I had a bunch of favorites I used to reread like 4 times a year: Chronicles of Narnia, the Little House books, anything by Madeleine L'Engle, and Anne of Green Gables. I grew up in Africa, so my selection was limited to what my parents brought with us. I also liked the Ramona books, The Black Stallion, Brighty of the Grand Canyon and some random book about a hippo swimming race where the protagonist pulls off the swimming trunks of his cheating competitor.
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Hey has anyone mentioned Indian In The Cupboard? OHM that was my favorite book when I was little.
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Definitely a good book for its age group. The skinhead plot in at least one of the sequels kind of lost me though.
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I loved most of Enid Blyton's books (Malory Towers, The Famous Five, The Naughtiest girl, St. Clare, The Secret Seven, The Circus series). I guess I read almost every book from those collections. I liked comics too, Spanish ones (Zipi y Zape, Mortadelo y Filemón).