First book/novel. First love

[MisterOJ]

The Forgotten Realms novel Shadowdale. Was the first "real" book I remember reading on my own. My dad always read pulp fantasy when I was a kid. Lots of old Conan books and their like were always around. I remember finding Shadowdale discarded because he didn't like it and I picked it up and was hooked right from the start. Devoured all three books of the trilogy and then moved on to all the other Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance books at the time.

They were all right around 300 pages though. The first long book I ever read was Sword of Shannara.

[deleted01]

The first book i can remember reading was, The Werewolf of Fever Swamp by R.L. Stine, yes a Goosebumps book, i was eight. I had a lot of fun with this book and the whole Goosebumps series.

I remember reading that, and it scared me so much I threw it into my wardrobe and never got it out again :laugh:

I can't remember the first book I read, but I do remember reading a lot of Sabrina and Goosebumps books, so I'd guess it was one of them, closely followed by Point Horror and Buffy books. I used to watch Sabrina and read the relevant book at the same time, as the books were based on the show and were therefore pretty much word-for-word.

I do remember the first book I chose, and read through about a hundred times. It was called What On Earth, and it was about a girl who always imagined that normal things were actually cool things, like the floor was lava and the cat an alien. That one had pictures though.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I've been reading on my own for a very long time. I would guess my my first book with no pictures would be a horse related one such as Misty of Chincoteague by Margaret Henry or The Black Stallion by Walter Farley.

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder would be another possible candidate.

My first "big book" was Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. Still love that series to this day.

I don't recall a first book that inspired me to become a reader. I've always loved to read.

[Shryke]

I can't even grasp remembering this kind of thing.

I've been read to since I was born and reading since whenever I picked up that skill back in the misty pre-school era from which no events can be recalled.

First book without pictures is so long ago I wouldn't even know either.

[Leofric]

I can't remember not reading. I read and reread all the books in my house growing up I can't remember which non picture book came first, whether it one of the dog books by Albert Payson Terhune, one of my brother's Hardy Boys books, or something else entirely. I do remember in 2nd grade my sister gave me the full set of Narnia books for Christmas and I burned through those in about a week. The first real book I remember buying on my own was Twilight Barking, a sequel to 101 Dalmatians, at a school book sale.

[First of My Name]

The few Star Wars books I could find at the library, after I saw the movies. I was young and didn't understand half of what was going on, but I haven't stopped reading since. Also, Harry Potter.

[MaggiM]

First book I can remember: Bunnicula, then A Celery Stalks at Midnight.

THIS! I was always a fervent James Howe enthusiast. However my mom read these out loud to me when I was too little to read and I requested them so many times I could recite most of the pages before I could actually read them. A lot of Beverly Cleary books were probably my first actual reading.

The first book I was ever hooked on at about 7 or 8 was called the Hero of Lesser Causes by Julie Johnston about a girl who's brother contracted polio in the 50's and was followed by Kit Pearson's Guest of War Trilogy based on English children sent to Canada for safety during WWII.

[Zoë Sumra]

I can't even grasp remembering this kind of thing.

I've been read to since I was born and reading since whenever I picked up that skill back in the misty pre-school era from which no events can be recalled.

First book without pictures is so long ago I wouldn't even know either.

Same here - I've no idea when I picked up the love of it. The first books I read that we'd now describe as YA were Watership Down and The Hobbit. I was five at the time. First adult book was LOTR, when I was six.

[maarsen]

I've been reading on my own for a very long time. I would guess my my first book with no pictures would be a horse related one such as Misty of Chincoteague by Margaret Henry or The Black Stallion by Walter Farley.

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder would be another possible candidate.

My first "big book" was Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. Still love that series to this day.

I don't recall a first book that inspired me to become a reader. I've always loved to read.

I think my first big book was The Wind In the Willows. I can still remember being 4 years old and my mother reading Treasure Island to me and just burning to be able to read om my own. And yes, I loved Swallows and Amazons too. Could not get enough of them. I tried to get my kids interested in them, but they were damned hard to find.

[Hutch]

My first that made me love reading was one of Louis Lamore's. Can't even remember which one (maybe The Daybreakers). My grandad had a lot to do with that, and while Lamore's not the greatest writer to ever put pen to paper, his stories are enjoyable, semi historically accurate, and interesting enough that I've now read all hundred plus books he's written. Great stuff for a quick, easy read if anyone is looking to distract themselves for a couple of hours.

[LordStoneheart]

Among the Hidden isn't long, but that was it. The whole Shadow Children sequence actually. I read the first two or three in fifth grade

What made me love and want to write books was the Lord of the Rings in sixth grade.

[thecryptile]

Nancy Drew lol...

[Gillio]

I cant remember not reading.

I read everything, all the time. I was reading by myself at four and parroting known books by the time my brother was born when i was two. I suppose one gradually turned into the other!!

[The Shadow Wolf]

I can't even grasp remembering this kind of thing.

I've been read to since I was born and reading since whenever I picked up that skill back in the misty pre-school era from which no events can be recalled.

First book without pictures is so long ago I wouldn't even know either.

I wasn't a reader right from the start. My mom used to buy me comic books as a little kid, mostly because I liked the artwork and the characters. I remember this is what drew me to The Werewolf of Fever Swamp. I really loved the cover. We had those Scholastic book order things in school and so when i had my mom order it for me, I didn't know that it had no pictures. After that, I didn't miss a book in the series.

If I had read a book that wasn't part of a series I liked, I'm not sure if I would have remembered it.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I read it when I was 5. I remember being extremely skeptical of reading a chapter book with no pictures but ended up being drawn in by the description of candy. :rolleyes: What can I say? I used to play-act prairie scenes with my sister and friends because of those books.

Oh, good call. I am sure I read those earlier than the Prydain books.

[Goodbye World]

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

[Alex.]

The Redwall books, definitely. They were dead good.

[Datepalm]

I read the Michael Ende book with the train (but i've never read the Neverending story. Go figure) when I was 7 or so. I read it in Hebrew, so I can date that pretty well. There were books and series I read and loved before that, but a. I couldn't tell you if they had pictures or not. b. They were all written in hebrew and probably not particularly familiar to anyone.

[Frey Filet]

I first got turned on to reading as a hobby when I discovered author John Bellairs in my elementary school library (I was in 4th grade). I've pretty much all of his books, although The House with a Clock in It's Walls was probably the first. The Boxcar Children series was another early delight for me.

[ductastic]

It must have been back in second or third grade in elementary school and the first LOTR movie had just been released in cinema. A classmate of mine was reading The Hobbit back then and totally loved the book. The story seemed interesting to me, so I borrowed the book. It got me hooked on the fantasy genre.