# First book you ever read?



## Violanthe (Nov 2, 2005)

What is the first novel you ever read that you truly enjoyed? How old were you when you read it? Why did you enjoy it so much?


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## e.Blackstar (Nov 2, 2005)

Um...don't remember. LOTR was the first big one, I believe. My mom read it to me when I was 8 and then I read it on my own the next year.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Nov 2, 2005)

Violanthe said:


> What is the first novel you ever read that you truly enjoyed? How old were you when you read it? Why did you enjoy it so much?



When I was a _very_ small child, 4 or 5, my mother bought me the Peter Rabbit series and The Bobbsey Twins series (I could read them at that age), which I enjoyed very much. When I got a bit older, I started in on _The Wizard of Oz,_ and all the accompanying Oz books written not only by L. Frank Baum, but by his successor: his illustrator, John R. Neill. Frankly, I thought Neill wrote _much_ better stories, especially _Lucky Bucky in Oz,_ and _The Scalawagons of Oz._ 

When I got into high school I discovered science fiction, and my favorite authors were (and pretty much still are) Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, Isaac Asimov, H. P. Lovecraft, H. G. Wells, Jules Verne and Arthur C. Clark. I don't read sci-fi much anymore, having considered that the Golden Age of Science Fiction is well past.

But I love sci-fi and fantasy _movies,_ especially now that CG has reached its present state.

Barley


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## Hammersmith (Nov 2, 2005)

Probably CS Lewis or Enid Blyton. But not The Famous Five .


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## HLGStrider (Nov 2, 2005)

OK, now are you going to insist on it being a "novel," because if not mine is Dr. Suess's _Hop On Pop_. 

I was as stubborn as heck as a however-old-I-was-year-old (maybe six. Everything under eight seems to blur together) and informed my mom that since I was doing fine not reading there was no reason to learn. I also informed her that since velcro had been invented I didn't need to learn to tie my shoes and there was no reason to take the training wheels off my bike. However, she put a video that read _Hop on Pop_ aloud to me and watching the words and sounds pair together, I caught on and said, "Ok, but because I want to not because I have to."

After that, I didn't really discriminate. I'd read and enjoy just about anything that had a _story_. I remember consuming a book about a Princess who wanted the moon. I checked that one out several times. Then came Box Car Children, Nancy Drews, and Narnia. . .but my major reading period didn't come until after 12 when I started going through two novels a day, usually by author. I swept through Lloyd Alexander, then Jules Verne . . .

Now I'll read practically anything. 

For an idea check out my book reviews: http://www.freewebs.com/hlgstrider/elgeesbookshelf.htm


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## Barliman Butterbur (Nov 2, 2005)

HLGStrider said:


> ...Then came Box Car Children...



Oh my God, _Boxcar Children!_ I haven't thought of that one in years! When I was teaching, I used to use it as a reader with my low-IQ classes, and they loved it! Then I brought it home to my kids when they were small and _they_ loved it! Thanks for bringing back _very_ pleasant memories! 

Barley


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## HLGStrider (Nov 3, 2005)

The best Box Car moment is "The Yellow House Mystery," book three, where Benny has this conversation under a porch with a frog. That is probably the hardest I've ever laughed when reading a book since baby bird announced, "You are not my mother! You are a Snort!"

My mom just had to read the word Snort and my siblings and me went hysterical.


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## e.Blackstar (Nov 3, 2005)

Okay, now that they bring it up, yeah, I read Boxcar Children and (I blush to admit) the Babysitter's Club when I was about 6 or 7. Dr. Seusss was, of course, a must, and the Chronicles of Narnia came into my life as a gift for Christmas when I was 7.


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## HLGStrider (Nov 3, 2005)

Laura Ingles Wilder was in there somewhere too. . .


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## Violanthe (Nov 3, 2005)

Mine was Wrinkle in Time


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## Gabba (Nov 4, 2005)

My father read me the biography Corneles Cruyz when I was 5. It is the story of a poor boy from my hometown Stavanger in Norway, who became the first russian admiral under Peter the Great. Written in the ninetheenthirtyes manely for older people, (read grownups). I read the book again when I was about 15, and remembered lots of it.  Believe it or not.


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## Hammersmith (Nov 4, 2005)

Gabba said:


> I read the book again when I was about 15, and remembered lots of it.  Believe it or not.


I choose not to


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## HLGStrider (Nov 5, 2005)

Just being difficult, aren't you, Smittyham?


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## Elbereth (Nov 21, 2005)

That was awhile ago...so I may be wrong...but when I think about what books I loved reading at that time (besides the classic golden books of my youth)...I would say the first novel I read was either the Ramona series or Superfudge. 

I admit I didn't start reading fantasy novels until I was much older...the first fantasy novel would be A Wrinkle in Time. 

The first very large novel that I read was John Jakes "North and South"...I was 10 years old at the time.


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## Sulimo (Feb 16, 2012)

I think it was How to Eat Fried Worms, but The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe would have been around that same time. I was a late bloomer when it came to reading.


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## Prince of Cats (Feb 17, 2012)

Pearl's Pirates by Frank Asch and a picture Bible :*)


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## BeornTheBear (Apr 2, 2012)

When I started reading novels around the age of eight or nine, I liked the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary and the original Hardy Boys series. A few years later I got into Harry Potter, which was probably the defining moment of my reading life because it started my love for fantasy. I started reading Stephen King a year or so ago, beginning with his Dark Tower series, and I've read many of his books since then.

Since the first time I read The Hobbit, which was a little more than a year ago, I have loved Tolkien's work (it's hard not to). When I first read The Hobbit, I had no idea of what I was getting myself into. I then went on to read LoTR a few months later. I think the first time I read it, I liked The Fellowship the best because I got bored with the other ones. I didn't really understand a lot of the stuff and I wasn't as patient as I am now. I read The Hobbit for the second time about three-to-four months ago, and am working on my second reading of LoTR, while also reading Percy Jackson, which I love and am going to start the fifth book tomorrow.

I know I just rambled a lot. Thanks for reading if you did! :*D


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## Starbrow (Apr 3, 2012)

The first books were probably by Dr. Seuss., but the first novels that I remember reading were the Bobbsey Twins series. I was a voracious reader when I was younger and read almost anything that I can get my hands on.


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## Dúathiel (Apr 4, 2012)

The wonderful free adaption of the Wizard of Oz (the original was forbidden at the time) by Russian author Alexander Wolkow and the 5 following stories. I'm still rereading them every couple years. These books are a treasure, if you can read them in Russian or German.


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## Erestor Arcamen (Apr 4, 2012)

First books I read by myself were probably Dr. Seuss and/or these Disney children's books that I had. Then I started reading 'The Boxcar Children,' they were my favorite series. And then I started reading 'Animorphs.'


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## Halasían (May 2, 2012)

Violanthe said:


> What is the first novel you ever read that you truly enjoyed? How old were you when you read it? Why did you enjoy it so much?



The first novel I read was also enjoyable. I got Arthur C Clarke's 2001 A Space Odyssey sometime after seeing the movie at the theatre in hopes it would help me understand the movie better. It was much better than the movie.


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## Erestor Arcamen (May 3, 2012)

Halasían said:


> The first novel I read was also enjoyable. I got Arthur C Clarke's 2001 A Space Odyssey sometime after seeing the movie at the theatre in hopes it would help me understand the movie better. It was much better than the movie.



Agreed! :*up


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## halva (Jun 19, 2012)

Mine was a kids bible as well with loads of pictures. I also read Pippi Longstocking.


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## Starbrow (Jun 19, 2012)

I loved Pippi Longstocking as a kid. I've tried to get my students interested in reading those books, but they haven't taken the bait.


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