SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I didn't care for books until I read Waylander by David Gemmell. Ever since then, I've had my nose in a book. What book started the addiction for you?

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. I wanted to ride in the Nautilus and have adventures.

It was the Dragonlance books by Weis and Hickman that got me. I was already a reader but those were the first books I felt that spark of passion for.

"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" by Mark Twain.

--suggested by my 8th grade Catholic school teacher. Had boobs and sex.

That was sufficient.

Oh heavens, that's too far back for me to remember. I was reading well before I hit kindergarten. It was probably a Little Golden Book about Tweety Bird, or something like that.

Wizard of Earthsea, my seventh grade teacher started reading it to the class, and I was hooked.

The Redwall series was my first experience into real reading in fourth grade as all my friends were reading it, and one of my teachers had all the books.

I believe it was the Exorcist or Portnoy's Complaint.

for me it was a fairytail i was 7 years old and from then i am stuck in fabulous world of books

Keith wrote: "Wizard of Earthsea, my seventh grade teacher started reading it to the class, and I was hooked."

For me too! I loved A Wizard of Earthsea back when I was little. Sadly the 2nd part of the Cycle didn't live up to the first three books at all :/

Keith wrote: "Wizard of Earthsea, my seventh grade teacher started reading it to the class, and I was hooked."

For me too! I loved A Wizard of Earthsea and I'm quite sure it was the first 'big book' I've ever read on my own. Sadly the 2nd part of the Cycle didn't live up to the first three books at all :/

Nienna wrote: "It was the Dragonlance books by Weis and Hickman that got me. I was already a reader but those were the first books I felt that spark of passion for."

Yup! If I had to choose just one, it would probably be the Dragonlance series. I found Dragons of Autumn Twilight at a church yard sale for 5 cents, and never looked back :)

Other books that were big influences on my love for reading: The Westing Game, The Neverending Story, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Book Of Dragons...Encyclopedia Brown books...Ralph Fozbek and the Amazing Black Hole Patrol, and The Little Vampire: I bought these two books recently for my own son, because I loved them so much as a kid :)

The snark out boys and the avocado of death by Daniel pinkwater. His books are so amazing and subversive and anti-establishment and funny....such a great thing for kids to read and it hooked me for life.

I have a very clear memory of falling in love with reading. I had a horrible time learning to read. My young mind couldn't figure out what to do with anything that didn't have a visual image or perceivable action, so particles where totally baffling to me. The reality was that that part of my mind just matured a little slower than the average, so suddenly, when I caught up, it all snapped into place and I understood. I call it my Helen Keller at the Water Font moment. Since I was a little older than most it's a very strong memory for me. Eventually, my best friend at the time introduced me to Anne McCaffery and Pern. We spent a whole summer laying side by side reading them. It was idyllic and I was hooked.

I see the Wizard of Earth Sea came up for a lot of people. This wasn't first for me, but it might have been a close second. Certainly was read in that same summer.

Books overall? probably a fictional thriller/mystery, unless Dr.Seuss is included, is 'Are You My Mother?' too simple?

Dragonlance Chronicles is earliest reading love I remember for the genre, even before LOTR not due to trying but length & complexity

I loved 'Are You My Mother?' And 'The Best Nest'. My very first book that I could "read" on my own was 'The Bernstein Bears The Spooky Old Tree'. Lol.

The Sirens of Titan I really had no exposure to or awareness of science fiction as a genre at the time. I know Vonnegut didn't like being put in that genre, but this one is pretty straight forward in SF. Loved the book so much I read like 6 or 7 books by Vonnegut in one summer...I was only like 13.

But it was probably Dune that later (college) set my course on SF reading as my literature of choice. And then Do Androids Dream of Electic Sheep? that turned me into an avid, always reading, reader.

Nienna wrote: "My very first book that I could "read" on my own was 'The Bernstein Bears The Spooky Old Tree'. Lol."
Haha, I loved that book! That section where the kids are going through the secret passage in the tree was the greatest. I wanted a tree like that. :)

Nienna wrote: "I loved 'Are You My Mother?' And 'The Best Nest'. My very first book that I could "read" on my own was 'The Bernstein Bears The Spooky Old Tree'. Lol."

The Spooky Old Tree...read that to my daughter about 200 hundred times! Love it, great memories.

Third grade. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. The Hobbit/LotR had a big impact too but I came to those a couple of years later.

The first book that got me into reading was From Russia With Love. After reading the first Bond book, I was hooked. I had to read them all. Once I caught up with Fleming, I read everything I could. When I got to Heinlein and Asimov, I knew I had found my niche. I still will read nearly anything, but that is just flirtation. Science Fiction is my true love.

I think it was The Dresden Files for me, something about that damn Harry that just got me into the whole genre.

I don't remember a time when I didn't read. We had a set of Childcraft books, and the Folk and Fairy Tales edition was the first time I remember reading by myself. But the first 'big' book that I read was Little Women.

I also don't remember a time I did not read. Perhaps the two that I remember the most were The Dark Is Rising and Futuretrack 5, the latter I spent the next 20 years trying to remember the title of, and when I finally got a copy a year or two back I enjoyed it just as much as I did when I was 12

My mother read to me and my sister from the time we were babies but the first real book I actually remember reading on my own was The Happy Hollisters when I was in the second grade. The next year for Christmas Santa brought me the whole set and I was in heaven.

The first sci fi/fantasy books I remember reading was The Chronicles of Narniawhen I was about 11 or 12.

It'll have to be Tintin. This is a tough one to answer as my memories become vague before my teens. I think my first difficult novel was Pride and Prejudice, at 13 years old. Not a very manly choice but I found the old English language quite challenging and I wanted to take it on. Soon moved on to Asimov.

Mother reading brother grimms tales. Read young adult books until high schools B.S. version of reading books (i.e. What did the author imply by describing that the main protagonist went to the toilet) wasn't until Yes! Man by Danny Wallace and Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.

I wish I could remember the name of series, but it was something like Bones and Dogson. Basically a kids series where Sherlock Holmes and Watson were dogs and they solved mysteries. I still remember some of the cases and the logic they used to solve them!

My parents read us bedtime stories every day since I was little, but if I remember well my first book was Das doppelte Lottchen and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Kruistocht in spijkerbroek

Crusade in Jeans by Thea Beckman

I never really used to read books until I started reading the first Harry Potter book more than 10 years ago. It's what got me started in thinking that reading can fun and not something I just had to do for school. Now I'm a fantasy book nut!

The Cam Jansen series, a kids series about a girl with photographic memory solving mysteries. I started reading during Kindergarten, and it was that, and the Magic Tree House series that really got me excited.

I've loved reading as long as I can remember, but I know it was the Chronicles of Narnia in 4th grade that got me into fantasy and sci-fi.

When I was in 3rd grade my older brother was assigned to read Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. He paid me $5 to read it aloud onto a cassette tape because he wasn't much of a reader. When I got done with it I immediately read Xenocide and Speaker for the Dead. I have loved fantasy and sci fi ever since.

Aesop's fables when I was around 5. I read ever since.

No way I remember that! It was over 65 years ago!

I remember that I read a lot when in grade school. A lot were about sports, sports figures and war stories.

Just don't remember any titles or authors.

In SciFi, it was probably Asimov, Heinlein and Clarke. But, again, don't remember just what books it was. I do remember being very excited to read Stranger in a Strange Land and 2001: A Space Odyssey. But, it was several years after that that I read Foundation and then on into the rest of the Trilogy.

I don't know the order in which I read them, but Bunnicula, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and The Indian in the Cupboard all invigorated my imagination when I was young.

Oh boy! That's a lot of books ago! I always liked reading, but the first book that I remember clearly was the first one I read of the 'Bob Morane' series, written in french by Henry Vernes (yes, he is a descendant of Jules Vernes) and featuring an adventurous french reporter and his companion Bill Ballantine, a giant Scotsman, plus their nefarious genius of an enemy, Mister Ming. That makes me wonder if the Bob Morane series was ever translated. I think that I will go check that.

I can't honestly remember what the first book was that got me into reading. I do remember having loved books as a kid and my parents/grandparents always putting an emphasis on reading. As I became older (middle/high school), my love of books started to fall off. I do remember the book that got me back into heavy reading which was The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay. Absolutely loved this story, the main character, the supporting characters, the plot, the time period, everything. Made me remember what I loved about books and haven't looked back since then.

I always loved books and used to read with my parents all the time. The first book i remember reading with my mum is The Adventures of the Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton but the books that really got me into fantasy reading were the Redwall books.

For me, it was The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators. Then, it was Doc Savage and The Avenger series by Kenneth Robeson.

The book that started it all was "Starship Troopers", by Robert Heinlein, circa 1965.

I have a very distinct memory of my dad reading The BFG to me when I was very little; I think that was what started it all.

John wrote: "For me, it was The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators. Then, it was Doc Savage and The Avenger series by Kenneth Robeson."

John:

Boy did you bring back memories for me. I read The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift novels, when I was young. I consumed Doc Savage books like mind candy. (The two things I wanted most in my early teens was a telescope and bronze colored contact lenses. I got the telescope.)

R.

I read my dad's old Hardy Boy collection. Looking back they definitely had a role in sparking my interest in mystery and adventure novels.

R. wrote: "John wrote: "For me, it was The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators. Then, it was Doc Savage and The Avenger series by Kenneth Robeson."

John:

Boy did you bring b..."

R.: Have you read the new Doc Savage novels by Will Murray? Brings back a lot of memories!!

John wrote: R.: Have you read the new Doc Savage novels by Will Murray? Brings back a lot of memories!!"

No. I only read Doc Savage books, when I was young (about half a century ago).

R.

Charlotte's Web by E.B.White. My mother read it to me as a bedtime story. She also read Old Yeller and To Kill a Mockingbird, but I think Charlotte's Web is what hooked me.

RDH

Ruth wrote: "Charlotte's Web by E.B.White. My mother read it to me as a bedtime story. She also read Old Yeller and To Kill a Mockingbird, but I think Charlotte's Web is what hooked me.

RDH"

I love Charlotte's Web, but Trumpet of the Swan was always my favorite E.B. White book. It's odd because Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web seem to be the more popular of his but Swan was the first book that I can remember bringing me to tears. I think I read it in the 6th grade or so.

The book that really got me into reading I didn't read until several years later, however, and that was The Hobbit. I fell under its spell and am under it still. Brilliant book which only gets better each time I read it.