The Sword and Laser discussion

I remember sitting on my bedroom floor in front of my short bookcases reading Berenstain Bears books, although I'm sure there were other books on those shelves I had read. I was always either being read to or reading myself so I couldn't say which book was actually first.

The first book that got me into more adult sci-fi/fantasy was Ender's Game.

I had a great many books read to me, by parents and teachers. But if I recall correctly, the first full-length book I read solo was The Arctic Patrol Mystery by Franklin W. Dixon. The Hardy Boys novels were my gateway to solo reading; I devoured the lion's share of them and could never get enough. I suspect that millions of us should honor the "Dixon" and "Carolyn Keene" authors for the great gift they gave to us as kids: they really set us on fire to read.

I can't remember the first real book I ever read but odds are it was a Hardy Boys book. I had a minor speech impediment as a child, I think I was 1st or 2nd grade, and to correct the problem it was suggested to my mother I read out loud as much as possible. So she bought me a lot of Hardy Boys books (which I still have). From those I graduated to things like Tarzan.

The first true Sword or Laser book I can remember reading is The Hobbit. Though it could have been Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. That was over 30 years ago so I'm more than a bit fuzzy. All I know is that all the forced reading turned into a habit and I devoured a lot of books as a child and was reading way way way above my grade level and had moved into things like Stephen King by the time I was 12.

I clearly remember reading A Wrinkle in Time, which counts as my first genre book. But it was Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong that really got me hooked.

But the first real books I read were probably a series of Brazilian children's tales by Monteiro Lobato.

The first book I remember reading was And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. It was an eye opening experience for me. From that moment on I wanted to read anything I could get my hands on.

The book that got me into Sci-Fi & Fantasy was A Wrinkle in Time.

The first real book I can remember reading was called Follow My Leader. It's about a boy who goes blind after having a fire cracker thrown in his face who gets a seeing eye dog. I read it over and over again as a child.

The first book I remember reading is one of those ladybird books.. The Enormous Turnip (or something similar). The first proper sized book.. Vice Versa (the one where the father and son swap bodies)

The first that got me hooked on F&SF was most likely The Hobbit (or maybe Narnia, don't recall which I read first).

The first book I read might have been The Little Engine That Could, although some Doctor Seuss books might have been there, too.

As to what got me into Sword & Laser books? Star Wars and Star Trek. They hooked me into the genre, and I wanted to read and watch every genre work I could find.

Let's see... I think it was The Lady with the Alligator Purse. If we're talking about longer type books, it was The Witches.

I can't remember my first book, but I have fond memories of my mom and I reading Charlie Brown books when I was young.

As far as sci-fi books go, the first one I ever read was The Enormous Egg. I read it a dozen times at least, because I frigging loved dinosaurs.

I am struggling to remember the early books I read as a child but courtesy of my elder brother I can reach my first major reads being The Hobbit and Asimovs Foundation series
That's been my main reason for applying to this group today

After a smattering of Bearnstein Bears and Hardy Boys, my first novel was Across Five Aprils which began a love of history. Just a year later, my first "adult" novel was Jurassic Park which began a love of SF. I want to say my first fantasy novel was probably Neverwhere but I kind of count The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes as my first.

The first "real" book I read ("real" as defined as an adult-sized book, not from the kid section of the library or bookstore, with more than 40 pages and no illustrations) was Rocket Ship Galileo.

Yes, I realize it is technically a juvenile, but it was a paperback bought off the real Science Fiction shelves at our local bookstore when I was about 10 or 11.

It's possible I read The Hobbit before that, but I'm not sure - if not it was soon after.

I had also read, I found out, some Robert Silverberg. I have a copy of The Lost Race of Mars in a Scholastic Book Club edition.

If my memory is accurate, my first reading experience was in comic books. They (and The Electric Company) taught me how to read.

But the first actual book I remember reading was Where the Wild Things Are. Likely the reason I still enjoy the creepy side of literature.

The book that hooked me on Fantasy/SF was Lord Foul's Bane. Although I had read The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings, Stephen R. Donaldson's book sucked me in & showed me Fantasy could have a dark edge--which fit my tastes perfectly.

I can't remember what my first book might have been - maybe "Bunny Blue".

My first sci fi would have probably been "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel" a few years later. Asimov, Tom Swifties, van Vogt... it's what the little library had.

The first book i remember reading by myself was matilda roald dahl.

My first sword and laser book probably was the hobbit but the ones that got me hooked was terry goodkind wizards first rule and dragonlance chronicles.

My mom taught me to read when I was about 4, so I can't really remember the first book that I read. The first book that hooked me on reading was probably RedWall by Brian Jacques. That was also probably the first book that started me liking Sword type novels. The thing that made me start reading sci-fi was Ender's Game

Sad to say I never read a book until the age of 16. Even in school I always managed to escape having to read any of the books assigned to us. Then at 16 I saw the animated version of Lord of the Rings which left the story hanging. I went to the book store and asked if the movie Lord of the Rings was also a book. After giving me a look like I'd just come from another planet he gave me this (to me then) vast novel.

That was the first book I ever read. It took me two years to complete but started a love affair with Fantasy and Sci fi novels. I got so addicted that I was finishing a book every two days and spending all my money for my next fix.

Now I have a book review blog and can't imagine what life would be like without my daily fix of fiction.

I don't remember the first book I read. It was probably something by Erich Kästner, Michael Ende or Astrid Lindgren.
What got me hooked on the fanstasy genre? Probably fairy tales, but as to novels, I would say it was The 13 1/2 Lifes of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers. It is still one of my favorite books and Walter Moers is my favorite author.
As for sci-fi, it was probably the tv series(obviously Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, Andromeda..) and the movies I loved that got me into the genre. Then I wanted more and started looking for sci-fi books to read. The first sci-fi book I read was probably The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I didn't rreally begin reading until I was about 12. The book that truly started me on the literary journey I'm still on now was The Executioner #52 Tuscany Terror.

If I remember correctly, it was Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot that introduced me to sci-fi. A Wrinkle in Time was my my initial foray into the fantastic.

I fell in love with reading early, so I cant quite remember the first book I ever read. But my first real adult book was Pride and Prejudice , I was seven.

first book I remember read was Journey to the west.

first English book I read was the black company.

Glenn wrote: "first book I remember read was Journey to the west.

first English book I read was the black company."

Yes, it was the first book that I really remember reading, but in Chinese in China other than comics of Tom and Jerry and Biker Mice from Mars.

Now that I think about it again the first book I ever read must have been a Disney read along book (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyla...), which were books that came with a tape that read the book along with you, instructing you when to turn the page and so forth. I have fond memories of listening to them on my chunky Fisher Price tape deck.

The first fantasy book I read was the Alanna series by Tamora Pierce. I have been in to science fiction and fantasy ever since.

For me the first book was "The Hobbit" I was about 8 I think, a bartender gave it to me (Long story about that). It was all comic books before then (it was the 70s)

The first 'real book' (as opposed to picture book or similar) that I remember reading on my own is Enid Blyton, probably The Magic Faraway Tree, which was my introduction to fantasy. First sci-fi was much later, either Eon by Greg Bear or Cities in Flight by James Blish.

I was a Nancy Drew girl in elementary school. I loved mysteries. Then one day I picked up Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and fell in love. I started seeking out more fantasy after that and got really into sci fi after reading Ender's Game in the 7th grade.

I also had to read 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 in English classes and loved them both. Those were the books that really got me into the dystopian genre, which I still love despite today's increasingly mediocre contributions.

Oh, I remember this perfectly! Not counting fairy tales and Ladybird abridged versions, yes?... it was 'The Enchanted Wood' by Enid Blyton (the original, undiluted book; I think it's been 'politically corrected' since?)... I read the hardcover in one sitting on a sunny afternoon and was very proud of myself for completing it from cover to cover:) Wow, brings back memories... and explains a lot about the stories that have caught my interest since hmmmmm...

The answer to this question really depends on what you mean by "book." If you include picture books, the first one I can remember reading myself was There's a Wocket in My Pocket! by Dr. Seuss. If you're narrowing it down to novels it would be The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket.

The book that hooked me on Scifi/Fantasy was Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Sweet memories.

Besides those See Spot Run books, I'd have to go with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The first books I remember reading were, of course, the works of Theodore Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) -- pretty much every last one. If Dr. Seuss books aren't a good grounding for Science Fiction & Fantasy, then I don't know what are.
A good bit of Roald Dahl in early primary school (James & the Giant Peach was either grade 2 or 3).
Jules Verne & H.G. Wells were staples in primary/middle school. Asimov, Niven & Herbert shortly thereafter, I suspect. A Science Fiction & Fantasy literature course in college certainly expanded my horizons; the most memorable selection was Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar.

I read all of the regular kid stuff, Dr Seuss etc, but I remember the first non-picture book I ever actually checked out of the school library and read all the way through was Yellow Eyes by Rutherford Montgomery. I wasn't really a big reader, but something about this book just hooked me and I never forgot it.

The first book (novel) I ever read was A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, I think I then read the rest of the series, I remember this because it was the first time I received an A for a book report, and so to the second question I believe this would count as both Sword and Laser style books.

the first books I remember loving were Frances the Badger books, but the Chronicle's of Narnia were not long after that, and those started getting me hooked on sword novels, I wasn't much interested in Sci-Fi until just more recently when I read Ender's Game.

I can't say what the first book I read was, but I remember my sister and I would spend the summer reading so we could get free personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut from kindergarten to third grade. Literacy trumps obesity, right?

The book that got me into sword and laser was probably Jurassic Park, because my mother wouldn't take me to see the movie until I finished it the summer before 2nd grade. And by the time I was finished, it had basically disintegrated under the number of rereadings.

The first book I remember reading was Where the Red Fern Grows. After that, it was The Chronicles of Prydain, and I was then hooked on fantasy. I read the Thomas Covenant books (first trilogy) between 5th and 6th grades, then read the second trilogy as they were released (from 7th grade through sophomore year). I also squeezed in The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings and The Once and Future King during Jr. High.

Little Black, A Pony at age 4. By 8 I had read the Hobbit and that is the first S&L type book I remember.

The first book I remember was Star Wars - Heir of the Empore. But for the thruth I lemmed it once or twice.

Really into sword & laser got me the Starfleet Academy books as well as novels to our German RPG - Das Schwarze Auge.

I can't remember the first book I ever read but I know it was a picture book.

When I was 8, I read the Hobbit but didn't start looking for more books until I was 9 and read Harry Potter. After that, I read The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula le Guin and The Lives of Christopher Chant by Dianna Wynne Jones. Those books catapulted me into reading.

I'd say The Wizard of Earthsea is what triggered my S&L reading habit.

The first book I ever read period was, I'm pretty sure, Danny and the Dinosaur, but if we're talking first novel and/or non-picture book it was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

As for what got me hooked on S&L, it could've been The Watchers of Space, but I'm pretty sure what did it was when, at the far-too-young age of 10, my best friend turned me on to Split Infinity and the rest of Anthony's Apprentice Adept series. Those were simultaneously Sword and Laser and I don't think I've ever looked back...

This is going back a while, but the first adult book I read was The Sword of Shannara and the subsequent books in the original trilogy. Dragon Riders of Pern were in there pretty close along with The Hobbit, LoTR and Ender's Game. So I've been a huge sword/laser from the beginning although I started more on the fantasy side of things.

Funny thing. My earliest memory is of sitting in a sunbeam in my room, reading P.D. Eastman's Are You My Mother?. I think I was about three or four.

Once I'd read all the age-appropriate stuff in the house, I went downstairs and scaled the bookshelf in our family room to the top, where my mom kept HER collection of science fiction novels, and after some perusing, I pulled down A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony, and I've never looked back. (That shelf also had my mom's Edgar Rice Burroughs collection, and I still love all of those books)

I think my first books were Narnia, then Lloyd Alexander, followed by LOTRs so Fantasy was really what I grew up on. Before that I remember reading the Childcraft and Young Readers versions of Myths, Legends and Folklore.

My first Sci-fi was The Empyrion Saga by Stephen Lawhead I think. Then I got into Battletech and Robotech novels, and it wasn't until college that I really started to get read real science fiction....I think Issac Asimov and Kim Robinson's Mars Trilogy

I really have no idea what the first book I read was. I read whatever was around the house. It was probably something like a Bobbsy Twins book. I remember The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall had a big impact on me when I was around 9.
The first real science fiction I read was Rocketship Galileo by Robert Heinlein when I was 11. It was literaly a life changing experience.

My first book was probably Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing or something like that. :P The first fantasy book I read was A Spell for Chameleon.

Other than kid books, the first book I read under my own initiative and power was My Side of the Mountain. Pointed my 12 year old to it earlier this year and he loved it too. There were sequels of which I was unaware and he gave up on them.

Later I totally fell for Illusions.

Lets see... The first book I ever read was probobly a Dr. Seus as I was slightly obsessed when I was a wee lad.

As for what got me started into S&L, that would be Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. I went to a christian high school and our library's selection was abysmal. So the band teacher took me under his wing and started lending me good quality books starting with Ender's Game. And now due to this one mans intervention I am completely and utterly devoted to the genres

My first book would have been the 'Dick and Jane' readers in first grade. The first novels were from series for boys: Chip Hilton sports books, Tom Swift and The Hardy Boys. Fantasy and/or SF first book was Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

My first book was the complete tales from edgar a poe, and the a compilation of stories from Isaac Asimov, and I am still reading him :D