Books that started it all
I consider myself a voracious reader, I read every day, some days more than others, but every day none the less. I haven't always been this way though. Thinking on this I realized I remember the exact moment reading 'clicked' for me. In elementary school, third grade, I had a teacher that would read to us. I've had teachers that read to me before, I had heard The Grapes of Wrath, To kill a mocking bird, and Call of the wild before even this. In third grade my teachers name was Mr. Bowen, he read us pulp fiction. In particular the Doc Savage novels by Kenneth Robison.
Talk about a change in how I listened. Don't get me wrong, the books I mentioned before are classics I have enjoyed since but I don't think I was able to appreciate such works at that young of an age. The Doc Savage novels started it all, after that it was the John Carter of Mars series, The Avenger, and on and on. It wasn't long after I was doing extra chores and working around the neighborhood to earn money to go the the used book store. That year I even remember my father and I building my first book case to contain my ever growing collections. To this day I still own every Doc Savage novel written, collected before I was thirteen years old.
When did you start to enjoy reading? What books sparked your interest?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael D. Denny on -
I hated reading until history began to spark my interest and I began reading topics of history that interested me. Now heres' the kicker,, it was a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, that got me interested in history. The song was Alexander the Great.
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Permalink Reply by Sean on -
For me, it was the Conan the Cimmerian stories, by which I mean the ones written by Robert E Howard himself.
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Permalink Reply by Michael D. Denny on
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Agreed. I tried to read LotR when I was in 7th grade, but at that time, I was about as useless a kid as there is in the world, and I never got passed the first chapter. When the Lord of the Rings' movie trailers hit the theaters announcing the coming movie, I decided I should try reading it again before the movie came out. I have since read the entire thing from cover to cover 5 times, and every other bit of fiction I have tried to read has come off as lackluster and sophomoric.
I personally feel that the greatest artistic achievement of the 20th century was The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit.
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Permalink Reply by LShieldes on
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I would probably pinpoint the begnning of my reading with Peirs Anthony's Xanth novels. Then reading woudl wain back and forth, eventually when my parents dropped me off at college my mom included a big sack of books including the dragon rider series, then off to tons of Fantasy, then slowly came thrillers/mystery and so forth
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Permalink Reply by Tom Phillips on
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I remember I received for a grift "The Mustang Man" by L'Amour. I was hooked for years on his books.
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Permalink Reply by Raj on -
I've been a huge reader for as long as I can remember. My parents said that as soon I started learning how to read, I literally wouldn't stop. My passion for reading continues to this day.
I remember reading a bunch of Arthur and Clifford books when I was a little kid. I guess it was the Harry Potter series that really got me moving up to "adult" books. Since then, I've been reading all kinds of books, from biographies to history books to thrillers to classic literature.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Kraykovic on -
Fascinating how so many people can come from so many walks of life and have similar tastes in literature. Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, and The Edgar Rice Borroughs books are amazing reads. The Zanth series and other Piers Anthony books I read through J.R. High. The Robert E. Howard Conan books with the Frank Frazetta covers left a very lasting impression on me.
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Permalink Reply by Harry P Flashman on -
I`ve read as long as I can remeber, if I should define some sort of defining moment, I actually must say that it was the "prince Valiant" comic book series that got me truly into reading, from before I actually could read, but after that I just havent stopped...
The first real books I can remeber is the Hardy boys and the five series, and if theres something I still beat me over the head with today, its the "no, they look dull" answer, when a librarian reccomended I should read the Narnia series around 5th grade, in my defence the covers on them actually was very dull looking and childish, for a mature, young male... :-D
And, I`m happy to see several fellow Holmesians on the forum, those are magnificent stories and a staple in my reading... :-)
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As far as Martin, great, unbelievable writer, but I could tell after the second book he was going to go the way of Robert Jordan(Wheel of time) and have decided to just wait until he is done. Stopped reading the wheel of time stuff until that is completely done, then I will reread them all.
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Permalink Reply by Harry P Flashman on
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Its available on preorder on amazone, release date in early April. My wife sent me a couple (and not consecutive, off course) to read and I`ve ordered the rest of them...
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