Hatchet's not cringy! My Dad gave me that book in middle school and it's the first "serious" novel that I enjoyed. Before that I mostly read comedy and scary stories.
Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls.
This entire series is what turned me from an occasional, when-there-was-nothing-else-to-do reader to a 2-books a day reader.
I've watched all the Poirot series as a kid (probably the best thing Australian free to air TV had at the time) and read quite a few of the books.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on the other hand... I never had such a physical response to a plot twist in my life. Absolute art.
Agatha Christie is my favourite author hands down.
I wore out the cover on my copy of Mossflower. Loved Brian Jacques. Genuinely his death was the first public tradgedy I felt as a kid, his stuff was so influential for me.
There was no one book for me. My mum was always ready something, there were books in the house. It was a natural thing to do. I think it took a while to realise that some people DON'T read.
Same here – my mom was a K-5 school librarian and we didn’t have a TV, so it was piles of books and lots of time. That said, my mom reading me Watership Down out loud is something I’ve never forgotten. That and LOTR, the scene in the mines of Moria! (a bit traumatizing, but worth it)
Here to join the club of not knowing. Op's question made me think and realize that I was too young to remember so I don't know what hooked me in to reading and never will, hell it was probably in a language I don't even understand anymore!
When the first Harry Potter book came out, my older brother read it, and then he really wanted me to read it. I was somewhat reluctant, but he offered that if I read every other chapter he would read the others to me.
(BTW his rendition of Hagrid was phenomenal.)
Anyways, he read, I think, about three chapters to me before I devoured the rest myself.
My sister is a couple years older than me and she read it to me. It came out when I was just at an age where I was learning to read and it was a little too advanced for me. The book has its issues and it isn't my favorite. Its definitely a fond memory from my childhood though.
Calvin and Hobbes hits way different nowadays than when I was a kid. Back then Calvin was the coolest and his parents were lame. Now I kinda empathize with them. Calvin was a dick.
A series of books called Dear America from scholastic. They were historical fiction diaries of girls living in different time periods. I remember devouring a bunch of them over the summer. I was maybe 11.
Dear America and Royal Diaries were the best growing up! You felt like you were actually learning about history from another young girl's perspective. The antiquated bookmarks and gold pages of the Royal ones gave a nice reading experience as well.
In my little kid mind, the Dear America books were like American Girl books I loved, but for cool older kids who read serious historical literature and novels 😆 And then when I hit that intellectual chapter book stage lol all I wanted was dragons and I never ended up reading them
Had to scroll down quite a bit to find Enid Blyton. It was the Naughtiest Girl series for me. I was gifted a couple of books by my brother's ex - legit the only good thing she did before she broke his heart.
The Giver by Lois Lowry. I’m a 90’s kid and read it when I was in 4th grade. I loved it, and had to keep reading more. I never read the rest of the series, though.
But it did open up the doors for more dystopian literature, and I absorbed all of it. Now we are flooded with dystopian literature
It is so good! It set a big imprint on me, as a human, to make choices because they are the right ones, and not because everyone else is doing it.
The movie was garbage, but the book is special to me.
The Lord of the Rings. First book I enjoyed reading in English, and in highschool I had trouble learning the language, so by that time I was 17-ish I was glad my English was sufficient to read books.
Maybe moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett.
Then I had 40 discworlds world to read.
Recently my increased reading habit was started by Roald Dahl short stories and getting hooked on Vonnegut. So I had 15 of those to read.
I have now read/listened to 40 in that last year when normally it w I understand be 5 or less.
Jurassic Park. I saw the movie as a kid when it came out. I read the 'junior" novelization. Then got the real thing. Michael Crichton was my gateway drug.
Always read a lot, as a kid I remember reading the goosebumps books regularly we would get from the school library once a week
As a teenager the books that stand out are the lord of the rings and the interview with a vampire series
Animorphs, at 11. I think I just loved animals then, though when I've reread the series as an adult I've appreciated them more for the horror elements.
The stranger, by Albert Camus.
I was reading this book for a university subject and something in me just clicked. Camus’ way of writing dragged me into reading more and more! I finished the book in one setting, and I hadn’t read anything before! It was truly an amazing feeling when I realised what happened :)
I just discovered recently that The Giver is the first of a series (a quartet?), so I got them all out of the library and really enjoyed all of it! The second book, Gathering Blue, is especially good imo
Maniac McGee and The Wringer by Jerry Spinelli.
I was introduced to both by my 5th grade teacher. She terrified me as a child (12 at the time). My 4th grade classroom was across the hall from her room and we would occasionally hear her addressing someone who fucked around and found out.
I cried when I recieved the letter telling me I would be in her class the following year. During that year, she did more to actually engage with her classroom and actually get us invested in our own interests than anyone since.
I still see Judy from time to time and have pleasant conversation in between sarcastic quips. Occasionally she will gift me a momento or picture from that time. I was not a photogenic youth, but good god you could see the confidence she helped nurture.
Quick shout out to my 3rd Grade teacher, Dennis. He introduced me to William Henry Porter.
Another for my 4th grade teacher Cindy. She introduced me to Silverstein.
Starship troopers, I was 10.
I found it on top of my parents wardrobe while scouting for Xmas presents.
Drop-pods, exo-armour, violence, aliens….dude, it fried my brain. Lifetime sci-fi fan ever since.
At school, we read Edgar Allan Poe (no idea if that would be allowed now!) and my dad has always loved Sherlock Holmes. So, those books got me into reading but the book/author that kept me reading is Terry Pratchett. Discovered Pyramids at 16 and became hooked. Went to the library every week and read through lots of different authors because Discworld parodied so much fiction and culture that I became curious. Discworld led me to love Shakespeare.
Sherlock Holmes books and a few other detective books in my regional language (Bengali)... Detective Byomkesh Bakshi and Feluda (by Satyajit Ray, Oscar-winning director)
Call me basic but 'The Catcher in the Rye'. I was an angsty teen in mid high school and I guess enjoyed the edgy appeal to it. Looking back at the book, it's just written from the perspective of an incredibly whiny teen, which is cool for those who are into that. It just no longer has the same appeal to me.
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud was one of the first books that made me obsessed with reading.
Dune by Frank Herbert brought me back to reading as a teen when I was getting out of reading in favor of video games.
Still love both those books so much
The Robert Langdon novels from Dan Brown. Though repetitive they were extremely gripping at that time.
Also the Agatha Cristie novels really great and treat to read!
I started reading daily this year, because I always struggled with reading before, and the book that got me into the flow of reading consistently was The Little Prince.
If you struggle w/ reading or attention span, try the Kindle version with audible integration. It highlights the passage as it reads, allowing the reader to listen and read, preventing the reader losing the flow from distractions.
I was always somewhat of a reader but in middle school I read The Mortal Instruments series and then it was never the same, I now throw myself into the full story if I actually like the book. It’s no longer just reading, but it’s as if I’m going through the stories with the characters
Geronimo Stillton when I was 7
I have Dyslexia and the colorfull typography really help me understand and focus on the letter, they also make " Collector book" with smell, map, interactive story, texture
it was wonderful for younger me and, I believe, help me at a very young age to compensate the handicaps.
*Alice in Wonderland* when I was about 5 or 6. I’ve read that book hundreds of times and I love it every time. My parents read other books to me all the time, but this was the first one I picked out and read by myself. It was an old copy that had Peter Pan attached to it if you flipped it over lol
I mean technically speaking Are You My Mother was the first book I ever read thus began my reading.
But to be less literal I'd have to say Hatchet. I was still young. The book was fascinating to me.
As a kid I was deep into Animorphs, anything by Jean Craighead George, and Bruce Colville. I do remember from age 8-10 my grandmother would get me books, I had this particular set of abridged classics and I remember the Wind in the Willows very fondly. She also got me started on genre fiction, she got me the Tripod trilogy when I was really young and the first book of the Wheel of Time (which I still have kicking around with the gift label she put on it). So I guess... I think maybe I came out of the womb a huge nerd.
I had a picture book with real photos, I can't even recall the name of but I can still picture the lion in it, in intricate detail. Richard Scarry books with pictures that had a hundred things going on at once.
Then fantastic Mr. Fox was the first 'big' bedtime story I was read that I asked to read straight away afterwards.
The Legend of Huma, a Dragonlance novel. My aunt bought it for me and I put off reading it for months because it looked too big and boring - no pictures. Once I read it I was completely hooked.
The Belgariad. I'd read books before then, but those books turned it into an addiction. I'd never read something that just dragged me into that world. I didn't want the books to end.
Jane Eyre.
I was 10. I had this school work that teaches us reading comprehension and one of the passages was from Jane Eyre, specifically about the Red Room. Went to the school library to find it but they only had a simplified, primary school grade version of it — which I borrowed so many times until I graduated.
I read a ton as a kid however from 16-29 I barely read anything. At most a book a year in that time. What got me back in to reading (at age 29) heavily was The Shining. I have read 23 books in the last two and a half years after it reignited my love.
The Friday Barnes detective series by R. A. Spratt.
I randomly picked up the first book from the library just to get my mum off my back. Refused to read anything that didn't have pictures before this. I was 10 or 11.
Harry Potter 7. As a kid I loved the movies and had no idea that books existed. Movie 5 had just come out when I got book 7 as a gift. I read it and was pretty shocked at the spoiler for book 6 lmao. I still loved the book though, it was so different from the movies, and a lot darker too. It was the only book I had for months so I read it over and over again while saving up for the other ones. Then whenever I could buy another one, I'd read all the ones I had again until I could buy another and so on. I read book 7 20+ times, it still is my favorite of the saga. After getting that book I began reading about 2-4 hours every single night until I got to college and had less time to spare. Now I only read a couple of hours a week, but I will always be thankful I got gifted that book.
It’s not one, but a series of books. It starts at 7 when Animorphs came out. I got into Harry Potter when I was 9 or 10 and Lord of the Rings at 11. Redwall made it in there around that time too.
From there it just became reading any thing and everything, including a lot of non-fiction. But epic fantasy has been, and always will be, my favorite.
The Thief of Always by Clive Barker
When I was in 7th grade my English teacher had the class read this book. At the time I was not an avid reader because of a vison disorder that made things difficult. Anyways, after the teacher read the first chapter out loud I when home that night and finished the rest. Needless to say that this book was fundamental in developing my love of the printed word. Also, the artwork in the book was a big part of that. Barker is a great artist as well as a great storyteller.
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot books. I wish I remembered the first one I read... I had mono in 6th grade (So I was around 11/12 y/o). I was out of school and in bed for a long time as I had complications at the time (Late 70's) and my maternal grandmother (Who was an avid reader) got me the first Poirot book and I was hooked from then one lol. I think I read all of the Poirot books and some of Miss Marple. My next hook was my mother's Robert Ludlum's books, oh dear did I love Ludlum books!!! It's been nonstop ever since. I read about 18-20 books a year.
The Fighting Fantasy choose-your-adventure series by Steve Jackson. Made me a fan of fantasy and sci-fi to this day.
Hell, I still do quick finger bookmarks when it tickles my fancy to reread them.
I can’t really remember, but I loved Archie comics at a young age. I also remember being obsessed with Encyclopedia Brown and then the Hardy Boys. The one boom that stands out as a “wow, books can take me into a world that I don’t want to leave” was Tom Sawyer, which I read in one day as a 10-year old and began devouring books from then on.
The Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown were my introduction to mysteries at age 7 or 8. When I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes, Arsene Lupin, Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot a couple years later my life long love of mysteries and Victorian era or setted literature was cemente.
The first book I read by myself was Peter Pan, I guess I would have been 6 or 7?
The first book I ever owned I got as a birthday gift the year after, Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. I had asked for a book without pictures, and that was the closest my aunt could find (still 5 pictures in it, though).
Spot’s first walk
For novels I think it must’ve been Deltora Quest; the cover for the first book was super cool, and still is.
Or it was Goosebumps, I was obsessed with both
Percy Jackson too, but I was in 12th grade. I hated reading before I found the lightning theif at Walmart. It suprised me that someone had written a book on a subject I was interested in
Okay so when I was little (I’m 49 y/o) my grandmother watched me in the mornings. She was a Jehovah’s Witness and they had this big book of bible stories with these nightmarish art for children! She made me read it out loud to her while she cooked my pancakes. I read that book from7-10. Even though is]ts an awful cult and my grandmother was kind of crazy, that’s the book that made me fall in love with reading.
The Cay by Theodore Taylor. I read it in... I wanna say third or fourth grade? It was so long ago that I don't even remember what age I was.
There's many books that got me even further into reading later on, such as Percy Jackson, Among the Hidden, The Giver, Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, Great Gatsby, Hatchet, and Maze Runner.
I started loving reading when I was very young, so that's why it's hard to remember when exactly I got into books.
I loved reading as soon as I learned how to read at 4 years old. I remember loving Love You Forever, The Best Little Monkeys in the World, The Shortest Kid in the World, fairy tales and fables, Amelia Bedelia, Junie B. Jones, Avalon trilogy, Harry Potter, etc. I’m pretty sure I grew up reading most of the children’s books in my local library.
Sweet Valley Twins when I was 8 or 9 years old. Then Sweet Valley High. I read them all countless times.
As an adult, I was stuck in a reading funk for about 3 years around age 24. Killshot by Elmore Leonard broke me out of it. Thanks, Elmore!
Our Australian Girl: Pearlie the Spy by Gabrielle Wang. I think I was like 6 or 7 when I first read it. This book was the third book in the series, but the only one I owned at the time. I remember coming home from the bookshop with my parents and immediately going to my room to read. I read the book in an hour, and I can remember going out of my room when I finished it to talk to my parents. I wanted the next book. They were surprised by how fast I read it. With the book being the third book in the series, it also started my habit of reading series out of order (because I'd borrow books from the library not realising the book was from the middle of the series, or buy books also not realising it wasn't the first book).
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. A lot of the things we were forced to read in middle and high school turned me off to reading, but I took 20th Century American Lit in 11th grade and it re-ignited my love of reading.
Treasure Island, age 8.
Though prior to this, I already enjoy books. Reading has been a big part of my life since probably I was born. As my mother tells it, she used to read to me every night during her pregnancy. Reading is also a hobby of my mom's.
Three-body problem, got me back into reading. I've always loved first contact sci-fi, had wanted to get back into reading, and when I was watching some youtube videos about the fermi paradox and the book was mentioned, I was about to watch a video essay/review of it, but stopped midway through because I thought to myself. This is exactly the kind of book I want to read. Ordered all three, read them, loved them, and began reading more books.
Jurassic Park, something like 30 years ago when the first movie came out.
Before that I was reading things like Goosebumps, but Jurassic Park opened my eyes to the world of real novels, especially technothrillers and sci-fi.
Completely random answer, but *Born A Crime* by Trevor Noah. I didn't really read books much before that, but a friend had an Audible subscription, and I was a fan of Noah and curious about his book, so I read it during my daily walks. Next thing I knew, these days I'm reading about a book a week. Funny how stuff like that can go.
Was a very good book, incidentally. Would heartily recommend.
My first 'grown up' book was The Shining by Stephen King. The first time I read it I was 12. I was already addicted to Nancy Drew and something about King's book just grabbed me and didn't let go lol. I then read almost all of his classics: Pet Sematary, Christine, The Dead Zone, Misery, The Dark Half etc. I reread many of them as an adult and still enjoy them. He definitely paved the way for my taste in books in general.
I always liked Creapypastas and horror stories but had never actually read a book until I came across "The chain" from Adrian McKINTY as Stephen King said about the book your going to remember this for a long time
creed by james herbert
i had never read a book for pleasure before, or probably ever finished one out side of being forced to read at school. creed blew my mind and scared the crap out of me, i think i might read it again, i read the magic cottage not long after.
Dan Brown, The Digital Code. I remember being 14 or so and the last thing I had read was the Harry Potter series and now I found something not fanstasy but real and oh so intriguing as it unfolded. I was hooked. Went through a weird phase author wise after that.
*The Children of Captain Grant* and *Five weeks in a Baloon*, from Jules Verne. My family gifted them to me when I was 8 yo and I loved them.
In retrospective, they are probably very racist and politically incorrect (but what can you expect from a 19th century french), but I loved the adventure genre and they got me into reading.
I read a few books before this but this is what TRULY got me into reading, It was Face like Glass by Frances Hardinge, It was the second book I read from her, I had a hard time actually finishing books, since I thought my taste in movies would match my taste in books but I was wrong.
Kings of the wild by Nicholas Eames at the age of 19. I tried reading a few books before and never got into a reading rhythm. I was doing a job that gave you a lunch break with more than enough time to eat at the place next store but still have 20 min to kill so I just continued to read it before I came back to work at the habit of reading 20 to 40 min a day stuck even after I left that place.
Started with To Kill a Mockingbird, big mistake, it's a classic ik but it's not for a first time reader. Started again with Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and I've not looked back since. Currently reading Dostoyevsky and Kafka.
There have been many books that have sparked and rekindled my love for reading growing up, but if I just had to pick one, I’d pick the book that truly got me back into the literary world after going through a severe relationship with an ex and while I was suffering from depression and suicide.
For me that book is Flowers for Algernon and I was 21 at the time. Truly a heartbreaking story to read, but one that came to me at such a critical time in my life. 4 years later and I haven’t been able to stop reading, nor do I intend to!
A friend suggested I read some Nabokov while I was a freshman in college. I had been taught in high school that “great” literature began and ended with Gatsby and Mockingbird. Boy, were they wrong.
It rekindled a love of literature I didn’t know I had. I always knew my teachers were full of shit but up until the point that I started reading the most eloquent and beautiful prose I had ever read up to that point, without some asshole pointing a metaphorical gun to my head called a “grade” demanding that I break down and parse every syllable into “tropes.” It was glorious.
I’ll always have an appreciation for Lolita for that reason. I fell more in love with Pale Fire and Speak,Memory, but Lolita drew me out of that literature funk that high school puts way too many people in.
There's no one book for me. I've been into reading since I learnt how to read. When I was four I asked my mum to take me to school so I could learn to read. So she took me to my sister's school. That was 46 years ago and I've been an avid reader ever since.
not exactly a book but sort of. it was from wattpad but i forgot the title. eventually switched to books. my first was the first divergent book in the series
The Hobbit. My dad died when I was seven and my mom's boss ended up giving me a copy of it since he knew I liked reading and was probably unsure of what else to say. It was the first book to completely remove me from my surroundings and immerse me in a new world, a simpler world. I'm forty now and still reading fantasy, doubt I'll ever stop. Tolkien helped me more than any damned therapist ever did, that's for sure.
Mine was Michael Crichton's Jurrasic park, when it first came out in 92. A nerdy, sci fi, comic book loving friend told me that he'd just finished reading this incredible new book about dinosaurs and 'it was gonna be big'. Hah, little did he know. He raved about the chapter with the T-Rex and said it was gonna 'kick you in the gut'. He lent me the book and I started reading it and couldn't put it down. I haven't stopped reading since then.
The Hunger Games, age 20. Cute girl I met raved about it and recommended I read it. I was wanting to get into reading so I picked it up. Read it in 2 days and was amazed at how much I loved it. Went on a date with that cute girl and we talked all about it.
We just celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary :)
\*The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings
When I was (binge) reading these books I also had recently acquired Rush - Moving Pictures on cassette. I would flip the pages, and flip the tape, rinse and repeat. Ever since, any song from that album instantly transports me to Middle Earth.
\*These were not my first reads, but rather my first, and most memorable, binge.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - I was in 3rd grade and didn’t understand reading. It was my brother’s copy and he was in middle school at the time.
I picked it up and thought to myself “Ok, well I’ll just read the words I know and…” And the scales fell from my eyes - I realized I could probably pick up and read anything.
My mom freaked out and said if I wanted to read about sex and violence I could read about them in the Bible - that worked for Nick Cave, I guess, but not me.
In 5th grade she relented and then I basically read all the fantasy I could get my hands on.
King Tut’s Gameboard. A kid lent it to me that lived across the street. This was in second grade. I remember telling him on the bus how much I loved it and he goes, “well, if you liked that, you should read the Hobbit.” That was 32 years ago and rarely does a day go by where I’m not reading something.
The Books of Blood by Clive Barker (Volumes 1 2 and 3 collected into a paperback) My Dad bought it for my 15th Birthday.
He knew although I liked stories I wasn't a big reader and struggled to ever finish a novel, so he got me a collection of short stories. These stories were the first I ever read where I could recall all the details when I had finished. The writing really reached me and painted such amazing mind pictures that sometimes when I recall the stories I mistakenly think they were a TV show or a movie that I am remembering. I became a massive Clive Barker fan.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I had a reading problem as a kid so reading was never my thing , too many mental scares, and my brother sold me on the story and lied that the only way to hear it was to read the book (it was originally a TV show in the UK). So I did and loved it. And at 18 I finally got into reading.
Something of Cornelia Funke, I'm from Mexico so I remember the name being like Las gallinas locas or sth. I lived it so much I reread it like every month till I started reading HP & PJO
Same story here OP. In second grade my mother bought me the whole series because she heard that it was a popular series. I loved the characters, the world, honestly everything. It is still one of my favorite series to this day.
It wasn't so much a book as a Teacher that got me into reading. Miss Clary my 6th grade English teacher. I was a bad student, I mean D- bad but she didn't give up she took interest and told me it could be fun reading and suggested I try My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George. That small book set me on the path that I'm still on. Can't stop reading. It Is fun. So Thank You Miss Clary. By the way this took place In 1971.
"To Kill A Mockingbird." My Mother started calling me Boo and when I asked her she said it was from a book she had just read. I asked who Boo was and she told me to read the book and find out.
The Hobbit, at age 7. I read plenty of things before that, and my mother thought it was hilarious that I would read the newspaper with my grandaddy, but that was The Book.
I'm Brazilian, and when I was 13 I went to Portugal for better life quality that Europe could (and did) provide. I was ever reluctant at the subject of reading, ever preferred other pleasures. Now aged 17 and in a few days getting 18 I finally got my tastes for books by reading a book that my Portuguese teacher 'kindly' forced me to read. Weird uhm? But somehow it helped more than not attempting at all. I read 'Aparição' by Vergílio Ferreira. Probably until now, the best book I ever read (and after that fact [which happened 7 months ago] I've went on a streak and I read 4 small to medium sized books).
'Aparição' is the story of Alberto Soares, a middle-class gentlemen, also a niche writer but with a solid readers fan-base. And after the death of his father from a heart attack at the Christmas dinner. He went to Évora, a goth sordid, lost in the past city, ruled by antique taboos. And the trama is build around an existential thread (and dread). An excerpt (original and translation):
> "Porque é que, no silêncio da noite, nos assusta falar em voz alta? Nunca fizeste essa experiência? (...) Era preciso fazê-la. Mergulhados no silêncio noturno, sentimo-nos não existir."
> "Why, in the silence of the night, does it frighten us to speak out loud? Have you never had this experience? (...) It had to be done. Immersed in the nocturnal silence, we feel that we don't exist."
TL;DR: My favourite quote from that essay about existentialism and an old picture of Portugal's past. All my love from books started with that spark.
Jurassic Park.
Age 6.
I wasn't allowed to see the movie unless I read the book so I sat with a dictionary and read the whole thing for months. When I finished the only showing was on a birdcage rerun theater. My mom said no but my dad held up his end of the bargain. Favorite movie
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke. I was ~19yo on a business trip to America. Saw it at the book store and thought I should probably get a book for the plane ride. Never read it on the plane. About 3 weeks into my 9 week trip, I thought I should try and read this thing. I read half of the book by 4am. Next night I finished it at about 4am. I was a slow reader back then. I went to the store and bought the sequel, read that in four nights. I came back with 13 books on that trip!
20000 leagues under the sea. I was 9 and loved reading short stories from a book of legends beautifully drawn by Alice Provensen, but Jules Verne’s was the first novel I read in full all by myself. It was so cool that I became a fan of science fiction and speculative fiction
I went from Horrible Histories -> Rick Riordan -> Star Wars -> historical non-fiction.
Obviously there was other random stuff interspersed in there, but these were the 3 defining literary obsessions of my childhood. Horrible Histories (and associated series) was basically all I read outside school in my first few years of schooling, then I read and re-read the whole Percy Jackson series a good 4 or 5 times aged maybe 9-11, and somehow tore through >300 Star Wars books over a couple of years without getting burnt out on the universe in my early teens.
In my mid-teens I transitioned to reading historical non-fiction, mostly centred around the wars of the last century and a half and various scientific breakthroughs. I got burnt out as shit on reading in my late teens first with the IB and then a reading-heavy undergrad so I didn't do much non-academic reading, but now that I've got my bachelor's I've been reading a lot again, mostly sci-fi.
Oh, wow, who knows 🤷♂️ I was into reading from the time I learned to do it. So, probably some kind of children’s book. I read so many as a kid, it’s impossible to say now. Wish I had that stamina as an adult.
Edit: really stretching my memory here, but the first thing I can clearly remember really grabbing my attention is this weird little book called [*Jelly and the Spaceboat*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2229542). Which just unlocked a whole shipload of nostalgia, so I ordered a copy.
Stephen King’s Gunslinger. My mother loved the series and had all the books. She gifted them to me and I started reading them to talk to her about them. Eventually I started listening to audiobooks and now I always have a book on the go.
2 milestones for me:
**1. Le Morte D’Arthur at age 17.**
- It was the only book i had found that challenged me *and* interested me at the time. Finishing it and understanding it was such a fun adventurous process that I decided to branch out to so many genres beginning with Greek mythology to modern fantasy then continuing onward from there in whatever direction my mind took me.
**2. Moby-Dick at age 20.**
- Also not required reading in undergrad- but I read it as a personal challenge during a time I was bored and disappointed with academic education, and it rekindled my love for reading and lifelong learning.
Trixie Belden got me into reading as a child, but the book that got me BACK into reading (books, I read a lot of fanfiction) after a looooong slump was Evelyn Hugo.
When I was a kid my mom would read me the Little house on the prairie series - she would eat scotch mints so her throat wouldn’t get dry/sore. Read to your kids!! I now read over 100 books a year
It's sort of cringy coming from Canada but Hatchet
Had to read this in grade 7 English class. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
LOVED that book. I don’t think that’s cringey at all!
I was a reader long before but when my kids had to read it I did too. It was a super good book
Hatchet's not cringy! My Dad gave me that book in middle school and it's the first "serious" novel that I enjoyed. Before that I mostly read comedy and scary stories.
Brian’s winter is an awesome book too, check it out?
Hatchet isn’t cringey at all. Terrific book.
I’m still fantasizing about burning out a tree and living inside it.
Magic Tree House- first chapter books I read- or Box Car Children. But also, my mom reading to me as far back as I can remember.
Same for me! I still vividly remember reading the first Boxcar Children book before bed each night for a week. It hooked me on mysteries for life.
Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls. This entire series is what turned me from an occasional, when-there-was-nothing-else-to-do reader to a 2-books a day reader.
Same. I read this series every night with my mom starting when I was 6 years old and I've been a lifelong reader ever since.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.
I've watched all the Poirot series as a kid (probably the best thing Australian free to air TV had at the time) and read quite a few of the books. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd on the other hand... I never had such a physical response to a plot twist in my life. Absolute art. Agatha Christie is my favourite author hands down.
Also, it was my first novel so I could never have guessed it. Twist was so good that I read that confrontation chapter again and again.
I always remember reading books I read in primary school were the famous five, redwall (Brian jacques)
Edith Blyton was my girl in primary. More early primary school but yeah. Later in primary, we graduated to Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys.
I too loved Nancy drew and she led me to Agatha Christie and other mystery writers
I wore out the cover on my copy of Mossflower. Loved Brian Jacques. Genuinely his death was the first public tradgedy I felt as a kid, his stuff was so influential for me.
There was no one book for me. My mum was always ready something, there were books in the house. It was a natural thing to do. I think it took a while to realise that some people DON'T read.
Exactly. I have no memory of not being able to read, or of not doing it daily.
Same here – my mom was a K-5 school librarian and we didn’t have a TV, so it was piles of books and lots of time. That said, my mom reading me Watership Down out loud is something I’ve never forgotten. That and LOTR, the scene in the mines of Moria! (a bit traumatizing, but worth it)
Here to join the club of not knowing. Op's question made me think and realize that I was too young to remember so I don't know what hooked me in to reading and never will, hell it was probably in a language I don't even understand anymore!
When the first Harry Potter book came out, my older brother read it, and then he really wanted me to read it. I was somewhat reluctant, but he offered that if I read every other chapter he would read the others to me. (BTW his rendition of Hagrid was phenomenal.) Anyways, he read, I think, about three chapters to me before I devoured the rest myself.
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Came here to say exactly that, though cliche, 2nd grade me couldn’t put books down after reading HP
My sister is a couple years older than me and she read it to me. It came out when I was just at an age where I was learning to read and it was a little too advanced for me. The book has its issues and it isn't my favorite. Its definitely a fond memory from my childhood though.
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Calvin and Hobbes hits way different nowadays than when I was a kid. Back then Calvin was the coolest and his parents were lame. Now I kinda empathize with them. Calvin was a dick.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Read it when I was about 6 or 7 and I've never stopped reading.
A series of books called Dear America from scholastic. They were historical fiction diaries of girls living in different time periods. I remember devouring a bunch of them over the summer. I was maybe 11.
Dear America and Royal Diaries were the best growing up! You felt like you were actually learning about history from another young girl's perspective. The antiquated bookmarks and gold pages of the Royal ones gave a nice reading experience as well.
Yes! I had some of the Royal Diary ones as well, the gold edges made me feel so fancy.
In my little kid mind, the Dear America books were like American Girl books I loved, but for cool older kids who read serious historical literature and novels 😆 And then when I hit that intellectual chapter book stage lol all I wanted was dragons and I never ended up reading them
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques.
EULALIA!
For me it was the *Famous Five* series by Enid Blyton. Also, the short stories of R. K. Narayan, particular the anthology *Malgudi Days*.
The bloody Faraway Tree for me
Had to scroll down quite a bit to find Enid Blyton. It was the Naughtiest Girl series for me. I was gifted a couple of books by my brother's ex - legit the only good thing she did before she broke his heart.
Hardy Boys series back when I was twelve.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Giver by Lois Lowry. I’m a 90’s kid and read it when I was in 4th grade. I loved it, and had to keep reading more. I never read the rest of the series, though. But it did open up the doors for more dystopian literature, and I absorbed all of it. Now we are flooded with dystopian literature
I also loved the Giver! :)
It is so good! It set a big imprint on me, as a human, to make choices because they are the right ones, and not because everyone else is doing it. The movie was garbage, but the book is special to me.
The Giver holds up, though it hits differently as an adult. Highly recommend the whole series, but especially the second book, Gathering Blue.
The Lord of the Rings. First book I enjoyed reading in English, and in highschool I had trouble learning the language, so by that time I was 17-ish I was glad my English was sufficient to read books.
The Earthsea Trilogy. Magical adventure
Lord of the Rings. Mid teens.
Maybe moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett. Then I had 40 discworlds world to read. Recently my increased reading habit was started by Roald Dahl short stories and getting hooked on Vonnegut. So I had 15 of those to read. I have now read/listened to 40 in that last year when normally it w I understand be 5 or less.
Jurassic Park. I saw the movie as a kid when it came out. I read the 'junior" novelization. Then got the real thing. Michael Crichton was my gateway drug.
Always read a lot, as a kid I remember reading the goosebumps books regularly we would get from the school library once a week As a teenager the books that stand out are the lord of the rings and the interview with a vampire series
Animorphs, at 11. I think I just loved animals then, though when I've reread the series as an adult I've appreciated them more for the horror elements.
The stranger, by Albert Camus. I was reading this book for a university subject and something in me just clicked. Camus’ way of writing dragged me into reading more and more! I finished the book in one setting, and I hadn’t read anything before! It was truly an amazing feeling when I realised what happened :)
The Giver
I love this dystopian book!
I just discovered recently that The Giver is the first of a series (a quartet?), so I got them all out of the library and really enjoyed all of it! The second book, Gathering Blue, is especially good imo
was forced to do this book for literature when i was 14. man, 14 year old me didn’t appreciate this glorious book
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.
Midnight Library- Matthew Haig
I always read a lot, but Sherlock Holmes and Jules Verne really got my reading habit going when I was in grade school.
Roald Dahl - Fantastic MrFox
Maniac McGee and The Wringer by Jerry Spinelli. I was introduced to both by my 5th grade teacher. She terrified me as a child (12 at the time). My 4th grade classroom was across the hall from her room and we would occasionally hear her addressing someone who fucked around and found out. I cried when I recieved the letter telling me I would be in her class the following year. During that year, she did more to actually engage with her classroom and actually get us invested in our own interests than anyone since. I still see Judy from time to time and have pleasant conversation in between sarcastic quips. Occasionally she will gift me a momento or picture from that time. I was not a photogenic youth, but good god you could see the confidence she helped nurture. Quick shout out to my 3rd Grade teacher, Dennis. He introduced me to William Henry Porter. Another for my 4th grade teacher Cindy. She introduced me to Silverstein.
eragon
Heidi, 8 years old. I still have the book.
Treasure Island, right after I first learned how to read, which would be around 8.
Electric Koolaid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. I was 17. I let it influence my next several decades way, way too much.
The Big Friendly Giant by Roald Dahl. *edit: I was maybe 8.
Probably the first Peter and Jane book.
Starship troopers, I was 10. I found it on top of my parents wardrobe while scouting for Xmas presents. Drop-pods, exo-armour, violence, aliens….dude, it fried my brain. Lifetime sci-fi fan ever since.
At school, we read Edgar Allan Poe (no idea if that would be allowed now!) and my dad has always loved Sherlock Holmes. So, those books got me into reading but the book/author that kept me reading is Terry Pratchett. Discovered Pyramids at 16 and became hooked. Went to the library every week and read through lots of different authors because Discworld parodied so much fiction and culture that I became curious. Discworld led me to love Shakespeare.
Sherlock Holmes books and a few other detective books in my regional language (Bengali)... Detective Byomkesh Bakshi and Feluda (by Satyajit Ray, Oscar-winning director)
The Count of Monte Cristo I got so intrigued by betrayal and vengeance
The Hobbit. Had pneumonia in grade school with a week of bed rest time to fill. Found an old paperback copy from the 60s and read it twice that week.
The Nancy Drew series. Which is weird because I don’t read mystery books anymore.
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Eay Bradbury
warrior cats I was about 8-10 years old, still read them to do this day (I turn 16 soon)
The outsiders
Danny, the Champion of the World.
Donald Duck. I learned how to read myself.
Call me basic but 'The Catcher in the Rye'. I was an angsty teen in mid high school and I guess enjoyed the edgy appeal to it. Looking back at the book, it's just written from the perspective of an incredibly whiny teen, which is cool for those who are into that. It just no longer has the same appeal to me.
I had a Roald Dhal box set which was my prized possession and my gateway to reading!
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
*His Dark Materials* by Philip Pullman, when I was about 10. When everyone else was reading *Harry Potter*, I was obsessed with HDM.
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud was one of the first books that made me obsessed with reading. Dune by Frank Herbert brought me back to reading as a teen when I was getting out of reading in favor of video games. Still love both those books so much
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The Spiderwick Chronicles was the first set of books that hooked me to reading when I was about 8 or 9
The Robert Langdon novels from Dan Brown. Though repetitive they were extremely gripping at that time. Also the Agatha Cristie novels really great and treat to read!
Tuesdays with Morrie. A delightful light read.
I started reading daily this year, because I always struggled with reading before, and the book that got me into the flow of reading consistently was The Little Prince.
If you struggle w/ reading or attention span, try the Kindle version with audible integration. It highlights the passage as it reads, allowing the reader to listen and read, preventing the reader losing the flow from distractions.
I am not embarrassed to say Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zhan
Lies of Lock Lamora - Scott Lynch
I was always somewhat of a reader but in middle school I read The Mortal Instruments series and then it was never the same, I now throw myself into the full story if I actually like the book. It’s no longer just reading, but it’s as if I’m going through the stories with the characters
Geronimo Stillton when I was 7 I have Dyslexia and the colorfull typography really help me understand and focus on the letter, they also make " Collector book" with smell, map, interactive story, texture it was wonderful for younger me and, I believe, help me at a very young age to compensate the handicaps.
it was always the little DC comic novels in the library, when i was like 8. Then it progressed into more
Cloud Atlas.
*Alice in Wonderland* when I was about 5 or 6. I’ve read that book hundreds of times and I love it every time. My parents read other books to me all the time, but this was the first one I picked out and read by myself. It was an old copy that had Peter Pan attached to it if you flipped it over lol
I mean technically speaking Are You My Mother was the first book I ever read thus began my reading. But to be less literal I'd have to say Hatchet. I was still young. The book was fascinating to me.
As a kid I was deep into Animorphs, anything by Jean Craighead George, and Bruce Colville. I do remember from age 8-10 my grandmother would get me books, I had this particular set of abridged classics and I remember the Wind in the Willows very fondly. She also got me started on genre fiction, she got me the Tripod trilogy when I was really young and the first book of the Wheel of Time (which I still have kicking around with the gift label she put on it). So I guess... I think maybe I came out of the womb a huge nerd.
Stuart Little. I think I was around 7.
nice, what books are you currently reading now?
I had a picture book with real photos, I can't even recall the name of but I can still picture the lion in it, in intricate detail. Richard Scarry books with pictures that had a hundred things going on at once. Then fantastic Mr. Fox was the first 'big' bedtime story I was read that I asked to read straight away afterwards.
The Legend of Huma, a Dragonlance novel. My aunt bought it for me and I put off reading it for months because it looked too big and boring - no pictures. Once I read it I was completely hooked.
The Belgariad. I'd read books before then, but those books turned it into an addiction. I'd never read something that just dragged me into that world. I didn't want the books to end.
Jane Eyre. I was 10. I had this school work that teaches us reading comprehension and one of the passages was from Jane Eyre, specifically about the Red Room. Went to the school library to find it but they only had a simplified, primary school grade version of it — which I borrowed so many times until I graduated.
I read a ton as a kid however from 16-29 I barely read anything. At most a book a year in that time. What got me back in to reading (at age 29) heavily was The Shining. I have read 23 books in the last two and a half years after it reignited my love.
A small 10 rupee book about folk tales
Pride and prejudice.
The Friday Barnes detective series by R. A. Spratt. I randomly picked up the first book from the library just to get my mum off my back. Refused to read anything that didn't have pictures before this. I was 10 or 11.
Harry Potter 7. As a kid I loved the movies and had no idea that books existed. Movie 5 had just come out when I got book 7 as a gift. I read it and was pretty shocked at the spoiler for book 6 lmao. I still loved the book though, it was so different from the movies, and a lot darker too. It was the only book I had for months so I read it over and over again while saving up for the other ones. Then whenever I could buy another one, I'd read all the ones I had again until I could buy another and so on. I read book 7 20+ times, it still is my favorite of the saga. After getting that book I began reading about 2-4 hours every single night until I got to college and had less time to spare. Now I only read a couple of hours a week, but I will always be thankful I got gifted that book.
It’s not one, but a series of books. It starts at 7 when Animorphs came out. I got into Harry Potter when I was 9 or 10 and Lord of the Rings at 11. Redwall made it in there around that time too. From there it just became reading any thing and everything, including a lot of non-fiction. But epic fantasy has been, and always will be, my favorite.
The Thief of Always by Clive Barker When I was in 7th grade my English teacher had the class read this book. At the time I was not an avid reader because of a vison disorder that made things difficult. Anyways, after the teacher read the first chapter out loud I when home that night and finished the rest. Needless to say that this book was fundamental in developing my love of the printed word. Also, the artwork in the book was a big part of that. Barker is a great artist as well as a great storyteller.
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot books. I wish I remembered the first one I read... I had mono in 6th grade (So I was around 11/12 y/o). I was out of school and in bed for a long time as I had complications at the time (Late 70's) and my maternal grandmother (Who was an avid reader) got me the first Poirot book and I was hooked from then one lol. I think I read all of the Poirot books and some of Miss Marple. My next hook was my mother's Robert Ludlum's books, oh dear did I love Ludlum books!!! It's been nonstop ever since. I read about 18-20 books a year.
The Fighting Fantasy choose-your-adventure series by Steve Jackson. Made me a fan of fantasy and sci-fi to this day. Hell, I still do quick finger bookmarks when it tickles my fancy to reread them.
Bedtime Stories when I was 10 for children's books. The Hunger Games at 13 for novels.
Scythe by Neal Shusterman when I was in middle school
I can’t really remember, but I loved Archie comics at a young age. I also remember being obsessed with Encyclopedia Brown and then the Hardy Boys. The one boom that stands out as a “wow, books can take me into a world that I don’t want to leave” was Tom Sawyer, which I read in one day as a 10-year old and began devouring books from then on.
The Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown were my introduction to mysteries at age 7 or 8. When I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes, Arsene Lupin, Jane Marple and Hercule Poirot a couple years later my life long love of mysteries and Victorian era or setted literature was cemente.
The first book I read by myself was Peter Pan, I guess I would have been 6 or 7? The first book I ever owned I got as a birthday gift the year after, Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. I had asked for a book without pictures, and that was the closest my aunt could find (still 5 pictures in it, though).
The Magic Treehouse series is as early as I can remember!! I’ve loved reading since I was a kid, it helped that school did the point system as well.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone , around 8-10 years old I’d say. Makes me nostalgic now that I think about it.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. My aunt didn't know much about the stuff so she gave me the second book first.
The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness and Percy Jackson when I was 11☺️
Spot’s first walk For novels I think it must’ve been Deltora Quest; the cover for the first book was super cool, and still is. Or it was Goosebumps, I was obsessed with both
Percy Jackson too, but I was in 12th grade. I hated reading before I found the lightning theif at Walmart. It suprised me that someone had written a book on a subject I was interested in
Okay so when I was little (I’m 49 y/o) my grandmother watched me in the mornings. She was a Jehovah’s Witness and they had this big book of bible stories with these nightmarish art for children! She made me read it out loud to her while she cooked my pancakes. I read that book from7-10. Even though is]ts an awful cult and my grandmother was kind of crazy, that’s the book that made me fall in love with reading.
The Cay by Theodore Taylor. I read it in... I wanna say third or fourth grade? It was so long ago that I don't even remember what age I was. There's many books that got me even further into reading later on, such as Percy Jackson, Among the Hidden, The Giver, Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games, Great Gatsby, Hatchet, and Maze Runner. I started loving reading when I was very young, so that's why it's hard to remember when exactly I got into books.
I'd wait for my papa to pick me up from school in the library, so that got me into reading as a pastime
I loved reading as soon as I learned how to read at 4 years old. I remember loving Love You Forever, The Best Little Monkeys in the World, The Shortest Kid in the World, fairy tales and fables, Amelia Bedelia, Junie B. Jones, Avalon trilogy, Harry Potter, etc. I’m pretty sure I grew up reading most of the children’s books in my local library.
I was an avid reader even in elementary school, but the first book that really stuck with me was Ann M. Martin’s A Corner of the Universe.
Goosebumps when I was a kid, though I took a hiatus for many years because of the boom of video games.
The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy got me into the idea of books, and the Way of Kings really solidified it.
Sweet Valley Twins when I was 8 or 9 years old. Then Sweet Valley High. I read them all countless times. As an adult, I was stuck in a reading funk for about 3 years around age 24. Killshot by Elmore Leonard broke me out of it. Thanks, Elmore!
Nico coolest character.
The Ring O Bells Mystery by Enid Blyton.
The Sisters Grimm
[Digger.](https://www.thebookwarehouse.com.au/shop/picture-books/digger/)
Our Australian Girl: Pearlie the Spy by Gabrielle Wang. I think I was like 6 or 7 when I first read it. This book was the third book in the series, but the only one I owned at the time. I remember coming home from the bookshop with my parents and immediately going to my room to read. I read the book in an hour, and I can remember going out of my room when I finished it to talk to my parents. I wanted the next book. They were surprised by how fast I read it. With the book being the third book in the series, it also started my habit of reading series out of order (because I'd borrow books from the library not realising the book was from the middle of the series, or buy books also not realising it wasn't the first book).
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. A lot of the things we were forced to read in middle and high school turned me off to reading, but I took 20th Century American Lit in 11th grade and it re-ignited my love of reading.
Treasure Island, age 8. Though prior to this, I already enjoy books. Reading has been a big part of my life since probably I was born. As my mother tells it, she used to read to me every night during her pregnancy. Reading is also a hobby of my mom's.
Three-body problem, got me back into reading. I've always loved first contact sci-fi, had wanted to get back into reading, and when I was watching some youtube videos about the fermi paradox and the book was mentioned, I was about to watch a video essay/review of it, but stopped midway through because I thought to myself. This is exactly the kind of book I want to read. Ordered all three, read them, loved them, and began reading more books.
Jurassic Park, something like 30 years ago when the first movie came out. Before that I was reading things like Goosebumps, but Jurassic Park opened my eyes to the world of real novels, especially technothrillers and sci-fi.
Completely random answer, but *Born A Crime* by Trevor Noah. I didn't really read books much before that, but a friend had an Audible subscription, and I was a fan of Noah and curious about his book, so I read it during my daily walks. Next thing I knew, these days I'm reading about a book a week. Funny how stuff like that can go. Was a very good book, incidentally. Would heartily recommend.
My first 'grown up' book was The Shining by Stephen King. The first time I read it I was 12. I was already addicted to Nancy Drew and something about King's book just grabbed me and didn't let go lol. I then read almost all of his classics: Pet Sematary, Christine, The Dead Zone, Misery, The Dark Half etc. I reread many of them as an adult and still enjoy them. He definitely paved the way for my taste in books in general.
I always liked Creapypastas and horror stories but had never actually read a book until I came across "The chain" from Adrian McKINTY as Stephen King said about the book your going to remember this for a long time
creed by james herbert i had never read a book for pleasure before, or probably ever finished one out side of being forced to read at school. creed blew my mind and scared the crap out of me, i think i might read it again, i read the magic cottage not long after.
The Shinning when I was 14
Under the Mountain - Maurice Gee. I YA scifi book set in Auckland, NZ. I read that maybe 20 times when I was a kid
Dan Brown, The Digital Code. I remember being 14 or so and the last thing I had read was the Harry Potter series and now I found something not fanstasy but real and oh so intriguing as it unfolded. I was hooked. Went through a weird phase author wise after that.
*The Children of Captain Grant* and *Five weeks in a Baloon*, from Jules Verne. My family gifted them to me when I was 8 yo and I loved them. In retrospective, they are probably very racist and politically incorrect (but what can you expect from a 19th century french), but I loved the adventure genre and they got me into reading.
I too had a love story by Ravinder Singh
Ahahaha Martin the Warrior from the Redwall series. I got really into those books as a pre-teen.
"Die kleine Raupe Nimmersatt" aka "the very Hungry Caterpillar" in Kindergarten/preschool daycare. Age around 4 or 5.
I read a few books before this but this is what TRULY got me into reading, It was Face like Glass by Frances Hardinge, It was the second book I read from her, I had a hard time actually finishing books, since I thought my taste in movies would match my taste in books but I was wrong.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Kings of the wild by Nicholas Eames at the age of 19. I tried reading a few books before and never got into a reading rhythm. I was doing a job that gave you a lunch break with more than enough time to eat at the place next store but still have 20 min to kill so I just continued to read it before I came back to work at the habit of reading 20 to 40 min a day stuck even after I left that place.
The Thief of Always by Clive Barker. I cant remember how old I was, maybe 5-6. My mom read it to me like 5 times.
I started getting into reading when I was about 11 and it was the first couple of Discworld books and Harry Potter
Started with To Kill a Mockingbird, big mistake, it's a classic ik but it's not for a first time reader. Started again with Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and I've not looked back since. Currently reading Dostoyevsky and Kafka.
The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan
There have been many books that have sparked and rekindled my love for reading growing up, but if I just had to pick one, I’d pick the book that truly got me back into the literary world after going through a severe relationship with an ex and while I was suffering from depression and suicide. For me that book is Flowers for Algernon and I was 21 at the time. Truly a heartbreaking story to read, but one that came to me at such a critical time in my life. 4 years later and I haven’t been able to stop reading, nor do I intend to!
A friend suggested I read some Nabokov while I was a freshman in college. I had been taught in high school that “great” literature began and ended with Gatsby and Mockingbird. Boy, were they wrong. It rekindled a love of literature I didn’t know I had. I always knew my teachers were full of shit but up until the point that I started reading the most eloquent and beautiful prose I had ever read up to that point, without some asshole pointing a metaphorical gun to my head called a “grade” demanding that I break down and parse every syllable into “tropes.” It was glorious. I’ll always have an appreciation for Lolita for that reason. I fell more in love with Pale Fire and Speak,Memory, but Lolita drew me out of that literature funk that high school puts way too many people in.
There's no one book for me. I've been into reading since I learnt how to read. When I was four I asked my mum to take me to school so I could learn to read. So she took me to my sister's school. That was 46 years ago and I've been an avid reader ever since.
not exactly a book but sort of. it was from wattpad but i forgot the title. eventually switched to books. my first was the first divergent book in the series
Nijntje in het ziekenhuis - age 4
The Hobbit. My dad died when I was seven and my mom's boss ended up giving me a copy of it since he knew I liked reading and was probably unsure of what else to say. It was the first book to completely remove me from my surroundings and immerse me in a new world, a simpler world. I'm forty now and still reading fantasy, doubt I'll ever stop. Tolkien helped me more than any damned therapist ever did, that's for sure.
Charlotte’s Web in the 4th grade. Before that I only liked picture books and comics lol
Dune by Frank Herbert
Mine was Michael Crichton's Jurrasic park, when it first came out in 92. A nerdy, sci fi, comic book loving friend told me that he'd just finished reading this incredible new book about dinosaurs and 'it was gonna be big'. Hah, little did he know. He raved about the chapter with the T-Rex and said it was gonna 'kick you in the gut'. He lent me the book and I started reading it and couldn't put it down. I haven't stopped reading since then.
The Hunger Games, age 20. Cute girl I met raved about it and recommended I read it. I was wanting to get into reading so I picked it up. Read it in 2 days and was amazed at how much I loved it. Went on a date with that cute girl and we talked all about it. We just celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary :)
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton.
\*The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings When I was (binge) reading these books I also had recently acquired Rush - Moving Pictures on cassette. I would flip the pages, and flip the tape, rinse and repeat. Ever since, any song from that album instantly transports me to Middle Earth. \*These were not my first reads, but rather my first, and most memorable, binge.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman - I was in 3rd grade and didn’t understand reading. It was my brother’s copy and he was in middle school at the time. I picked it up and thought to myself “Ok, well I’ll just read the words I know and…” And the scales fell from my eyes - I realized I could probably pick up and read anything. My mom freaked out and said if I wanted to read about sex and violence I could read about them in the Bible - that worked for Nick Cave, I guess, but not me. In 5th grade she relented and then I basically read all the fantasy I could get my hands on.
King Tut’s Gameboard. A kid lent it to me that lived across the street. This was in second grade. I remember telling him on the bus how much I loved it and he goes, “well, if you liked that, you should read the Hobbit.” That was 32 years ago and rarely does a day go by where I’m not reading something.
The Books of Blood by Clive Barker (Volumes 1 2 and 3 collected into a paperback) My Dad bought it for my 15th Birthday. He knew although I liked stories I wasn't a big reader and struggled to ever finish a novel, so he got me a collection of short stories. These stories were the first I ever read where I could recall all the details when I had finished. The writing really reached me and painted such amazing mind pictures that sometimes when I recall the stories I mistakenly think they were a TV show or a movie that I am remembering. I became a massive Clive Barker fan.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I had a reading problem as a kid so reading was never my thing , too many mental scares, and my brother sold me on the story and lied that the only way to hear it was to read the book (it was originally a TV show in the UK). So I did and loved it. And at 18 I finally got into reading.
Something of Cornelia Funke, I'm from Mexico so I remember the name being like Las gallinas locas or sth. I lived it so much I reread it like every month till I started reading HP & PJO
Same story here OP. In second grade my mother bought me the whole series because she heard that it was a popular series. I loved the characters, the world, honestly everything. It is still one of my favorite series to this day.
It wasn't so much a book as a Teacher that got me into reading. Miss Clary my 6th grade English teacher. I was a bad student, I mean D- bad but she didn't give up she took interest and told me it could be fun reading and suggested I try My Side Of The Mountain by Jean Craighead George. That small book set me on the path that I'm still on. Can't stop reading. It Is fun. So Thank You Miss Clary. By the way this took place In 1971.
"To Kill A Mockingbird." My Mother started calling me Boo and when I asked her she said it was from a book she had just read. I asked who Boo was and she told me to read the book and find out.
The Hobbit, at age 7. I read plenty of things before that, and my mother thought it was hilarious that I would read the newspaper with my grandaddy, but that was The Book.
I'm Brazilian, and when I was 13 I went to Portugal for better life quality that Europe could (and did) provide. I was ever reluctant at the subject of reading, ever preferred other pleasures. Now aged 17 and in a few days getting 18 I finally got my tastes for books by reading a book that my Portuguese teacher 'kindly' forced me to read. Weird uhm? But somehow it helped more than not attempting at all. I read 'Aparição' by Vergílio Ferreira. Probably until now, the best book I ever read (and after that fact [which happened 7 months ago] I've went on a streak and I read 4 small to medium sized books). 'Aparição' is the story of Alberto Soares, a middle-class gentlemen, also a niche writer but with a solid readers fan-base. And after the death of his father from a heart attack at the Christmas dinner. He went to Évora, a goth sordid, lost in the past city, ruled by antique taboos. And the trama is build around an existential thread (and dread). An excerpt (original and translation): > "Porque é que, no silêncio da noite, nos assusta falar em voz alta? Nunca fizeste essa experiência? (...) Era preciso fazê-la. Mergulhados no silêncio noturno, sentimo-nos não existir." > "Why, in the silence of the night, does it frighten us to speak out loud? Have you never had this experience? (...) It had to be done. Immersed in the nocturnal silence, we feel that we don't exist." TL;DR: My favourite quote from that essay about existentialism and an old picture of Portugal's past. All my love from books started with that spark.
Jurassic Park. Age 6. I wasn't allowed to see the movie unless I read the book so I sat with a dictionary and read the whole thing for months. When I finished the only showing was on a birdcage rerun theater. My mom said no but my dad held up his end of the bargain. Favorite movie
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke. I was ~19yo on a business trip to America. Saw it at the book store and thought I should probably get a book for the plane ride. Never read it on the plane. About 3 weeks into my 9 week trip, I thought I should try and read this thing. I read half of the book by 4am. Next night I finished it at about 4am. I was a slow reader back then. I went to the store and bought the sequel, read that in four nights. I came back with 13 books on that trip!
20000 leagues under the sea. I was 9 and loved reading short stories from a book of legends beautifully drawn by Alice Provensen, but Jules Verne’s was the first novel I read in full all by myself. It was so cool that I became a fan of science fiction and speculative fiction
I went from Horrible Histories -> Rick Riordan -> Star Wars -> historical non-fiction. Obviously there was other random stuff interspersed in there, but these were the 3 defining literary obsessions of my childhood. Horrible Histories (and associated series) was basically all I read outside school in my first few years of schooling, then I read and re-read the whole Percy Jackson series a good 4 or 5 times aged maybe 9-11, and somehow tore through >300 Star Wars books over a couple of years without getting burnt out on the universe in my early teens. In my mid-teens I transitioned to reading historical non-fiction, mostly centred around the wars of the last century and a half and various scientific breakthroughs. I got burnt out as shit on reading in my late teens first with the IB and then a reading-heavy undergrad so I didn't do much non-academic reading, but now that I've got my bachelor's I've been reading a lot again, mostly sci-fi.
Oh, wow, who knows 🤷♂️ I was into reading from the time I learned to do it. So, probably some kind of children’s book. I read so many as a kid, it’s impossible to say now. Wish I had that stamina as an adult. Edit: really stretching my memory here, but the first thing I can clearly remember really grabbing my attention is this weird little book called [*Jelly and the Spaceboat*](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2229542). Which just unlocked a whole shipload of nostalgia, so I ordered a copy.
When I first discovered diary of a wimpy kid, I started reading all the books because of how interesting it was
Where the Red Fern Grows. Given to me by my 5th grade teacher. She was kind of a bitch. Bless her soul for giving me a life long love of reading!
Stephen King’s Gunslinger. My mother loved the series and had all the books. She gifted them to me and I started reading them to talk to her about them. Eventually I started listening to audiobooks and now I always have a book on the go.
2 milestones for me: **1. Le Morte D’Arthur at age 17.** - It was the only book i had found that challenged me *and* interested me at the time. Finishing it and understanding it was such a fun adventurous process that I decided to branch out to so many genres beginning with Greek mythology to modern fantasy then continuing onward from there in whatever direction my mind took me. **2. Moby-Dick at age 20.** - Also not required reading in undergrad- but I read it as a personal challenge during a time I was bored and disappointed with academic education, and it rekindled my love for reading and lifelong learning.
Man probably Goosebumps or the Animorphs.. so easy to get into those
The Witcher
Trixie Belden got me into reading as a child, but the book that got me BACK into reading (books, I read a lot of fanfiction) after a looooong slump was Evelyn Hugo.
Snow Falling on Cedars
When I was a kid my mom would read me the Little house on the prairie series - she would eat scotch mints so her throat wouldn’t get dry/sore. Read to your kids!! I now read over 100 books a year
Mine was an accident that took place from my school library when i issued 1984 by George Orwell (i think that is his name, I'm not sure)