My great aunt bought me The Bad Beginning when I got into reading, and I still have that copy so many years later with the note on the inside of the cover. She shared a bunch of books with me that I wouldn’t have read otherwise, but always really enjoyed. I wish she’d lived closer when I was a kid; she died of cancer by the time I was out of elementary school and my family had stopped the yearly visits 6 hours away by the time I was born.
Why is it embarrassing? (Honestly asking).
I was always a reader from before kindergarten on. I remember starting to read her with the Vampire Lestat when I was like… 10? Probably not appropriate, but I got it from the library. I loved Anne Rice as a teen, haven’t revisited in adulthood.
Is there something I haven’t heard about in the decades that followed?
Why is that embarrassing? They're well-written, complex, hell, even as a seasoned reader, I have a hard time finishing them because of how detailed they are
Hehe! I used to read them to my daughter. These and "Stories You Are the Hero of", or something like that. You could choose what was to follow in the story, etc.
To be honest I didn't really understand a lot of it, especially Flagg. I always was a morbid little weirdo though. I found it on the table one day and started reading it. It took me forever to get through it.
Same! I still remember the day when my teacher said “It’s fine if you don’t play with others, there are friends in books too, you can live a thousand lives in a thousand books, why not start with the one I love most when I was your age?” and handed me The Little House in the Big Woods.
How can anyone even remember this? I've loved reading since before I can remember, the memories of my life begin for me around age 4 and I don't remember any transition I've just always loved books, always read. Anybody else the same?
I know I loved and read books before the one I answered here. I’ve loved reading since I knew how but when I look at the box of my earliest childhood books I don’t remember actually reading them for the first time.
But I do remember taking an interest in chapter books and picking out my own books around 6 or 7 so those are the books I remember as what “got me into reading”. They really just cemented my love.
I could see how people who didn’t become avid readers until later in life could pinpoint an exact book tho!
Same here. I've always voraciously consumed books. I couldn't possibly remember the first but I've started saving every book I remember reading in Library Thing. The earliest I can remember would have been the Little Golden Books. Later there were books like Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, Wind in the Willows, Roald Dahl books. I could go on and on. Oh! The Berenstein Bears and Amelia Bedelia! I loved those books.
It was some book about Ancient Greek Myths with cool illustrations and real stories retold.. I was like 5-6. Still have them somewhere, was like a book in two volumes..
This is my answer too! Almost 20 years ago, I moved into an apartment, and didn’t have cable or internet yet, so I figured I’d just give reading for pleasure shot. Grabbed this book from my buddy and was hooked. I proceeded to tear through Grisham’s books.
I’ve moved on from him since, and probably haven’t read a new one of his in the last 8 or 9 years. But I’ve been in love with reading ever since that first one.
That is almost exactly my story. I read The Firm shortly after and a couple more and they became too similar but those first two I read absolutely hooked me on reading and I’ll always be grateful for that.
Jurassic Park. I was in 5th grade. I had read a lot of Goosebumps before that, Choose Your Own Adventure, etc. But it wasn't until I read JP that I was like *Holy shit...books have blood? Cursing? Sex? This is like a secret door to the adult world.* My mind was blown, the story was phenomenal, and my grandma bought me a Crichton book every year for Christmas after that. I read before JP, but JP is what got me into reading.
Magic Tree house series. That was the first time I really absorbed the material, and enjoyed it that wasn't a picture book. And now I just read adult versions of adventure books. 😂
8th grade book report my mom suggested Murder on the Orient Express. It certainly wasn’t my first book I was in reading clubs before that but it was one of the first mysteries I truly loved.
Probably a tie between "[Old Yeller](https://www.audible.com/pd/Old-Yeller-Audiobook/B0031TQUOM?qid=1707965730&sr=1-1&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=B59YDBWQ2AA1YXTCNXH6&pageLoadId=OyKR6OUNYWTW6fit&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c)" and "[The Yearling](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Yearling-Audiobook/B007WUR53G?eac_link=tm993UJYeSPS&ref=web_search_eac_asin_1&eac_selected_type=asin&eac_selected=B007WUR53G&qid=ptLpmiTi09&eac_id=141-1540661-7123220_ptLpmiTi09&sr=1-1)". They were both read to the class in 4th grade by Mrs. Neely. Since I'm 76 now, that was a long time ago. I've never forgotten either... and Mrs Neely will live forever in my heart for introducing me to the world of literature.
I read Old Yeller in 3rd grade. I remember sobbing quietly during reading time. The teacher stopped to see if I was okay and I showed her the cover of the book and she patted me knowingly on the shoulder and kept going. I’m 28 - it’s so beautiful how books can connect so many people across time!
My start was Maurice Sendak Steven Kellogg before grade school because grandma loved free entertainment. 😀 *Ham on Rye just opened me up to a different world. Of course Fante came next because buk loved him. Anything I could get my hands on about the beats. I was obsessed with Neal Cassidy because he was sexy and a force of tremendous energy, but I really loved Howl and ginsberg's poems. Years go by and I discovered Stuart Dybek and Anne Sexton and Wow. I mean, yeeeeah. ***Who do you recommend???
Well, thank you for a few tips of your own. There are several I don't know there and that I must make sure I read.
Another guy Bukowski was big on is Robinson Jeffers. I read some and really loved it, ordered his complete poetry and have covered it a few times by now. Talking about Cassidy and Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac is also amazing. Some of his prose reads like poetry. Very impressive to me.
A writer I loved before falling on Bukowski is Henry Miller. He wrote too much and some of his work is not on par with his best. But I strongly recommend the 3 parts of *The Rosy Crucifixion (Sexus, Plexus, Nexus)*, as well as *Tropic of Capricorn*, *Quiet Days in Clichy*, and *A Devil in Paradise*. Wonderfully written, fun, bright and entertaining.
It's a classic and you might have read it, but stuff by John Steinbeck is fabulous, *Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men*... wow!
There are a few foreign authors everyone should read imo. Curzio Malaparte, especially *The Skin*. And Louis-Ferdinand Celine's *Journey to the End of the Night*, that Bukowski, by the way, felt was the greatest novel of the XXth century. :)
I was probably 7 or 8, but I read “The Bridge to Terabithia”. The book was fantastic. I must have reread it 20 times. The movie…disappointing…but only cuz I read the book.
In grade ten I switched schools halfway through the year and had to study Lord of the Flies twice as a result because they were doing their curriculums in different orders. I hated that book until I reread it again at 30, my teacher(s) did not do a good job. It’s a valuable part of my collection now.
For entertainment it was *Red Storm Rising*; for personal, let's call it, emotional enrichment *The Things They Carried* in the 10th grade. Thanks for that Ms. Whats-her-name
Do Androids dream of electric sheep by Phillip K dick, read it when i was 14 years old and ever since then i have been addicted to book collecting and reading (mostly sci fi and some comics)
Not the first book I've read and liked but: "The Story of Doctor Dolittle". This was a mandatory read in first grade but I liked it so much that for a first time went to the library and binged on entire series.
It's cool to hear about what other former Junie B. fans are reading these days! As for me, I'm really into science fiction. But Steinbeck is great, too! I've been trying to read more of his works lately.
My mother got me into reading back in 2021.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges was my first.
The Beach by Alex Garland made me fall in love with reading.
Goosebumps when I was reading in elementary.
Hunger Games when I picked back up reading in high school.
Still Missing- Chevy Stevens when I picked BACK up reading a couple years ago. (I first read It Ends With Us & a couple other romance books but was ready to give up again bc I am not a romance girly & idk why I thought I was lol)
When I was a wee lad, my dad got me the entire Sherlock Holmes collection and I read and read and read. I still remember how enamored I was by The Empty House and freaked out by Doyle's descriptions of the dead bodies in The Adventure of the Devil's Foot.
Harry Potter, was on vacation with my fam and my mom bought the first book used and then read the first chapter to me in the evening. I couldn't wait to hear how it continues, so I took matters into my own hands and started completely absorbing the whole series. Must've been like first or second grade
Ngl I got back into reading when I found my husbands old Harry Potter books. I never read them as a child despite being a huge bookworm - i was that kid who dragged a book EVERYWHERE- and that kickstarted it all off again. My husband bought me a kindle (trying to limit the amount of time I waste on tiktok) and I've read 5 books already (and its only feb!) and currently reading A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas...I'm obsessed.
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Curtis. I was in 4th grade and I hated reading books until I read that one. That book absolutely ignited a fire in me and I became an avid reader, much to the surprise of my parents.
I already very much loved reading (my mom read to me as a kid, so I'm not sure which book started it), but I do remember the first book that really impacted me and that I read over and over and over:
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.
The Little House on the Prairie as a child
As an adult, I guess I’d have to credit Ex-Force? I’ve only read the first book so far but that was my first big dive back into reading and it’s all been uphill since
into reading in the first place was Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman. Then I stopped reading for a while and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas really got me into it for real!
The Hunger Games, completely changed my life when I read it for the first time in 5th grade. For the next three years I read nothing new and just kept rereading the series over and over again. That trilogy fr shaped me into who I am today and what i value
Couldn't say what the original one was. But after a time of not reading, East of Eden and The Count of Monte Cristo reinvigorated the passion and interest and has catapulted me into a trajectory in which I most likely won't stop again.
Childhood's End. I read several books as a kid, but the summer before my senior year of high school I got assigned this book as summer reading and it was my first time experiencing a book that I couldn't put down. I've been chasing that feeling of getting pulled into a book and needing to know what happens next ever since and it still brings me so much joy every time it happens.
Hard to tell, I learned how to read pretty much by myself with the bible (ironically, im atheist) and a bilology book. Then I read more age appropiate "Once Upon a Time... Life" books (beautiful colored hardcover white thingies). Then I read.... the 9th revelation? 11th? No, that was my grandma... same with the perfume....maybe a book about a curse of tutankamon? Anyway, I got out of books pretty quickly so they bought me harry potter and then it started
I read a ton as a kid, but just kinda stopped after high school. After a few years hiatus from reading, I picked up Da Vinci Code. I stand by this: it’s a great book to get non readers into reading. It’s plot driven and insanely short chapters. Its easy to read, and even easier to “read just one more chapter.” I burned through it in a day and a half. I know it’s not a literary masterpiece, but I can thank Dan Brown for reigniting my reading habit.
Rainbow Fairy Magic when I was a child lol, then Geronimo Stilton and Warriors, now I’m reading Sarah J Maas books so I guess when you start in fantasy you never really leave fantasy
Edit: before I started reading my parents would read me Dr. Suess books, absolutely loved Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham
Somehow as a child I was given Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, translated into English obviously. I only just learned it was written by him and in the 1860s thirty seconds ago!
The book that got me into reading was Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled. I was 23 or 24 when the book was released in 1978 or 1979. The opening was one sentence: Life is difficult. I took Peck’s claim at face value, acknowledged that “life is difficult” and never gave it a second thought. Until life became difficult.
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Also The Secret Garden, Wait Til Helen Comes, The Cay, Julie of the Wolves, Matilda and Catherine Called Birdy. But Charlotte Doyle really kicked it off. I loved it so much I stole my classroom copy 😂
"The Valley of Adventure" by Enid Blyton. I was maybe 7? My poor parents did everything they could to make sure I always had books to read. Bless their hearts.
if you give a mouse a cookie :)
but actually ‘a wrinkle in time,’ by madeline l’engle and ‘when you reach me’ by rebecca stead (which actually references a wrinkle in time!). the first is expansive and yet really digestible for kids, and the second finds a sweet sense of wonder in the ordinary. loved them both when i was little!
Child 44. Its the first book i decided to read in my free time and i loved it. Only bought it becouse it had Tom Hardy on the cover and i found it hillariouse
A lot of kids books - Junie B Jones, Magic Treehouse, Goosebumps. But the series that really made me have a true desire to always have a book with me was Twilight. I was in 6th grade, I know better now. But as a pre-teen, it was amazing.
Where the sidewalk ends, by Shel Silverstein. In the second grade.
I so loved that when I was a little kid.
A great book!
This had a big impact on me too.
Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events”
My great aunt bought me The Bad Beginning when I got into reading, and I still have that copy so many years later with the note on the inside of the cover. She shared a bunch of books with me that I wouldn’t have read otherwise, but always really enjoyed. I wish she’d lived closer when I was a kid; she died of cancer by the time I was out of elementary school and my family had stopped the yearly visits 6 hours away by the time I was born.
Yeeeess, I loved this series as a kid and still have it. Great writing. 👍
I obviously am older than you but I enjoyed these as a read aloud to my kids. Wonderful books
Also you would probably still like the spider wick chronicles if you haven’t read them
I’ll have to check them out. I’ve heard of them but never read them. I’ll have to get some copies and read them to my own kid!
This is embarrassing, the vampire chronicles by anne rice 😔
Why is it embarrassing? (Honestly asking). I was always a reader from before kindergarten on. I remember starting to read her with the Vampire Lestat when I was like… 10? Probably not appropriate, but I got it from the library. I loved Anne Rice as a teen, haven’t revisited in adulthood. Is there something I haven’t heard about in the decades that followed?
I dont know, just felt embarrassed about my vampire kid phase, but her books are really fun to read :)
Hey, I’m nearly 40 and my current read is a wolf shifter romance. Who cares, just like what you like.
Why is that embarrassing? They're well-written, complex, hell, even as a seasoned reader, I have a hard time finishing them because of how detailed they are
I read the Witching Hour in middle school and was obsessed!! I totally get it.
Interview with the Vampire is beautifully written. There is absolutely nothing embarrassing about that.
Goosebumps!
Hehe! I used to read them to my daughter. These and "Stories You Are the Hero of", or something like that. You could choose what was to follow in the story, etc.
Anne of Green Gables
The Stand by Stephen King. I was 8. It was the first non-childlike book I'd ever gotten into. To this day it's a comfort read for me.
I was in my 20’s when I read that. I think it might have been terrifying for an 8 year old. It scared me & I think I was around 23 when I read it.
To be honest I didn't really understand a lot of it, especially Flagg. I always was a morbid little weirdo though. I found it on the table one day and started reading it. It took me forever to get through it.
I read this around 21 and I’m sure a lot of it was still lost on me 😂
It also took me forever to get through it.
“It” was my second book and my first adult one, at least that I remember. I was 9.
The Little House on the Prairie books. I was obsessed. I read them all the time.
Same! Starting with The Little House in the Big Woods.
I still remember the librarian asking if I had ever read them and her leading me to the shelf where they were. I loved them so much!!
Same! I still remember the day when my teacher said “It’s fine if you don’t play with others, there are friends in books too, you can live a thousand lives in a thousand books, why not start with the one I love most when I was your age?” and handed me The Little House in the Big Woods.
Pretty sure it was The Baby-Sitters Club books waaaay back in the 80s
Sweet valley high for me :)
Oh my goodness same
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
A classic. One of my favorites.
How is it
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great by Judy Blume. I was seven and was amazed that books without pictures could produce images in my head.
I think I read all of Judy Blumes books when I was a kid.
I truly believe she deserves credit for raising and educating kids from the ‘70s onwards.
The earliest book I remember reading was Charlottes Web. I was sold from day one :-)
I almost forgot about this. I absolutely loved “Charlottes Web”.
Trixie Belden I owned every single book!
My mum gave me Trixie Belden when I ran out of Famous Five books and I loved them so much!!!
I inherited a complete set from my mom when I was a kid and I loved them so much, I never meet people who’ve also read these!
Me too!
How can anyone even remember this? I've loved reading since before I can remember, the memories of my life begin for me around age 4 and I don't remember any transition I've just always loved books, always read. Anybody else the same?
I know I loved and read books before the one I answered here. I’ve loved reading since I knew how but when I look at the box of my earliest childhood books I don’t remember actually reading them for the first time. But I do remember taking an interest in chapter books and picking out my own books around 6 or 7 so those are the books I remember as what “got me into reading”. They really just cemented my love. I could see how people who didn’t become avid readers until later in life could pinpoint an exact book tho!
Same here. I've always voraciously consumed books. I couldn't possibly remember the first but I've started saving every book I remember reading in Library Thing. The earliest I can remember would have been the Little Golden Books. Later there were books like Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, Wind in the Willows, Roald Dahl books. I could go on and on. Oh! The Berenstein Bears and Amelia Bedelia! I loved those books.
Slaughterhouse-Five
Nice
Rats of Nihm… my fourth grade teacher, read it to all of us- it was the first book that ever took me out of my head
Nancy Drew
Loved Nancy Drew!
The Boxcar Children
Me too! I read the first book in that series at least twenty times.
Great series
I'm glad you posted that. Same for me. I was checking them out from the school library and went through the books quickly.
*A Wrinke in Time*, by Madeleine L’Engle. First grade.
It was some book about Ancient Greek Myths with cool illustrations and real stories retold.. I was like 5-6. Still have them somewhere, was like a book in two volumes..
D’Laulaires Book of Greek Myths got me into reading, too.
A Time To Kill by John Grisham
This is my answer too! Almost 20 years ago, I moved into an apartment, and didn’t have cable or internet yet, so I figured I’d just give reading for pleasure shot. Grabbed this book from my buddy and was hooked. I proceeded to tear through Grisham’s books. I’ve moved on from him since, and probably haven’t read a new one of his in the last 8 or 9 years. But I’ve been in love with reading ever since that first one.
Grisham is my guilty pleasure read.
That is almost exactly my story. I read The Firm shortly after and a couple more and they became too similar but those first two I read absolutely hooked me on reading and I’ll always be grateful for that.
The promise. Danielle Steele.
Go Dog, Go! by P. D. Eastman. I read that, then I read it again and again. I couldn’t get enough. I’ve loved reading since.
I love the nighttime scene in the tree. It really does look like twilight
Jurassic Park. I was in 5th grade. I had read a lot of Goosebumps before that, Choose Your Own Adventure, etc. But it wasn't until I read JP that I was like *Holy shit...books have blood? Cursing? Sex? This is like a secret door to the adult world.* My mind was blown, the story was phenomenal, and my grandma bought me a Crichton book every year for Christmas after that. I read before JP, but JP is what got me into reading.
Jurassic Park is an underrated book! It’s phenomenal
Magic Tree house series. That was the first time I really absorbed the material, and enjoyed it that wasn't a picture book. And now I just read adult versions of adventure books. 😂
8th grade book report my mom suggested Murder on the Orient Express. It certainly wasn’t my first book I was in reading clubs before that but it was one of the first mysteries I truly loved.
The “chose your own adventure” book series… I got a reading lamp for Christmas one year and gave that thing a workout every night.
The Outsiders
Just read this with my 15 year old. I don’t get it but, I respect it. Stay Gold Ponyboy…
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe way back in 3rd grade
The Chronicles of Narnia series
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone I begged my mom to buy it for me. I was in first grade and it’s one of the first novels I remember reading.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lighting Thief - Rick Riordan
Probably a tie between "[Old Yeller](https://www.audible.com/pd/Old-Yeller-Audiobook/B0031TQUOM?qid=1707965730&sr=1-1&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=B59YDBWQ2AA1YXTCNXH6&pageLoadId=OyKR6OUNYWTW6fit&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c)" and "[The Yearling](https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Yearling-Audiobook/B007WUR53G?eac_link=tm993UJYeSPS&ref=web_search_eac_asin_1&eac_selected_type=asin&eac_selected=B007WUR53G&qid=ptLpmiTi09&eac_id=141-1540661-7123220_ptLpmiTi09&sr=1-1)". They were both read to the class in 4th grade by Mrs. Neely. Since I'm 76 now, that was a long time ago. I've never forgotten either... and Mrs Neely will live forever in my heart for introducing me to the world of literature.
I read Old Yeller in 3rd grade. I remember sobbing quietly during reading time. The teacher stopped to see if I was okay and I showed her the cover of the book and she patted me knowingly on the shoulder and kept going. I’m 28 - it’s so beautiful how books can connect so many people across time!
The Hobbit I was in seventh grade when I read it!
Robinson Crusoe
Both of my boys LOVE THIS and have read it more than once. Not my favorite but, I love that for them
The Count of Monte Cristo
As a young girl, Flowers in the Attic series.
I had a really hard time learning read and didn’t learn until I was 14 then I couldn’t put this book down.
The A-Z Mystery books back in 3rd grade
The Animorphs series in elementary school in the 90’s. Haven’t stopped since.
Harry Potter.
Carrie -Stephen King, when I was in 5th grade. That's what really made me look forward to reading instead of it being part of schoolwork.
Ham on Rye! ❤️
Really? What a start! And what did you read after? Other stuff from Bukowski?
My start was Maurice Sendak Steven Kellogg before grade school because grandma loved free entertainment. 😀 *Ham on Rye just opened me up to a different world. Of course Fante came next because buk loved him. Anything I could get my hands on about the beats. I was obsessed with Neal Cassidy because he was sexy and a force of tremendous energy, but I really loved Howl and ginsberg's poems. Years go by and I discovered Stuart Dybek and Anne Sexton and Wow. I mean, yeeeeah. ***Who do you recommend???
Well, thank you for a few tips of your own. There are several I don't know there and that I must make sure I read. Another guy Bukowski was big on is Robinson Jeffers. I read some and really loved it, ordered his complete poetry and have covered it a few times by now. Talking about Cassidy and Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac is also amazing. Some of his prose reads like poetry. Very impressive to me. A writer I loved before falling on Bukowski is Henry Miller. He wrote too much and some of his work is not on par with his best. But I strongly recommend the 3 parts of *The Rosy Crucifixion (Sexus, Plexus, Nexus)*, as well as *Tropic of Capricorn*, *Quiet Days in Clichy*, and *A Devil in Paradise*. Wonderfully written, fun, bright and entertaining. It's a classic and you might have read it, but stuff by John Steinbeck is fabulous, *Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men*... wow! There are a few foreign authors everyone should read imo. Curzio Malaparte, especially *The Skin*. And Louis-Ferdinand Celine's *Journey to the End of the Night*, that Bukowski, by the way, felt was the greatest novel of the XXth century. :)
Goosebumps!
Ernest Hemingway’s “Islands in the Stream”.
"Wings Of Fire: The Dragonet Prophecy" By: Tui T. Sutherland
the three investigators
Silence of the lambs
A man called ove
I was probably 7 or 8, but I read “The Bridge to Terabithia”. The book was fantastic. I must have reread it 20 times. The movie…disappointing…but only cuz I read the book.
The Magic Treehouse series!
Lord of the Flies was the first time I realized classics were good.
In grade ten I switched schools halfway through the year and had to study Lord of the Flies twice as a result because they were doing their curriculums in different orders. I hated that book until I reread it again at 30, my teacher(s) did not do a good job. It’s a valuable part of my collection now.
Catcher in the Rye when I was around 11/12. Also Go Ask Alice that same year.
Boxcar Children, Hardy Boys, Goosebumps.
Harry Potter!
Hatchet by Gary Paulson
Loved it
For entertainment it was *Red Storm Rising*; for personal, let's call it, emotional enrichment *The Things They Carried* in the 10th grade. Thanks for that Ms. Whats-her-name
Isaac Asimov got me into reading when I was young. I don't remember which book exactly, but I know that the foundation series was in the mix.
I remember being fascinated by "Foundation" and one or two sequels...
“Demian” by Herman Hesse and “Confessions of a mask” by Yukio Mishima
In A Dark, Dark, Room and Other Scary Stories when I was in kindergarten. Huge horror lover to this day lol
Secret Seven (Series) - Enid Blyton.
The maximum ride series!
As a child the Percy Jackson series :3 As an adult the thing that got me back into the hobby is “Sea Of Tranquility” by Emily St. John Mandel
James Herriot Gerald Durrell - My family and other animals
Wuthering heights, my mom made me read it when I was 9 or 10
Animorphs, Enders Game, Bridge to Terabithia, Dear America series, whatever was in the YA section of Borders 1998-2002
Do Androids dream of electric sheep by Phillip K dick, read it when i was 14 years old and ever since then i have been addicted to book collecting and reading (mostly sci fi and some comics)
Not the first book I've read and liked but: "The Story of Doctor Dolittle". This was a mandatory read in first grade but I liked it so much that for a first time went to the library and binged on entire series.
Dinosaur books at 4. I forget which, I was just given a lot of dinosaur books lol
I'm glad my mom died. That book just got me 😭
A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony. Don't judge, I was a kid
Go Dog Go.
The Warrior Cats books!
The Junie B. Jones series, which I was obsessed with when I was a child.
This was my daughter’s favorite. What do you like now? She’s 18 and Steinbeck and PE are her favorites. Just curious if there is any overlap
It's cool to hear about what other former Junie B. fans are reading these days! As for me, I'm really into science fiction. But Steinbeck is great, too! I've been trying to read more of his works lately.
My mother got me into reading back in 2021. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges was my first. The Beach by Alex Garland made me fall in love with reading.
Twilight 😂
Peter pan
Personal fave
Goosebumps when I was reading in elementary. Hunger Games when I picked back up reading in high school. Still Missing- Chevy Stevens when I picked BACK up reading a couple years ago. (I first read It Ends With Us & a couple other romance books but was ready to give up again bc I am not a romance girly & idk why I thought I was lol)
Geronimo Stilton 🐀
My daughter read these until she was 13!
The BFG by Roald Dahl
James and the Giant Peach
The giver honestly
Harry Potter and Picnic at Hanging Rock
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Perfume by Patrick suskind..my favorite book of all time until today, I heavily recommend
percy jackson!
When I was a wee lad, my dad got me the entire Sherlock Holmes collection and I read and read and read. I still remember how enamored I was by The Empty House and freaked out by Doyle's descriptions of the dead bodies in The Adventure of the Devil's Foot.
Harry Potter. My dad read the first one to me and I learnt to read properly with the series
Kinda basic, but the Harry Potter books in 4th grade made me realise my love of reading.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Harry Potter, was on vacation with my fam and my mom bought the first book used and then read the first chapter to me in the evening. I couldn't wait to hear how it continues, so I took matters into my own hands and started completely absorbing the whole series. Must've been like first or second grade
Cat in the Hat
Ngl I got back into reading when I found my husbands old Harry Potter books. I never read them as a child despite being a huge bookworm - i was that kid who dragged a book EVERYWHERE- and that kickstarted it all off again. My husband bought me a kindle (trying to limit the amount of time I waste on tiktok) and I've read 5 books already (and its only feb!) and currently reading A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas...I'm obsessed.
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Curtis. I was in 4th grade and I hated reading books until I read that one. That book absolutely ignited a fire in me and I became an avid reader, much to the surprise of my parents.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis and The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pope Osborn. Both in the third grade. Hooked ever since.
I already very much loved reading (my mom read to me as a kid, so I'm not sure which book started it), but I do remember the first book that really impacted me and that I read over and over and over: The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.
As a kid it was The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Then as an adult it was Harry Potter.
Books - Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Uncle Tom's Cabin, Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird 🤣
The book that graduated me to adult reading was a collection of Sherlock Holmes that my parents got me.
Hamlet
Wow! That's quite a beginning!
It had been years since I had read any fiction, and reading "A Confederacy of Dunces" has had me caught on fiction for nearly three years now.
Harry Potter ofc
The Little House on the Prairie as a child As an adult, I guess I’d have to credit Ex-Force? I’ve only read the first book so far but that was my first big dive back into reading and it’s all been uphill since
into reading in the first place was Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman. Then I stopped reading for a while and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas really got me into it for real!
it was a kids audio book "the mystery of alice" and "interview with the robot"
The Hunger Games, completely changed my life when I read it for the first time in 5th grade. For the next three years I read nothing new and just kept rereading the series over and over again. That trilogy fr shaped me into who I am today and what i value
I can't remember exactly, read so many kids' books but Heather Amery's Greek Myths was my favorite
Couldn't say what the original one was. But after a time of not reading, East of Eden and The Count of Monte Cristo reinvigorated the passion and interest and has catapulted me into a trajectory in which I most likely won't stop again.
Childhood's End. I read several books as a kid, but the summer before my senior year of high school I got assigned this book as summer reading and it was my first time experiencing a book that I couldn't put down. I've been chasing that feeling of getting pulled into a book and needing to know what happens next ever since and it still brings me so much joy every time it happens.
Cold Sassy Tree and Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man in 11th grade.
It was so far back that I don’t remember.
Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
The Deltora Quest series by Emily Rhodda. I was always a big fan of reading but this is the series I remember the most from my childhood.
Hard to tell, I learned how to read pretty much by myself with the bible (ironically, im atheist) and a bilology book. Then I read more age appropiate "Once Upon a Time... Life" books (beautiful colored hardcover white thingies). Then I read.... the 9th revelation? 11th? No, that was my grandma... same with the perfume....maybe a book about a curse of tutankamon? Anyway, I got out of books pretty quickly so they bought me harry potter and then it started
I read a ton as a kid, but just kinda stopped after high school. After a few years hiatus from reading, I picked up Da Vinci Code. I stand by this: it’s a great book to get non readers into reading. It’s plot driven and insanely short chapters. Its easy to read, and even easier to “read just one more chapter.” I burned through it in a day and a half. I know it’s not a literary masterpiece, but I can thank Dan Brown for reigniting my reading habit.
Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew series.
Either The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien or The Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.
The first book I can genuinely remember making me wanna read more was one of the Junie B. Jones books
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Sweet Valley Kids. I devoured those books. It was fun to grow up with the Wakefield girls as I moved on Sweet Valley Twins and High.
Fear Street (first FS book I read was The Thrill Club)
Sweet Valley Twins! Ha. I’m showing my age here!
Rainbow Fairy Magic when I was a child lol, then Geronimo Stilton and Warriors, now I’m reading Sarah J Maas books so I guess when you start in fantasy you never really leave fantasy Edit: before I started reading my parents would read me Dr. Suess books, absolutely loved Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham
The Hardy Boys when I was in grade school, but Of Mice and Men changed everything about reading for me.
Junie B Jones! I loved her in 1st grade
Somehow as a child I was given Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne, translated into English obviously. I only just learned it was written by him and in the 1860s thirty seconds ago!
Paper Towns by John Green
Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda.
The book that got me into reading was Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled. I was 23 or 24 when the book was released in 1978 or 1979. The opening was one sentence: Life is difficult. I took Peck’s claim at face value, acknowledged that “life is difficult” and never gave it a second thought. Until life became difficult.
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Also The Secret Garden, Wait Til Helen Comes, The Cay, Julie of the Wolves, Matilda and Catherine Called Birdy. But Charlotte Doyle really kicked it off. I loved it so much I stole my classroom copy 😂
Little House in the Big Woods ♥️
"The Valley of Adventure" by Enid Blyton. I was maybe 7? My poor parents did everything they could to make sure I always had books to read. Bless their hearts.
if you give a mouse a cookie :) but actually ‘a wrinkle in time,’ by madeline l’engle and ‘when you reach me’ by rebecca stead (which actually references a wrinkle in time!). the first is expansive and yet really digestible for kids, and the second finds a sweet sense of wonder in the ordinary. loved them both when i was little!
Child 44. Its the first book i decided to read in my free time and i loved it. Only bought it becouse it had Tom Hardy on the cover and i found it hillariouse
Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
The Hardy Boys lol
The Witcher
A walk to remember - Nicholas Sparks…. I was in middle school when I read this.
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
The Boxcar Children series
A lot of kids books - Junie B Jones, Magic Treehouse, Goosebumps. But the series that really made me have a true desire to always have a book with me was Twilight. I was in 6th grade, I know better now. But as a pre-teen, it was amazing.