Your First Time

For me, it was "A Wrinkle in Time" around age 8 or 9. The next books I can remember reading were the Elric of Melnibone series - I was probably still pre-teen then (maybe 11 or 12). I then ventured into the world of Dungeons and Dragons, which is, I believe, what truly sparked my intense interest in reading Fantasy/Sci-Fi. My imagination has been flowing like a river of molten lava ever since.:)
 
Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree etc was my first brush with fantasy when I was about 5,My gran bought me The chronicles of Narina for my 6th birthday.Last time I was in my aunt's I was browsing her bookshelves and found my copy of Blyton's Pandora's box,I thought that had been lost when we moved to England.
 
I'd say the Wizard of Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin when I was about 10 along with C.S. Lewis Lion, Witch and The Wardrobe and Allan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. Can't quite remember but it must have been either Earthsea or Weirdstone as my first real fantasy book.

Then LOTR at about age 12-13 followed by authors like Terry Brooks in my mid teens and have been reading mainly fantasy books ever since :D

Also used to read a lot of Henry Treece and Rosemary Sutcliffe for historical fiction around the ages of 8-13.

Bye Y'all... :D :D :D
 
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned L. Frank Baum. The Wizard of Oz (the book, not the movie) was my first experience of fabulous imaginary lands. I was so taken with it, I tried to write my own (highly derivative) story in the same vein, at the age of seven or eight. Not long after, I started checking the Mushroom Planet books out of the school library.

But it wasn't until I was in my mid to late teens that I discovered Andre Norton, T.H. White and (finally! I had been waiting for these authors all of my life without even knowing it) Tolkien and Lewis. This was when I recognized there was this specific kind of book I preferred above all others (up until then, I had supposed it was historicals I liked the best).
 
I read classical literature *only* until I was about seven, and then my first sci fi book was Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, so I went through my dad's shelves and depleted it of all the sci-fi- old stuff by Bradbury and so on. I read the hobbit when I was seven too. I read T.H. White etc around this age as well, as well as rather more grown up things such as Michael Moorcock- who scraed the hell out of me actually.

When I was eight I read lord of the rings, and when I was eleven I read the Silmarillion. I read Dante's Inferno when I was 8 as well, along with various Piers Anthony and so on books
 
I think I read Narnia when I was about 7... then probably noting really until Lord of the Rings when I was about 11.
 
RED DWARF
THE HOBBIT
LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY

But the Asterix and Obelix comics were really my fave during my pre-teen years.
 
I must have been 8 or 9 years old upon reading the book that ever since has remained my favourite.

It was Watership Down, of course. Of all possible introductions to mature litterature, there could have been no better. I had heard nothing at all about it, nothing to fill me with impossible expectations, which is what sort of ruined The Scar for me.
 
When I was very young, I read everything I could get my grubby little hands on -- children's books which were readily available, classics like Treasure Island and The Three Musketeers which arrived in the mail every few months as part of a set, the handful of historical novels on my parents' bookshelves, cereal boxes, comic books, lists of ingredients on the back of shampoo bottles ... if it stood still long enough, I read it.

And yet seeing some of the wonderful fantasies that the rest of you mention I feel somewhat cheated. So many of these books (YA and otherwise) weren't even written yet, or at least were not known about or readily available in the US, when I was a child.

This is very unfair. I would like to register a protest, but I don't know where or who to blame. Suppose I will have to be content with raging at the Fates.
 
This is very unfair. I would like to register a protest, but I don't know where or who to blame. Suppose I will have to be content with raging at the Fates.
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It's never too late, Kelpie...

Since I first saw this thread I have been trying to think of what was my first fantasy or Scifi book. I literally can not remember and it bugs me... I must have read something when I was younger, or else I wouldn't know how to read as an adult. But alas, I can't name a single book before High School (maybe with help). Very sad!

So I started to think about it... what was my first introduction to fantasy and scifi genre... (now this is sad) it's Harry Potter. The J. K. Rowling books are the first one that pops in my head... I may have read other fantasy/Scifi books before that, but this series left the most impression upon me...
Feeling a little robbed about reading this genre I've started going back and reading as much as I can find and have time for...

Now please don't get me wrong... I have read plenty of books in my day, but I'm a late bloomer when it comes to Fantasy and Scifi Fiction...
 
lester said:
although the book that raelly got me into reading was "the phantom toll booth" a childrens book that i still enjoy rereading
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love that book! its my read before i go bed at the moment! and how much is the price on the back of the book....£3.50!! :eek: why can't books be so cheap now :(
 
No, it's never too late, and I've done everything I could to rectify that situation since -- and yet I can't help thinking how even more magical it would have been to read some of these authors at a more impressionable age.

When I first discovered Narnia, as a teenager, I was forced to hunt down contraband (illegal for import) British editions in little hole-in-the-wall bookstores run by withered old booksellers of gnomish aspect.

(This makes it all sound rather more adventurous than it actually was, and I admit to putting in the gnomish proprietors because the story seemed to require them.)

Fortunately, I did find some of these books in time to read to my children, and what lucky little imps my grandchildren (if any) are going to be!
 
Always read loads when i was kid, but fantasy wise would have been the lion the witch and the wardrobe when i was around 8, which then led on read the whole collection.

But book that really kicked it off for me was a book called 'dragonsbane' that was part of the point fantasy range which i bought from my primary school bookclub. Still have it around somewhere. Its a good little book :D
 
Fortunately, I did find some of these books in time to read to my children, and what lucky little imps my grandchildren (if any) are going to be!
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My little imps (children, not grandchildren) refuse to read... I literally have to bribe them to read a book...


I have to mention that I did read a lot of books that was 'create your own story and ending' type books and some of those were fantasy. I looked into finding them for my kids, but couldn't find anything... even my husband read a lot of them... His first was Star Wars, which books I have no idea!
 
During my childhood I fancied science fiction more than fantasy. I also read a lot of astronomy, and those game books (if you choose to stay behind, turn to page...), and comic books. I love DC.

When I was introduced to LOTR back in '92 that's when I began to fancy that genre more. Now I'm hooked.
 
Calis said:
you mean chose your own adventure books?

i loved them.
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Yup... those be the ones. You read for about 10 pages or so and then would have to make a decision... if you wanted option one go to page a different page so and so. If you wanted option two go to a different page. I loved them as a kid! Hubby too!!!!
 
I'm quite surprised there is only 1 that mentiona Issac Assimov's robot/ foundation series. I remember devouring all the books at a go and Dr. Calvin was one of my favourite characters.

Anway Wizard of Earthsea, Chronicles of Narnia were among my preteen/teen years. Also the riverworld series by Philip Farmer, if anyone read them.
 
my first was when i was 6 i read mein kampf, just kiding i really would be evil if i looked at that book, im not sure cant remember, i read everyday so its hard for me to recall although i read dune when i was 10.
 
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