Do you remember the first book you read? And do you still have it?

[JunkMonkey]

Goblin Market is definitely not a children's poem, and Christine Rossetti was extremely clear and vehement about that - it's a prime example of Victorian suppressed eroticism.

'suppressed'?!

Did you miss me?
Come and kiss me.
Never mind my bruises,
Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices
Squeez'd from goblin fruits for you,
Goblin pulp and goblin dew.
Eat me, drink me, love me;
Laura, make much of me.



BTW, those lines still in the book - it's not been edited or bowdlerised that I can see.

 

[hitmouse]

I have vague memories of reading a book of some sort in P2 (So that's age five-ish?). Protagonist called Magnus and he had an adventure in Iceland. Unfortunately can't find out what it was called. It's lost in the mists of time.

Scottish primary schools at the time had this really good book club scheme, where you could order books in class - they sent out a new brochure every month or so - and you could get books for ten pence or so. (I'm old )

But one of the first I do have a memory of that I can remember it's title was:

View attachment 125485

So that probably counts for the OP. But also a huge pile of Commando comic books and this classic <cough> non-fiction one:

View attachment 125486

This one started me on my Fortean journey. (Although I always had a hard time trying to get past the page with the the three 'real' ghost pictures.*)


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* Now, two of the photos have been debunked, at least to my satisfaction. And the remaining one always looked like a prank.

I had that edition of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark.

 

[Orcadian]

I'm not sure what to pick as my 'first book' but here is a selection.

There were books that your mum or dad read to you, and slowly you began to read them together. Such books for me are Struwelpeter and The Water Babies, always brought out when we were confined to bed with the lurgy.

Then there are the books you tried valiantly to read 'by yourself' i.e. with a parent leaning over your shoulder helping with every 10th word. My books of this type are Joseph and His Coat Of Many Colours and a pulp fiction magazine, probably Amazing Stories (previously discussed with @Victoria Silverwolf).

Once you can read competently you join the library and the first book I borrowed was Return to Mars by Capt W.E. Johns. Some years later I bought a copy of that very edition, so in a sense I do still have it.

 

[vanye]

@JunkMonkey
That’s a great word: bowdlerize. Never heard that. Thank you!

 

[hitmouse]

@JunkMonkey
That’s a great word: bowdlerize. Never heard that. Thank you!

From Thomas Bowdler, who wrote the “inoffensive” Family Shakespeare. Interesting to me, apart from being a bit ridiculous, because his house in Swansea, a big Georgian pile opposite my kids old primary school, is now a grotty student bedsit. He is buried in one of the graveyards in this city.

 

[JunkMonkey]

From Thomas Bowdler, who wrote the “inoffensive” Family Shakespeare. Interesting to me, apart from being a bit ridiculous, because his house in Swansea, a big Georgian pile opposite my kids old primary school, is now a grotty student bedsit. He is buried in one of the graveyards in this city.

Apocryphally (possibly) he had Othello kill Desdemona because she had played 'the trumpet' in his bed - rather than 'the strumpet'.

 

[bwb]

Oh ya, mine was The Snow Baby. I can remember the exact moment when I read to read. I was jumping from word to word and there was this magical moment when the words came alive, and it all clicked. It was one of the most amazing feelings in my lif

 

[Rodders]

If i remember correctly, by first actual book was Alan Dean Foster's Splinter Of The Minds Eye. Yes, i still have it.

 

[Juliana]

The first book (well, series) I remember connecting with on a deeper level was a reading scheme series from when I was in primary school in England in the 70s. They were known as the Tim and Tobias books (official name Tim and the Hidden People) and had witches and other supernaturals. I remember them having a cool spooky vibe. My parents loved them too and couldn't wait for me to get through each one and come home with the next.

At 8 I was gifted the full set of Narnia books and that was probably my first real reading love. But I'm pretty sure the Tim and Tobias books set me up for a lifetime of fantasy reading!