Cool topic! 

"All the Children Were Sent Away" - can't remember the author, but its about a girl sent away from London in the war.  I was in grade 3.

Then "Dragonsong" by Anne McCaffery, from the Pern series (and several after that)

"Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley  (I wasn't as fond of the following ones)

Rowan - yeppers - I still have them too, and read them to my kids.  My son really liked Farmer Boy.  I read them (and Anne of Green Gables) when I was pretty young, before i knew what "addicted" was.

My favourite uncle was a teacher.  When he died very young, he gave my mother (his sister), his collection of books.  Before I entered high school, I had read such classics as Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Robin Hood, etc.  Thus was born my love of books and reading.

While in public school, I also loved horse books - Golden Stallion series, My Friend Flicka....

I used to be an avid sci-fi fantasy fan - read and love the Dune Trilogy which stretched into more books.

Now I read mostly non-fiction.

Where do I start?

"In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines...."

Madeleine, The Cat in the Hat, Heidi, Emily of New Moon, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Huckleberry Finn, (and yes, stacks of Classics Illustrated comics).

"The Sane Society" by Erich Fromm.

I'm thinking that's kind of where I started, too. I know I went through the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, etc., but was probably reading comics at around the same time. And, yes, I read Classics Illustrated. Some of those classics I later read in full form, some not.

I think it was discovering Verne and Wells around 12-13 years-old that really launched me into my love of s-f and fantasy fiction, then in high school I did a run on the spy genre (Le Carre is still one of my favorite authors although I'm now a few books behind on him).

Mendalla

Well we had quite an eclectic "library" in our home, and while I'm sure I was supposed to be reading the "Christy" books like my sisters were, I would choose the ones that we weren't supposed to read. So I read "the Carpetbaggers" because I thought it must be "dirty" if we weren't supposed to read it. I read Plato the Republic, because my Dad said it was over my head, etc.....you get the drift. Rebellion took me into a whole different world.

I also remember grade nine and fell in love with "Moonfleet" for some reason. And Silas Marner increased my patience for a story to unravel.

Anything I could get my hands on.  I've been reading for longer than I can remember.

Now, let's see.  When I was very young I enjoyed the Bobbsey Twins. (Nan & Bert, Freddie & Flossie?)

When I discovered Enid Blyton I thought I'd gone to Heaven. The magic of the Famous Five series kept me entertained for much of those early years. It was a combination of life being one big adventure with lots to eat and drink along the way. (" lashings of cold meats, sandwiches with potted paste, cake, and orangeade" - I think that appealed because I was always hungry!)

But it was the Little Women series (Good Wives, Jo's Boys) that captured my heart and soul.Perhaps it was partly due to the fact that I was one of four daughters - but those books really "talked" to me on so many levels.

As for comics, for me there was only one worth reading - The Phantom (Ghost who Walks).

I thought it was so romantic the way he would enter Dianna's bedroom window and sleep on the mat beside her bed. (Years later, it occurred to me that Dianna probably wasn't happy about this arrangement).

 "Dickie and the Indians" ... Grade One ... I had finished reading all the Dick & Jane books and most of the class was still working on the second one.  I asked my teacher (Mrs. Hamblin) for something else to read and she gave me  "Dickie and the Indians" about a little boy who gets carried off (or saved .... I can't remember which) by the Indians and lives with them for a time.  I remember how that book just sucked me into another world and how after that I just kept running back to the bookmobile and the school library for more.  It was great.  No pictures so you saw  things exactly the way they seemed best to you.  Compound complex sentences.  Whole paragraphs stuffed with them.  It was great 

I don't remember the transition from my mom reading to me and me starting reading, it's all blurry...but I have a distinct memory of reading a book called The Witch of Blackbird Pond when I was in Grade 1 - they had a copy of it written in large type and it seemed at the time like it was 1000 pages.  I later found it in a paperback and it's under 100... but I was so proud of reading it! 

I fell in love with reading and words and their ability to transport at a really young age.  Favourites were:  Anne and Emily and Valancy of L.M. Montgomery's books, Little Women, The Black Stallion books and because I have an older sister,  Thunderhead, The Green Grass of Home, Pollyanna, Heidi, The Secret Garden, The Bobsey Twins mysteries... and so many more.

Books that made me a reader in order of discovery

1. Ramona series                                                

2. Harriet the spy series                                       

3. Anne series

3.5 this really great book that found it's way to me from some other cabin family at the lake about a girl in a boarding school. It was a million years old and I read it every summer for about  5 years and developed my ideas around the psychology and insights  of the little old book. 

4. Asimov trilogy

5. Frank Herbert trilogy

6. Sartre's Nausea

7. Doris Lessing

lol Jiln - yep - the fact that she married her cousin, and had to juggle through the bunch of them to pick one was creepy, but OH she was pretty!!  and so graceful!!  and so charming!!

I never liked that she picked Mac.  I can't remember who she almost chose, (maybe Archie?) but Mac was not my favourite.  But do you remember that they blasted off fireworks that drew a sparkling rose in the sky just for her?  How romantic!!!  (Yes, I have a scottish streak in me)

Gaiagrrl - I liked Heidi too - always tried to imagine having a tiny  house with jsut the spare basics.  Still do, probably b/c of her.  :)

Oh, right, the Ramona books... and Judy Bloom... oh and before that for me were also two oldies What Katie Did and Five Little Peppers and How They Grew.. 

 you can tell when i have Baby on my lap as the capitals are erratic or not there at all.

How old were you?

Most of the books mentioned are ones I read.  Is anyone into the Twilight series? It seems to be getting the teen generation reading.

Greetings!

Some of my early reading include "Little Women", the Bobbsey Twins, and there was a Thorton W. Burgess series of adventure books . . . the ones I most remember were "The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad and The Adventures of Ol' Mistah Buzzard.

As I got older there was Nurse Cherry Ames and Nancy Drew.

Hope, peace, joy, love ...

 Interesting, Cannondalefreak.

Did your tastes change on their own with the help of hormones or did you make a conscious change in your taste in books? I guess being a male reading chic lit  might elicit some weird reactions out of people.