When did you start reading fantasy and can you recall your first?

[Bev]

Hi how old were you all when you started with the fantasy bug? Can you recall what that first book or series was? Are you a newcomer or late starter to the genre??

[Michelle]

My grandmother gave me a Hans Christian Anderson anthology for my 12th birthday and I wore it out! :) Before that, I watched a lot of Disney and read fairy tales that were dumbed down for kids, but until HCA, I never realized fantasy (fairytales) could be so well written or have so much depth. Then I started on Harry Potter and LOTR. Now, 9 out 10 novels I read are fantasy.

[Bev]

Michelle Greenleaf wrote: "My grandmother gave me a Hans Christian Anderson anthology for my 12th birthday, and I wore it out :) Now, 9 out 10 novels I read are fantasy."

Hi I actually cannot remember my first but I recall reading Alan Garner, C S Lewis, Lord of the Rings and loads more before I was ten. I am not just a fantasy reader but it is still my favourite genre.

[K.A.]

Fairy tales, OZ books, Wind in the Willows (a very odd book in many ways), Alice books - probably before I was six. A lot of kids' books fall into that category, I think, and from there it's a natural progression to, say, The Hobbit (my mother read it to me when I was eight or nine). Then, as a young teen, someone gave me a stack of old Analog magazines - I mean a real stack, about four feet tall, with a few other similar mags thrown in. Some of my favorite reading.

[Frank]

Fairytales aside, I was in my thirties and I recall it clearly. I was on holiday in the Algarve and the novel was Lord of the Rings.

[Elise]

If fairy tales count, then since I was a little kid. I don't remember what my first fantasy novel was, but I imagine I was maybe 11 or 12, and later got hooked on fantasy for good when I was in high school.

[Michele]

Jackaroo by Cynthia Voight, then Piers Anthony's Xanth books and McCaffery's Harper Hall trilogy. It was all downhill from there ;)

[Carol]

First read C S Lewis books as child. Then got into Marion Zimmer Bradley books in my teens and early twenties. Along with Piers Anthony books

[Carol]

First read C S Lewis books as child. Then got into Marion Zimmer Bradley books in my teens and early twenties. Along with Piers Anthony books

[Bev]

Michele wrote: "Jackaroo by Cynthia Voight, then Piers Anthony's Xanth books and McCaffery's Harper Hall trilogy. It was all downhill from there ;)"

Ooh I remember the Xanth books and still reread Mccaffrey and Bradley.

[Carol]

Piers anthony lived near me in those Xanth days so all his locales were based on our locale. They were fun books to reas. Have moved on to more sophisticated fantasy since including guy Gavriel kay, patrick rothfiss and others

[Bridgette]

from a very early age I think I read the first harry potter book as my first fantasy book that I read by myself

[Lee]

My favorite Disney movie was always Sleeping Beauty which if you think about it has many fantasy elements. The biggest being it has a dragon. But I first started reading fantasy when I was 10 - 12 when I discovered the Dragonlance books. And then the Wheel of Time series. Strangely I came to Tolkien much later. It wasn't until the LotR movies came out that I read them. Though, I did read them before first.

[Scott]

First was Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter if that qualifies; Lord of the Rings if it does not; then Xanth as those above. Have not looked at a Piers Anthony book in years, I wonder how his fare now that theres so many other YA choices for the new fantasy reader

[Bev]

Scott wrote: "First was Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter if that qualifies; Lord of the Rings if it does not; then Xanth as those above. Have not looked at a Piers Anthony book in years, I wonder how his fare ..."

That is a very good point. I loved them when I was a teen but several decades on I suspect that I would not enjoy them.

[Leady]

I don't remember exactly if my first fantasy book is Beyond the Deepwoods or The Neverending Story, I read them more or less at the same time when I was a child, about 7-8 years old, and reread again and again until now. Some years later I definitively fallen in love for fantasy with The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

[Leslie]

Mine was a wrinkle in time and a swiftly tilting planet (Madeleine l'engle). I was probably 7 or 8 and I was hooked for life. The narnia chronicles also featured heavily in my introduction to fantasy.

[Alex]

I was 10 and it was a Dragon-something series book. But the first book that got me hooked was Wizards First Rule, after that I had the bug.

[Martha]

Man, I don't remember for sure. Mom read to us when we were little every afternoon and evening - Bible story, poem and a Fairy Tale or one of Kipling's Just So Stories. First one I read by myself? Damn, I didn't even know what 'fantasy' was as a genre until middle school. I think it might have been one of the Witch World books unless you count Greek, Norse and Roman mythology.

[Daniel]

I was 7. Probably the story books from my elder sister.

[Scott]

Greyfax Grimwald by Neil Hancock was my first fantasy book. Read it when I was probably in 7th grade and have been addicted to fantasy ever since.

[Mike]

I got into it much later than most people here, probably early 20's. The first one that got me was the Dark Tower series, I don't know how are why I started with such a huge series but I'm glad I did. Now fantasy is pretty much 90% of what I read.

[Chris]

I guess I've always had a liking for it, I remember in 8th grade when we got to choose a book to read out of several, I chose The Hobbit and loved it. After that I read LOTR, and always read and kept up to date with Harry Potter books.

Other than those, I only recent really got into big fantasy series, I did read Game of Thrones before the show even existed, then when the shoe came out I quickly read the whole series (that's out). Now these days 90% of what I read is fantasy :).

[Marc]

We had a complete set of Oz books in my room, so I guess that was the start. I remember buying a fantasy novel in school at a Scholastic Book Fair. I got the boxed set of LOTR for Christmas when I was 13, which I read through in 4 days.

[Joseph]

I'm trying to remember -- I'm pretty sure I encountered Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books before I first read Hobbit & LotR. Narnia might also predate Tolkien.

And The Big Joke Game by Scott Corbett.

[Scott]

Marc wrote: "We had a complete set of Oz books in my room, so I guess that was the start. I remember buying a fantasy novel in school at a Scholastic Book Fair. I got the boxed set of LOTR for Christmas when I ..."

I forgot all about the Oz books - I loved those as a kid!

[Bev]

I think that the list of young fantasy books named and shared are fantastic. I recall them all and the best thing is that my 10 year old is also going the same way.
:)

[A.L.]

CS Lewis. I remember my first school trip to the theatre was Voyage of the Dawn Treader and I was utterly entranced. Fairy tales, Wind in the Willows, Does Thomas the Tank Engine count? I read Watership down quite young and loved it, still do. Myths and Legends book, bible stories... the list is long.

I was having a discussion about how pervasive fantasy is, often without people realising. The fairy tales we tell our kids, heck even Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, those films many people watch without realising it is fantasy.

[Bev]

A.L. wrote: "CS Lewis. I remember my first school trip to the theatre was Voyage of the Dawn Treader and I was utterly entranced. Fairy tales, Wind in the Willows, Does Thomas the Tank Engine count? I read Wate..."

Indeed it is not all magical kingdoms, lord of the rings and so on. Fantasy takes many varied forms.

[Doug]

Mine was Dragons of Autumn Twilight. I then mowed through thirty some odd Dragonlance books. My parents wouldn't buy them for me (I was in 4th grade) so when I finished one, I would walk it back to the bookstore and exchange it for the next. lol

I think the next series I started was Dragon Prince, which it appears we will be reading in February. I'm interested to see what people think of it. I've read it so many times I could write a reasonable facsimilie from memory.

[Bev]

Doug wrote: "Mine was Dragons of Autumn Twilight. I then mowed through thirty some odd Dragonlance books. My parents wouldn't buy them for me (I was in 4th grade) so when I finished one, I would w..."

Me too Doug. I am guessing that it will find some new fans but that it will not be everyones cup of tea.

[Kevin]

My first series was Redwall, as I be[gin listing to the [book:Redwall: The Wall|846442] on audio cassette the summer I was in fourth grade. All my friends were reading them during the school year, and one of my teachers had all the books in his classroom. He loved to encourage people to read. I read the whole series many time the next school years.

Quickly afterwards, I read , which I was recommend my someone couple of years old, a couple of years before. My first thought of the book just from the cover was that it was about gambling as the golden compass locked a lot like a roulette wheel to me at the time.

[Parvathi]

I've heard a lot of fantasy stories in my native tongue whilst growing up, but in English, it was probably the fairy tales that sparked my interest. And the Enid Blyton books.

The first major fantasy I'd read was The Lord of the Rings, and Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights. There's been no looking back since :)

[Angela]

My first was LoTR when I was 16. Up until that point I hadn't read fantasy except for fairy tales.

[Lee]

Doug wrote: "Mine was Dragons of Autumn Twilight. I then mowed through thirty some odd Dragonlance books. My parents wouldn't buy them for me (I was in 4th grade) so when I finished one, I would w..."

Dragon Prince was one of my favorites growing up too. I haven't read it in years and I don't remember much about it. I doubt it'll hold up but I want to read it again for old times sake.

[Doug]

Nienna wrote: "Doug wrote: "Mine was Dragons of Autumn Twilight. I then mowed through thirty some odd Dragonlance books. My parents wouldn't buy them for me (I was in 4th grade) so when I finished o..."

I just reread the first trilogy last week (for about the fifth or sixth time). I think it still holds up.

I hate when I re-read an old favorite, and find I've outgrown it. Two notables that come to mind are the catcher in the rye and Atlas Shrugged. I loved both at certain points in my life, and found them to be lacking later.

[Ruby]

I read plenty of children's fantasy prior to discovering the F/SF section. I was 12 and I really started out RIGHT, with Jennifer Roberson's Chronicles of the Cheysuli and assorted Alan Dean Foster. I think the first of his I read were Glory Lane and the Spellsinger books.

[Daniele]

I started reading fantasy when I was fourtheen, and my first was, hear and behold, a wizard of earthsea, now, more than 10 years later I "know" that I was really lucky *_*

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

I really can't remember not having the fantasy bug.
;)

I've always loved fairy tales, fables, and mythology.
The stuff dreams are made of and of course ....
Unicorns!
:)

[Sandra]

In my teens I was into SF. I read Ursula Leguin´s The Left Hand of Darkness and a couple more that were SF, but read as fantasy, and got hooked.

The Hobbit was the first true fantasy, and of course it sent me right into Lord of the Rings.

[Greg]

Mrs. Moore's 8th grade English class.

The Crystal Shard

[Kevin]

Greg wrote: "Mrs. Moore's 8th grade English class.

The Crystal Shard"

Nice, that is the way to go!

[Chris]

Bill W.Y. wrote: "James and the Giant Peach . I think I was six or seven."

I forgot about this book! I loved it!

[Paul]

Can't recall my first exactly, but between ages 7 and 10 I would have read A Wrinkle in Time, Five Children and It, The Book of Three, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. One of those may have been my first, or I could be forgetting something else. Those were probably the four most memorable of my earliest fantasy reading.

[Bev]

Ruby wrote: "I read plenty of children's fantasy prior to discovering the F/SF section. I was 12 and I really started out RIGHT, with Jennifer Roberson's Chronicles of the Cheysuli and assorted Alan Dean Foster..."

Now the Cheysuli series I loved but never see or hear of. Shame really.

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

Yes....Bev!
Jennifer Roberson seems to fall through the cracks.
:(
I nominated her Karavans series a while ago.....didn't really get much enthusiasm.

[Joseph]

Brenda ╰☆╮ wrote: "Yes....Bev!
Jennifer Roberson seems to fall through the cracks.
:(
I nominated her Karavans series a while ago.....didn't really get much enthusiasm."

Maybe this will be the year I read the newest Del & Tiger books.

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

I haven't read the latest in the Tiger and Del series either.
Waiting for the right moment, I guess.
;)

[Bev]

Brenda ╰☆╮ wrote: "Yes....Bev!
Jennifer Roberson seems to fall through the cracks.
:(
I nominated her Karavans series a while ago.....didn't really get much enthusiasm."

What a shame, her work is really quite good.

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

I'm not giving up.
;)
I'll be sure to try again.
Maybe when she is closer to finishing the next book.