At what age did u start reading? and what was your first book?

[Anjali]

I started at about 5 ...it was a birthday gift ...book called Noddy....my dad refused to tell me fairy tales ..he used to to tell me more fun in reading so i graduated to fairy tales...after that at age of 9 to Enid blyton..oh those where the days ..a govt. moving library used to come near our house on sat ...oh i used to wait for my ration of 2 books a fortnight

[Parikhit]

Anjali wrote: "I started at about 5 ...it was a birthday gift ...book called Noddy....my dad refused to tell me fairy tales ..he sued to to tell me more fun in reading so i graduated to fairy tales...after that a..."

Most of us started with Enid Blyton :) I still read them :P
Well, if my kids don't read Enid Blyton I shall disown them :P

[Ankit]

well as far as i can remember...my first ever full length novel read was "stranger in the mirror". the yr was 2005. boy i loved sidney sheldon!!!

[Lubna]

The first book I remember was a prize in my kindergarden for reading! It was called Kitty-kitten. I still remember the story. It was a kitten who fell off the truck while the family was moving to another place. She was adopted by another family which had a dog called Rover. Kitty-kitten and Rover had a nice time playing together and they lived happily ever after. I was 4 years old then.
I also remember trying to read books which my parents read, or Readers Digest and not understanding the stories. Letters from a Pixie was a sad story in Readers Digest, it was about a child suffering from autism. I did not understand much and this story really scared me! I learnt a lesson and never touched books not meant for me again.
My favourite classics as a kid were Black Beauty and Robinson Crusoe.

[Aqiul]

My first book, which actually got me into reading fiction, was The Godfather. This was during junior college when I needed a hobby to wile away the time spent traveling in trains in bombay :D

I had read a few books before that, most enforced by school syllabus, but nothing really got my attention the way Mr Puzo did.

[Vinoth]

Aqiul wrote: "My first book, which actually got me into reading fiction, was The Godfather. This was during junior college when I needed a hobby to wile away the time spent traveling in trains in bo..."

It would have been Amazing , to start off with Godfather.what was your 2nd book and how did you feel after reading it after Godfather??

[Ankit]

I started reading at the age of 14 and my first book was none other than The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

[Gayathri]

The first book I read was the non detail of my elder cousin "Oliver Twist" and I was 6 years I think (2nd Std). But even earlier I had lost the charm of Tinkle and Gokulam, as they never could stand an hour, for my reading pace. So I can safely guess I was hooked to reading by 5 :)

Even now, my parents get horrified when I take a book, because it means they cant get me do any other work including eating, cleaning, bathing or even sleeping, till I complete that book. :)

[Ahtims]

my parents will sympathize with yours, they have gone through the same thing.

[Gayathri]

Now they are a bit confused in choosing their worst enemy, "Books or mobiles"..

Aah.. They know less that I read ebooks in my smartphone too

[Gargi]

I started reading when I was 5. I learnt English reading with the help of my KG textbook. As regards Hindi, I used to bother my Ma all day to read for me, so one day she left me home with a paper giving instructions of pronunciation of all 'matras'. I have read hundreds of books since, though I don't remember the 'first' one.

[Shikha]

I started reading very late ,probably after finishing college and my first book was The Fourth Estate Jeffery Archer but I take my first book always as The Alchemist since it was that effective that it changed something inside me.The same case is with another book Kashi Marnanmukti. It made me realise the inner me.

[Shourie]

I guess the undying, unflinching and only true love of my life, reading started pretty early, might be around 8 when I read Heidi by Johanna Sypri. That was when I was in my 5th class and I had read all the rapid reading books prescribed till the 9th class which included Gullivers Travels, Robinson Crusoe and some other classic works of literature. As time progressed, it has just gone from better to the best and even better.

Agatha Christie in my 9th class "The Pale Horse" was my first big introduction to fiction(thriller), then Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead (fiction, philosophy) was my stairway to heaven. Since then every single book I read has made me a better judge of human demeanor and helped me be mature. I am glad I picked the first book up and it goes on even today.

[Nouman]

LOL....you people will laugh when i say when i started reading books :D
I just started this year.... at the age of 22 :P
My first book was Of course I love you...till i find someone better
Well, yeah i know...that title is way too bad
But after that book, it was all murder,mystery & crime books. :D

[Vinoth]

Nouman wrote: "LOL....you people will laugh when i say when i started reading books :D
I just started this year.... at the age of 22 :P
My first book was Of course I love you...till i find someone better
Well, y..."

not just the title Nouman....even the book wasn't good. it was a ok read for time passing. it was as if a friend of mine was rambling and raving after having a few shots :D


and btw its never too late to start reading..

[Kunal]

I've always believed that if you read 'Fountainhead' as a work of fiction, it makes for an extremely rewarding read. If you try to twist it into a philosophy or self-help manual, it suffers. I read it like a fiction novel and for a rather big book, it is uncharacteristically engrossing; fascinating, even.

[❄️ Propertea Of Frostea ❄️ Bitter SnoBerry ❄]

I think I started reading at 5, all those thin picture books and comics....

Then when I was 8 years old I started reading short books like Goosebumps and Disney...

At 10 I took to 200+ novels, with the 10th book of Circue Du Freak - Lake of Souls.

When I was 13 I read my first 300+ book - Journey to the River Sea.

And now at the age of 15 I've read Dragon Rider which is 500+, and soon Breaking Dawn will break the record at 700+....

:)

[Manav]

The first book I read was a Chetan Bhagat one. One Night @ The Call Centre at the 14 years old. But I used to read a lot of short story books for children from the age of 9.

[Durga]

My first casual reading was when I was fourteen and read an abridged version of "The Hound of Baskerville" during my summer vacation. The abridged version may not have done proper justice to the classic, but it sure got folks like me interested.

[Pallavi]

I started reading when i was 10, with enid blyton's famous five series...

[Ravi]

I read my first book when I was 12, and it was a Hardy Boys books titled The Billion Dollar Ransom. I still remember the whole story. It got me hooked to a lot of other hardy boys' books. And they were all awesome !!

[Ravi]

@Pallavi - They were brilliant, weren't they? Have you read the Secret Seven and the Five Find-Outers?? They were also amazing.

[Ahtims]

yes, yes, even now I reread Enid Blyton, sometimes along with my son, to discuss the stories. My son has finished the whole secret seven and most of famous five books during his vacation, and is now about to tackle other EB books.

[Ravi]

Ah, I can't believe I am saying this, but you are raising your kids right. Brilliantly in fact..:)

[Pallavi]

@Ravi: I still read the those:)
@Smitha: EB's books are just what a kid needs to kindle his imagination...... Wish i cud go back to those days...

[Ahtims]

but many have denigrated her books saying these teach unwanted prototypic behavior patterns - like girls having to do more work and obey boys etc., still those are lovely stories, though a bit repetitive.

[Muddle head]

Durga wrote: "My first casual reading was when I was fourteen and read an abridged version of "The Hound of Baskerville" during my summer vacation. The abridged version may not have done proper justice to the cl..."

Is that ur 7th class non-detailed text in state syllabus? :)

[Muddle head]

Smitha wrote: "but many have denigrated her books saying these teach unwanted prototypic behavior patterns - like girls having to do more work and obey boys etc., still those are lovely stories, though a bit rep..."

Aaah... where is it like that in the Enid Blyton books? I remember the Famous Five most.... if Anne is a typical girl there (always willing to prepare food, very sensitive), George is the ever-relevant tomboy's character, dnt find any sexual discrimination or stereotyping here.. or are they talking of the parents? 'obey boys'?? - never found it in any of her books that i read....

[Ahtims]

After I read that statement, I scrutinized EB and found that it is true to some extent, the boys are slightly ordering the girls about and are almost always banning them from risky adventure. And if you see, washing dishes, preparing food etc almost always falls on the head of girly type girls (excluding George, of course).

[Gayathri]

@Smitha: Yeah I agree.. You could see those in every one of those - Secret seven and Famous five. But of course they didnt matter then. Should it now?

Aside, have anyone watched those Doordarshan telecast of the famous five series? I think it was aired on Sunday noons..

[Ahtims]

doesn't matter to me, but my son is growing up to be such an MCP ( maybe friend's influence, and am scared these books will set him off- he hates Barbie dolls, pink color, colorful schoolbags, jewellery items etc. etc.; and I so want him to be a 'modern' metro man)
Have known of those series, but couldn't watch even one episode

[Mansee]

He he Smitha-- I dont understand why but I guess many boys start off like that and many girls too-- absolutely hate the opposite gender but I guess when they near college life, they change (I hope so for your sake :P)

[Gayathri]

Ha ha.. Dont know if I was too tomboy-ish.. I hated all those too !! except pink color (to a moderate level)..

I have watched it a few times. But things and people in my vivid imagination looked so different in the TV, that I was horrified and stopped watching :P I liked them better in the way I imagined.

[Anjali]

@ elgee so true ...we like some stuff better in the way i imagined ..

@ Smitha i do find EB books a bit sexist sometimes when i read them now...sometimes when i want to be a kid again :) ...i am trying to read the St Clare and Malory Towers series :)

[Ravi]

@Smitha - I am continuously amazed by the analysis of everything on the basis of gender. If it has a female character as a protagonist, it gets labeled as feminist. Otherwise, vice versa.

I really don't know how much of this analysis is useful. Take this instance. They are kids' books. I am pretty sure we realize their "sexism" only after we grow up. Now, that can be construed as either good or bad. But, the question still remains - do we really need to analyze every work of literature that way? Even the kids' stuff?

[Muddle head]

I have grown up on quiet a sizeable dose of Enid Blyton's books. And i do hate pink, barbie dolls, jewellery, and the colorful schoolbags. But i still grew up to a 'metroman' - i don't 'abuse' the women in my house - i don't let my mom or my wife cook for me or do the dishes. I try to cook for them as much as i can and i do the dishes too when the maid is absent.

Maybe when i was a child i concentrated more on the adventure/mystery aspects and other things rather than on who is doing the dishes and who is preparing food etc, and i believe most kids do so too. Else it would be difficult to find kids some 'socially correct' classics to read!

and i never knew of the tv series on DD! Though i faintly remember a visual of a famous five story - not sure if it's just my imagination or i had really watched it sometime!

[Mansee]

Anjali wrote: "@ elgee so true ...we like some stuff better in the way i imagined ..

@ Smitha i do find EB books a bit sexist sometimes when i read them now...sometimes when i want to be a kid again :) ...i am ..."

Malory towers and st. claires....wow! I really enjoyed those!

[Muddle head]

I read a couple of Malory Towers once as i was finished with the Famous Five and Secret Seven and still hadn't enough of Enid Blyton. I remember i felt like i was alone in a girls hostel when i read those books, no wonder i hardly remember anything of them :) Any other 'boys' who read Malory Towers or Nancy Drew?

[Ravi]

@Aditya - I did read a lot of Nancy Drew when i was a kid. Actually, I had no idea they were supposed to be for girls, as they say. I liked them, so I read them. I also read the super-mysteries where Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew come together to solve a case. They were also brilliant..:)

[Aastha]

I was in fifth when I first read a book .it was the mystery of the invisible thief by enid Blyton


Enid BlytonThe Mystery of the Invisible Thief

[Muddle head]

Ravi wrote: "@Smitha - I am continuously amazed by the analysis of everything on the basis of gender. If it has a female character as a protagonist, it gets labeled as feminist. Otherwise, vice versa.

I really..."

Agree with that part totally! Pointless and useless analysis!

[Stuti]

I was four years old. And I don't think I can forget the sense of unadulterated exhilaration I felt after finishing Malory Towers, the third part. :)

[Sanjeev]

Started off with enid blyton at 6 yrs n den progressed till i read read lotr wen i was 10.

[Ahtims]

@all regarding EB books and sexism, and gender discrimination in general. Yes, I agree. It is futile trying to analyze each and every sentence and finding faults . When I was a child I never realized the gender discrimination; only now do I do so. Maybe we are so much sensitized towards some issues that somehow we tend to be biased. @Adi, there is hope for me then - my son too would grow up to be sensible :D
My son is now immersed in EB and other adventure books. He read Swami and Friends halfway through and said it was too dull - it shocked me, but then I decided not to pester him now reg. the same and make him read the book after his thirst for adventures and mysteries is satiated.

[Sarang]

I read my first book at 7. It was a Marathi book with a name something like Prince and the Magical Chair. Later I got sucked into Grimm's Fairy Tales and Russian Folk tales. :-) Hope I am welcome to share this.

[Gaurav]

tough to remember exactly when...ive been into reading comics for quite some time when I was 10 years.. then shifted to novels...with hardy boys being d first series if my memory serves correct.. then i guess couple of classics ...then tried agatha christie...

[Ananthu]

15 :)

[* chocomusic *]

At the age of 9

[King☚☠☛ℱα₪ℊ ☄ ℒïካ₭ïᾔ ℘αℜⓀ ♬]

I started at I think 5....but read a book at 10, Circue du Freak(a vampire series) by Darren Shan.

[King☚☠☛ℱα₪ℊ ☄ ℒïካ₭ïᾔ ℘αℜⓀ ♬]

Numey♥{Gifted~Cats*Books}☮ wrote: "I think I started reading at 5, all those thin picture books and comics....

Then when I was 8 years old I started reading short books like Goosebumps and Disney...

At 10 I took to 200+ novels, wi..."

Who is the 'show-off' now??? :)