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

[Muddle head]

Its amazing going down the memory lane along with all of u guys, great responses. Though i never had the intentions, am sure someone looking for decent research material on Indian public's reading scenario, this would be the place for them! :)

[Sudheer]

I started reading since i was 15 yrs...my first book was the three musketeers(alexander dumas)

[munnabhai]

i read a gujarati novel some 6 yrs back and i am almost 21 now but i guess that doesnt count..
i started english literature around 3yrs back when i entered med school and the first book i read in english was ALCHEMIST by PAUOLO COELHO, but the book that really got me into reading was ANGELS N DEMONS by DAN BROWN..as u know its a page turner and it got me hooked to reading, soon i finished all his novles n then started searching for good authors as i was completely new n then read some indian authors n others..

[Bharadwaj]

I think i started reading when i was 8 or 9. It was famous five. Instantly fell in love with the series. I downloaded the entire series and read 1 or 2 books a day when i got a pc with internet.

[Amin Mohamed]

Goosebumps!

[Divya]

at the age of nine... started reading from my school library... "The family at red roofs" by Enid Blyton was my first book....

[Lakshmi]

I don't remember when I started reading :)but books have always been a part of my life:)

[Nemisha]

I started reading fairy tales by the time I was 4 or 5 years old
But harry potter and the sorcerer's stone was the first book which made me into a reader which was around 7 or 8 years old.

[Fahima]

I think I was 4. Started out with the ladybird books.

[Niranjan]

Disney books in kindergarten :P ... first novel I read was huckleberry finn.., age might have been around 8 yrs :) :)

[Sudhamay]

well can't remember what was the first book i read.
But i was amazed by the writing of Bankim Chandra, Satyajit Ray and Sarat chandra at very young age . And also Translated work of Jules Verne and Agatha Christi.

[Sheetal]

Oliver Twist was my first book when I was 12 or 13

[[deleted user]]

I was probably in class 4(9 years) when I grew reading as a habit and the books that got me into it are the Feluda stories by Satyajit Ray.

[Pallavi]

i used to read children books at the age of 10 and after that i became addicted to books and now here i am..

[Sudhamay]

today, while i was trying to add more books by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay into GR then it hit me. "রাধারাণী" Radharani was my first novel. I remembered something i long forgotten. I was bugging my Grandpa for stories then he gave this one to read. After reading it i cried so much everybody including my uncle and grandpa made fun of me. I was like 8 - 9 year old. i think.

[Saket]

Well ,I started late when I was 18 and 'master of the game' was my first novel

[Samridhi ✿]

I started reading at the age of 8.
Before,i was not into books much!
My first book was "The Little Red Riding Hood".

[Vivin]

Started at the age of 13. First book was The Strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde. Although i read storybooks and tinkle comics but this was my first novel

[Purvika]

I was 5 and my first book was Alice in wonderland

[Neha]

i was 15.n my first book is panchtantra bt i got addicted of books after reading book 5 point someone of chetan bhagat

[Lit Bug (Foram)]

My first book was either "The Secret of Spiggy Holes" or "The Valley of Adventure" by Enid Blyton, both of them full novel-sized, more than 300 pages each. Read them one after the other so no idea technically which was the first.

Age was 7 years, when I was in 2nd standard. Am not a book worm, rather, a bookoholic. Fought with my parents for reading "Kane and Able" by Jeffery Archer when I was 12, and denied permission, hid it under my frock and smuggled it to the bathroom to read when no one was looking. Had read "Robinson Crusoe" unabridged by the age of 10.

[Ahtims]

LOL, Foram, now I know that you are a female. I was wondering, with an interesting name like that. My parents were totally different [a rare thing]. My father was very open (in a nice kind of way) and introduced me to serious writers and even encouraged me to read Hardy, Maughm and even Lady Chatterley's lover - the last one ofcourse in my early twenties. Mother had a huge collection of classics as she was a MA Eng Lit.

[Lit Bug (Foram)]

Smitha wrote: "LOL, Foram, now I know that you are a female. I was wondering, with an interesting name like that. My parents were totally different [a rare thing]. My father was very open (in a nice kind of way) ..."

LOL Smitha, I never knew I'd be confused for a guy... My name means 'Fragrance' in Gujarati... pronounced as 'fo-rum'. But its a literary word, not a very common name.

My dad too encouraged me to read, just that he felt that the violence in it was maybe inappropriate for my age... But it was nice because I might not have read children's books after serious reading...

Am too an MA in Eng Lit, now beginning my Ph.D.

[Navjeetsingh]

Neha wrote: "i was 15.n my first book is panchtantra bt i got addicted of books after reading book 5 point someone of chetan bhagat"

I though we were talking about books. And what.. CB got you into reading ! What precisely did you read after that?

[Navjeetsingh]

I think I was in 6th standard (12 yrs of age) when I used to get those Blyton books from school library - which blyton I don't remember - was it Enid ? or Guide? but with certainty I remember that I never finished any of those 'famous/secret five/seven' whatever combination it was. I never understood their stories, on the down side I used to get depressed after turning a quarter of a book.
I turned away from books for more than a couple of years and it was after completing my schooling that I took a big leap and read, precisely in that order, Premchand , Saki, Oscar Wilde, Khalil Gibran , Yeats, Orwell and finally I found my love in Tolstoy, the 'God of art/literature' as said by Dostoyevsky, another favorite.

P.S I believe Indian schooling turn students away from books, what you guys say?

[Lit Bug (Foram)]

Navjeetsingh wrote: "I think I was in 6th standard (12 yrs of age) when I used to get those Blyton books from school library - which blyton I don't remember - was it Enid ? or Guide? but with certainty I remember that ..."

True. It's more about getting marks and knowing answers to questions than about inculcating a love for the subject concerned...

[Sudhamay]

Foram wrote: "Navjeetsingh wrote: "I think I was in 6th standard (12 yrs of age) when I used to get those Blyton books from school library - which blyton I don't remember - was it Enid ? or Guide? but with certa..."

Every little thing is rats race! parents expects their child to be first not participate and enjoy. Becoming first has meaning but it should not be all.
Even in arts like painting, dancing and singing you have to be in a competition and win !!!

I feel for these types of thinking . Children are loosing interest in subject but rather becoming a scoring machine ! But if there is no love for any subject how can there be a true invention. For arts a master piece.

[Lit Bug (Foram)]

Sudhamay wrote: "Foram wrote: "Navjeetsingh wrote: "I think I was in 6th standard (12 yrs of age) when I used to get those Blyton books from school library - which blyton I don't remember - was it Enid ? or Guide? ..."

yes, do you see how people are saying that the present age is Kalyug, kids have no appreciation for real art, no love for good things, etc. etc.??? And do you see how the school is a place that takes love and appreciation away from subjects by pushing children into a rat race?

Kids are told, 'you're good at painting' only if they get a prize. Otherwise, they're worthless. They're taught to get prizes, to be good at their subjects, instead of being taught to love the subjects, whether they are good at it or not. Cultivating appreciation is nowhere on the curriculum...

And when they grow up, their worth is calculated by their income alone. Society spurns the kids as worthless if they fail to earn a respectable amount...

It's a senseless society, I say. Indian society is a great eg of a worthless system.

[Dhiraj]

At age 13....my first book was "Tricky the Goblin" by Enid Blyton

[Lakshmi]

I don't remember when I started reading :) but books have always been a part of my life.

[Sai]

The first novel I read was "If Tomorrow Comes" by Sidney Sheldon, when I was 15. This is so far the best novel I have read...

[Bharat]

I started reading the novels at the age of 14..and my first novel was Yashasvi from sudha moorty.. Its in Kannada language. When I read that for the first time I didn't really know what was that about :-D but its my favorite one since I re read it during my college days

[[deleted user]]

I started reading novels at the age of 8...and my first novel was Famous Five (#14). I remember feeling scared that time whether I would be able to complete such a long book or no :). And since then, started my love for books...

[Aneeshya Ambika]

I started reading at the age of 8, My first book was believe it or not " Panchatantra"

[Nrithya]

i think i was 10 years my first book was Bimbo and Topsy by Enid Blyton. I think i woulnt mind reading it even today :-)

[Nrithya]

my first book was Bimbo and Topsy by Enid Blyton. I was reading Harry Potter 5 during my tenth board exams . I smuggled it into my science text book :-) much to my moms horror!!! she locked the book and I dint see it tell my exams got over :-( huh the nightmare

[Saritha]

I started reading at the age of seven or eight....I started with Enid Bylton books, Panchatantra, Tinkle and Archies comics and then progressed to R K Narayan's Malgudi Days....and I've been hooked to books ever since :)

[Navjeetsingh]

Oh my God! Folks seems to be up to the neck with Indian education system. Let's get back to the 'first book first author'

[Bhavya]

I started reading when i was around 11....my first book was nancy drew:no strings attached...and like you nrithya i was reading can you keep a secret during my board exams...got a lot of scolding because of it...:P

[Velu]

I was 17yrs old, when I completed my first novel, it is a Tamil novel - 'Parthiban Kanavu'!

[Shounak]

4or5 , Bengali books for children... :)

[Sanchita]

I started reading when I was 8 years old. It was the children's magazines chandamama and parag.

[VaidReads]

i started with enid blyton much as many.. around 11yrs i guess.. and then eventually to meg cabot, david baldaccis and sidney..

[[deleted user]]

i also started with nid blyton only...famous five when i was around 12 years.

[Lakshmi]

I began reading at abt 6 yrs or so.. i guess..I think I started with short stories and then moved on to enid blyton.

[[deleted user]]

I read my first book at the age of 17 and it was Five point someone. After that i read Dan Brown, sidney sheldon, stephen king, then moved to non-fiction and now i am back reading sidney sheldon's Master of the game.

[Anushree]

I started reading when I was 10... started with Hardy boys and chicken soup series! have been hooked on to books ever since..

[Niraj]

I was in 9/10th Standard i.e. around 15 years old where my 1st book ever read was Marathi book "Shyamchi Aai; written by Sane guruji.

[Lavanya]

I started reading books when I was 7/8... The Jataka tales and Amar chitra katha were my most beloved books. Small weekly/monthly sellers like twinkle, chutti-vigadan, eytc were my favs too =)

[Sumeetha]

I think I was seven or eight when I first read Rajagopalachari's Ramayana and Mahabharata.