Books that got you into reading.

[[deleted user]]

I was never much of a reader until I was about 16 and I had just gotten together with my boyfriend and it was his mother that got me into reading romance novels. She loaned me a copy of A Kingdom of Dreams by Judith McNaught and I was hooked, and for about 4-5 years I read anything and everything that was historical romance. Then I picked up a copy of Dark Challenge by Christine Feehan and my Love of Paranormal Romance was born and I have been obsessed ever since :)

[Maddy]

I've always been a reader. As a young teen it was the books of John & Patricia Beatty, Sally Watson, and Eloise Jarvis McGraw. As I got older it was Georgette Heyer and Sylvia Thorpe. Nowadays it's Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Nalini Singh, and Anne Bishop among others.

I still really enjoy re-reading Sally Watson. I credit Ms. Watson with my love for history. And I believe she's the author who got me fully hooked on reading.
The Hornet's Nest is one of my absolute faves!

[Celeste]

I was never a reader. My husband and I were going on vacation w/out kids about 5 years ago and while looking for a magazine for the plane I came across a book from Mary Balogh. I have been addicted every since.

[Margaret]

the boxcar children when I was a kid.... the hunger games more resently

[Ali]

gosh i think i was born a reader, suffer from withdrawal symptoms if i can't get my fix.

i went through the classics like Alice in Wonderland to Pride & Prejudice (#team Darcy)!then the nancy drew era (hmmm havent seen one of those in years)...hardy boys was my most hated books!(sorry)

discovered Sweet Valley high/Mills & Boons/Harlequin...and finally Paranormal..so many favourites i cant begin to mention

[Vanessa]

Sweet Valley High! Lol my first series and then I just read anything that was about high school, loved the Harry potter books and then I was just reading anything that looked interesting ( or if I looked the cover lol). Then after high school I stopped reading for a long time and back in my first year of college I found this site ironically and started looking up books- I think I read BDB series first. Now I can't stop, sometimes I don't even add the books on this site because I forget to and by the time I remember I have read four to five books....ok I am lazy. The last book I read was Julie Kagawa's The Eternity Cure second book in her new series.

[Venecia]

The wonderful wizard of oz series,I was about 5 or 6 and I fell in love. After that I read anything and everything I could get my hands on. I never went anywhere without book, still don't except now it is my kindle or ipad.

[Kathy]

When I was little my grandma would read to me all the time. It could be a book she was at the time or a kid book. I just remember her reading to me. She get me into books so little that I would go around around get books thought I like the cover of and when I could read on my own I had a lot of books to read. So now I will read anything. But I do not remember my first book. I just remember asking my grandma all the time to read Jane Austin. I love anything she wrote & still do.

[~Brandy~]

The very first book that I read all by myself was Little House on the Prarie. Also, my mom used to read Shel Silverstein to me all the time. I also credit my best friend for my love of fantasy. She had this book with a picture of a dragon on it and I thought it was pretty. She let me borrow it and I absolutely devoured it!! Thank you Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton for colloborating on The Elvenbane. Many more books have influenced my reading habits, too many to mention.

[Julie]

I was an avid reading in high school, then college but got out of reading when I got married, hectic job with travel and then kids. I got back to reading about a book every other day when I started trying to 'not' eat and lose weight. Then I lost myself in Karen Marie Moning highlander books recommended by my son's friends Mother. Of course that was 7 years ago and I never looked back! I enjoy romance, fantasy and some sci-fi fantasy as well.

[Rox]

I think that the fist book that got me into reading was 20000 leagues under the seas by Jules Verne and I haven't stopped reading ever since . I was 11 years old I think .

[Sonia]

mine was once upon a time sets with the books and tapes lol i wish i had them still so my kids could read them

[Audrey]

Harry potter series. I got bet a dollar to read the first one lol

[J.]

The Time Machine by H G Wells in third grade.

[Ceej]

and
Then there were the Nancy Drew books too. Oh just so many. Honestly though I guess it was because my mom would read those to us till we knew them by heart.

[Angela]

I don't remember ever NOT reading. My mom used to come in and yell as me for standing and reading in the windowsill by the moonlight. The earliest books I remember from when I was young were the Nancy Drew series and Misty of Chincoteague books by Marguerite Henry. After that it was Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. I remember I even wrote Beverly a letter and she answered me. I felt so special.

[J.L.]

I've always read, but I have to admit the books that got me reading paranormal romance was JR Ward, Blackdagger Brotherhood

[Rebekah]

I actually grew up, and didn’t like to read. I read some; Little Women, Sweet Valley High, etc…, but never anything that made me want to read more. I know it’s cheesy, but 4 years ago, I read the Twilight series because everyone I knew was. My mom thought it was funny when I said, “I didn’t know there were actually enjoyable stories in these books. What do I read now?” So she handed me the last book Kathleen E. Woodiwiss wrote before she died, . Since then, I have been hooked to any and all romance novels.

[Wendy]

I don't remember when I started to read (have major gaps in my childhood memory). I was the only one in my family to read, so I was always told off for reading versus being encouraged to read!

I went through lots of "stages"... What I do remember reading though is Trixie Beldon when I was about 10, then I went on to read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. When I was about 14-15 I read every Sackett book by Louis L'Amour I could get my hands on. Went on to read fantasy books by devouring Lord of the Rings books. Then I found Mills & Boons and read them by the box full. Then one day when I was about 17-18, I discover Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss and my love of romance books was born.

Sandra Brown introduced me to my favourite romance sub-genre, romantic suspense. Many years later, as a teen librarian I was getting very curious about how many parents were asking about whether their teens should be reading Twilight. I thought I might just read the first one as I was completely not into vampires OR reading in the first person... Needless to say, I read all four and now I am a huge fan of PNR. :)

[Ann aka Iftcan]

I think that I put in here earlier that I credited a friend with starting me reading sci-fi fantasy. Well, I went down to see my "big" brother (he's 5 years older than I am) and we got to talking, and I realized--HE was the one that got me started. When he was about 14, he found Edgar Rice Burroughs and his Tarzan of the Apes books. Then he found John Carter of Mars's first story A Princess of Mars. Needless to say, as is common with many younger siblings--I didn't think that there was anything HE could do that I couldn't do also--and that 5 year age gap, as well as my being female AND having some serious health issues didn't even enter into my brain. So I started reading those. . .

My Mum used to punish me by DENYING me my books. (Altho I'd hide under the sheets with a flashlight and read anyway.)

[Brittney]

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit was what showed me i could go to another world!!! :-)

[James]

Grandpa owned a book store when I was growing up. Books were a welcome gift and fast forming addiction.

I don't remember the first ones I started too young. But I still have (packed away) The Black Stallion Series by Farley Mowatt, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery, and the entire Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel.

[Annie]

When I was a child, you wouldn't see me without my nose in a book! I know, in elementary school, it was baby sitter's club and sweet valley high. Then I started on R.L. Stine books...I read all of the V.C. Andrews (flowers in the attic) books in high school. In high school I also really got into Stephen King (my favorite book of all time is The Stand). I read some in college and once i was out of college, i quit reading for a bit (although I started The Harry Potter series after book 5 had been released...) ...but once I started my first job at the company I am with now (7 years ago) and was allowed to wear my ipod/headphones all day long, I started in on audiobooks. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my audiobooks and literally have 50 in my computer waiting for me. Right now I am in the middle of book 11 of the Sookie Stackhouse/southern vampire mysteries. I LOVE vampires and paranormal but have not and have no interest in Twighlight. I have also read a ton of classics, Huck Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird (my second fave book), Anne of Green Gables, among many others.

[Hannah]

I've always been a major book devouer, I went through some of the classic like wind in the willows, little women and Alice in wonderland. Then I got into my early teens and found everything's eventual by Stephan king so I was hooked on horror for a few year. But the one book that stands out to me is a book my aunty gave me it was was incubus dreams by laurell K Hamilton I then read all her books Though now I've stopped enjoying her work ,I'm thankful it opened me up to the world of paranormal romance and urban fantasy.

[Casey]

I was an avid Babysitter's Club and SVH reader too. Also Gone With The Wind and Scarlett got me hooked early. And always swapping Nora Roberts book with my Grandmother.

[Brittney]

Casey wrote: "I was an avid Babysitter's Club and SVH reader too. Also Gone With The Wind and Scarlett got me hooked early. And always swapping Nora Roberts book with my Grandmother."

OMG! I so forgot about the Babysitter's Club!!!

[Stephanie]

The first book I ever read was James and the Giant Peach, and I still own a copy of that book. After that I would only read a little every blue moon, then about 6 years ago I started back reading, Twilight and I have been reading ever since.

[Brittany]

I started early my third grade teacher read the first Harry Potter book in class. After that I got the next two and I became obsessed. Now that I have a little boy I am reading to him even though he is only one and a half. He loves Biscuit, the yellow puppy books. I was into Harry Potter, Black Beauty, WHite Fang, and Call of the Wild. Now I read everything.

[Katy]

The books I remember reading were books on mythology. Greek mythology, Norse mythology. I had been reading various stories, then found the beautifully illustrated books in my elementary school library. I tried to check one out, and the librarian said I was too young...
There were also some Indian legends, and tales written around Indian legends, that I read as well. Titles all lost in time...

[Julie]

I always remember being a reader since I was very young. I think it helped when Mom read to us as children. Something I have done for my kids when they were also very small. I think its a great legacy to pass to children. Today, I like to research health/diet via reading. Also like fantasy, romance and anything to do with the like. In my teens I read this as well, but a lot of autobiographies, biographies and history.

[☔️ Stormy Day Reader]

My Mom was a librarian so as you can imagine I read early. My favorites were Beverly Cleary & Judy Blume and then in 4th grade I read the Sweet Valley books then I moved on to authors like John Saul & Steven King

As an adult I'd only read Fantasy and non-fiction. The Midnight Breed series introduced me to romance and I have been hooked since.

[Ashley]

The first book I remember truly enjoying, other than Island of the Blue Dolphins, was The Great Gatsby. It took reading to a different place in my life. It was exciting, and dramatic, and opened up my world. From there I read Hemingway, Shakespeare, Dickens. So The Great Gatsby for me, is my first true love of Literary Fiction.

I'm not really sure what took me towards Urban Fantasy...Steven King led to other horror authors then my interest in ghosts to the paranormal. Now I read more UF than Literature....but I'll always have a soft spot for Fitzgerald...always.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Thank God everyone is different Ashley. If I'd had to depend on the Great Gatsby to set me reading I'd still be trying to get through it. I'm NOT a fan of Fitzgerald at all. Also not a fan of Hemingway or Dickens. But I do enjoy Shakespeare, Austen, Poe, Defoe, Welles, and Verne.

[J.T.]

Sweet Valley High and Judy Blume books were some of the firsts along with The Princess Bride which is the first book that made me laugh out loud. Still ranks as some of my favorites.

[Ashley]

I think Fitzgerald worked for me because I needed to be challenged, so much of what I read before it was Goosebumps, and like J.T. Sweet Valley High. Gatsby is one of those books you either love or hate.

Now a days I read Stacia Kane, Patricia Briggs, Kelly Armstong. LOL saying my tastes have changed would be a vast understatement.

[han⚢]

I always read as a young kid, but The Babysitters Club was what really got me hooked into reading. Also The Mermaid Secret by Vicki Blum. I'd daydream like mad over that book and pretend I was the main character Danya.

[han⚢]

Pat wrote: "it seems I've always read and the habit gets more & more addictive with every book I read. I really have no idea what the first book was."

Yes, same, I've always loved reading :)

[Ann aka Iftcan]

I grew up in a family of bookworms. So I don't think I ever had any chance at NOT being one. Even my sister, who suffers from dyslexia reads. It took her a long time to figure out HOW to do it, but she did. And this was back in the days before anyone realized that dyslexia even existed.

[J.A.]

I started reading adult books at 12...and it was those that really drew me in...



Pure fantasy and science fiction were the areas I read the most back then....

All you young pups who grew up on Harry Potter are making me feel a bit old...

[Jess]

Honestly, I hated reading when I was a young child, I found it boring and yes just that, boring! Then when I turned 11 I had the Harry potter series pushed on me. Books and I have been best friends ever since.

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse]

King of the Wind
White Fang
The World's Worst Fairy Godmother
Little Blue Eyes

[Elizabeth]

My Ma read to me a lot when I was very little. But the first series I remember reading on my own was Nancy Drew.

[Alan]

All comic books and then Franklin Dixons "Hardy Boy" series.

[Sandra]

Nancy Drew I think was the first and then probably Judy Blume books.

[K.D.]

These two books really turned me on to reading as a kid.
The Black Cauldron
Ender's Game

[Patricia]

I may sound geeky, but what got me into reading were the books they used in school to teach us how to read. So books like Nate the Great, Magic School Bus and Gregory the Terrible Eater, to name a few. Mix it with the fact I loved reading encyclopedias about dinosaurs and animals. All in all, my first real book series were probably the Phantom Stallion and Magic Tree House books. Ah, good times indeed. :)

[Amber]

R.L. Stine was my main author growing up, and that pulled me into reading more.

[[deleted user]]

I'd probably have to go with Enid Blyton...I've been reading ever since I was a youngen but this was the author the spiked my interest it was then L.M Montgomery.

[Shera (Book Whispers)]

Amber wrote: "R.L. Stine was my main author growing up, and that pulled me into reading more."

Me too! I stuck with Fear Street and Thrillers.

I gave my huge collection to my local library when I out grew them. (But I fear they just tossed them to the thrift store.)

[Rachel]

Oh my goodness, there are sooo many books. But the first PNR author I fell in love with was LJ Smith in the 1990s. That's right, I was reading about vampires before they were cool ;)

But I also definitely put some time in with Fear Street and others. Did anyone else read Lurlene McDaniel about the teenagers dying from chronic diseases?