Following from Steve's comments on the albums thread, what were the top 3 books from your formative years (not counting Penthouse et al.)? Any have a big impact that when later reread you thought what was the fuss about?
For me, my 3 were
Lord of the Rings - Tolkein
Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell
My Life - Leon Trotsky
The only one I have not been able to reread is LOTR, found it totally boring. when I was a teenager I thought it the best thing since sliced bread.
Ian
I think this thread is a repetition of a similar one about a year ago.
Unlike you I do not have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all posts, perhaps I should stay in more...
After this thread is done we can do Forum posts of our youth :)
Ok.....
Boring choice but LOTR too.
One day in the life of Ivan Denosovitch
1984
Lord of The Rings :) Can we take that hear read unless otherwise stated?
So leaving that out...
The Dark is Rising series
Swallows and Amazons
Anything by Douglas Reaman
Just to be different, it was the first DragonLance trilogy for me, bought from a 2nd hand book shop while on holiday in Scarborough. I'd heard of LOTR, but it had always sounded like Dickens-does-fantasy if that makes sense? In a long-winded, hard to wade through kind of way? It wasn't until I saw the films that that first impression changed.
The ones I can remember clearly are:
Lord of the Rings (recommended to my Mum by Cambridge University students in the mid '70s)
Conan the Barbarian series by Robert E Howard
Enid Blytons Famous Five series (These books really got me into reading as a child plus I loved the illustrations, such wonderful pen-and-ink line work 8). I can still remember sitting on my Mums knee having these read to me.)
Trips to the library (including mobile ones) were frequent, but these book titles have faded from memory :(.
Enid Blyton Famous Five;
W E Johns Biggles Series;
Don Featherstone's Wargames.
Mollinary
Two out of those last three I was not expecting Mollinary!
Not really books but mine are:
1. Commando monthly comic books (still got a load I keep rereading)
2. Battle weekly comic (still got some of these as well)
3. Tiger comic
The Faraway tree books by Enid Blyton that I've recently read to my little daughter at bedtime.
All of the Narnia books
The Bible (read it once when I was a kid, apparently some great battles in Joshua.I don't remember them though!)
Oopps that's more than 3 sorry!
I am one of those boys that struggled with reading - probably because most of the books in the school library were girls books or worse still books on school subjects. I much preferred to be outside kicking a ball about or riding my bike. ;)
That said I was, and still am an avid reader of reference materials as long as the material relates to military history.
My youth reading was mags like Warlord, Eagle and Victor.
My reading now is pretty much the same. When I do pick up fiction it usually has a military or sporting theme.
Mad Lemmey,
It all depends on what you mean by "yoof"! The first list takes me up to about age 11. This one takes me to about 15:
Battle of Bosworth Field. A.L.Rowse
The Franco-Prussian War. Michael Howard
The Fleet That had to Die. Richard Hough
The last two still on my bookshelves. Only the third of the first list still makes that criterion.
Mollinary
Michael Moorcock
Elric
Hawkmoon
Did not discover Moorcock until my late 20's, he is now one of my favourites. I am currently reading the Colonel Pyat series of books.
For me:
LOTR and the hobbit
longest day by Cornelius Ryan
Bridge to far by cornelius ryan
The eagle has landed by Jack Higgins
I'll stick in Tove Jansen's Moomin books. Happy memories!
Arthur C Clarke - The City and the Stars and Clidhood's End.
Ian Fleming - the Bond books.
C.S. Forester - the Hornblower series.
A A Milne - Complete oevre
Charlie Wesencraft - Practical Wargaming
Charles Grant - The Wargame
Still read all three...
Age nine getting a famous five book :D
then age 12 my uncle emigrating to South Africa and giving me all his Sven Hassel books. Still cant go in a charity shop without piucking one up ???
Formative years books eh?
Well, LotR / The Hobbit / Silmarillion appears to be one we can take for granted, and they were definitely part of my formative years, so...
Where the Wild Things Are
My grandfather took me to the library every Tuesday to get three books. Every Tuesday, one of my books was Where the Wild Things Are. My mum read it too me every night. With voices and sound effects and everything.
The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius - Michael Moorcock
The book (short stories) that made me realise i likes anti-heroes better than heroes.
A 1972 copy of the Oxford English Dictionary (abridged)
I loved reading that and exploring the words, their origins, etc...
The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius - Michael Moorcock
The book (short stories) that made me realise i likes anti-heroes better than heroes.
only discovered Moorcock in my 20's - great stuff :) :)
Quote from: Sandinista on 23 January 2013, 07:39:17 AM
The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius - Michael Moorcock
The book (short stories) that made me realise i likes anti-heroes better than heroes.
only discovered Moorcock in my 20's - great stuff :) :)
When i was 8 years old i became very ill (Stills Disease) and my neighbour gave me his copy of Lord of the Rings to read. It took me a year to get through, and i still have that battered old copy.
Then he gave me The Queen of Swords, which led me to seek out more Moorcock, including Jerry Cornelius (from the local library).
When i was 10, he invited my to my first D&D session - The Palace of the Silver Princess. I had no idea what i was getting into, nor how much it would hook me. Sometimes there were 20 people (family and friends) in the room all playing - youngest 8 years old, oldest i guess around 45. Sessions were every Saturday, lasting often 9am to gone midnight.
I owe many years of happy gaming and geekery to that chap. Thanks Pete!