Well if we're going to go flying off at a wild tangent, the most impressive novel I ever read was Asimov's 'The postitronic man.' It remains the only book (apart from HHGTTG) that I've read twice. It had a very hit and miss movie adaptation. The first half was pretty close to the book but then the second half just went very wrong. Where it did succeed was by making the end poignant and giving emotional resonance to the finale. The book brought a lump to my throat both times, just a brilliant ending.
The First Novel You Ever Read
- Thread starter McMurphy
- Start date
2DaveWixon
Shocked and Appalled!
That's a good way to look at it, of course -- and in fact, there is another thread on Chron on that specific topic.
But, just to give you a response: while I noted having read one or more of the "Mushroom Planet" books when very young, the book that pulled me into science fiction was Double Star by Robert Heinlein. I can truly say it changed my life -- but I can also say that it would not have been able to do so had I not been pulled into an addiction to reading, by all of those books I read earlier....
Like so many others, I don't remember what books I read first. More than half a century has passed since and my memory isn't that good. I'm pretty sure I could read novels before I started school because I have vague memories of him taking me to buy my own books before we moved to Birmingham (I was 6 then). That implies I could read by then and hadn't learned that recently. I vaguely remember a copy of "Adrift in the stratosphere" from that time. From my second Primary School, I remember a copy of "The reluctant dragon" on loan from the headmaster and "The hobbit" bought at his recommendation. I also remember having to go through a new set of standard readers every time I changed school (at 6 and 10). The only one of these I remember liking was Kenneth Grahame - more likely from a sense of humour or my father's left-wing ideology.
