# What was the first book you fell in love with? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080 "2002-05-14T20:50:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/1 "2002-05-14T20:50:33Z")
[sub]Mods: I believe this is the correct forum for this poll. If you feel it’s more approprite for Cafe Society, please feel free to move it.[/sub] So, what was that first book that you read (as a child or adult) that you couldn’t put down? The book that when you finished it you said “Wow! That was a great book!” For me, that book, and the book that turned me on to my love of reading was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. I read it for a book report in second grade. From the day I finished that book, reading became a major passion of mine. My parents would regularly find me sleeping in bed with a book. So, what was that first book that really turned you on to reading? Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/2 "2002-05-14T20:55:58Z")
**The Great Gatsby** pretty much did it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/3 "2002-05-14T20:59:18Z")
The Silver Chair, by C. S. Lewis. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was great, as were most of the rest of that series, but The Silver Chair really made me say, “Wow,” even thogh I had no idea I was being indoctrinated. I just thought it was a good story. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/4 "2002-05-14T20:59:46Z")
Edgar Rice Burroughs’s _“A Princess of Mars”_. Surprised, right? 😃 My grandmother gave this book to me while I was in the second grade. I went through the “Mars Series”, then _“Tarzan”_, thence on to a lifetime of enjoying a good book. Using hindsight, this may have been the greatest gift she ever gave me, and there were many others. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/5 "2002-05-14T21:11:33Z")
It would have to be _Watership Down_ for me. The first “assigned” book I fell in love with, which opened my boundaries beyond sci-fi and fantasy in terms of entertainment was _To Kill a Mockingbird_. ---
**Author:** ![Regina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@Regina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regina)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/6 "2002-05-14T21:13:44Z")
though though though That’s what I get for not previewing for the first time ever. John Carter, I, too, loved the Burroughs Mars series, but did not get to them until a little later on. ---
**Author:** ![Nortia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Nortia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nortia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/7 "2002-05-14T21:18:18Z")
_Watership Down_ was the first book I read that I couldn’t put down (and also read again and again and again…) ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/8 "2002-05-14T21:34:45Z")
_An American Ghost_ by Chester Aaron, it’s about a boy whose home is swept away by a river and he’s trapped there with a mountain lion. I loved that book and am still ticked that it went missing during a house move about 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/9 "2002-05-14T22:06:54Z")
**The Wonderful Wizard of Oz** , by L. Frank Baum. Dover Edition. The edition is actually important as in the Dover Edition (as well as the better Books of Wonder edition) the artwork has all been restored. The WWoO was origially a lavishly illustrated book with monochrome line drawings on every page, the characters interacting with the words (Dorothy leaning on a capital “T” as though it was a fencepost for example), and had beautiful color prints. I loved that book. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Aguecheek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Aguecheek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aguecheek)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/10 "2002-05-14T23:18:10Z")
Although I learned to read at an early age, for some reason or another, I refused to pick up a book. I’d read comics, cereal boxes or the “Little Annie Fanny” comics I found in my dad’s Playboys (not that I understood them, of course). Books just seemed like too much effort, I suppose. When I was six, just before we went on a trip, my mother presented me with _The Fantastic Mister Fox_ by Roald Dahl, illustrated in Quentin Blake’s fantastic style. It was my first “novel,” and got me hooked. Now, I often have three or four books on the go, and I don’t know what I’d do without something to read. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/11 "2002-05-14T23:21:44Z")
_The Darkangel_ by Meredith Ann Pierce. It absolutely captivated me when I first read it (aged 11 or so). It was a borrowed copy and it took me until I was nineteen to find another copy of it to buy. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/12 "2002-05-14T23:33:26Z")
“Half Magic.” Have you read it? Lovely little book. I still like it. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/13 "2002-05-14T23:33:58Z")
[The Ordinary Princess](http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Square/4918/theordinaryprincess.html) (not my review). I read it over and over and over. I no longer own a copy (it was lost in one of the moves), but I check it out of the library every so often…maybe I’ll go see if it’s in print. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/14 "2002-05-15T00:06:22Z")
“Watership Down” was one for me as well. Its a great book - although I read it kinda late (grade 4). I was already an avid reader before then, but I seem to remember that one the most about “really loving a book”. There was another book, called “Follow my Leader” about a kid who goes blind and gets a guide dog - I read that one a million times when I was younger. Also, the Bruno and Boots books - I even have Korman’s autograph ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/15 "2002-05-15T00:17:43Z")
Eloise by Kay Thompson. I read it every time I went over to my Grandmas house. Then I got hooked on John Steinbeck. ---
**Author:** ![Romola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e36b37/32.png) [@Romola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Romola)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/16 "2002-05-15T00:43:47Z")
At 11 I was allowed to pick out one of my Christmas presents at the bookstore, so I chose a big hardback with a pretty lady on the cover. Turned out to be _Jane Eyre_. It was the first book that I read that dealt with adult issues like religion, feminism, and the psycological need for love and acceptance and I still read it at least twice a year. It also made me realize how vapid the Babysitter’s Club was. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/17 "2002-05-15T01:17:25Z")
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. God I love that book… ---
**Author:** ![Potter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Potter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Potter)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/18 "2002-05-15T01:20:12Z")
[Which Witch?](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0141304278/qid=1021425235/br=1-5/ref=br_lf_b_5/102-7371783-5646503) by Eva Ibbotson, the reading of which was a school assignment when I was about 7 (course, at the time I dismissed it as a _girl’s_ book). Secretly I was completely entralled by Arriman the Awful and have thought about this book so often that, thanks to this thread reminding me, I’ve just bought a copy online. I can’t believe it’s going to take a week to get here. Want! NOW!! ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/19 "2002-05-15T01:53:29Z")
_The Duck on the Truck_, believe it or not. I was a very early reader, teaching myself at about age four or so. This was before _Sesame Street_, so it was quite an unusual thing. This book was an easy reader, and not a really good book, but it may have been the first book I was able to read myself. And I cherished it. I think I read it every day for a long while. This seems anticlimactic after reading about _The Phantom Tollbooth_ and _Watership Down_. But hey, you asked. By the way, my favorite children’s book is _Ferdinand_ by Munro Leaf. An absolute classic picture book. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080/20 "2002-05-15T02:06:23Z")
A tie between _A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver_ by E. L. Konigsburg. About Eleanor of Aquitaine and the most wonderful book I had ever read. The other is _Bound Girl_ by Nan Denker. A tale of a young French girl in Puritan colonial America and how she adjusts. Lovely story. Interesting to see how many of my other favorites are here. **FisherQueen** _Half Magic_ and Eager’s other magic works are all great! Twiddle [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-book-you-fell-in-love-with/109080.md?page=2)