The first book I ever remember reading was Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes from Eleanor Coerr. It's was the first book to ever break my heart. It got me into reading realistic books. The books that lead me to fantasy was the deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda. Both had an impact on me. Sadako showed the realities of the world while Deltora let me escape into a completely different one. Now I mostly read Marvel comics. Wolverine and the X-Men V1&2 and Nightcrawler V2&3 being my favorite.
Black Beauty, The Secret of NIMH, So You Want To Be A Wizard, the Emily series (LM Montgomery), the Little House on the Prairie books, The Secret Garden, and Heidi were my influences.
I was in Borders this past weekend and saw that they are re-releasing some of Michael Moorcock's Eternal champion novels. I've read the Elric series, but surprisingly none of the others. I might just have to go back and pick them up.
My father and I read the Iliad and the Odyssey when I was 5. Man I was rooting for Troy so bad, and yet my dad played it straight and gave no indication of what was to come. I squeed a bit when Achilles got what was coming to him.
Also for my 5th bday a friend gave me a copy of a book called "Tintin - The Blue Lotus," which had me hooked. I got the prequel "Cigars of the Pharoah" plus another from the local Carnegie library and I was very much in. From there I collected them all (and then some as they wore out). Miniatures from the 80s etc too.
My sister had a copy of "Asterix & the Chieftain's Shield" she had brought back from France, and at age 6? I went through that for the pics (I didn't read French). Then I saw some in English at the store and was hooked on that too (also have all those and then some).
@the-spyder Re. Moorcock, I can thoroughly recommend the Chronicles of Corum (a bit of Celtic myth thrown in) and the Hawkmoon books (The Jewel in the Skull etc.).
My favorite book from my childhood was "Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest." It was a book about superlatives in nature. It compared the highest and deepest places to the Empire State Building to show how much taller/deeper they were (when the book was written, the Burj Khalifa hadn't been built yet so the Empire State Building was still the big thing).
I re-read Roald Dahl's Matilda and Jane Yolen's Dragon's Blood over and over again when I was little. I also read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at age 8 and barely understood a word, but I still loved it. Goosebumps and Animorphs, too.
I can see the influence of some of these in my current writing. The warm and fuzzy relationship between Miss Honey and Matilda. The rich imagery in Dragon's Blood. Also, giant squid. These sorts of things tend to pop up in my work.
I learned to read from Green Eggs and Ham. I think that's where I got my affection for strictly metrical poetry. You normally think of Seuss' writing as running wild and free, but his meter was always very precise.
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@dunbar I almost forgot about this 1 "Wind in the Willows" what year was this?
Which begs the question: Which of todays children's/young adults books will, or should, be still around (in whatever format) in 100 years time?
Personally I think for that time it would be absolutely mind blowing.
Also for my 5th bday a friend gave me a copy of a book called "Tintin - The Blue Lotus," which had me hooked. I got the prequel "Cigars of the Pharoah" plus another from the local Carnegie library and I was very much in. From there I collected them all (and then some as they wore out). Miniatures from the 80s etc too.
My sister had a copy of "Asterix & the Chieftain's Shield" she had brought back from France, and at age 6? I went through that for the pics (I didn't read French). Then I saw some in English at the store and was hooked on that too (also have all those and then some).
look familiar?
and it's still for sale:
http://www.amazon.com/Saint-George-Dragon-Margaret-Hodges/dp/0316367958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338485593&sr=8-1#_
Jules Verne for sure
Jack London
Michael Ende
Arthur C. Clarke
Isaac Asimov
Frank Herbert
Gerald Durrell
and:
Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone
Tolkien
Salvatore
amongst others.
I can see the influence of some of these in my current writing. The warm and fuzzy relationship between Miss Honey and Matilda. The rich imagery in Dragon's Blood. Also, giant squid. These sorts of things tend to pop up in my work.
I learned to read from Green Eggs and Ham. I think that's where I got my affection for strictly metrical poetry. You normally think of Seuss' writing as running wild and free, but his meter was always very precise.