I think I first read “The Shepherd” by Fredick Forsyth when I was about ten and still remember it being the first book I read from cover to cover in one sitting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shepherd

Harry Harrison, The Stainless Steel Rat series.

Most of the Arthur Ransom books…as well as Swallows and Amazons, the books based on the Norfolk Broads.

Hours of fun.

Loved Roald Dahl’s ‘Danny the champion of the world’. Made we want to go trout tickling and pheasant poaching.

Pheasant poaching with raisins and tamazepam!

I enjoyed many of the ones above, two yet to be mentioned that stood out for me were

The once and future King – TH White

&

The Right Stuff – Tom Wolfe

Interestingly both were book that were set texts in English, but I loved them

Swallows and Amazons. Absolute magic, just for the sense of freedom and adventure. Should be compulsory reading for cosseted kids and their parents.

Discovered P.J. Woodhouse when I was about 13, didn’t read much else for the next couple of years.

Loving the love for “Swallows and Amazons”.

Winter Holiday is my favourite.

Read it to my daughter during the first hard winter 4 years or so ago and it still entranced.

“Softly, at first, as if it hardly meant it, the snow began to fall.”

One day, bored as a young boy, I was looking through my dads bookshelf. Now my dad was an artist by trade so he often had books in there with lurid pictures of ladies so this was always worthwhile.

Today though, it was a paperbook that attracted my attention. It had a picture of an elephant on the front and maybe some guns. I began reading and was almost instantly taken back to the 19th century to a land where men were men who generally resolved arguments by punching people or killing them and settled any issues they might have with ladies by shagging them. Animals were also on the hit list especially if they carried anything of value around with them.

My dad had loads of these books and I read them all. They made me the man I am today.

Wilbur Smith has a lot to answer for.

The Wind in the Willows

Danny the champion for me, read it to both my kids and I loved reading again. Devoured Robert westall (machine gunners) books, Arthur Ransome also. My kids have really enjoyed the Michael murpurgo books.

Do the “books” off the top shelf count? Razzle in my pocket as Ian Dury once sung.
I remember that they influenced me quite a bit.

I’ve grown up? Wow! Missed that one.

When I was much younger, all the Conan books, E E “doc ” Smith’s Lensman series, & slightly later I got in to Stephen Donaldson’s The chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

Pratchett, but for the little ‘uns.

– Read lots of Point Horror, but by the time I was 11 I’d moved on to Stephen King.

– Loved the TV show, so read the book.

Read the Hobbit when I was eight (partly down to having the text adventure on the Spectrum), and I’d worked my way through The Lord of the Rings by the age of nine. By the age of eleven my dad got me my own copy – before then, I’d been repeatedly getting the three books out from the library.

When I was 4-8 I read a lot of Enid Blyton – the fact there were characters called Fanny and Dick was a source of never-ending amusement for my brother. Some really nice short stories though, demonstrating why you should be nice to blind people. And earwigs.

There was also a fantasy series I read as a kid, but I can’t for the life of me remember the author, or the title. I vaguely remember it had the sons of Seth and the Sons of Cain as two opposing factions, and that the ‘bad guys’ looked a bit crooked like vultures. One of the hero’s gang was of the bad guy’s race, but an outcast. In one of the later books they got to where they’d been trying to get to, and found a load of others of the same race who were also good…

Today though, it was a paperbook that attracted my attention. It had a picture of an elephant on the front and maybe some guns. I began reading and was almost instantly taken back to the 19th century to a land where men were men who generally resolved arguments by punching people or killing them and settled any issues they might have with ladies by shagging them. Animals were also on the hit list especially if they carried anything of value around with them.

My father wasn’t much of a reader, but did have a copy of Harold Robbins ‘The Pirates’. Nirvana to a pubescent kid, loads of fwapping material there.

Two books spring to mind instantly.

‘The Scottish Peaks’ by W.A. Poucher and ‘Eschatus’ by Bruce Pennington both from my Dad.

Totally obsessed by both books from around the age of 9 or 10 onwards (i was always a bit weird, only child, dyslexic etc).

its telling that the Poucher book led me to the mountains and naturally to mountain bikes. The Pennington book, the illustrations in particular was my first exposure to weird almost cosmic creativity i suppose.

ill be 40 later this year, im a graphic designer and artist and am rather fond of the whole rigid 29er thing spending all my cash and most of my free time solo riding in the wild places near home.

so ‘it’ does all make sense eh?

Either Brave New World or 1984.

I never read LOTR or The Hobbit until I was into my twenties and living in Germany. To be honest, I’m not sure I missed much there.

I seem to recall reading a lot of James Clavell, Wilbur Smith and Len Deighton books as a kid though, all due to my dad buying them as long distance plane reads for when he was away on business. That may be why I was always outside trying to combine exploring, blowing stuff up and hunting into my formative years.

So good to see some excellent books on here. Swallows and Amazons was my first, I literally read my parents old copy to destruction. My Dad reading me The Hobbit as a bedtime story is also one of my favourite childhood memories. The same goes for him reading me Danny, the Champion of the World and then going to see it at our local cinema. Only You Can Save Mankind was the first step on the path to a full blown Pratchett addiction for me, culminating in a lot of Discworld books on my shelves right now.

Finally though, and I know it’s not strictly a book per se, but one day my Mum borrowed a collection of these guys off a friend, and I was entranced. It’s a beautiful world, let’s go exploring…

Obsessed by the HP series. As were 2 of my friends. Midnight trios to the bookshops, anticipation of new books and then the films… Oh my gosh, still re-read my fav bits now. I think I’d actually run back into a fire to get them!!

Was not really captivated by books, more a comic fan, until I read Lord of the Rings at 16, followed by the Silmarillion (about 8 times) then devoured whole series of books from Dune to Many Coloured Land, Stephen Donaldson to Dragon Riders of Pern, and everything Terry Pratchett has written.

Then read Geldof’s autobiography and never read fiction since (except Pratchett!!), found that reality is way more interesting than fiction. Just reading Paddy Leigh Fermor’s autobiography, amazing bloke.

reality is way more interesting than fiction

Unless you’re reading Jack Port: Internet Hero.

Change your life, that will. 😉

ooh forgot about Brendon Chase, fantastic book.

For Swallows and Amazons fans, BBC are running a dramatisation this weekend and last. Still got a day or two to listen to the first episode.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jy5f

Death of a Blue Eyed Soul Brother by B.B. Johnson.

Reading The Enchanted Wood and the rest of the Faraway Tree books by Enid Blyton as a 7 or 8 year old kind of set the tone for my love of hallucinogens as I hit my late teens/early twenties.

Another Swallows and Amazons fan here, big part of why I love the outdoors so much now.

I also read a lot of these.
“Donner und Blitzen!” “You filthy collaborator!”

My entire grasp of German was learnt from War Picture Library.

“Hilf!”
“Schwien Hund”
“Wasser”
“Raus! Raus!”

My children think I’m mad as I always use the latter to chivvy them out the house of a morning.

No mention of Enid Blyton? I loved her books when I was in primary school.

Lots of mention of 1984….I was 22 I think when I read it….shaped my whole view of the world since and I had a nightmare after my second night of reading it!

Wot no

yet? 😀

These days it’s this

Got to have a read while on the throne 😆

“Hände hoch!”

Aged about 12 I loved this:

A real old school sci-fi classic.

It has to be “Bottersnikes and Gumbles”. I’ve never met a single person who’s heard of it. Was going to buy a secondhand copy on Amazon for old time sakes but the cheapest I can find it is £28 !!!

I loved all of Roald Dahl and Gerald Durrell books pre and early teens. Life changing for me in my mid teens were these two

and

It has to be “Bottersnikes and Gumbles”. I’ve never met a single person who’s heard of it. Was going to buy a secondhand copy on Amazon for old time sakes but the cheapest I can find it is £28 !!!

My favourite primary school teacher (Mrs Trottman) read this to our class circa 1983.

I too would love a copy (I did managed to pick up a copy of ‘Gumbles in Summer’ a few years ago.)

Best? Not sure. This, however, was read over and over