what was THEE book that turned you into a habitual reader?

[Bored, Esq.]

Yes! I remember seeing that either in the monthly order books at school deal or at a bookstore. That cover blew my little mind and all I could think was, "He's screwed. I gotta read it."

That's cool because I haven't met many other people in life who were into his stuff. I knew they had to be out there, but...eh. It would be really strange to reread it these days. I didn't realize until later, of course, how much celtic/welsh/whatever mythology he used in his writings until I read this:

http://www.amazon.com/Mabinogion-Pengui ... 603&sr=1-2

Which totally rules, btw.

[StateScatologist]

Lord of the Rings and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles around age 14/15 and since then I've always been reading something.

[hipster holocaust]

I have been reading since I was really young but reading these books around the age of 6 or 7 stands out as the earliest books I that made an impression on me. These illustrations used to give me frequent nightmares. I couldn't look at them while I read the stories.

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

some of the best illustrations EVER. ever.

[baconrebellion]

I wrote a letter to Lloyd Alexander when I was in 4th grade and he wrote back...carefully typed out on a manual typewriter (with mistakes) and signed. Dude had class.

I was going to post this as well. I dont have a specific memory of what book made me an osessive reader, but this whole series is one of the 1st I was transfixed by. I loved adventure series, of course there was the Lord of the Rings, but I also was obsessed by these as well:





and who can forget:

[hipster holocaust]

dave you told me it was 'the turner diaries'

[baconrebellion]

dave you told me it was 'the turner diaries'

no, that was the book that OPENED MY EYES.....

[DanBehavingBadly]

and who can forget:

Kick ass.

[Bored, Esq.]

I was going to post this as well.

How about Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy? You and I are long lost brothers...

[Alfonso]

The Little Prince at age 6. I know..

[mithrandir]

this just popped in my head. but i'm sure there's quite a few that came before that.

geez, I remember that, also Superfudge,

[Hell-haine]

I was a Roald Dahl fanatic, I started with this one and couldn't stop.

[The Torsion]

I think it's because his books have a more masculine appeal, and the teachers tend to be female, or tend to cater more to female students.

Really?
My Mum was a teacher and she's the one who bought me "White Fang" and "The Call of The Wild" thinking I'd love it.
My Dad is the one who introduced me to J.F Cooper though. He loved Native Americans vs. British & French stories.

I'm not talking about Call of The Wild and White Fang. I'm talking about his books and stories about actual people, like The Sea Wolf (Bored ) The Iron Heel, The Star Rover, John Barleycorn, To Build a Fire. There's seems to be a huge disconnect between London writing that's appropriate for children and his writing that's anything but appropriate for kids.

[VueeeuVueeeeuV]

I hope torsian is flayed alive, to build a fire is the only thing I ever read in school I remember to this day.

[The Torsion]

I hope torsian is flayed alive

Give it a shot sometime.

[VueeeuVueeeeuV]

I'm sure you delight in intimidating other people with your physique, but I doubt that opportunity will never come up in this case.

[The Torsion]

I'm sure you delight in intimidating other people with your physique, but I doubt that opportunity will never come up in this case.

Like I said, give it a shot.

[VueeeuVueeeeuV]

Will you hand me a shovel like the insubordinate construction worker you so proudly took upon yourself to humiliate in front of his peers? That might even things up.

[The Torsion]

Will you hand me a shovel like the insubordinate construction worker you took upon yourself to humiliate in front of his peers? That might even things up.

Hahaha, I barely even remembered that. Yeah, the little turd who I told to hurry the fuck up because we were under a tight schedule and he had a tendency to drag his ass after I gave him chance after chance while other guys picked up his slack. He threatened to hit me with a shovel and I told him the same thing I'm telling you, and he backed down, just like you would. But I'm going to stop this now because this isn't a bad thread and I'm tired of indulging your infantile bullshit.

[Hell-haine]

I'm not talking about Call of The Wild and White Fang.

I see, I got to Martin Eden later in life.
I still haven't read the other classics like Iron Heel and The Sea Wolf.

[F/K/A HAPF]

Don Quixote or Dante's Divine Comedy

[VueeeuVueeeeuV]

So you delight in antagonizing other people until they finally stand up for themselves then threatening to beat them? You really are a true libertarian.

[Degree Absolute]

The Sea Wolf is a must read, and the movie version with Edward G. Robinson is pretty damn good as well.

[The Torsion]

I'm not talking about Call of The Wild and White Fang.

I see, I got to Martin Eden later in life.
I still haven't read the other classics like Iron Heel and The Sea Wolf.

It took me a long time to get around to his more mature stuff myself. It was like after those 2 books, they decided everything he wrote was too heavy duty, and I had to spend all these English classes reading shit like I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Wuthering Heights.

[Bored, Esq.]

There's seems to be a huge disconnect between London writing that's appropriate for children and his writing that's anything but appropriate for kids.

There is. But there's also kind of a wrong perception about his "animal" stories in that just because they have animals in them they're automatically "only for kids." But I think of his writing as very masculine, yes. The whole SF/California tradition is really interesting...I mean, it comes down through Ambrose Bierce and Clark Ashton Smith too. London is linked to REH, also, in that he wrote for magazines, tried to get out there and support himself that way...

Here's a picture of London with Sterling, who was CAS's mentor:

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

[VueeeuVueeeeuV]

And let it also be said, torsians views are the utter antithesis of London's. I can not fathom how he can see any good in a socialists work.