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

[mithrandir]

You know, that book that made you throw down the video games and come to the conclusion that no TV or movie will ever be this good, and pretty much turned you into the everyday reader that you are now? (and about what age were you when this conversion took place?)

The prelude would have to be Catcher in the Rye but the sure fire winner for me was The Stand, without a doubt (I was about 17 at the time)

[Mike Green]

Catcher in the rye... favoritest book ever. Still waiting for a book that will turn me into a habitual reader.

[Friendly Goatus]

I was 13. Dragonlance did the trick.

[VueeeuVueeeeuV]

The Naked Lunch.

Then I worked at a book store for a few years and haven't read a book since.

[Spooky Apparition]

probably Stephen King's whole Dark Tower series. I remember I started reading them in the 5th grade and spent the better part of the next four years reading stuff all the time, which resumed in college after a brief detour in high school of spending all my time listening to music and being an asshole.

[fallbacktostone]

notes from underground

[Hyperbole]

or maybe

[Honky Kong 64]

[riley-o]

dune

[Teebore]

Dragonlance for me as well.

[Whee of the Dead]

I Am Legend

[Honky Kong 64]

Which Dragonlance? DoAT?

[Morpheus]

notes from underground

This.

Or was it The Mayor of Casterbridge?

[Astronaut]

It was quite late in life and something that I am not really proud of...

[fallbacktostone]

notes from underground

This.

Or was it The Mayor of Casterbridge?

it was notes from underground dude

[father of lies]

And then Lovecraft in high school, and then Illuminatus! and Schroedinger's Cat in my early-mid 20s.

[fallbacktostone]

It was quite late in life and something that I am not really proud of...

it was The Firm you faggot

or Jurassic Park

god you make me sick

[soiled depends]

Swank Letters...

[altars of radness]

haven't read a book since.

Yeah, it shows.

Messiah by Gore Vidal. I was probably 24. University killed reading for me.

[Degree Absolute]

I was going to post "The Missing Chums" but I have no idea which one I read first.

[caldwell.the.great]

maybe Journey to the Center of the Earth?

[fallbacktostone]

which hardy boys case file was it that was about fighting ninja's or some shit? i need to read it again. help..

http://www.hardyboyscasefiles.com/network/casefiles.php

[ibn Horowitz]

The Hobbit, then Crime and Punishment when i was an teenager after I'd been off fantasy for a few years.

[Morpheus]

then Crime and Punishment when i was an teenager after I'd been off fantasy for a few years.

It always interests me when I hear of American and Canadian teenagers getting turned on to philosophical literature, because I never see it with teens in other parts of the world. I can't imagine someone of that age being able to relate to Raskolnikov's existential anguish, or even the Meursault's anomie in 'The Stranger', which seems to be another popular one for teenagers. Maybe that's just because I was too uneducated back when I was their age... those were the beginning of my drinking years after all.

[Necrophilic Mallard]

Haven't found it yet.
But there are dozens of shitty ones that turned me into a habitual non-reader.