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The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
Edit: by Douglas Adams (yeah, like that addition was needed)
I felt personally offended when my teenage son was like yeah it’s OK.
So that’s why you gave him up for adoption ;)
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
As crazy as what we’ve discovered with physics and consciousness in the last two years, I legitimately think there may be something to it.
Like, maybe the scientific pursuit of measuring the tiniest possible details has a butterfly effect that makes everything in a level we notice completely fucking insane.
Like how Google maps when you zoom in it replaces all the pixels. Maybe zooming in anywhere causes a snowball effect where everything everywhere suddenly needs to also be determined at that level, and that’s why shit at the “human level” isn’t running right.
There’s so much in those books that sound so stupid in the surface, but honestly aren’t as far fet he’d as they initially seem.
Gives me Philip K Dick vibes but with some of the best comedic writing ever instead of meth induced paranoia like Dick.
+1
The Hobbit.
First “real” book I read at like 10 or 11 and I just went straight the the whole series after.
Theres A Monster At the End of This Book
One of my earliest favorites too.
The Eye of the World, the first book in the Wheel of Time series. There were other books I really liked prior to that, but I distinctly remember reading that one on a long road trip I was stuck on with my parents, and being just completely enthralled by it. Made a 14 hour car ride feel like nothing.
The series ultimately led to discovering Brandon Sanderson as an author (when he took over for the last 3 books in the series), which led to a lot more really memorable, beloved reads, so that’s a nice added bonus.
I really enjoyed Eye of the World, and I faithfully read the next seven or eight books when they came out.
But I tried to read it again a few years ago and it didn’t keep my interest.
The climax of the eye of the world was incredible, I’ve never continued on in the series, is it worth it?
The next few books are great, but around the middle of the series it really drug for me. There’s a huge number of characters to keep track of and a lot of simultaneous storylines going on, and while some of them are great, some of them are rather dry, and the dry ones always seem to get brought up right when the good ones are reaching a climax. Once you get past those few books, it gets good again, and Brandon Sanderson’s books at the end are excellent.
If you’re in the mood for a fantasy epic (with all the baggage that entails), it’s worth the read. There’s also audio books of the whole series and the readers are excellent.
I’m a bit over halfway through the series right now, burning through them at a book every week or two.
The series suffers from sprawl. There are 3-4 ‘a-plots’ at any one time, which can be a bit frustrating. I’m loving them though.
I only read it for the first time earlier this decade. The series goes through about four distinct phases. If you liked Eye, you’ll almost certainly also like books 2 and 3, which are very similar in style. After that, it goes from being high fantasy adventure into more of a political intrigue. Then it expands into a much larger cast, fleshing out the world. Parts of this third phase are what’s often referred to among fans as “the slog”, because the pacing slows down a lot and it can really drag to read. Personally on my first read-through I didn’t find this nearly as bad as I expected, but I did notice it a fair amount at times. Then the fourth phase happens after Robert Jordan dies and Brandon Sanderson takes over finishing the series takes it back to the feeling of phase 2, but wrapping up and pushing towards a dramatic climax and conclusion.
I think it’s reasonably likely that if you liked 1, you’ll like the series as a whole. But it’s possible that the shift from phase 1 to 2 could break the interest for you, if that’s not a change that vibes with you.
Redwall, by Brian Jacques I think. Basically medieval fantasy drama but with woodland animals if I remember properly. I loved the whole series, great books when I was a kid.
Oh my god I saw the post and immediately thought Redwall! Glad to see you, new friend!
A Wrinkle in Time.
One of the first big kids’ books I read on my own. I should re-read the series as an adult since I might have been almost too young for it the first time.
Picking just one book is really unfair as I fell in love with various books at different times of my life.
But to answer your question, the very first book I remember falling in love with as a little kid is… two books. Jules Verne ‘Michel Strogoff’, and Conan Doyle’s ‘The Lost World’ which I read in French back then as ‘Le monde perdu’.
But I insist, this is absolutely unfair to the many other books I’ve loved and still love to this very day :p
Everyone has always one favourite… always :)
Elfstones of Shannara
The cat was a bit of an asshole, but figured out how to fit in.
I really like the cover :) So so so cute :)
Pickles, aka the fire cat, is born homelss and lives in a barrel before being adopted by a nice lady and then eventually joining the fire department and improving himself to become a better cat.
Here is Pickles being an asshole by chasing a kitten up a tree, because that is something cats do.
If I remember right Pickles wasn’t able to get down either and had to be rescued by the firemen. It leads to his journey to learn how to be nicer to other cats and improve himself.
😀
Hitchhikers Guide, my mom got me to read it really young. I was maybe 8.
Before that, Zoobooks obviously
Hatchet
Redwall by Brian Jacques. Introduced me to so many things like the fantasy genre, multi-book series, deep worldbuilding, archetypal races and probably way more. The food descriptions also stand out in my memory.
Haven’t gone back to see how it stands up but I highly recommend it for kids whose reading level is improving and want to move up a tier in length/difficulty.
The Black Cauldron Series.
There were books? I just remember the animated film.
By Lloyd Alexander? If so, those were great! I remember reading those to keep me busy at my older sister’s girl scout meetings.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen hit me at the right time as a kid.
Redwall by Brian Jacques was probably the earliest one I remember loving.
The Magician’s Nephew
this was my first introduction to the concept of multiple realities and it blew my little 7 year old mindThat’s the Narnia prequel, right? It was by far my favourite book in the series as a kid, though I was already familiar with the concept of multiple realities thanks to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I always hoped it would get an adaptation. I haven’t reread any of them as an adult, but my memory of it still makes me hope for that one day.
I mainly want to seen a screen adaptation of Jadis causing a ruckus in 1900s London lmao
yeah like at that point as a kid I had the concept of “going to a fantasy land” stories but always sorta applied Neverland logic where the existence of the fantasy land was somehow tied to our own (e.g. via wardrobe door)
The Wood Between the Worlds introduced to me the idea of multiple realities existing completely independently from our own. Ironically, given C. S. Lewis’ intent with Narnia, this concept helped me challenge the Protestant beliefs that I was being raised with, and brought me some form of comfort in the idea that maybe I could someday escape Yhwh’s reality.
See, child me was NOT thrilled with the idea that my afterlife was going to consist of ETERNALLY WORSHIPPING GOD AND DOING NOTHING ELSE, even if the church claimed that was some sort of unbeatable joyous bliss. After all you can be happy but still be fucking bored and that sounded like just a slightly less shitty Hell to me…
So I actually got really into mysticism as a kid to try to learn how to magic myself into a reality where you got to go to an Aslan’s Country style afterlife instead of eternal sitting in church.
This did not go over well with my religious parents, lol. Thankfully I eventually dropped all the magic and religion shit in favor of a love for science. Though I still love mystic aesthetics and high fantasy ofc
YESSS. I loved this as a kid and I was so angry it didn’t get a movie adaptation. I think a lot about how the ground made everything grow because the world was new. I still think about the “you can’t unring the bell” thing.
the concept of the Deplorable Word spell that kills every living thing except the caster was also terrifying and amazing to me. Took a few years to realize it was probably a metaphor for nuclear weapons
