# Your first book?



## Arkhan (Feb 17, 2009)

I am curious. What is the first book you remember reading? I am not talking about children's books, but the first time you picked up an actual novel and read. The first book I remember reading is a Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I actually just received the entire Quintet of the series yesterday in the mail so I could read them with an adult prospective now. 

Now, what is the first book you read on your Kindle? This is actually something I have thought about a LOT in the past couple of days. Since I am waiting for my first Kindle I got this feeling that my first ebook will be memorable as well. I feel as though it should be something special or unique. I can't even decide if it should be a new story or a return to a book that has already been read before. Maybe a classic piece which would honor the newest era of reading with a rich classic story. Something that has special meaning or just one of the books that happens to sound like a good read? I am sure people will think I am crazy and maybe I am putting way to much thought into it. Reading to me is so much more than just something to do though. There are books that I have read that literrally changed my life. I am even tearing up thinking about some of them and I take anything that powerful very seriously.


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## Mikuto (Oct 30, 2008)

The first chapter book I can remember reading is: 


And the first book I read on the Kindle (also the first one I purchased) was:


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## Guest (Feb 18, 2009)

My first "real" book was The Hobbit. (If you eliminate all children's/YA fiction)

My very favorite book is Watership Down. (Just thought I'd mention that, since you are one of two members with that identical avatar.)

I believe that our first Kindle book was Leslie's FAQ.


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## Guest (Feb 18, 2009)

I can't remember my first kiddie "chapter book."  I can't remember anything else.  Not sure I ever read "picture books."


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## JOkindle (Feb 17, 2009)

can't imagine trying to think of the first non-childhood book --- Heinlein's Stranger In a Strange Land got me hooked when I was in 8th grade.

first kindle purchase was Vonnegut's Armageddon in Retrospect


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## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

The first book I remember reading was _The Wind in the Willow_s by Kenneth Graham. I was a precocious decoder so although I knew it was a book about a Mole and a Rat and the wonderful Mr. Toad {"Oh, bliss! Oh, joy! Poop poop!"} my comprehension was nowhere near my decoding skills!

The first book on my Kindle was _1984_ which stood up very well to the years.


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## Sweety18 (Feb 14, 2009)

I remember the book's name "Treasure Island", can't remember much of the story though.


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## Brian (Nov 13, 2008)

The first book I can recall choosing myself was Johnny Tremain. I was in grade school and I'm guessing I was in the 4th or 5th grade.

First book on my Kindle was a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

Boy, I have no idea what my first book was.


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## Figment (Oct 27, 2008)

Second grade:  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum.  (And yes, I was a precocious reader...could read before I started school thanks to having four older siblings).


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## BambiB (Dec 22, 2008)

I clearly remember my first adult book (or the first two): The Hobbit and Pet Cemetery.  I read both in the third grade and got sent to the principal's office for the latter.  Something about not being appropriate for a child to read...


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## Mycroft (Jan 10, 2009)

I really can't remember what the first "non-children's" book was, but I think my very first book was Goodnight Moon. I also recall A Child's Garden of Verses from very early on. My first Kindle book was The Terror by Dan Simmons.


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## Tippy (Dec 8, 2008)

It is difficult to think back that far. . . but I think it was Treasure Island.  First book on Kindle that I read was Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley.  (LOL)


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## noblesrus (Oct 29, 2008)

The first book I remember reading was "Swiss Family Robinson" and I also have it on my Kindle.


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## VMars (Feb 8, 2009)

The first children's books I read were mostly Beverly Cleary (Ramona and others) and Judy Blume. Steven Kellogg (sp?). 

The first "adult" book I read was Robinson Crusoe when I was ten. I remember it took me like a whole month of reading before bedtime to read it and nothing had ever taken me that long before. I was astonished.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

I specifically remember discovering Nancy Drew in 4th grade. The first one I read was *Mystery of the Moss Covered-Mansion*. I read *Harriet the Spy* in 5th grade, when I was a year younger (and a grader earlier) than Harriet. I know some would call those children's books but since I re-read both ND and Harriet on a regular basis, I don't agree.

My first Kindle book was the totally forgettable *Good in Bed* by Jennifer Weiner. The only reason I remember it is because it was number one. I have read a ton of books that are much much better since then.

L


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Leslie said:


> I specifically remember discovering Nancy Drew in 4th grade. The first one I read was *Mystery of the Moss Covered-Mansion*.
> L


My first Nancy Drew was _The Inn of the Twisted Candles_. I still have it.

My first adult book was Wuthering Heights. I still have that one, too. I can't remember my first Kindle book. I feel like I've always read Kindle books. Maybe it was _Castles in the Air_, Baroness Orcszy.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

First books I remember reading.....Harry Potter #4 The Goblet of Fire (it came out when i was nine) and The American Girl Collection.


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## jaspertyler (Feb 13, 2009)

The first book I remember reading was It by Stephen King.  I remember it suddenly dawning on me that if I could read children's books I could read my mom's books too!! Luckily I was in junior high or something like that.  I loved the book.  I loved the characters, but it scared me!


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## kim (Nov 20, 2008)

The Laura Ingalls Wilder books.  That's the first that I remember.  I don't remember what my first 'grown-up' book was.

The Secret Life of Bees was my first Kindle book


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## Esther (Dec 21, 2008)

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck and Siddhartha by Herman Hesse.  Not sure which was the first.  I had a really groovy hippy 6th grade teacher.  

I thought JRR Tolkein wrote THe Hobbit as a children's book (older children of course).


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Vegas_Asian said:


> First books I remember reading.....Harry Potter #4 The Goblet of Fire (it came out when i was nine) and The American Girl Collection.


Now that makes me feel old! My son read Harry Potter in real time (he was 11 when he read the first book) and it seemed like ages til book 4 came out.

L


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

yep its been ten years since Harry Potter #4 came out. lol.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Vegas_Asian said:


> yep its been ten years since Harry Potter #4 came out. lol.


Hmmmm....

Really?


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## lexie22 (Jan 22, 2009)

The first chapter book I remember reading was one the "Babysitters Club: Little Sister" books.

The first book I remember reading was one of the Spot books.  I used to love Spot.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

#5 took a couple of years to come out and had quite a waiting list at the overseas base I lived at (pre-amazon)


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## standaman (Feb 11, 2009)

Mine I think was The Red Badge of courage. I think I had to read it in middle school. I hated it at the time. I like it now though . When I was in elementary school I loved Roald Dahl's books.


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## raccemup (Feb 19, 2009)

hmm... that was a long time ago!  I think it was something by Stephen King.  I also distinctly remember reading A Clockwork Orange very early on in my early teens.

My first Kindle book purchased/read was Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (I think).


BTW.... I LOVE Watership Down!  One of my favorite books ever!


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## Buttercup (Oct 28, 2008)

Gosh, there's no way I'd remember that, I have a horrible memory for the most part.  I do remember that my favorite books as a child were by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume but my all time favorite from back then was The Island of the Blue Dolphins.


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

The first book I remember reading that was not a children's chapter book was _The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn_ and an Agatha Christie mystery that I borrowed from my mother.


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## geko29 (Dec 23, 2008)

I have no idea what my first real book was, since I taught myself to read at 2, so I probably hit novels by the time I was in kindergarten, and I don't remember a whole hell of a lot from back then.  First one I remember that stuck with me was "Don't Look Behind You" by Lois Duncan, but I think I read that in ~4th grade.

First novel on the kindle was "Year Zero" by Jeff Long.


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## deMoMo (Feb 10, 2009)

I'm not sure what the absolute first book I read was. I remember my father reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court to me when I was pretty young. And I know that I "borrowed" and read my father's Stephen King books, and when my mom would find them she would take them away from me, and then I would have to sneak back in their room and borrow them again.

The first book I bought with my own money was Jane Eyre. It was referenced in a book that I believe was named The Red Room, which I bought later on and still have the copy somewhere in a box.

I have the usual suburban girl memories of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, the Madeline l'Engle books (I always related to Meg, and hoped that I would grow up beautiful), and I distinctly remember reading Bridge to Terabithia over and over and crying every time.

In a related note, I remember going to the library alone as a kid (2 mile walk, man were those books heavy going home!), and I would go through the adult fiction, and the horror novels would have a skull on the spine, and I would look for the skull to decide which books to borrow.


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## Heidi (Dec 16, 2008)

I remember reading Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing and thinking it was the best book ever.  That is the first memory I have of reading a "real" book.  I think Bridge to Terabithia was the first book that really made me THINK.  Soon after, I (clears throat) "graduated" to the Sweet Valley High books.  Yes, I grew up in the 80's if you couldn't tell.


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## worktolive (Feb 3, 2009)

I have no idea what the first children's book that I read was - there were so many. However, I clearly remember the first "adult" book that I read - Valley of the Dolls. I was about 10 or 11 at the time. My mom left it out and I remember picking it up thinking "hmm, that looks interesting". I don't think she thought that I was old enough to be interested in her books or else she probably wouldn't have left it lying around like that.  

As for my Kindle, I got it right before I went to Peru so my first purchase was a book called 1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus. Other than loading a couple of books, I hadn't had a chance to use it at all so I had a good time getting acquainted with it on the 12+ hour flight.


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## DocJohnB (Feb 17, 2009)

That is easy for me.

First book: Robinson Crusoe 
First Kindle Book: Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly


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## paisley (Nov 24, 2008)

I can't remember exactly which childhood book was _first_, but I do remember a Babar the Elephant book where the font was almost like script handwriting, and I couldn't read it at first. Actually, I couldn't read it for as much as a year or so, since I hadn't become familiar with script yet. This was maybe in first grade or thereabouts. And I clearly remember the moment when I could read the script font in that Babar book. I was reading nonscript books before that, of course, but "The Babar Moment" stands out to me the most.

As for adult books, that would be Watership Down which I read in 6th grade. It wasn't assigned--we could choose any book, so I picked that one from my Mom's bookshelf. It remains one of my fave books, actually.

I got my Kindle right before the holidays--a very hectic time of year--so I specifically chose a book with short stories, and I chose this one in particular because I'm a Charlaine Harris fan, and the book is about Werewolves at Christmastime.


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## Neekeebee (Jan 10, 2009)

First book: Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

First Kindle book purchased: The Quest for Cosmic Justice by Thomas Sowell

First Kindle book I finished reading: The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni


N


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## jmeaders (Jan 8, 2009)

First purchased book (for Kindle) is _How to Break a Terrorist_ by Matthew Alexander.


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## Linda Cannon-Mott (Oct 28, 2008)

First book read on Kindle was The Book Thief... as a child, I don't have a clue.


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