You know what? You guys need to keep your minds out of the gutter. I'm talking about books. That very first book you just couldn't put down. The one that, maybe, kept you up all night because you just had to know what happened. Or, maybe, you took a sick day from work. If you read, I mean, if you really read, you've almost certainly had one of those books that would have had to have been pried from your cold, dead hands to get it away from you.
I'll tell you my story, if you tell me yours. Just
hop over to Indie Writers Monthly to find out.
Man, I should have made this a blog hop! Hmm...
And, hey! look! Bonus!
I recently did a review of
Dead and Moaning in Las Vegas. Evidently, my review caused such a stir (totally true; I would never say that if it wasn't!) that the boys are running a special deal on it this week, so click the thing below and pick up your copy for a mere $0.99! Do it now before the zombies eat all of the copies.
Already have my copy. Think I have all of their books now. Just need time to read all of them.
ReplyDeleteSword of Shannara was the first book I couldn't put down. I also remember reading Jurassic Park in just a few days, which for this slow reader is quite a feat.
Hmmm.... I think A Wrinkle in Time was the first, followed by Julie of the Wolves... first long book I couldn't put down? The Glass Dragon by Irene Radford.
ReplyDeleteThat would have made a great blog hop. Not too late!
ReplyDeleteThat's a pretty amazing gif. Love it!
ReplyDeleteThe first book for me... It would have been one of those Serendipidy books for young girls. Unfortunately I had to buy my own books, even back then, but I do have two of them from back in the day. It was totally the colorful illustrations that won me, but then the story led to me reading larger books, and *gasp* building my own library through late elementary. Guess they did the job, eh?
Alex C: I remember Jurassic Park being a pretty quick read. And I was very engrossed in Sword until being utterly disappointed by the ending.
ReplyDeleteAlex H: See, that's part of the problem: Probably, before high school, I never had to put anything down, so I wouldn't have known if any of those books were books I couldn't put down. But I do know about Three Musketeers, and I think there is a thing that happens when you -know- that you are choosing to not put the book down, a decision that says, "me finishing this book is more important than whatever is going on around me."
L.G.: Yeah, well, after April, we'll see.
Crystal: I always bought my own books.
Thank you much for the shout out! And my first was the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, specifically the first one, Redwall. Talking mice. I absolutely loved it. Couldn't put it down in 4th grade, and actually got me into writing.
ReplyDeleteABftS: I think I tried to Redwall once, to my oldest kid when he was maybe five or so. He was totally not interested and, evidently, neither was I, because I didn't finish it. However, I loved The Mouse and the Motorcycle when I was around 10.
ReplyDeleteThree Musketeers was my first. Still love the story, although I'm a bit dubious about the one with Orlando Bloom. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat post here and at Indy Writers. I was probably in about the same grade 6th or 7th when my mom started getting me the books written by Judy Blume and I think I felt the same as you reading Are You There God? It's Me Margaret. It was stuck to my hand. I couldn't seem to put it down.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting question and, no, my mind didn't automatically go to the gutter....o.k, well, maybe....
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think one of "those" books for me was the first in the "Myth" series, by Robert Aspirin..."Another Fine Myth"
I need to go back and reread those...
Misha: You're the second person to say that! It's very surprising to me.
ReplyDeleteG_G: I can see how that could be one of those books.
Mark: Oh, yeah, I loved those books! I passed them on to my son who also loved them. Now, I need to find the ones that were written later and re-read that series.
I'm afraid my memory doesn't go that far back. I have had many books like that over the years, but the first, nope, I don't remember. I have been a voracious reader all my life so it could have been anything.
ReplyDeleteI think my first was "It" by Stephen King. Funnily enough, I had this hatred of going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, because the dark trek back freaked me out. I had to go by the dark, yawning maw of the steps to the main floor, then my brother's doorway, to get to my room at the back of the hallway. And, of course, it's super dark when you first turn that light off, because your eyes adjusted to the light. But I couldn't bring myself to stand there in the dark, all exposed, while I waited for my eyes to adjust. So sometimes I would sit on the floor of the bathroom and read whatever book my parents might have left in there until I was so unbearably tired that I was no longer more scared than tired, and I'd just run to my room after I turned the light out. And one night, "It" was in there. So I read it. In elementary school. I was completely engrossed. I didn't finish the whole thing that night, but I probably stayed in there a couple hours until I heard someone shuffling to the bathroom and at least had awake company in the dark.
ReplyDeleteJo: Well, what's the first one you remember?
ReplyDeleteShannon: We didn't keep books in the bathroom. Of course, other than the books in my room, there mostly weren't books in our house.
It sounds like you needed a nightlight.
I think the first one I remember is The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Gouge. I still have a copy of it although I lost the original somewhere along the way.
ReplyDeleteJo: I don't know that book. I'll look it up.
ReplyDelete