Nerdy Book Discussions

[elle_white]

I wanted ask people what books series were important to them growing up?

The Tortall books by Tamora Pierce were deeply formative for me. The Harry Potter books came a little later in my life, and while engrossing and important, I don't think they had the impact on me that Tamora Pierce's work did. 

What books meant a lot to you as a kid? 

Comments

[rainsometimes]

Series rather than individual books - the Moomintroll books, the Narnia series, the Dark Is Rising series, the Shadow trilogy by Maria Gripe (unfortunately not translated to English: this was more pre-puberty and during puberty); the "Elvis" books by Maria Gripe (same probably), a few other lesser-known-even-in-Swedish books... Finland-Swedish author Irmelin Sandman Lilius wrote a number of books set in the same small fictional town, and those meant a lot to me in puberty, but most of them were still stand-alones even if many characters were reoccurring.

I loved the Oz books but I'm not sure if I could say they were formative.

Oh, and the Earthsea books, of course! The first three and then Tehanu - I was still in childhood when that one came out in translation here, I'm fairly sure.

[bookblather]

Oh man, SAME on the Tortall books. Whenever I need to remember why I am the way I am, I read those books again.

[cocosmileyboo]

Harry Potter was one that really stood out for me. My fifth grade teacher read the first and second books to us and I was hooked almost instantly and I'm beyond grateful that my mother was open-minded enough to allow me the luxury of reading the series as it came out during my late childhood, early preteen years, as well as later on. Another series that helped form my love of books and general was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. And when I was even younger, I loved The Berenstain Bears series, and Baby-Sitters Little Sister series by Ann M. Martin. I read those books like they were going out of style. I think the Little Sister books were even my first experience of reading books without lots of pictures.

[skygiants]

Everything by Diana Wynne Jones!

[mindstalk]

Black Stallion books I guess. I thought I wanted to be a jockey before I wanted to be the next Feynman due to seeing him on TV and reading physics books.

Tolkien, I mean I memorized some poetry and read some of the posthumous works.

I think I'd only read the third book until college but the Damiano series had! my! names!

I dunno, I read a bunch of series -- Pern, Narnia, Prydain, Earthsea, Foundation, Star Trek novels, Dune, etc -- but mostly I don't think of them as changed/shaped my life. Though the attitude of the luck guy in Taran Wanderer may have left an impression for later.

L. Neil Smith's Tom Paine Maru steered me toward 15 years of libertarianism, I guess that's a pretty big impact.

[pastryqueen]

It was several for me. When I was really little, it was the Little House on the Prarie series. I think I liked them, but I don't remember many details other than the premise of a pioneering family battling harsh conditions and whatnot. I didn't get into another series until the Harry Potter series at its peak.

Honestly though, nothing left an impact on me like Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I only just started reading them as an adult, but I grew up on my dad basically embellishing all the stories to me and explaining who the characters were and why they were fighting and their world's mythology. I think getting introduced to a series with SO MANY CHARACTERS and elements going on fostered my love for elaborate worldbuilding and storytelling.