First Fantasy book you ever read/Introduction to Fantasy

Mine was The Hobbit, read to my whole 5th grade class by our teacher with different voices, facial expressions, the works.

That was the start of the passion.
 
Honestly, Lord of the Rings at about age 16. Yes, I read it because of the movies. I started reading it right after Two Towers came out in theaters. Before that time, I pretty much stuck to science fiction, techno-thrillers, horror and nonfiction.
 
First fantasy books

As a kid I read the Singing Stone, read and re-read the Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea and the Mists of Avalon and then didn't read much fantasy until Harry Potter sparked my enthusiasm for fantasy and now there's no stopping me. Currently reading Joe Abercrombie. Loved the Robin Hobb trilogy of trilogies.
 
For me it was The Hobbit read to me by my sixth grade teacher--bless her soul for that introduction. Then I tried to tackle LOTR but was a tad young for it. Thankfully that vacuum was nicely filled with the easier reading David Eddings for my young, fantasy hungry mind. After that I've never looked back and fantasy still remains about 90 percent of what I read.

Someone recommended Joe Abercrombie to me recently and I am now half way through TLAOK and listening to the unabridged audiobook version of Best Served Cold during my daily commute. I have to say I'm loving every minute of time spent reading/listening to his works. There are a some minor spoilers in BSC for me since I haven't finished the First Law trilogy yet, but there are not too major and I'm enjoying the sense of extended continuity.
 
I started with Lord of the Rings when I was 13, but after that it took me 5 years to start reading seriously.
A year ago I picked up A Game of Thrones on a whim and obviously got hooked. Since then I have read 50 books or so.
 
I believe I started with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was maybe seven or eight. And I believe I read The Hobbit when I was about ten. I then read a number of Dragonlance novels, A Spell for Chameleon, and maybe another book or two I'm forgetting.

I also started reading The Lord of the Rings a number of times and I think I only finished The Fellowship of the Ring once. It just bored me too much when I was younger. I'm planning on reading through it all relatively soon. Like the previous poster, A Song of Ice and Fire got me somewhat hooked on reading again (or at least interested) about a year ago but I didn't keep it up after finishing A Storm of Swords. I still need to read A Feast for Crows.

In late November, I got back to it and have read The First Law trilogy and The Eye of the World. I'll be keeping at it this time around.
 
The first series i read was the amazing Rowan of Rin books by Emily Rodda, which my grade 3 teacher started to read to us, but i loved the book too much and couldn't be bothered waiting while she finished the book a chapter a day :) and read ahead. I recently bought the hardcover edition featuring all five books and still enjoy it immensely.

I then didn't read much until secondary collage when i found Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden and haven't put down books since.
 
The first thing I remember reading in the fantasy realm was The Lord of the Rings in seventh grade. I'd always read a lot, and had a monthly quota of points to get every school year. At mid-7th grade, I had already read just about everything in the school library that qualified for points, so the librarian recommended LotR. However, I am sure I read Narnia somewhere around the same time, and three or so years later I began reading my all-time favorite The Wheel of Time for the first time through--all among many other things. I can't really remember not reading fantasy-oriented books.
 
Beetle said:
I would still suggest David Eddings, The Belgariad.
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Strangely enough, even though i cant stand the author or the books anymore, at the age of 15 I read these books and they got me hooked. The second series is terrible and is almost the exact same as the first 5 books :rolleyes: I also loved the hobbit even though its maybe a bit childish now its a great starting book. If your in your teens/twenties i enjoyed the spell singer series also. A bit differnt from the usual fantasy set up but entertaining.
 
My first foray into the realm of fantasy was probably Alanna the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce. I loved the whole kick-butt female character in elementary school. Alanna certainly fed that love. And Tamora Pierce is probably still my favorite YA author.
 
I always loved fantasy, even as a child. The first that I am sure of was the Narnia series. I also remember The Princess and the Goblins, and The Princess and Curdie. I read many others. My first introduction to Lord of the Rings and Tolkien was when I was a freshman in college. They were just being introduced into the United States in paperback. (That was a very long time ago.:eek:) I enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but book five was my least favorite. I hated the way she changed Harry's character in that book.
 
The Hobbit when I was about 14.

However, I am not your oridinary fantasy fan. While I loved Tolkien, I did not read much fantasy afterwards...just the occasional here and there (eg. Shannara).

I read mostly thrillers and some horror. I am a big fan of Stephen King and finally read the entire Dark Tower series which I really enjoyed. This sparked my interest in fantasy again and while reading this board and another, it seemed the obvious series to read was the highly acclaimed A Song Of Ice & Fire which I have now completed all 4 books.

I am really glad to be visiting this genre again.
 
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When I was in first grade I read all of the Narnia books, Lord of the Rings books, and Lloyd Alexander's Toran Wanderer series. I don't remember which I read first. I had them finished before the middle of second grade. My family had weekly book talks where I'd discuss the book I had read over the course of the week and these were the ones I was reading. That was my first start into Fantasy.

Around early high school I had a second revival into fantasy reading Katherine Kurtz Deryni series and all of David Eddings books at the time. Once again I'm not sure which I picked up first. I remember for school I had to pick an author to write a letter to about their book and I picked Katherine Kurtz. I was amazed to receive a personal response from her on stationary. :)
 
Belgariad by David Eddings was also my first fantasy novel/series.

Loved it when i was younger, read it 3 times. Tried to re-read it last year though and i just couldnt do it. Probably had something to do with being about 14 when i first read it and being 28 now.

I still appreciate Mr. Eddings as the author that got me into fantasy however :)
 
I read Mieville's Perdido Street Station when I was about 6, then M. John Harrison's Viriconium and Light when I was 7... Finally worked my way up into the heavy stuff like Tolkien and David Eddings by my high school years. Now, at 32 years of age, I think I'm finally ready for some C.S. Lewis

Sincerely,
B. Button
 
At the Mountains of Madness, followed by Zothique in the first grade

seriously I don't remember, it was Arabian Nights or Persian fairy tales or something, or Tales of Long Ago (slavic myths)
 
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