Books and me
I’ve always been a big reader. I quickly picked up books and could read at a level above my age. This really helped me immerse myself and get lost in the stories. I mostly enjoy fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy.
During my early school years, I remember loving the Pizza Hut Book It! program, which looks to be still active. How it worked was you would read a bunch of books, collect certificates and exchange these for personal pan pizzas at pizza hut, that was fantastic. This program has been running since 1984; wow!
The other program that got me excited about reading was the Scholastic Book Club, which is also still running. I loved when the brochures would get handed out to us in class, and I couldn’t wait to get home to decide what books I’d ask my parents to buy for me to read. Sometimes they would get them for me too.
Impactful Books and Authors
I’ve read many books by many authors during my life. A lot I have read, enjoyed and forgotten. However, some stick to memory as they have impacted and shaped my taste in what I love to read.
The last decade or so since owning an e-reader and apps such as Goodreads and Oku will help ensure I always remember an author or a book. However, if I forget, it won’t take long to review my reading history and refresh myself.
The early years
My earliest memory of really getting into books was during school in the early nineties. The Deepwater trilogy by by Ken Catran, and the Seddon Street Gang trilogy by Jack Lasenby stand out to me vividly as books I loved when I was young. I read them multiple times each.
More recently
As I grew older and discovered the world of science fiction & fantasy, the following authors; Raymond E. Feist, Peter F. Hamilton, James S.A. Corey and, George R.R. Martin quickly became my favourites. I’ve read as much of their works as possible. In the case of Feist and Hamilton, multiple times.
Raymond E. Feist
The book that stands out to me as the one that set off my recent love for the genre(s) is Shards of a Broken Crown by Feist. I picked this one from my dad’s bookshelf and wasted no time reading it front to back. I was immediately immersed in the story and couldn’t put it down, but most of it didn’t make sense. The Web was less expansive back then, but I was soon able to figure out that this was the fourth book in a series out of a more expansive twelve-book universe. It took little time to dive right into Magician. Thirty-odd books later, I was done with the world of Midkemia.
I was pleased that Feist didn’t stop writing and have enjoyed the Firemane Saga. Looking forward to a re-read of this series soon.
Peter F. Hamiton
Hamilton is to science fiction what Feist is to fantasy for me. I started with Hamilton with The Reality Dysfunction, the first book in the Nights Dawn trilogy. So I was already off to a better start than I was with Feist.
Dad had all three books on the bookshelf, so I hungrily devoured all three huge paper books, one after the other.
I read Nightsdawn long before Pandora’s Star was released and was hyped to be able to read all Hamilton’s new books as they were released.
