Favorite childhood book.

[shcrimps]

Right??? I don't know why, but the original book from my childhood has been on my mind lately.

I have never seen the movie:

and here i am not having read the book
but i watched the movie since that release was closer to my time (everyone knows everything from late 90s spilled over into 00s for a while) and i wasn’t around until 2001

 

[Michael71]

Has anyone mentioned where the wild things are???? I remember that ome from ore grade school years

 

[vlangel]

I forgot about Jack London. I read those two as well and enjoyed them very much.

I wonder if anyone else has read
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. I wouldn't consider it a classic series by any stretch of the imagination but I really got into them. I suppose being in an altered state myself at the time probably helped. I even remember trying to astral project but was never succesful :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

Somehow I missed The Teachings of Don Juan!

 

[PharmrJohn]

OK, I seriously need to stop posting and go to bed.....

@PharmrJohn, we've talked before privately, you know my background, and I know I'm going to get smoked here, but.....

When I was all of about 8 years old, I found an old paperback book while my family was visiting my grandparents at their old house. I was rummaging around the basement. I couldn't find it now to save my life, but it was about..... Bigfoot lol!

Yes, my friends Bigfoot!

Those stories from that book served for some mighty frightening "campfire" stories when my 13 year old friends and I "camped out" in someone's parent's back yard :)

I am now an adult (arguably), I have a legit degree in Bio, a minor in Chem, and an AS in engineering. I consider myself a reasonable man, but I do LOVE ME a good Bigfoot story lol! I like to camp, and sometimes when I'm "out there" I listen for the "Big Guy". Maybe one of these days lol!!!

I'm not going to say I've ever seen a Big Foot/Squatch, but please, please, give me a grant to go sit in the woods and watch for one....... Man, would I love THAT job lol!

Clearly, I should go to bed!



Have a great night everyone!

I really wanted to believe in Bigfoot. But even as a youngster it just didn't make sense. And that made me sad. But the Loch Ness Monster? THAT I believed in until I was about 10 or 11. I purposely did that to hold onto my childhood.

Now that everybody is in bed...
Literature was a big part of my life growing up, I was fortunate, I know that now, but it was normal to me back then.
Lets start with the first... The little engine that could... Forget about the moral of the story... Trains duh...
For my birthday, my mom got me one of those book of the month subscriptions in elementary school. So that list includes:
Treasure Island
James and the Giant Peach
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
NatGeo put out a book called Cowboys, I would reread that all the time.
Cher on the cover of Time magazine... Wait, that wasn't a book but a piece of literature that affected me :cool:
Junior high:
Wrinkle in Time
Big Red, This book I loved and in fact later in life I found a signed copy which later was lost, disappeared, but most likely stolen.
Mr. Thomas would read parts of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Easy Rider magazine, for the motorcycle articles... I had a minibike chopper with a Briggs&Stratton 5hp motor with a centrifugal clutch...

I think high school things started to take off. I was fortunate again, in that you got to choose your english teacher by the books you studied, each teacher would teach a different book each semester.
Romeo & Juliet
Of Mice and Men
Grapes of Wrath
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
The Illustrated Man (this book got me hooked into Sci-Fi literature)
Free reading time (remember that?)
S.E. Hinton series... Rumble fish etc. (shoutout to ponyboy and to chocolate cake for breakfast)
The Quartzite trip. I think the most underrated book ever. (Screenplay rights anyone)
The Warriors

College years:
While not a lot of time for personal reading there are some significant ones;
Orson Scott Card was a master in portraying humanity and future technology in the Ender Game series.
Hearts of Darkness
So, also being at this time is when I started saltwater aquariums;

The Marine Aquarium Reference: Systems and Invertebrates​

Dr. Burgess's Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes​

Unfortunately, reading seems a thing of the past. While I frown upon E-books, because you just can't read a few pages at night until your eyes are tired, unless you risk dropping your laptop or Ipad on the floor. You can download some great classics to read on an airplane or beach.
This is a great thread, it helped me trace back through my past through literature to where it all went wrong...
#2997

Loved Steinbeck. OMAM was one of my all time favorites.

I just remembered another. The Outsiders.

Loved that book too. Also That Was Then, This is Now. I actually found something from Jr. High the other day. I had made a diorama of the Park Scene. I found the park benches (made out of Toothpicks) in a box in the Garage and thimbles that were the garbage cans. Got an A+ for that work. It took a long time.

 

[Gtinnel]

I haven’t read the whole thread so it may have been said but I remember enjoying Watership Down. Which is amazing because I don’t enjoying reading.

 

[exnisstech]

This is like a flash bang memory refresher. There are so many books being mentioned that I read and have forgotten untill reading the titles here. The outsiders, hobbit series and more. It seems like my memories go into long term storage and remain dormant until something awakens them like this thread. I know it sounds weird but it feels that way :zany-face:

 

[GARRIGA]

My favorite book was a magazine and mostly looked at the photos and bio but did read Catcher and the Rye, that one with the kids on an island that turned on each other, of mice and men and the monster that ate villagers and later killed. Was rooting for the monster. Forgot the names obviously but not of that magazine :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

 

[PharmrJohn]

This is like a flash bang memory refresher. There are so many books being mentioned that I read and have forgotten untill reading the titles here. The outsiders, hobbit series and more. It seems like my memories go into long term storage and remain dormant until something awakens them like this thread. I know it sounds weird but it feels that way :zany-face:

Oh yeah! Lord of the Rings! I read those four books until I got to about one-quarter of the way go in Return of the King. Did that twice. And stopped at the same point twice. It was SUCH a well done book set that I didn't want to end! It was only when the movies came out when I found how it ended. To this day, I've not read that last quarter of King.

 

[Tucsonreefer]

Of Mice and Men and War of the Worlds.

 

[exnisstech]

Does anyone else here find the movies disappointing after reading the book? The shining comes to mind. In the book there was always this boiler that he needed to tend to that kept creeping into his thoughts. And then the animal hedges vs the maze in the movie. I guess it's just not possible to convey people's thoughts on the screen. I've really gotten into audio books several years ago as long as a good narrator is reading. I've never been able to get the characters to separate in my head, different voices and such but a good narrator can do that for me.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

Generation X'er here born in '71

 

[Fish Fan]

I really wanted to believe in Bigfoot. But even as a youngster it just didn't make sense. And that made me sad. But the Loch Ness Monster? THAT I believed in until I was about 10 or 11.

My wife STILL believes in Nessie lol!

 

[Fish Fan]

that one with the kids on an island that turned on each other

Lord of the Flies! Did anyone mention that yet? That's a great book!

 

[GARRIGA]

Lord of the Flies! Did anyone mention that yet? That's a great book!

Felt sorry for the puggy mango eating kid

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Does anyone else here find the movies disappointing after reading the book? The shining comes to mind. In the book there was always this boiler that he needed to tend to that kept creeping into his thoughts. And then the animal hedges vs the maze in the movie. I guess it's just not possible to convey people's thoughts on the screen. I've really gotten into audio books several years ago as long as a good narrator is reading. I've never been able to get the characters to separate in my head, different voices and such but a good narrator can do that for me.

Absolutely!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Lord of the Flies! Did anyone mention that yet? That's a great book!

Great book

 

[GARRIGA]

Recall author of Catcher and the Rye refused selling the rights to a movie. Smart move. Movies I’ve seen based on great books sucked. Although Tom Cruise version of War of the Worlds was pretty entertaining although never read the book or around when the original was broadcast. Wasn’t that the one where it was over the radio and people thought we were really being attacked. Talking about people who ducked and covered from boomers so take that with a grain of salt

 

[Fish Fan]

Recall author of Catcher and the Rye refused selling the rights to a movie. Smart move. Movies I’ve seen based on great books sucked. Although Tom Cruise version of War of the Worlds was pretty entertaining although never read the book or around when the original was broadcast. Wasn’t that the one where it was over the radio and people thought we were really being attacked. Talking about people who ducked and covered from boomers so take that with a grain of salt

Yes, and though I'm not quite so old that I remember the original broadcast, but I understand it was delivered in a very believable way. People who tuned in mid-way thought it was a real news broadcast.

 

[56longroof]

I never really had a favorite book once i was old enough to read. My mom is a huge reader and she bought us subscriptions to the Walt Disney books and alot of the Golden books as a grade schooler. Once I started High school I read alot of horror and fantasy novels. Tolkien, Howard,Poe etc. Later it was King and Lovecraft. Alot of the books mentioned are bringing back alot of memories.

 

[GARRIGA]

Yes, and though I'm not quite so old that I remember the original broadcast, but I understand it was delivered in a very believable way. People who tuned in mid-way thought it was a real news broadcast.

If I recall the story correctly. They started with this was a story and not real. Wasn’t it Olsen Wells? Gonna look it up