The books of our youth

[FierceKitty]

I'll stick in Tove Jansen's Moomin books. Happy memories!

[Hertsblue]

Arthur C Clarke - The City and the Stars and Clidhood's End.

Ian Fleming - the Bond books.

C.S. Forester - the Hornblower series.

[Ben Waterhouse]

A A Milne - Complete oevre
Charlie Wesencraft - Practical Wargaming
Charles Grant - The Wargame

Still read all three...

[Sean67]

Age nine getting a famous five book 
then age 12 my uncle emigrating to South Africa and giving me all his Sven Hassel books. Still cant go in a charity shop without piucking one up 

[Luddite]

Formative years books eh?

Well, LotR / The Hobbit / Silmarillion appears to be one we can take for granted, and they were definitely part of my formative years, so...

Where the Wild Things Are
My grandfather took me to the library every Tuesday to get three books.  Every Tuesday, one of my books was Where the Wild Things Are.  My mum read it too me every night.  With voices and sound effects and everything. 

The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius - Michael Moorcock
The book (short stories) that made me realise i likes anti-heroes better than heroes.

A 1972 copy of the Oxford English Dictionary (abridged)
I loved reading that and exploring the words, their origins, etc...

[Sandinista]

The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius - Michael Moorcock
The book (short stories) that made me realise i likes anti-heroes better than heroes. 

only discovered Moorcock in my 20's - great stuff 

[Luddite]

The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius - Michael Moorcock
The book (short stories) that made me realise i likes anti-heroes better than heroes.  

only discovered Moorcock in my 20's - great stuff  

When i was 8 years old i became very ill (Stills Disease) and my neighbour gave me his copy of Lord of the Rings to read.  It took me a year to get through, and i still have that battered old copy.  

Then he gave me The Queen of Swords, which led me to seek out more Moorcock, including Jerry Cornelius (from the local library).  

When i was 10, he invited my to my first D&D session - The Palace of the Silver Princess.  I had no idea what i was getting into, nor how much it would hook me.  Sometimes there were 20 people (family and friends) in the room all playing - youngest 8 years old, oldest i guess around 45.  Sessions were every Saturday, lasting often 9am to gone midnight.

I owe many years of happy gaming and geekery to that chap.  Thanks Pete!