World Book Day Celebration: The Books that Shaped my Childhood Years
The Books that Shaped my Childhood Years : World Book Day Celebration 2020
Today I’m taking part in a blog hop with some wonderful bloggers to celebrate world book day! I’ll be talking about the books that shaped my childhood years, and I’m so excited to share this with you! Make sure you check out the others taking part in this too! They’ll be linked below. I’m following Lauren (Northern Plunder) so make sure you check her post out!
First up I’m going to talk about James Herbert, in particular, The Survivor.
The Survivor by James Herbert Published by Pan Macmillan on November 1, 1999
Pages: 263
Goodreads
It had been one of the worst crashes in airline history, with over 300 dead and only one survivor. Now the dead were buried and the town of Eton tried to forget. But Keller, the survivor, wanted to know what unseen forces had left him still alive.
I was really into Horror when I was a kid. I read James Herbert a lot when I was younger, probably from ages 8+. My Mum is a bookworm and she encouraged me to read whatever I wanted. The reason why I picked this book first and foremost is that it was the first book that inspired me to write! The first story I can remember writing is a knock off of The Survivor! It’ll never see the light of day but it still bounces around this old brain of mine. Also a James Herbert forum was the first forum I ever went on! Was great fun, sitting on the landing with our old PC & waiting for the dial up… getting frustrated when the internet cut off as someone rang!
The Sword of Shannara (The Original Shannara Trilogy, #1) by Terry Brooks
Published by Orbit Pages: 726
Goodreads
James Herbert ignited my love of horror, Terry Brooks ignited my love of Fantasy. His writing is amazing, and I still read them to this day. His series are mostly all connected and it’s amazing how he can weave such a tale! As a child I was IN LOVE with these stories, and I think I always will be.Living in peaceful Shady Vale, Shea Ohmsford knew little of the troubles that plagued the rest of the world. Then the giant, forbidding Allanon revealed that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destroy the world. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara--Shea being the last of the bloodline, upon whom all hope rested. Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea fled, drawing the Skull Bearer after him....
Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) by Robin Hobb
Published by Spectra Books on March 1, 1996
Pages: 435
Goodreads
Robin Hobb is a QUEEN. Her fantasy books are EPIC. I re read these this year and honestly I’m still so in love with them. I read these out of order, read the second series before the first (hey I was 10 give me a break), but I loved them even so. James Herbert inspired my horror writing, Robin Hobb kindled my desire to write fantasy. Even with this reading I felt more inspired than I had in years to write my fantasy! Definitely recommend these books to anyone, especially writers!In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.
Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.
So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien
Published by Houghton Mifflin on August 15, 2002
Pages: 366
Goodreads
The Hobbit was a book that I well and truly fell in love with. I read it, as well as the rest of The Lord of the Rings when I was 9-10 and adored them. I recited a portion and riddle from The Hobbit for my ESB (English Speaking Board) in year 6, and the book has stuck with me since. I even developed a game based off it when I was in uni! If you haven’t read The Hobbit, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. The text in this 372-page paperback edition is based on that first published in Great Britain by Collins Modern Classics (1998), and includes a note on the text by Douglas A. Anderson (2001). Unforgettable!
Apologies that none of these are actually kids books… but I read above my age and didn’t read children’s books until my 20s XD
What books shaped you as a child! Let me know below!
The Graphics were made by Charlotte at Wonderfully Bookish!
The other wonderful people taking part are:
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Special thanks to Cassandra Lee – MADEUP Parenting and Book Reviews and Jen Naughton who are Galactic Warriors!
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2 Comments
yes i love the sword of shannara
Oh, I love this idea! Wow, our childhoods were very different. xD Tolkien would be on my list, too, because that was my introduction to high fantasy, which i still have a love/hate relationship with. Animorphs and Goosebumps were a huge part of my younger childhood, but once I hit double digits, it was things like The Sea Wolf and Pendragon and The Dark is Rising. I started reading more closely to the things I read now, I think.