I first got started reading books back in 4th grade when I discovered The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon. While going to a private elementary school, we participated in Pizza Hut's Book-It program where we had to read a book, write a report on it, and then we received credits for how long that boks was. After so many pages worth each month, we would receive prizes for certain achievements. By the end of this, I had barely started in on my 'hardcore' reading and my teacher decided to continue the project until the end of the year (bless Mrs. Peters). We pretty much had a contest to see who could get the most, and by the end of the school year, I had read about 5600 pages worth of mostly Hardy Boys books, all in my half year of 4th grade. (I finished first by more than double the pages of the next person..woowoo). I still have those reports somewhere...

In 5th grade, after reading about as many Hardy Boys books, among many other subjects, I finally read my first 'real' novel. War of the Worlds was the popular television show at the time and so it became my first big book. Later that year, while visiting my dad's, he was cleaning out some storage places and came across a bunch of old books he used to read, including Dune, Piers Anthony and other fantasy and sci-fi books. I looked through them and all, but of course, I still read mostly Hardy Boys and these big books were daunting to say the least. My dad decided to throw them out or sell them, but offered me first pick to take home. I wish I had picked all the books, but I chose those which looked neat, as well as those in a series. The first three books to the Xanth series happened to be some of the lucky few I kept. As the weeks went by, I finally opened up A Spell for Chameleon and started reading. This was only 5th grade, but by the end of the week, I had pretty much finished all three books and loved them.

I read more from what I salvaged from my dad's and finally got into the sci-fi section of the library and found Piers Anthony in the paperback section (where I spent most of my time). I read all I could of the series, though in later years I have drifted away. I read more of his own books, and more books I thought looked or sounded interesting in the other rows of paperback books. I could never seem to read enough sci-fi and fantasy and went through more than I could ever remember to write down. Some good, some less good, but all books I finished, if I started them. As well as the above books I delved into poetry in high school, classics, and more 'realistic' stuff. I now enjoy most any literature, but I'll always enjoy science fiction and fantasy the best I'm sure.

edit 2/28/04: I also heavily enjoy "computer geek" books dealing with systems administration and penetration and security.