Surtac wrote:

Fascinating story, Star.  And your evocative style has shaken loose a few more memories from my own literary wanderings over the years.

I doubt I'll be as eloquent in my equivalent narrative, but now I have a template to attempt to emulate.

 

Aww, thanks for that 'tac. I look forward to what you have to say, as always -
 

PS. The link to the At the Earth's Core cover image didn't work quite as planned. But if you follow the link and click on the next link to the 1914 novel, you'll see the fantastical cover.

Felicitous Sk8er wrote:

Star, I stand in awe of your post...both the substance and the style.  I'm speechless.   

Aww - thank you for that and for motivating me. I really enjoyed putting it together.

Kel J wrote:

The books I regard as life-changing are those with lines or messages that influenced my thinking for life. 1984 was one. Robin Hood was another. Dune, in several spots. Veeck as in Wreck. 

I can see that. I’ve been collecting quotes I like since the 70s. Now they’re valued items to me.

Okay.  Every time I'e tried to answer this question in further detail I've ended up distracted and diverted down too many disparate and competing subject or topic rabbit-holes.  So I'm giving up any attempt to cover it exhaustively here in this thread and according it full Project status within The System here at Chateau Dysfunction.  It now has its own project notebook and I'll be adding to that as I think of more content and context.  If you're (un)lucky I'll be back here occasionally with the odd addition to list some more specific books along with appropriate context as to why they were or are important to me.

But for now, here's a list of some very early reading influences through primary and secondary school years ...

Kpo the Leopard by Rene Guillot was the earliest specific title I can remember reading.. It was from the primary school library at Claremont in suburban Hobart.  I can remember taking it on holiday to my paternal grandmother's  house.  Other early favourite stories were King Arthur and His Knights, 
Bulfinch's Mythology, Norse and other mythologies.

 Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by HR Ellis Davidson is a non-fiction history / analysis I also remember fondly.

 I started on SF because of the 2001 movie cinema release - Clarke, Asimov , Poul Anderson for both SF and fantasy.  Alao loved Michael Moorcock and Elric, REH and Conan, HPL and the Cthulhu mythos, Clark Ashton Smith usw.  Found  Zelazny, Sturgeon, Simak, Dickson, Bradbury and so on.

 Aviation, technology and science - Sagan, Hofstedter, Tsiolkovski, Penrose, Hawking etc.  (I was an Air Cadet at high school and was focused more on physical sciences rather than the humanities),

 Computing - Michie, Knuth, Wirth, Dijkstra, Hounsley, Tannenbaum and so on.  Tasmania was an early adopter of computing studies at secondary level.

 My introduction to Cherryh was the serialisation of The Faded Sun: Kesrith in Galaxy magazine in 1978.