What book got you to become a fan of SFF?

In a recent Mind Meld column at SF Signal entitled The Books That Made Us Love Science Fiction and Fantasy, Paul Weimer has posted the responses he received when he posed a bunch of authors, editors and fans:

Tell me what book got you to become a fan of SFF, and why?

The resulting list is fascinating, as are the reasons advanced for why the books had such an impact. I recommend you go read it all, but here are the authors and the books they cited as influential:

1. Gail Carriger: Tamora Pierce Song of the Lioness.
2. Tansy Rayner Roberts: David Eddings The Belgariad.
3. Yoon Ha Lee: Anne McCaffrey Dragonflight.
4. Rachel Swirsky: cites work generally by Sheila Williams, Anne McCaffrey, Bradbury and Eleanor Cameron.
5. Beth Cato: Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance series.
6. Tehani Wessely: lists a range of work but places Anne McCaffrey's The White Dragon at the top.
7. Alan Baxter: also lists a number of books but focuses on C J Cherryh’s The Chronicles of Morgaine.
8. Sarah Hendrix: Madeleine L’Engle Wrinkle in Time.
9. Olivia Waite: Anne McCaffrey “The Smallest Dragonboy.”
10. Anthony Cardno: Robert Silverberg To Open the Sky.
11. Ann Vandermeer: The Oz books by L. Frank Baum.
12. Sarah Williams: Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
13. Pamela Sargent: Alfred Bester The Stars My Destination.
14. Jaye Wells: C.S. Lewis The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
15. Mike Glyer: lists a lot of books, from which I will emphasize the Lensman series by E. E. “Doc” Smith about which he says

    there I found the line that hooked me on science fiction forever — “Two thousand million or so years ago two galaxies were colliding; or, rather, were passing through each other….”

16. Sabrina Vourvolias: C.S. Lewis The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
17. Kerry Schafer: Tolkien The Fellowship of the Ring.
18. Jim Henley: Science Fiction Hall of Fame, edited by Silverberg and Bova.
19. Melanie Meadors: Robin McKinley The Hero and the Crown.
20. M.L. Brennan: lists The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, Dune by Frank Herbert, The Belgariad by David Eddings, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, The Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce.
21. Meghan B.: Tamora Pierce Lioness and the Woman Who Rides Like A Man.
22. Jon Courtenay Grimwood: Alexei Panshin Rite of Passage.

Usually, when I find lists of recommended or favorite readings online, I am a little embarassed by how few of them I have read. Not this list, where I must have read 80%. Perhaps it reflects the ages of the people responding?

I was also a little surprised to find how similar peoples lists were. In addition to overlap mentioned above, many people responded with other books they loved that often drawn from the same small list: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Ender's Game, Dune, as well as various books by David Eddings, Raymond Feist, Terry Brooks, C S Lewis and Anne McCaffrey.

The one book (or set of books) that was surprising in its omission was Ursula Le Guin's Wizard of Earthsea which was extremely influential to me and to many of my friends. I think of it as our generations Harry Potter, and recommend it to anyone (along with Dune, McCaffrey, and Ender's Game, it topped my list of recommendations for younger readers).