The contest is over. But I still wanted to leave my two cents.
By now, those who know me, know already that I like to initiate any book discussion with how technology ruined us. And why wouldn't I rant?
During the era when I grew up, there weren't a lot of distractions. People used to look forward to seeing weekly programs on the only channel broadcasted in Bangladesh. And there were books. I owe them my allegiance.
In retrospect, I realize I wouldn't want to be born any later. Probably way earlier would be preferable. The technology boom made life unbearable, even when it comes bearing some gifts which I couldn't do without.
The earliest book I loved, hated, and then loved again was Charles Dickens' Great Expectation when I was 10 years old. It was a translated Bengali version. I think it was an additional read required by students in B.A. class. I didn't know what they thought of it but the book left me in turmoil. Great Expectation explored teenage infatuation, which I naturally related to as a teen myself. I read half of it in a day and when I kept the book by my pillow side at night, my little heart was full of anxious little outbursts, contemplating the young couple's future in the book. It is hard to express that peculiar distress I felt for fictional characters as a novice reader. Perhaps, that was the first life I lived that was not my own.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Expectations
However, it was not the first book that initiated my journey. That would be "The Ugly Duckling", a classic children's book. After hatching from the egg, a baby duckling is perceived as ugly and distasteful to the other chicks and every other domestic bird at the farm. Through mistreatment and a life full of suffering and unfortunate adventure, the little duckling finds himself tossed around here and there, and on the verge of giving up he accidentally finds out he was a migrating swan all along, not a duck—hence distinct from every domestic bird in the farm, destined to be free, to fly as far as his wings take him, to be one with the sky. I was in 3rd grade then, still, I remember the story vividly, and those emotions that I felt then came back rushing while writing this.
The book is a fine allegory to our societies and how we treat individuals who do not fit in. Of course, I didn't realize that as a child, but in retrospect, I'm pretty sure that was one hell of a building block for me.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_Duckling
After I picked up the Tin Goyenda series (in 5th grade), reading became a habit for me. I've read so many of them I can't keep track anymore. But one book was very special to me, 'Vishon Aranya', in which the three friends traverse the jungle of the Amazon. The story is not of a detective nature, rather it was an adventure book. I think that was my exposure to the nature of the mighty jungle and I remember taking everything in with such a raw delight! These stories are inspired by other novels, but Rokib Hasan was a hell of a writer and his adaptations of the original sources were the holy grail for me.
And the next shock was with Masud Rana. "I love you, man" was the book and it was the definition of the genre 'epic' for me. I no longer remember what happens in the book, except a deeps sense of friendship and the villain called Masud Rana as Mashuk Nana, which much amused me and my reading buddies.
I've read a handsome number of books as a child, the number likely will cross a thousand. Loved a good number of them, but these are the ones that flash in front of my eyes when I think of the topic.
