[Mark Robson]

What books did I read as a child? Hmm! How far back are we going here? I was inspired to learn to read by the cover of a children's version of Beowulf. Initially I tried, but the text was too difficult, so I read loads of other things in order to improve my reading enough to return to it.

I suppose I went through all the normal progression for one of my age - Enid Blyton's Enchanted Wood and Faraway Tree stories ... oh, and The Wishing Chair series, of course, followed by The Famous Five, The 'Adventure' series (Island of Adventure, Mountain of Adventure etc) - I guess I did most of Blyton's work. Then I progressed in leaps and bounds, reaching Lord of the Rings when I was about 11 or 12 and never looking back. From then onwards I explored the authors who wrote more adult stories. In fantasy this was: David Eddings, Julian May, Steven Donaldson, Michael Moorcock, Peter Morwood, David Gemmell, Anne McCaffrey, Terry Brooks ... the list goes on.

In other genres I liked: Stephen King, Dennis Wheatley, James Herbert, Wilbur Smith, Desmond Bagley, Alistair McLean (Spelling?), Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Tom Holt and, of course, Douglas Adams.