My reading habits and opportunties

I love books and I love to reading books. But... But I also love many other things to do. So this is just one of the cause why I read less than 15 years ago.

It's started when I was 5 years old. I read the tales from the books to the other children at the kindergarten. I was very proud I can read before my primary school years. I have many story-book with numerous tales from Hungarian and foreign authors (Andersen, Grimm, La Fontaine, etc.)

In my primary years time I read many books and cartoons. The books from my parents collection, mostly are historycal fictions and non-fictions, books from Karl May, Jules Verne and what could I find the selves. But I never weary of tales...

I was nine when I read one of the most famoust Hungarian historical book of the brave deffenders of Castle of Eger. The Hungarian title of it 'Egri csillagok", but it get German (Sterne von Eger) and English (Eclipse of the Crescent Moon) traslation also. I found an English wikipedia link about this book. I loved it!

I spend the summers with reading my childhood. I couldn't do too much things at my village, and it was the main reason of I read 15-20 books every summer. But I played football with my friends when we have oportunity under the blue sky.

As I remember I got my first fantasy book at age 14. It was the Dragonlance trilogy by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. These 3 books were amazing to me! I couldn't put them down, because of the strange races, mystical magic, sorcery, the fights and the great adventure.

And maybe that time discovered the "fighting-fantasy" books also. I was the hero of the story in dangerouos dungeons, fight against orks, goblins and other mosters rolling the dice. Many of my friends draw maps to these dungeons, because some of them are so hard to easy to lost the right way. Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone made really great job this interactive stories. I have to admit sometimes I cheat a little bit...

After this golden era the computers spoiled my reading life, and stole many of my precious time from the books. But I was happy because I find many great computer games, like Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, X-wing series and car racings. These games helped a lot to learn English (which is far from the perfect due to my laziness), and know better the beauty of fantasy worlds.

I read less, but due to my friends I found the books of John Caldwell (István Nemes) about the half-ork priest-warrior, Skandar Graun. These stories were quity funny and easy to read category.

I met the books of foreign authors too. R. A. Salvatore pulpfictions, the books about world of Forgotten Realms, and after I met the works the real, hi-fantasy authors...

George R. R. Martin opened a whole new chapter in my life with the A Song of Ice and Fire series at the beginning of 2001. I couldn't imagine before the real meaning of fantasy books. His thick tome of The game of thrones was a very big suprise to me. As I read GRRM's books I wanted read more from him, and this leads to read my first book in English. It was the A Feast for Crows, which wasn't as easy reading as I had expected.

It was the time when I widening my interest towards other great authors, like Steven Erikson, Robin Hobb, Stephen King and others.

Unfortunatelly my freetime drastically reduced. The work, the family (with two children), my translation activition, playing boardgames, watching movies and series... So, not easy to organize my life, but - I hope - with the growing up the young ones my sparetime will increase.