The first novel I ever read was Piers Anthony's A Spell for Chameleon. I could read of course, but this was my first complicated plot epic, or so it seemed at the time. It was Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Camp Emory, if I remember correctly. I had my ears pierced, but only 1 set of earings (purple), I wore mirrored, white-framed-with-color-splatters sunglasses, quite proudly, when I didn't have to wear my huge, real-glass glasses to see. I had skinned knees and high shyness around boys. Around anyone really. I idealized my camp counceller (Judy, or Carol, or Kim, one of those names) And I played a borrowed viola from the school with a bad bow and strange cracks in its face.

I would read, and then reread parts, because I couldn't focus on the plot long enough at times to remember what happened. It was laborous work. It was given to me by my mother, as a hopeful branch into her world of books, that I had not taken to before this. Probably to her disappointment, since I believe she was an early reader, just like someone else I know. [The bridge weathered the storm between two somewhat different personalities. We still trade books to this day.]

It is not a great book. It fortified my "not a girl" attitude and gave me something to read other than romance novels. It also pretty much fortified me against non-fiction and "life" fiction, so that I read more scifi / fantasy dreck then good writing most of the time. But that isn't the point. It was a time in my life where I experienced the expansion of my awareness. I could feel it like growing pains in my legs.

I would leave this particular camp to find that we were moving out of my childhood house, in 2 weeks no less, and that we were going to pick out the next house that afternoon. I would also leave with my first bout of fustration at said love interest at the time [Daniel or Mike or something like that] over my first dance that was not a dance. Like a crush that is not a crush. Wouldn't be the end of that theme either.

I never thought I had a coming of age story. Apprently I became aware during a fantasy novel. I was 13.

What was your first novel?