For my book club this month, we each had to bring along a book from childhood which stood out for us in some way. It was a fascinating meeting at which I learned a lot about my fellow readers. Two had brought along books by Enid Blyton, another Black Beauty and a third some comics.

I took along a Fighting Fantasy adventure game book, Caverns of the Snow Witch by Steve Jackson.

Most of them didn't know what it was and had never heard of an adventure game book. I read it when I was 11 before going to secondary school, picking it up where my older sister had left it. But it was probably the most influential book I have read, as it opened up the genre of fantasy to me, and lead me on to read more fighting fantasy books, which lead to heroquest, warhammer and gaming in general.

And for those who have read it, my first character died to a mammoth before I got anywhere near the Snow Witch.