30 day book challenge- Day 12- The first novel you remember reading

It’s practically impossible to actually remember the very first novel I ever read, but I have clear memories of reading both The Illustrated Bible and The Illiad and the Odyssey pretty early on. Not technically novels, but let’s not get overly picky. The illustrated Bible I had at home was a heafty hardback tome with beautiful pictures that I would read every time I had nightmares- and I mean the whole thing. I loved the Old testament stories in particular and the pictures were so beautiful I couldn’t help but be entranced. As for the Illiad and the Odyssey, I was very much in love with Greek myths at this stage in my life and the Iliad and the Odyssey were a natural continuation of that which I already been reading. I’ll never forget how taken I was with the story of Helen, her beauty and the men who came to fight for her. Of course, now that I’m a little more mature I realize those reasons were less romantic and probably more economical/ feudal, but at the time, it was the ultimate princess story and one which remains amongst my favorites to this day.