War and Peace was the first book I read as an adult (at 19) and I was blown away. Definitely opened my mind as to how great a great book can be, and raised my standards for what I'm willing to spend time on reading considerably.

I think this was one of the best things that happened to me for my reading habit, and I'm incredibly glad I stumbled upon it sooner rather than later.

The only change I'd make, if possible, would've been to read it at a younger age (12-14) so my perception of what books can be would've been expanded sooner and I could've branched out from my comfort zone at the time.

Depends what do you want to take out of reading. If you are only looking for entertainment, it's logical to pick a romance or an action-packed fantasy book. It's also okay never to graduate from such books, if it's not the way you want to spend your time. What's less okay is to imply that the sole action of reading will linearly increase your knowledge and sophistication. It's cool that you've built a personal library, but if every book in there contains more or less the same story with minor tweaks, then it's not really enlightening.

Not really. I started picking up reading as a habit last year, and as long as you do some research then there's no reason to read crap, but there's also no reason to read epics if those don't appeal to you either.

I started with Hitchhiker's guide and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't think that's a low-quality book by any means.

They do, and a first read at a young age (17-21) can be transformative.