I'm in the 'can't remember the first book' camp, I think i just loved it from the start. But I do remember my father reading Wodehouse Mulliner stroies to me when I was very small, and laughing and laughing and laughing.
He did wonderful voices and it was great to see the 'adult world' made ridiculous. the Moomin books were pretty key too. Then, packed away to boarding school when pretty young, I sat on my bed reading Dodie Smith's 101 Dalmations when dropped off for the first time. Buried my head in the pages as all the other girls came in and found their labelled beds. I remember that feeling of protection. Still have that edition.....
Now I have three step kids, the oldest (a girl), gets it. The middle child (a 14 yr old boy), not so much and given his age there's nothing I can do about it. He didn't like reading at 11 so it isn't just adolescence. It saddens me actually, but perhaps he'll change his mind later.......
The younger, a boy, I think does get it. He doesn't reach for a book off his own bat, but he likes sharing reading time with his dad and they are reading Sword in the Stone - T H White, by my suggestion. It seems to be going down well. He asked what crenellations were the other day, so dad explained and the next day I came across him drawing castle walls with lovely, teeth-like crenellations all along them. Too cool!!!
long post, sorry......