Challenge: 50 Books discussion

I can still remember the first time I saw the X-men. It was actually in a Fantastic Four comic, but it was love at first sight and more than 40 years later I'm still collecting. I credit them and the Legion of Superheros for my life long love of the fantastic. I also love Zenna Henderson and, as mentioned elsewhere, the Dragonriders of Pern.

i was probably about ten when my sister and i found a box of my dad's books in the attic. we started into reading them - most of them NOT appropriate for a ten year old kid. one of the books in this box was called, 'The Big Eye'. i don't know if you can refer to a sci fi novel as 'B' the way you do a sci fi movie, but this book definitely falls into the B category. it was the first sci fi i ever read it and it changed everything for me.

i grew up in northern Ontario on a farm. isolated? you betcha. bad enough it's n.Ontario and isolated to begin with, but then to live on a farm and be denied what little aveneue there was for social contact. my world was very small - until i read The Big Eye. everything became bigger, more complex, more interesting. it made me a sci-fi fan for life.

Sooz wrote: "i was probably about ten when my sister and i found a box of my dad's books in the attic. i>

What part of Ontario? My BFF was born in Hanover.
I forgot to mention the collected works of Harlan Ellison. Fabulous short stories for whiling away the time between classes. Plus he got me an A on a Humanities final paper. And have you noticed that contrary to all stereotypes, it's the womenfolk who are checking in on this topic?

Donna wrote: "Sooz wrote: "i was probably about ten when my sister and i found a box of my dad's books in the attic. i>

What part of Ontario? My BFF was born in Hanover.
I forgot to mention the collected wo..."

hey Donna - i lived for years up near Timmins which is about 550 kms from Toronto - quite a bit further than Hanover!

Sarah wrote: "I love it! I grew up fairly isolated too...not on a farm like you, but mid-northern rural Minnesota can be pretty quiet and unpopulated.

All the fantasy & Sci Fi books I read always did a great..."

that's how i feel Sarah - sci fi opened my eyes and literally changed how i viewed life the universe and everything.

i think Alas Babylon was maybe the second sci fi - or atleast it is the one i remember next. that it was post apocalyptic sent my whole little world on another spin. Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury were very early sci-fi reads for me as well. they have such different writing styles. Vonnegut sparse and ironic. Bradbury myth-like and beautiful. sigh. those were heady days.

There's something further than Hanover? Brrr...
On topic, SF/F is one of few genres where I can totally lose myself, From the innocence of all those OZ books I devoured to summers whiled away with Tolkien and Ann McCaffrey. Heady days indeed.
And OMG! Am I the last to know Peter Jackson has optioned the Temeraire books?! These are my newest addiction.

i don't know why, but i never really got into fantasy the way i did sci-fi. other than Lord of the Rings. i tried a couple others, cause i was so certain i should 'lose myself' as Donna so aptly puts it. but alas, no. and 'burrrrrrr' is also an apt description of the area i grew up. but it is also very pretty with it's pre-cambrian rock outcrops, lakes and rivers, the boreal forest etc. fabulous place to camp/hike/canoe - during those 3 weeks between frost and blackflies!

Favorite is a tough one. It's like picking your favorite child. I tend toward the classics; Asimov, Bradbury & Clarke. Could be an age thing... I've also enjoyed a lot of Elizabeth Moon's books.

Sarah wrote: "I started with Sci Fi, but moved to Fantasy as I grew older. I was a huge Star Trek & Star Wars novel reader throughout high school, however. I actually know more about the original Star Trek throu..."

Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow are two of my favourite sci-fi novels. as the series progressed i lost interest however. the novels that followed seemed big and messy whereas Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow were so sharp and terse.

as for other favourites, i am going to shamelessly promote 3 Canadian sci-fi writers. Robert Sawyer, Robert Charles Wilson and Peter Watts.

Robert Sawyer's novels are like chips or something - once i start i cannot quit. he always has a couple of interesting ideas - with moral or ethical implications usually. he isn't a 'hard' sci-fi writer. his characters are very human.

Peter Watts is a little more hard core sci fi. his Starfish (first of a trilogy) is definitely one of my favourites. Blindsight is also excellent.

oh and another of my favourite sci-fi books is Grass by Sherri Tepler. i can't say i was a huge fan of all her work, but this one just grabbed me and didn't let me go till the last page.

Donna - i've never read Elizabeth Moon - can you give me a little info on what she writes / style etc.

I started reading Moon when she hooked up with Anne McCaffrey on the Planet Pirates books which tied in to McCaffrey's Dinosauer planet books. It was good fun so I started picking up the Serrano books which are, in most ways, a good old fashioned space opera. Lots of characters, lots of space battling, political intrigue, etc. I needed this prod because I haven't picked up anything by her in a couple years - where does the time go? I'm off to the library's website to put a couple on reserve....