Vacation Reading List

[howeird]

Most of my first 48 hours of vacation will be on planes and trains, which means I will need to bring some reading material with me. Must be paperbacks, must be a convenient size (I want reading material, not weight training). With this in mind, and Spider Robinson as my inspiration, I offer this meme for you-all to respond to:

1. What is the first Science Fiction book you remember reading?



2. Which author would you always read, regardless of the title or subject of the book?



3. Name a book which you found surprisingly engrossing.



4. What non-reference book do you read over and over again?



5. What book made you laugh out loud? When it was supposed to?



6. Name a book which you found both highly readable and educational.



7. Is there a book you don't think someone like me would ever think of reading which you enjoyed immensely?



8. What is the first Science Fiction movie you saw in a theater or drive-in?

Feel free to list multiple answers to any and all questions.

1. What is the first Science Fiction book you remember reading?

I tried to read The Time Machine by H.G. Wells after I saw the movie, but the language was too archaic for my 10-year-old brain. The first Sci-Fi book I actually read was Heinlein's Space Cadet.


2. Which author would you always read, regardless of the title or subject of the book?

Ruth Rendell, Michael Crichton, Ray Bradbury, Margaret Atwood, Alan Dean Foster, Sherri S. Tepper


3. Name a book which you found surprisingly engrossing.

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Jimmy Buffet's Where Is Joe Merchant?


4. What non-reference book do you read over and over again?

Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. Norton's Anthology of English Poetry (the only textbook I kept from college).


5. What book made you laugh out loud? When it was supposed to?

Pieces of the various Dave Barry books, Red Dwarf by Grant Naylor, The Princess Bride by William Goldman


6. Name a book which you found both highly readable and educational.

Last Chance To See, Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine; Airframe and Five Patients by Michael Crichton


7. Is there a book you don't think someone like me would ever think of reading which you enjoyed immensely?

Nope, I haven't thought of it. ;-)


8. What is the first Science Fiction movie you saw in a theater or drive-in?

The Blob, at a drive-in, 1958.

Comments

[farmount.livejournal.com]

What is the first Science Fiction book you remember reading?
Oh, I don't know. Probably something by Piers Anthony (think of the Blue Adept series) since he's fairly simple to read. Either that or some of the junior Heinlein books


Which author would you always read, regardless of the title or subject of the book?
Heinlein. He's always been a great storyteller, even if his female characters are distressingly two-dimensional. Another author that I love is C.S. Friedman.


Name a book which you found surprisingly engrossing.
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons. OK, it's somewhere between horror and SF but I couldn't put it down.


What non-reference book do you read over and over again?
C.J. Cherryh's Chanur series.


What book made you laugh out loud? When it was supposed to?
Good Omens by Prachett and Gaiman.


Name a book which you found both highly readable and educational.
I'm not sure about the highly readable but certainly educational: Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. Also great for some laugh-out-loud sections.


Is there a book you don't think someone like me would ever think of reading which you enjoyed immensely?
I really push The Madness Season by C.S. Friedman as a fantastic novel that eveyone should read. Honestly, I don't know if you've already read it or not -- I never think that somone wouldn't think of reading anything. Another series of books that I really like that I don't know if you've read but I love is Gould's essays (The Panda's Thumb, Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes) since they're a bunch of essays which are highly readable and very science/evolution oriented. Yes, he's got his biases and they show clearly, but the writing is still splendid.


What is the first Science Fiction movie you saw in a theater or drive-in?
Hard for me to say -- I do remember "Star Wars" vividly, though.