My mother always disapproved of my reading SF - it wasn't ladylike enough for her. I still remember when Analog published "Dune" as a serial - knocked my socks off.
Nice acronym, Mom!
Buffy ,'Showtime'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Toddson - Jul 20, 2009 7:10:44 am PDT #9654 of 28399
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
Jessica - Jul 20, 2009 7:17:05 am PDT #9655 of 28399
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
I was reading SF almost as soon as I could read, but could never get into Foundation for some reason.
Calli - Jul 20, 2009 7:19:54 am PDT #9656 of 28399
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs
My dad had all the Analog magazines from 1950-1984. One day when I was around 12 and in one of my "There's nothing to read!!1!eleventy-woe" phases he pointed me to them and suggested there was plenty there to keep me busy.
Geekdom was a foregone conclusion.
StuntHusband - Jul 20, 2009 7:23:48 am PDT #9657 of 28399
Electromagnetic candy! - Stark
"Dune" was totally transformative for me; my uncle John told me to read it when I was about 8; I did, and every year afterwards, thinking "I have until I'm 15 - Paul's age - to take over the world, or I'm a failure!"
Har har har!
Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - Jul 20, 2009 7:29:48 am PDT #9658 of 28399
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"
My dad was a big influence in my SF reading habits. His bookshelf was always full of the greats, including Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Never would have discovered it without him. These days I'm more into the TV than the books (I'm sad to say - it just seems to work out like that) and I'm the one who introduces him to things.
I bought him the first season of Battlestar Galactica for his birthday last month. He appears to be enjoying it: he called me last night. "I'm afraid that Matt [his dog] is a Cylon." Why? I inquire. "Because we went to the Grange [assistance dog training centre] last month, and we met his brother. And they looked exactly alike."
Dad-level attempts at humour are the same the world over.
Jessica - Jul 20, 2009 7:37:21 am PDT #9659 of 28399
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
My Dad and I had to stop buying each other books after 3 years in a row buying each other the same book for our birthdays (which are 6 days apart). Now we just email back and forth to see who bought what first.
Connie Neil - Jul 20, 2009 8:05:43 am PDT #9660 of 28399
brillig
It just occurred to me that I have no idea of the reading tastes of any of my family. How odd. I got into science fiction in my teens, when I was trolling the school library for something interesting and was intrigued by A is for Android by Andre Norton. Dear Andre, my gateway drug.
DavidS - Jul 20, 2009 8:34:07 am PDT #9661 of 28399
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Dear Andre, my gateway drug.
Me too. I think I read Daybreak, 2250 and then the Moonstone first.
My folks weren't readers so I backed into fantasy through comic books. In the early seventies, DC published comic book versions of John Carter, Warlord of Mars and (more importantly) Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
Then I crossed company lines to buy Conan and soon I was haunting the used bookstores for ERB, Howard and Leiber.
Toddson - Jul 20, 2009 8:58:21 am PDT #9662 of 28399
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
hm ... it just struck me that I was reading '50s SF magazines, but comic books were not allowed (except for Junior Illustrated Classics). My father also had various ER Burroughs books, E.E. "Doc" Smith, the Conan books, Ace SF Doubles ... all of which I was reading. But no comics.
Tom Scola - Jul 20, 2009 9:01:28 am PDT #9663 of 28399
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.