Ye Olde SF!
Now, about books. There are a lot of people recommending books out there. Which is good! I love me some book recs. But, and here’s the thing: there are very, very few (at least, that I could find) recommending books that are, not to put too fine a point on it, old.
Which is not fair! There are some great books out there that are old! Heinlein’s books are old! Asimov’s books are old!
Now you may say to me: ‘Bee, everyone already KNOWS about them. They’re famous!’. To which I reply: Not true! There’s an entire generation of readers growing up now who might never hear of them. And if they did hear of them, they might not know where to start.
So here’s a first book recommendation. You might want to have a look in second-hand bookshops because I’m pretty sure you won’t find it in a new bookstore.
Tunnel in the Sky by Robert Anson Heinlein.
Now, anybody who knows me will know that I am a rabid RAH fan. Really. I bite. The way he used words, the almost conversational writing style, and most of all, the man’s ideas…well. Let’s go with awesome and leave it at that, mmm-kay?
What is this story about, you may ask, fear in your eyes.
Well, I’m going to tell you.
A bunch of young people are out on a Solo Survival exam. Simple concept, really. We drop you on a planet, with any equipment you choose to take. If you’re still alive when we pick you up, you pass. If not, you fail. Except they never come to pick them up, and the students eventually band together and try to survive.
NOW do you see why I like it? Because it’s AWESOME!
It would be classed YA, if YA existed when this book was written, so no worries about any of the weirdness of his books for older readers.
Do yourself a favour and read it. You won’t be sorry.
LiveJournal Tags: Review,Heinlein,Books