There was a time in my life when I devoured science fiction. I was about 10 years old and we had moved from the city to the country and I was bored shitless. My safe, secure childhood had turned to uncertainty, insecurity and, looking back, I needed some escapism. This is before the guitar became my main obsession.
I had just seen 2001, then read the book, so the stage was set. Joining the SF book club (8 books for 99 cents!) sealed the deal. The two volume A Treasury of Great Science Fiction came in the mail, and well, it was. It contained the novels The Stars My Destination (Bester) and Rebirth (Wyndham), as well as a pile of classic short stories, which I read, and my mind was blown. I was best buds with a cousin, who had similar interests and we bought and cataloged our paperbacks with glee.
In the space of a bright, molten summer in either 1970 (or was it '71?), I went from Heinlein juveniles and Bradbury to the out there experimentalism of the Dangerous Visions anthology. I read all the Clarke I could get my hands on, and, even though I really didn't care for him that much, Asimov.
The devouring lasted a couple more years, through junior high (even more need to escape) and started to taper off once I hit freshman, too much time spent maintaining relationships with friends and doing what you do at that age to get grownup. All those paperbacks got packed away in a box somewhere, or donated to the library I suspect, so now I'm on a quest to re-acquire those titles, one at a time, volume by pulpy volume.
From memory, and by author, here's a list of what I read in that, my Golden Age of Science Fiction.
Arthur C. Clarke: 2001:A Space Odyssey, Childhood's End, Tales from the White Hart, The City and the Stars, A Fall of Moondust Isaac Asimov: The Foundation Trilogy, I,Robot, The Gods Themselves Robert Heinlein: Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Red Planet, Have Spacesuit Will Travel Ursula K. LeGuin: The Left Hand of Darkness, Rohannon's World Ray Bradbury: The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man C.S. Lewis: Perlandra, Out of the Silent Planet, Edgar Rice Burroughs: Carson of Venus, A Princess of Mars Alfred Bester: The Demolished Man, The Stars My Destination Frank Herbert: Dune, Dune Messiah
And numerous short story anthologies, The Hugo Winners, etc..
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