sam_t | (no subject)

We keep getting these playschool dawns. This morning, someone had scribbled over the green-blue sky in pink crayon.

Farah Mendlesohn (about whom I now know slightly more), is asking for SF readers to fill in this questionnaire on SF reading habits, specifically SF read when under 18. I was reading through the questions when I realised that I can't actually remember whether or not I read any SF at all as a child or a teenager. This surprised me, as I definitely read fantasy, I liked science and was fascinated by space exploration and astronomy. I can't imagine what would have stopped me reading it, but I really can't remember any if I did read it. Perhaps I just wasn't adventurous enough to try a whole genre that no-one had recommended to me. I'm going to be wondering all day whether I've forgotten any books, now.

My new office is crowded, as expected, but I've ended up with the desk at the back of the room by the window, which is a bonus. The corridors seem to be designed to thwart any sense of direction: they've got large bright coloured panels that look from a distance like doorways, and they twist in odd ways. I'm having to navigate by Picasso prints, which feels decidedly peculiar.

ETA: OK, so far I've got 4 or 5 Star Trek novels, 1984, The HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. Still not very many.

Threaded | Flat

I read most of my SF when I was entering my teens. I wasn't interested in the usual teenage Point Horrors, romances and more normal young adult books, 'classics' didn't really engage me, the books we read in school were too easy and the library wasn't especially good. SF seemed to plug that gap by offering something that was aimed at adults but not hugely difficult. And it was about exciting things like telepathic six-legged dogs, spaceships and imaginary worlds rather than stuff like dating. Come to think of it, I probably read fantasy for much the same reasons.

I don't think I ever got completely obsessed as in able to reel off dozens of authors, but it seemed to be a bridge between childhood and adult reading.