Ender's Game ... the movie release is October 1st, so this would be the perfect time to read it, (Orson Scott Card is one of the best contemp sci-fi authors, IMHO).
I am very skeptical that the movie could ever be as good as the book, but it looks like fun.
It's sometimes hard to separate, but I try to use my knowledge of a book, (if I read it before seeing the movie version), as just a general outline for the film.
It's just plain too difficult to include the expanse and detail of a book in a movie without making it five or six hours long, (Deathly Hallows is a good example ... they should have split Goblet Of Fire as well).
Ahhhhh you've come over to the dark side. I agree, the movie is going to have a LOT to live up to.
As far as books go, when I was 13 or so I read Roger Zealazny's nine princes in amber series.
13 year old me did not appreciate it anywhere near as much as it deserved. It's a genre-busting series that mixes sci-fi, urban fantasy, and high fantasy with a hard-boiled detective narrative. They're just so very good. Everyone, if you like any of those things, read them!
Superb series
and author, (love Zelazney).
I really had no desire for recreational reading until I was in 8th grade and read Pebble In The Sky by Isaac Asimov ... my world changed overnight, literally.
I then went about reading every Asimov I could get my hands on, (there's a LOT - I believe he's still THE or one of the most prolific authors of all time), and while much of it is outdated as far as what we know about science and the universe, I still love it, even the corny Lucky Starr series.
Then on to Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, Alfred Bester, Larry Niven, Ursula Le Guin, Harlan Ellison, (oh, one of my top favs, is Harlan), Bradbury, Heinlein, etc..
Over the years sci-fi has gotten harder and darker, and I love it just as much. I adore anthologies of short stories and novellas, (best story ever: With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole), Press Enter (Varley), The Hob, The Jaguar Hunter (exquisitely dark), Surfacing (Walter Williams - same) ... then deeper into fantasy.
Could go on all night, but you get the idea ... reading became an obsession, and it improved my life, studies, everything, really. I don't think the genre matters if people find a connection with something that sparks that desire.
I truly fear for the written word, and not just actual printing being replaced by digital, because that's actually good in most ways, as it can reach so many more people, but there's something about holding a book, the weight of it, turning the pages.
But for me science fiction is the ultimate escape, (something I'm an expert at), and there are literally no limits but the human mind ... what someone can conceive with limitless imagination ... sci-fi defines that for me.
While I now love literature of almost every kind, nothing will ever compare or be as dear to me, because it taught me that there truly are no limits to what one can imagine, and how that can affect others ... chnage their lives.
But it was "The Good Doctor" Asimov that started it all, and his ability to make genius
easy to grasp for everyone was very special.
I get the feeling with some authors that they are trying to be complex to "one-up" what has come before, and that their being able to grasp their
own intellect is enough, and a befuddled fan is just proof of their superiority.
But even
that kind of writing pulls me in ... takes me places I never though or imagined I could go. It's really an amazing thing, the written word, and Gutenberg is owed a huge place in contributions to the human race.
Wow ... late-night sci-fi rant ... sorry bout that.
Love it all, truly, and Zelazney's one of the greats.
