With today’s passing of famed science fiction author Andre Norton I began to mourn the fact that there are so many science fiction/fantasy Masters, or almost-Masters, that I have yet to read.

It is only within the last few years that I picked up Robert Heinlein, Piers Anthony, J.R.R. Tolkien, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Simon R. Green, Jonathan Carroll…………and they’ve all been an unspeakable joy to read! It makes me wonder what else I’m missing.

I have never read Andre Norton, but she is far from being the only household science fiction/fantasy author that I haven’t experienced. The list includes:

Isaac Asimov, Robert Aspirin, Frank Herbert, Fred Saberhagen, Poul Anderson, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card (fiction), George R.R. Martin, Robert E. Howard, Anne McCaffrey, Spider Robinson, Roger Zelazny, Arthur C. Clarke, Frederick Pohl, Ben Bova….I could go on and on. In addition there are books that I have yet to read by authors that I have enjoyed over the years. The Pip and Flinx series by Alan Dean Foster, the Ringworld series of Larry Niven, the Eden Trilogy of Harry Harrison. The saying “so many books, so little time” seems so trite but so true. I treasure reading, though I often feel that there is not enough time. I choose to do other things that can be equally satisfying but whenever I hear someone lauding their favorite author or their latest literary discovery I think, “now when am I going to have time to read that?”

I used to think of reading as a solitary activity. You pick up a book, open the cover, and allow yourself to be wisked off into other worlds, other times, other dimensions. I no longer feel that way. Books throw open the doors of conversation with those around you that you may not have taken the time to converse with otherwise. Its always a pleasure during those awkward ‘small talk’ moments when you find out that the other person is a reader. Sharing books deepens a friendship in ways that no other medium can. And when you find a good friend that will trust you enough to try something that maybe they’ve never read before and that you can trust enough to open yourself to books you have never read before it is truly magical. And reading to someone deepens a relationship even more.

So rather than spending time lamenting the fact that I will never read all of the science fiction and fantasy, not to mention classics, children’s books, etc. that I desire to, I decided to go out and do something about those I do have time for. I picked up Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and The Tar-Aiym Krang, a Pip and Flinx adventure, by Alan Dean Foster. I look forward to reading, and sharing, these books with great anticipation.