Wow, speaking of fantasy material! What a history, thanks for sharing.GeekgirlUnveiled wrote: ... I'm a relative latecomer to Sci-fi and fantasy ... When I was about 15, I read Clan of the Cave Bear, (Auel is a local author!) ... grounded from visiting the library unsupervised, due to my inability to "control" my reading material. ... Robert Ludlum ... meeting a boy ... Ah memories!
I enjoyed Clan of the Cave Bear, though I never thought of it as sci-fi or fantasy. I think I read two or three in that series.
I read a bunch of Ludlum for a while (not sci-fi, of course) years ago but always felt cheated at the end. I have enormously enjoyed some Terry Pratchett for the wild ideas and delightful style, though I think of him as more satire than sci-fi. Generally my fiction tastes run more toward the Somerset Maugham I am into at the moment, Jhumpa Lahiri, Boris Akunin, Tolstoy. In non-fiction, I really enjoyed Rob Gifford's China Road, which drinkers of Chinese tea might enjoy as general cultural background (though I don't think tea is even mentioned) and I like Chomsky despite his tortured prose.