Yeah, I should say that while I enjoyed Job, I haven’t read it since it was published.
And I never understood why Stranger is Heinlein’s best known novel (or was formerly, Troopers probably is now). I found it hard to get into and never did get much out of it, despite reading it a couple times.
I blame the dirty hippies ;).
I liked the early part okay, but it lost me by the time Valentine discovers sex. Not Heinlein’s worst, but hardly his best IMHO.
I still like it. In fact, I’d be hard pressed to name a Heinlein I didn’t like at least a bit.
One thing’s for sure: Stranger in a Strange Land is a terrible choice for introducing someone to Heinlein. Everyone either loves it or they hate it, but whether they love or hate it is a very poor predictor for how they’ll feel about any of Heinlein’s other stories.
Where I usually recommend someone start is either with almost any of the juveniles (except Time for the Stars), with one of the short story collections, or with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Since the OP specifically mentioned that he like Tunnel in the Sky, I’d probably say to go with Farmer in the Sky (one of the juveniles), which has I think a similar feel to it.
I’m not going to comment on individual books, but your statement about your library caught my eye. Have you checked with the library about inter-library loan? I very, very rarely ever have any problems getting just about any book I want - including brand new books - using inter-library loan. It’s not even inconvenient, I can do it through my local library website, and they email me when it’s in. Heinlein books are neither rare nor new, so I’d be really surprised if you couldn’t get them.
*For Us the Living * should be the last Heinlein book that people read, since it makes lots of elementary writing mistakes and is interesting mostly for slightly different views on characters who show up in the Future History series.
The juveniles are a good place to start, since they mostly stand on their own. Have Spacesuit, Will Travel is my favorite but all the later ones are good. After that, why not start with the really early stories which made his name. The collections are good, as are Orphans of the Sky and Methusaleh’s Children, which really should be read before *Time Enough for Love. * After that, *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress * is very good, as is Door Into Summer. I read *Stranger in a Strange Land * in the mid-1960s, and I don’t know how it would seem today. Kind of dated, I’d think.
A simple answer is “try anything the man wrote.” Heinlein did not write in one style, or with one voice, or to one audience. Even compleatist dedicated fans have a pile they will likely never re-read, and every such pile is different.
I concur that the juveniles are among his best work, are certainly among the most accessible and are likely to appeal to most readers. Good place to start… but if one of them, or any Heinlein book you pick up, strikes you badly in the first few chapters… by all means put it aside and try another. You may come back to the disliked ones some day with a different eye, or not. But there are too many good things in Heinlein’s oeuvre to write off all his works because one or two didn’t appeal to you. You owe it to yourself to find the ones you consider good.
Keep trying; move on as soon as a book fails you.
True story: I hated the first Heinlein I read. That same book is now one of my most treasured possessions.
I personally think The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is one of the finest works in the genre of SF. I’d suggest you also read The Past Through Tomorrow which is a collection of his short stories that all take place more or less in the same alternate time line. None of them are terribly long so if you don’t like one you can just skip to the next.
I just had to jump in here and say, Time For the Stars was the first Heinlein I read. Between Planets was the second. Citizen of the Galaxy was early, although I didn’t realize it was the same author. I still dig out my paperbacks and re-read them all. And I also have the trade paperback of Number of the Beast. I enjoyed it a great deal, although it doesn’t hold up as well as the juveniles.
I’d recommend Friday, whose heroine you might imagine as the offspring of James Bond and your favorite bond girl.
Thankfully I read Starship Troopers before the movie was even thought of. I shudder to think what horryweird will do to Stranger. Oh well. Box office you know.
My recommendation - start with Double Star, Citizen of the Galaxy, Podkayne of Mars and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Seconded.
My Heinlein favorites are Have Space Suit - Will Travel, The Puppet Masters, Time for the Stars, Starship Troopers, The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, Glory Road, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Space Cadet. Just about all of the stories in the collection The Green Hills of Earth (esp. “The Long Watch”) are good. As it happens, I’m reading The Rolling Stones for the first time now with my teenage son, and we’re both enjoying it.
The Rolling Stones
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
I recommend:
The Past Through Tomorrow
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Double Star
Glory Road
Citizen of the Galaxy
The Rolling Stones
The Star Beast
Farmer in the Sky
Yeah. It wasn’t until the third or fourth time I read Andre Norton’s Catseye that I decided it was really a pretty good book after all…
May I ask which one that is, and why you hated it at first, and why you love it now?