[Leftcoast]

George, good call on skipping Ender's Game.  They tried hard but key pieces such as the Battle Room and "gotcha" ending didn't translate well to film.

Do pick up Old Man's War and Forever War.  Both writers explicitly mention Heinlein as their formative influence and both targeted Starship Troopers with their books.  They are approachable quick reads with character driven story lines very much in the Heinlein mold.  They would be a good breather after a steady diet of Stephenson (and unlike Stephenson they actually have endings!).

Haldeman's Forever War approachs the base ST story from a Vietnam war vet's perspective complete with the jaundiced view that implies.  Political decision makers, home front support and attempts by vets to find purpose in a meaningless war are all dealt with.  Haldeman drew from his own experiences and his war didn't look much like the one described in his dogeared copy of Heinlein. 

Scalzi's Old Man's War is more optimistic but still has the skepticism vets everywhere have for the guys calling the shots.  Scalzi attempts a synthesis between the WWII viewpoint of Heinlein and the Vietnam Era veiw of Haldeman.  Don't expect the dense prose of Neal Stephenson - this is more a fun jaunt with enough SF themes to make you stop and think without getting in the way of a rollicking good plot. 

As a SF reader you may have heard of the two books.  FW won both the Nebula and Hugo awards back in the day and OMW placed second in Hugo voting to SPIN in 2006 (tough year) but nonetheless is often listed as the most important SF novel of 2000-2009.  I'm not sure it deserves that high praise but it did bring a lot of people into the SF fold with its likeable characters, expansive story and interesting takes on future tech. 

Both books have been optioned and are subject to periodic film rumors.  Ridley Scott of Blade Runner fame has the rights to Forever War.  (See I can bring my forgettable bit of thread drift back to the original off topic topic.)

[Leftcoast]

George, good call on skipping Ender's Game.  They tried hard but key pieces such as the Battle Room and "gotcha" ending didn't translate well to film.

Do pick up Old Man's War and Forever War.  Both writers explicitly mention Heinlein as their formative influence and both targeted Starship Troopers with their books.  They are approachable quick reads with character driven story lines very much in the Heinlein mold.  They would be a good breather after a steady diet of Stephenson (and unlike Stephenson they actually have endings!).

Haldeman's Forever War approachs the base ST story from a Vietnam war vet's perspective complete with the jaundiced view that implies.  Political decision makers, home front support and attempts by vets to find purpose in a meaningless war are all dealt with.  Haldeman drew from his own experiences and his war didn't look much like the one described in his dogeared copy of Heinlein. 

Scalzi's Old Man's War is more optimistic but still has the skepticism vets everywhere have for the guys calling the shots.  Scalzi attempts a synthesis between the WWII viewpoint of Heinlein and the Vietnam Era veiw of Haldeman.  Don't expect the dense prose of Neal Stephenson - this is more a fun jaunt with enough SF themes to make you stop and think without getting in the way of a rollicking good plot. 

As a SF reader you may have heard of the two books.  FW won both the Nebula and Hugo awards back in the day and OMW placed second in Hugo voting to SPIN in 2006 (tough year) but nonetheless is often listed as the most important SF novel of 2000-2009.  I'm not sure it deserves that high praise but it did bring a lot of people into the SF fold with its likeable characters, expansive story and interesting takes on future tech. 

Both books have been optioned and are subject to periodic film rumors.  Ridley Scott of Blade Runner fame has the rights to Forever War.  (See I can bring my forgettable bit of thread drift back to the original off topic topic.)