boooooooooooooooooooooooooks

[naath]

Habitation of the Blessed, Catherine M. Valente

I borrowed this off fivemack. It's an interesting book with a slightly unusual structure (the framing story is of an individual copying from three texts, so there are three different styles of writing, four if you count the framing story) about Prester John who is an interesting Mediaeval legend of whom I had previously not heard :-)

Everything Vorkosigan, Louis McMaster Bujold

Is almost all available free from http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/24-CryoburnCD/CryoburnCD/index.htm but that's missing Memory which Baen will sell you an ebook copy of for $6 which I feel is very reasonable. This has entertained me for nearly 3 months :-) I'm not sure it does anything especially new or clever, but what it does it does well. "What it does" is a bit hard to pin down though as it goes from a rollicking space adventure to a mystery to a drawing room farce and back at great speed; I do rather like it all though. The characters are very compelling (to me anyway), and the settings interesting.

BeBook Club eBook reader (not a book...)

I mentioned this already but I have now read all of Vorkosigan evar on it. I find it has a very short battery life but other than that it is very useful and does what it says on the tin (displays books). It doesn't do anything else fancy (like taking notes, or buying books off the internet) but it's competent at what it does. Much smaller and lighter than most of the physical books I read, and definately a lot easier to store (house space being a commodity in short supply).

Comments

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

The other thing about Bujold: AFAICT the science is *correct*. I have caught one minor geological slip (there was a factual inaccuracy where she'd clearly found out the best case on the timescale of terraforming, then written something that suggested it was the best case on a geological timescale) and one unexplained biological issue, but EVERYTHING else about which I went "huh, that's... clueless/missing important details etc", she subsequently fixed in a natural and coherent fashion. And there weren't even that many of them in the first place. Which is awesome. :)

[naath.livejournal.com]

Which is WIN. In fact mostly it's WIN because I didn't spot it...

(have you read Iskierka eats Kangaroos yet? No pressure)

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

Yes! I have! I loved it! I just need to be organised enough to give it back to you! Are you doing Thursday pub? I don't seem to be on the relevant mailing list atm.

[naath.livejournal.com]

I don't pub no.

I do work on the Downing Site, which would be more convenient if term was not over.

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

I am staying up over the vac. We should perfectly well be able to sort something out.

[naath.livejournal.com]

Sure. Some time you aren't confined to bed in pain (stupid pain), returning my book certainly not important enough to make heroic efforts.

[requiem-17-23.livejournal.com]

's problem with working for people who were at one point going to be making something that was way more awesome than any currently existing ereader or thing that can be used as an ereader.

I have held one in my hands.

No currently existing product can survive comparison.

Real shame they didn't actually make and sell the damn thing. I'd have one now if they had.

[naath.livejournal.com]

How irritating of them!

[simont]

Ooooh. I have grabbed much Bujold and stuck it on my iPad.

I have a vague feeling that this is a controversial question, but having got that lot, what order should I read it in? (If it makes a difference, I've previously read Shards.)

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

Start at the beginning, carry on until you reach the end, and then stop (until she writes another)! Looking at the list onscreen, they've been slightly odd: Cordelia's Hono(u)r comes first; then you work down the list (Young Miles, ..., Miles in Love) until you hit the bottom, and then you go back to the top and read Cryoburn.

I don't recommend wasting any time on the Vorkosigan Companion, however.

[simont]

Thanks.

[tigerfort.livejournal.com]

Sorry, meant to say: C's Honor is "Shards of Honor" plus "Barrayar", so you've already read the first half of that.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I think the thing with Bujold is that most people would agree there are two or three good reading orders, and would disagree about which was better,but agree either was fine. So if you want the best reading order, it's very controversial. Whereas if you want any very good reading order, it's very easy, because it's hard to get wrong :)

By far the most commonly reccommended order is:

(1) The two Cordelia books, then the Miles books, all in internal chronological order.
(2) Start with the first Miles book (Warrior's apprentice), and read in internal chronological order. Inset the Cordela books as prequels whenever you feel like it.

I normally say "if you're probably going to read the whole series, start with the Cordelia books as they're the first chronologically, but if you're not sure, start with the first Miles book as that's more representative." (Not totally representative -- it feels very seamless but the books where Miles is grown up are noticeably different, but the later books are much much better when you already are rooting for the characters.) But other people agree.

If you've already read Shards, then the decision is mostly already taken. You should probably just keep reading in (internal chronological) order. Or if you fancy, skip ahead to Warrior's Apprentice and come back to Barrayar, but there's no reason to do that unless you particularly want to.

I think reading the books in publication order would also be ok, but even though I think the vast majority of series work better in publication order, I think here the internal chronological order is so cohesive that it's much better.

It doesn't really matter where you read the novellas and the stand-alone novels (Falling Free and Ethan of Athos), they have some place in the story, but so long as you read them at some point, that's fine.

Have fun! :)

[naath.livejournal.com]

I read them in internal-chronology order ('cept for Ethan of Athos which I read previously) and feel that makes sense.

[naath.livejournal.com]

In internal chronological order ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkosigan_Saga has the list.

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

But be EXTREMELY CAREFUL of Wikipedia because it contains spoilers without adequate warning :-(

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it does anything especially new or clever, but what it does it does well.

I know what you mean -- I always felt a little embarrassed liking something that some people would see as space opera fluff so very much. But then I changed my mind, and decided that it is very clever, but the things it does most well (character profiles, mysteries, worldbuilding) are not the ones sci-fi gets most praised for, so people overlook them.

It's not as ground-breaking as books which are like absolutely nothing else at all, but I specifically reject the idea that because it's easy to enjoy doesn't mean the book is less sophisticated.

[kaberett.livejournal.com]

I am, at some point, going to get together the brane to write up a proper why-I-love-it-so-much post. Part of it is the scientific accuracy; part of it is the simple physical space that is inhabited; part of it is the characterisation, and the fact that it's just a damn good yarn; and part of it is how thoroughly she explores sociological implications in a variety of cultural settings.