Reading Wednesday

[brigdh]

What did you just finish?
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance by Lois McMaster Bujold. I really enjoyed this! It's a light book, but it was funny and charming and I quite adored most of the new characters, particularly Tej's family. I loved Simon being bored, By just being By, Ivan's failed attempts at flirting, and the fate of ImpSec headquarters. I desperately want the backstory romance of Shiv and Udine, or their achieving Baron and Baronne status together. The trapped-in-a-cave ending was EXCELLENT trope-y goodness, and I highly approve. I'm very sad to have finished the series (well, I still have the two side-shoots, "Dreamweaver’s Dilemma" and "Ethan of Athos", to read, but no more Miles & co!), but that does mean I can now read the fanfic! Feel free to rec me your favorites.

East, West by Salman Rushdie. A book of short stories, three focusing on the "East", three focusing on the "West", and three mixed between the two. I think I prefer Rushdie in the short story format; at least, I liked this book much better than the novels of his I've read. I found the three "West" stories particularly interesting. Each one focused on an aspect of what you might call modern Western mythology (Shakespeare and Hamlet, The Wizard of Oz, Christopher Columbus), but twisted and turned around, and retold in his usual lyrical style. Very good.

What are you currently reading?
Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai. A novel about family drama in Delhi, split between modern day and 1947.

Another Man's Moccasins by Craig Johnson. The fourth in the "Longmire" mystery series, about a rural Wyoming sheriff. In this one, his past as a soldier in Vietnam becomes relevant when a young Vietnamese woman is found dead, abandoned by the side of the highway, with his photo in her purse.

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

Tej's family, especially Shiv and the Cetagandan grandma, were definitely among my favorite things about CVA :)

Any specific fic interests you'd want the recs to be centered around? (particular characters, shippy vs gen -- sadly, I'm unaware of any Shiv/Udine fics :P) The fanfc in this fandom is pretty much universally excellent, so even though it's a small fandom, there's still a fair bit of high quality fic to choose from, IMO.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I don't know! I don't have any real OTP; I like all the canon ships, but am very open to non-canon or gen as well. I think my favorite character is probably Cordelia, but I like pretty much everyone.

[hamsterwoman]

Gotcha! Here are some of my favorites in general and for Cordelia focused fic specifically:

Shelter and Solave -- beautiful AU (canon divergence mid-Shards of Honor), in which Aral and Gregor come to Beta Colony. Features Cordelia being awesome, of course. Gen.

The Rules of Barrayaran Sex -- Aral/Cordelia, Teen. Aral and Cordelia through the years.

Mirror, Aral/Ges, Aral/Cordelia, R.

Frequently Suggested Sexual Practices: An Aid to Communication, Aral/Cordelia, explicit. (The author summary says: "Despite the title/rating/etc., this is a story about all the sex Aral and Cordelia didn't have with each other before they got married")

Non-Cordelia:

Anamnesis, Memory through Simon's POV, basically (including Simon/Alys).

A Great Deal of Courage, and Anger, Donna/Olivia

Tour Guide, gen, Ivan, Galeni, Alys, Aral.

But, really, anything by philomytha is golden.

I also have some favorite fics for Galeni and Gregor that I rec to people, if those would be of interest. There's also rather a lot of Miles/Gregor and Ivan/By out there, relatively speaking, if this is a thing you'd be interested in.

Oh, and, this isn't *really* Vorkosiverse fic, but it's so refreshing, I always rec it anyway:

Five Fast-Penta Interrogations from the Works of William Shakespeare

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oooo, so many recs! Thank you! I can't wait to read these.

And yeah, Galeni and Miles/Gregor and Ivan/By are totally all things I'm interested in.

[egelantier.livejournal.com]

SO NOW YOU HAVE TO READ CURSE OF CHALION AD PALADÍN OF SOULS POSTHASTE.

ahem. I mean I'm just saying.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee, yes, ma'am!

[somebraveapollo.livejournal.com]

CAPSLOCK SECONDED, THOSE BOOKS ARE AMAZING, YOU WILL LOVE THEM. (and let's just ignore the fact that it took alina like three years or something to get me to read them) (her grave efforts were totally worth it)

Also, I forgot about Ethan of Athos! I realllllllllllly like that book, it's weird and kinda... sociologically outdated I guess? BUT SUCH CHARACTERS. VERY SNARK. MUCH SHIP. <3

(well, one main ship, really, but still. And many spaceships!)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Haha, yes, yes. I will read them. And not in three years!

Sounds good!

[hamsterwoman]

I third the Chalion recs! I don't love those books as much as I love Vorkosiverse, but they're very good, and Paladin of Souls (#2) in particular.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I tend to prefer fantasy to sci-fi, so I'm looking forward to them!

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

Whoa, cognitive dissonance at (Shakespeare and Hamlet, The Wizard of Oz, Christopher Columbus) being "modern Western mythology". They're pretty firmly rooted in US/anglophone mythology from where I'm standing. Most people in France have no idea who/what the Wizard of Oz is, for example.

ImpSex
Do I want to ask?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's interesting! I had sort of assumed Wizard of Oz was one of those things that had transcended nationality. Rushie has spent most of his life living in England (I think he might have citizenship there? but I'm not sure), so I suppose it makes sense he's more familiar with anglophone culture than French or, say, German.

Do I want to ask?
Ha, that was a typo actually! It should be "ImpSec"– short for Imperial Security, sort of the CIA or MI5 of this scifi world.

[dhampyresa.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure most French people would think of the Judy Garland movie if they thought of anything at all when asked what "Le Magicien d'Oz" was. It took me years in fandom to realise it was a book and that there was more than one.

That makes a lot more sense in context, thank you.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's totally the same here. Even if there might be a more general knowledge that there was a book first, very very few people know anything about it, or that there was a whole series, much less have actually read it. Even the short story in question was explicitly about the movie.