The third book is more about Thunderhead.

ETA: The third book is called Green Grass of Wyoming.

All three books have been made into movies. (I've only seen My Friend Flicka though.)

I think I liked Barrayar so much that the lack of Cordelia in the subsequent books (or the very small amount of Cordelia) made me sad

Yeah, that's fair. Cordelia's really only a main character in the first two, and after that they become Miles' books. (Except for Ethan of Athos, which is about Elli Quinn. I remember wanting to like it more than I did, which is a shame because Elli is awesome.)

Borders of Infinity has important continuity stuff in it, but I never really liked it until I'd read the whole series and then went back and read it to fill in the gaps. (Without it, the approximately umpty-jillion references to Dagoola IV went right over my head, but somehow I could never get through it until I already knew where the missing chunks of story were going to be filled in, if that makes sense.)

Except for Ethan of Athos, which is about Elli Quinn. I remember wanting to like it more than I did, which is a shame because Elli is awesome.

Is it really important to read it, then? Especially in order? It sounds like no.

Borders of Infinity has important continuity stuff in it, but I never really liked it until I'd read the whole series and then went back and read it to fill in the gaps.

The short stories? Again, does that mean I can skip them?

The short stories? Again, does that mean I can skip them?

I think some issues raised in the short stories are referenced in the later novels. I'd recommend reading them before you get to Komarr and A Civil Campaign.

The short stories are pretty important, in that they make some of Miles' later actions make more sense. Ethan of Athos, you can skip. In terms of continuity, all you need to know is that Elli has extensive medical treatment on Athos.

I think the first book I read was Falling Free (NOT part of the series - set well before the Vorkosigan stories), or maybe Ethan of Athos. I know it took me a little while to connect them with the Vorkosigan books.

Ouch. I was just reading through Salon's archives and came across Joyce Millman's love letter to Silence of the Lambs.

She concludes:

Clarice Starling has been as imitated within the thriller genre as Lecter. Consider her influence on "The X-Files," for example; without Clarice, there'd be no Agent Scully, or at least no Agent Scully so wise or -- and this is the thing -- so good. Meanwhile, Harris is holed up in Mississippi, where he's been working for way too long on a sequel to "Silence of the Lambs." Where is Clarice Starling now, in her life and career? Until Harris is ready to tell us, his glistening parting glimpse of Clarice, enjoying a much-deserved rest with her new lover in a warm house on the Chesapeake shore as "Orion stood high in the clear night," will have to do. Clarice's face is "rosy in the firelight," writes Harris, "and she sleeps deeply, sweetly, in the silence of the lambs."

And in the hands of her understanding and benevolent creator.

And in the hands of her understanding and benevolent creator.

Huh. Yeah.

Joyce Millman introduced me to Buffy and Homicide. She saved my life, almost, and I still haven't been able to thank her for it.

I'm currently reading a history of American musical theater, called "No Legs, No Jokes, No Chance" by Sheldon Patinkin (cousin of Mandy and a professor of theater at Columbia College in Chicago). (The title comes from a producer's take on "Oklahoma" before it premiered.) It's a textbook, but written in a very readable style.

There's even some snark in it. At the end of the chapters, he'll give examples of where to find versions of the songs and performances he mentions in the chapter for review in class or at home. I just read a citation he gave for a version of "Manhattan," a Rogers and Hart song sung by Ella Fitzgerald, in which he says something like, "If you're a singer, don't pause for a breath in the middle of a word like Ella Fitzgerald does here. She's Ella Fitzgerald; you're not."

The book is really good, and very comprehensive. He starts with a chapter on "Oklahoma," but then goes back to 1791 and various operas and operettas from the 19th century, as well as the British dance hall shows that were imported and the minstrel shows that led to the first glimmers of musical theater in the States. I'm now up to the chapter on "Show Boat."