My favourite is Memory, as well. Even though (or maybe because?) I find the opening section almost excruciating to read.

I mostly associate "preternatural" with the wacky linguistic stylings of the early years of Spy magazine.

Huh. I think I associate it with Smallville recaps. (Preternaturally pretty.)

Memory is good. But I have a deep fondness for Brothers in Arms as well. Miles is a classic example of a character I love to read about, but couldn't stand to be around extensively in real life. His cousin Ivan, on the other hand, I'd gladly ride like a merry-go-round pony.

Miles is wound way too tight to be pleasant to be around in person. Reading about him, on the other hand, is pure pleasure.

I really love the two Cordelia books, even if she is a little too perfect. After all, there's Shopping!

Even though (or maybe because?) I find the opening section almost excruciating to read.

God, yes, Ouise. I told Theodosia this weekend that every time I read Memory I come to the part where he's going to send the report in and I start yelling at the book, "Don't hit send! You fool, don't send it!" But he always does. Stupidass genius mutant teratogenically affected double-agent.

And Betsy's right: Miles did need that, but it was so painful to read.

Raquel, Mirror Dance won't make nearly as much sense if you don't read Brothers in Arms first. I highly recommend that you do so. I mean, it'll make sense, but those two are best read in order.

Bujold: The dinner party in "A Civil Campaign" is the funniest bit of farce ever captured on paper. Big, belly-shakin' guffaws, every time I read it.

Raquel, Mirror Dance won't make nearly as much sense if you don't read Brothers in Arms first. I highly recommend that you do so. I mean, it'll make sense, but those two are best read in order.

I second that.

Except on every other page of Anne Rice's books! At least, such is my memory of them.

I'll take your word for it. I managed exactly three of hers - Interview, Feast of All Saints, and one of her porn books - and promptly expunged as much of her from my memory banks as I could manage.

Do you know, I've never read Laurel Hamilton? Too many I people whose opinions I trust telling me not to bother.

And JILLI: if you have any hankering to read Blackwood Farm, I'll send you my copy. Let me know.

Thank you, but I found a copy for super-cheap at a used book store. I'm about half-way through, and find it entertaining in a junk-food sort of way. Besides, Lestat's line about "Goth? Isn't that what they're calling all of us snappy antique dressers nowadays?" made me smile.

I know I should read the Vorkosigan series, but I'm overwhelmed by the sheer size of it.

Considering I can read one in four hours, don't be. And I'm reasonably sure several of these books are still/back in print; I bought a new copy of Cordelia's Honor not 6 months ago. Although I hardly ever see used copies in the used bookstores I visit.

It does please me, that a character as glib and seemingly Mary Sue-ish as Miles gets caught in his lies and occasionally just flops on his face like a regular mortal. Because, while I very much enjoy fantasizing about being that glib and clever, I am also aware that I would hate Miles with a passion if I ever met him in person. (I do think the books are better when they're at breakneck pace -- i.e. the earlier ones --, and eschew farce. Watching Miles do farce is like making a cat wear a dress. Sort of funny, but in the main just wrong.)