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.)

Laurell K was fun at the beginning (if annoying in her bad spelling and she reuses phrases like Homer -- where was her copy editor?) but now, her characters are irritating.

I'll read the books because a) I don't have to pay for them, and b) like Tep, I have to know what happens, but I'm glad I read fast. Otherwise, eh.

I'll read the books because a) I don't have to pay for them, and b) like Tep, I have to know what happens, but I'm glad I read fast. Otherwise, eh.

pretty much. and it's turning into horror porn, which I find annoying.

and it's turning into horror porn, which I find annoying.

Badly-written horror porn. There's some very, very good stuff to be found in that little sub-category, but Laurell K. Hamilton's works aren't it.

Badly-written horror porn.

yes, lawd. If I read that Lestat I mean Jean-Claude "brought her" one more time, ugh.