Anyone for a read-along?

[shimotsuki]

Last Friday, katyscarlett76 and I got to talking about Lois McMaster Bujold's fantasy series The Sharing Knife -- and we thought it might be fun to read this summer. Anyone else interested? We could have check-in posts for squeeing (or complaining?) from time to time!

It's a four-book series; the first book is called Beguilement. Reviews I've read suggest that the story really doesn't feel complete until you've read all four books, so this might be something to keep me busy for a while. ;)

Why TSK? For me, it's because I've read and enjoyed both of Bujold's other series very much; I like her prose style, and her world-building, and the political machinations she includes in her societies, be they a socially conservative planet in the far future or not-quite Renaissance Spain. I'm also intrigued knowing that this is a Tolkienesque fantasy world set in a place that's based on North America, rather than, you know, Shropshire. ;)

I asked philomytha what she thought about TSK some time ago. She's given me permission to link to her description of the series, which is informative but non-spoilery. Something that intrigued me a lot was this particular paragraph of hers:

I love how it's very much domestic fantasy. LMB pays a lot of attention to the amount of backbreaking labour involved in keeping the Ranger-types working, and the fact that someone has to grow and make their food and sew their trousers and knit their socks. Fawn is a farmwife, and in an awful lot of places it's her farmwifely skills of making use of what she's got, getting on with people and sheer persistent effort that save the day. And since the never-ending war against the malices is a lot more like washing dishes and doing chores than anything else (you have to deal with them today, and you know there's going to be another batch along tomorrow, and so you have to plan and prepare and just keep going over and over again), this all holds together really well on a thematic level.

I find the idea of a fantasy series that focuses on the everydayness of things very appealing -- it's one of the things I liked the most about Ursula K. Le Guin's Tehanu, for example.

philomytha warns that there's a romance plot involving a large age-gap, but since a large proportion of my f-list are people I met in the Remus/Tonks fandom, with a side of Cazaril/Betriz, I suspect that's not necessarily much of a sticking point around here. ;) (She also warns for "an entire subplot involving a miscarriage that happens onscreen," so, that may not be appealing for some.)

She linked me to another review, as well, which has a few more specific details and might be considered slightly spoilery if you have a low threshold, but which I found interesting.

Now my main dilemma is whether to start reading Beguilement right now, when it's a mere week and a half before another conference trip, and I have a talk to finish writing! I'm not the best at self-discipline once I've started an interesting book. Or, series. (Which is one reason why I read less now than I did when I was younger -- I don't trust myself to be able to stop in the middle of a book when I need to...)

Anyone else on board for this? :)
.

Comments

[katsie.livejournal.com]

I'd be in for that! I'd been trying to decide what to read next and that sounds quite interesting (I believe you recommended her sci-fi series to me and it's also on my TBR list). The "everydayness" sounds very different and very intriguing. When should we start?

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Yay!

This series has the merit (?) of being a lot shorter than LMB's sci-fi series, heh. That one took me two summers to finish (and a third to reread).

I might be starting this weekend, actually -- I may be doing most of my reading on weekends, and I'll have to take a break in early July for the conference. And I only have the first book at the moment, so I'll be scouring local libraries to find the others...

[katsie.livejournal.com]

I just found a Nookbook deal on the first one and then found out that one of my roommates has the whole series as well as a bunch of the Vorkosigan novels. Jackpot!

I can start any time. I need something to distract me from job-hunting and writing revisions.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Excellent! It's useful to live with someone who has fun books. ;)

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

I might be interested, in the sense that (a) I'm looking for decent summer reading, and (b) I want it to be reasonably easy/interesting.

Knowing me as you do (lol), will I like it?

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

LOL!

Since I haven't started reading yet, I can't predict how you'll feel about it -- but maybe check out philomytha's description (linked in the post above) and see if it sounds appealing?

FWIW, Bujold's other two series (Vorkosigan and Chalion) are just about the only series outside of Potter that have taken over my brain to the extent of generating fanfic (the other exception being MW Turner's Thief series). Bujold tends to write compelling characters and interesting social structures, but her prose also reads easily and I don't feel that I have to work hard to stay in the story. (And the Bujold fandom community has the overall high level of writing quality and the sane and supportive behavior of R/T in the old days, although most of the fic posted at bujold_fic is Vorkosigan, a little bit is Chalion, and only a tiny, tiny proportion is Sharing Knife.)

All that said, it'll probably happen that you'll try this and not like it, LOL.

[philomytha.livejournal.com]

I'll join you for a reread (and shall avoid being spoilery!), and I do hope you will like it :-).

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay! It will be fun to have your perspective in the discussion; you'll likely have seen things we first-time readers will have missed. :)

ETA: Pronoun case fail. I don't usually do that!

[wildmagelet.livejournal.com]

Oh, I LOVE that series. I actually bought them all last year so I wouldn't have to borrow them from the library again, so I'm definitely keen for a re-read!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Excellent! I didn't realize you'd read them already.

Now maybe my mission is to get you into the Vorkosigan series? ;)

[wildmagelet.livejournal.com]

I've actually been meaning to give it a try! I really enjoy her writing style and there's a number of fans on my f-list.

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Some of the books in the Vorkosigan series are admittedly better than others, but they're all at least good, and many of them are excellent. Some I've reread two or three times.

I think mrstater tried Cordelia's Honor (which is a reissue of the first two novels in series-time, Shards of Honor and Barrayar) and couldn't get very far in because of all the space-battle stuff. If it helps, Shards is actually one of the most space-battle-y novels in the whole series -- many of the rest are significantly more social/political. Including Barrayar, which is the second half of the Cordelia's Honor omnibus after Shards. And Shards may happen to have as a significant plot thread my second-best OTP after Remus/Tonks -- just saying. ;)

The whole series, except (regrettably) Memory (which is one of my very favorites) is available online free and legally (http://baencd.freedoors.org/Discs/Baen%2024/). In case you're looking for something to do. ;)

If you follow that link, the omnibus volumes are listed in mostly series-internal chronological order in the left sidebar, but be sure you read Cryoburn LAST. Seriously. Not kidding. Trust me on that. ;) (It's the latest book, and that's why the link is on the top of the sidebar.)

/propaganda

[wildmagelet.livejournal.com]

And Shards may happen to have as a significant plot thread my second-best OTP after Remus/Tonks -- just saying. ;)

I think I'm sold. :D

My TBR pile is out of control at the moment, but I'm going to have to bump these way up!

[katyscarlett76.livejournal.com]

Well you know that I'm in, lol!

I'll try and get a hold of the first book asap :)

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Yay!

I have the first book (picked it up a year or so ago at a used-book store), but yesterday I confirmed that the other ones are in the town library. (I only wish they were in the university library instead, because I am lazy, lol.)

[jadeddiva.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in a read-along, though I'd need to be able to find the book first via library ;) and finish what I'm currently reading

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Hopefully you can find them! I just confirmed last night that College Town Public Library has the whole series. Sounds like one you don't want to have to stop in the middle of...

What are you currently reading? Oh, and I should bug you for the name of that Anglo-Saxon/Norman French one you were reading a while back.

[duck-or-rabbit.livejournal.com]

Sure! I'm in - let me see if the books are in the library holdings. Good idea :).

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I'm now greatly wondering if this is something you would like, or not so much! But would love to have you along for discussion if you do find you like it.

I can't remember -- have you read Curse of Chalion? (Although philomytha says the Sharing Knife series is not that much like the Chalion series.)

[etiam-quietus.livejournal.com]

I read the first book and liked it but wasn't wowed by it - but I want to give it a try again. I, too, have heard that this series benefits from being read in full, and I love her writing so much. I will look to see if the library has it for the kindle - I'm definitely in if it is! I want to reread the first book now that I'm more prepared for this to be the start of the story, rather than a standalone (and when I first read it, it had just come out, so having to wait so long for another book when it felt so unfinished had been a big letdown, but that's not an issue this time.)

I really need to get back into reading - I'm so looking forward to this!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

I may have just *ahem* powered through the first book and only now stopped to catch my breath, heh. I can definitely see that it wouldn't have felt very satisfying as a stand-alone book, but since I have the rest of the series all checked out from the library and sitting right here at my elbow, heh, I'm definitely looking forward to more. Especially if the last two books are said to be the best!

[etiam-quietus.livejournal.com]

Ha, isn't this supposed to be a "read-along" and not a "read to catch up with shimotsuki"? :P

Guess I'd better check the library now to see if they've got the books!

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

LOL! I know, I know. I'm actually busy typing up my thoughts on Book 1 right now, before I go on reading any further, but I'm not actually planning to post them for a few days because I know this was crazy fast.

I only have a week and a bit left before I have to leave for another conference, and there's a certain amount of work to be done before that (ugh, I gave a preliminary version of my talk to a few people at work yesterday for early feedback (beta-listening, hee) and it's nowhere near coherent yet). So I may not get more than Book 2 read for another two or three weeks!

[katyhasclogs.livejournal.com]

(I've been trying to post this comment since Friday morning! I keep trying to do it on trains though, so the crappy connection keeps eating my comments...)

Anyway, what I've been trying to say is, I'm totally up for this, especially as I think I remember reading an exerpt a few years back and liking it.

You'll have to give me a week though, as I have two book groups this week and will also need to get hold of the books...

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay, glad you're interested!

Two book groups this week? Ambitious, heh. I was thinking I might post a discussion for the first book toward the end of this week, but if you haven't read it yet, come back and post your thoughts later! :)

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

I'm in, though I'm also in the second week of our hols and so reading time is very limited till next week. Which may be no bad thing, looking at the comments of others and with that conference of yours coming up fast (July seemed a long way off when you were talking about it at the end of May!).

[shimotsuki.livejournal.com]

Welcome back! How was the trip? I hope you both got some relaxation in!

It's nice that you're still on holiday, even if you're no longer in exotic locales. Makes that re-entry process a little easier, maybe? ;)

Glad you're in for this -- but I saw elsewhere that you'd tried once before, so if this isn't fun, please don't drag yourself through it.

reading time is very limited till next week. Which may be no bad thing, looking at the comments of others

There's a slight flaw in my plan, which is that this "let's all read some books" idea has no actual structure, lol. I was actually thinking I'd better post a poll or something to work out what to do next. I'd been thinking I might post a discussion post for each book, and people could have a go in the comments at raising whatever issues they felt like. But what I didn't think about was the timing. I sort of have my first post drafted and ready to go (had something of a reading-binge weekend), but thought this might be a little early to actually do that. Poll it is, I suppose -- unless you have any better ideas? :/

with that conference of yours coming up fast

Eep! It's a 20-minute talk, and I have about 40 minutes' worth of material, and any way I go about trying to cut it down feels like it isn't going to work. This may be a long week with lots of deleted files and crumpled print-outs, lol.

[gilpin25.livejournal.com]

It was an excellent trip, thank you. Much relaxation, lots of walking on beaches and along the coastal path, and a couple of days exploring ruined castles and gardens. Our kind of holiday stuff, lol. The weather was amazingly good compared to what was going on here: somehow we arranged things so that all rain comveniently fell at night.

Makes that re-entry process a little easier, maybe? ;)

It does, especially for Mr. G not having to go straight back to work. Though plumbers and broken showers are still a sore point as, surprisingly, it hadn't miraculously fixed itself when we got back!

Poll it is, I suppose -- unless you have any better ideas? :/

Sounds the easiest way as it seems as though quite a few have still to obtain the book, let alone read it. I'm in the etiam_quietus camp in that I'd like to give it another go: it simply wasn't what I was expecting - or in the right mood for - after Chalion. And if you've had a binge-reading session, I'd hate to be missing out on something very good.

Eep! It's a 20-minute talk, and I have about 40 minutes' worth of material, and any way I go about trying to cut it down feels like it isn't going to work.

Eep, indeed. Better than the other way round, at least, but it sounds like some brain-taxing editing lies ahead. Though you've done it with a million R/T fics. :D

ETA: Sorry, my holiday brain has clearly not grasped LJ posting just yet!