Audience participation

[lightreads]

Okay, you guys were so great last time, let’s try this again. Any opinions on where one ought to start with these guys? Cautionary tales?

• Iain M. Banks’s Culture series: I understand they’re mostly standalones and that the first book by pub order is not great, so where do I start?
• Charles de Lint: *gestures helplessly* that is a pile of books.
• Andre Norton: ditto
• Gene Wolfe

Also, if anyone can rec a relatively sane biography of Anne Boleyn, I’d be most grateful. For values of “relatively sane” meaning with at least a pretense at considering evidence before speculating.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

Culture: Conventional wisdom is probably _The Player of Games_; dark horse for _Look to Windward_. Reviews: http://www.steelypips.org/weblog/books/sf_and_fantasy/culture/ (I haven't read the last two yet.)

de Lint: I haven't read any of his stuff for ages and ages, but I suspect one of the early Newford collections, _Dreams Underfoot_, would be pretty representative of the urban fantasy strain of his work, which I believe is most of it.

[ecaterin]

Well, I can give you some filtering for the de Lint - his short stories are really the way to go. It's like he can't handle the structure of a novel length story. So start with the short stories & then see if you have any interest in one of his novels :P I'm not saturated with his work, so I can't suggest specific books, but I'm sure someone will be along :P

Have you read The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory? It's an Anne Boleyn bio told from the side of her sister (who was paired off with Henry before Anne was). Its accuracy is disputed, but it's the kind of sordid read that you don't want to be caught reading...but can't put down :D I liked it enough to read it a second time :)

[jadelennox]

the two Charles de Lint books I particularly liked were Someplace to Be Flying and Trader

[eagle]

I started Banks with Excession and don't seem to have been harmed by it. I think the only Culture book you really should not start with is Look to Windward, since half of what's going on is pointless without the background. But there are probably two choices that are better than the others: Consider Phlebas if you like to start things at the very beginning, and Player of Games if you want to start with one of the best. Be warned that Consider Phlebas, while fun and containing some nice set pieces, has some issues and isn't as good as the books that follow.

For Charles de Lint, I started with Someplace to Be Flying and that worked well for me. I think it's one of his best. Waifs and Strays is an interesting option if you want to start with short stories instead. I've not read as much of him as many others, though.

For Gene Wolfe, definitely start with the Book of the New Sun, specifically with The Shadow of the Torturer. The first four books of the Book of the New Sun (The Urth of the New Sun was tacked on much later and is missable) are a great example of what Wolfe does, and work well on the multiple levels that the best of Wolfe works on.

[eagle]

Ah, hm, I should have read the other replies first. I see Kate disagrees with me on Look to Windward, so I should temper my comment. I thought it gained from being read later in the series so that one understands more of the political situation, but I could be wrong.

It does have one of the best cocktail parties in fiction.

[kate_nepveu]

I did say _Look to Windward_ was a dark horse for a reason . . .

[rydra_wong]

For Wolfe, another option would be The Fifth Head of Cerberus to get a feel for what he does at a somewhat shorter length. But yes, otherwise starting with The Shadow of the Torturer would be the way to go.

[cyphomandra]

Gene Wolfe - I really like the duology The Knight and The Wizard, but I'd rec them with the caveat that I can also imagine people bouncing right off them. And I have been intrigued by The Shadow of the Torturer (first of the New Sun series) every time I read it (three or four times, now?), and every time something else gets in the way before I read the rest.

Andre Norton - where to start? Avoid very early (Ralestone Luck has deeply problematic slave owners as sympathetic ancestors), and late works that say "co-written with". I have never gotten into the Witch World books. I love her sf - The Zero Stone, Judgment on Janus, Crosstime Agent, the Solar Queen series, her children's Magic books, and her achieved goal of publishing at least one book titled appropriately for every letter of the alphabet.

[readerjane]

Can't help with most, but I will eagerly watch the comments.

I have a memory of a very strong, weird, emotional impression from Norton's Forerunner Foray, and then later going "Ooohhhhh, Andre's a girrrrl!" Didn't read all of the Forerunner series because my public library didn't have it all, and back then that was All There Was. So I don't know whether Foray is the best entry point to the series.

[cahn]

I do not like Banks as a general rule; too cerebral in his violence and too distant. (I always have this picture in my head of Banks with a monocle, gravely and scientifically eyeing a bug with the wings and legs pulled off. I'm not saying he does that! But that's the image his books give me.)

However, I actually liked Feersum Enjinn quite a lot, although it took me two tries to get through the awful phonetic spelling. I feel it's his only book where there is any actual character sympathy going on. I also liked Player of Games; though it also is devoid of character sympathy, it is interesting enough that I didn't mind. Too much.