The Hobbit Hole VII - But not yet weary are our feet...

[RosieCotton]

I'm planning on it. It's one I have to get through interlibrary loan, though.

I should probably put in a request while I'm thinking about it...

[JenB]

No, I'm dying to give away the ending to a different Willis novel, "Passage", which has one of the nastiest twists I've read (as in, I nearly threw the book across the room and said "You can't do that!").

In comparison, Doomsday Book is straightforward.

[RosieCotton]

Is that her latest, minus the one she's writing now?

[SuziQ]

Just logged on and saw we had new digs! Thanks for the ping!

[Fedora]

How are her other books?

[HairOfTheDog]

Glad you made it! - 2J will be beside herself, for us moving without warning on her birthday.

[SuziQ]

Southern VT may get more than six. If that makes you feel any better.

Weather folks are threatening 8" down our way! The kids and I cut all the small branches off the big tee that we felled on Saturday, and got all the logs that SSQ had cut into the pile. Even if it snows, there will only be the big hulkling skeleton of the tree laying down in our yard to get wet, not the little stuff.

[JenB]

Yes, Passage is her latest.

The Willis novels I've read and liked:

Bellwether, written pre-Doomsday Book. Lighthearted, romantic, chaotic. About trends, sheep, science, and love. Good quick read.

To Say Nothing of the Dog, after Doomsday Book, set in the same universe but a mostly different cast. Ned Henry is a beleaugered time travel who, in order to get some rest and locate the Bishop's Bird Stump, visits Victorian England. Only that turns out to be not quite the most restful time period. Hilarious. Lots of literary influences, from Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, to Jerome K Jerome. Romantic, lighthearted, insane. Very tightly written plot, I reread it just to get a good feel for plotting.

Passage: about Near Death Experiences. A very different book. Not lighthearted, though there are some funny bits. You won't believe what Joanna's Near-Death Experience is. Sweet, it makes me cry, and is in typical Willis style, a tight plot with just tons of details in hundreds of areas (this book is where I learned of the Great Molasses Flood, in which 37 people met a pancakelike fate). Don't read this if you're feeling overly emotional.

Miracle and Other Christmas Stories is, well, a collection of Christmas stories. Some are brilliant. I love "Newsletter", which has an alien invasion. And the one with Chris, the Ghost of Christmas Present. Some of the others are less good.

She has a couple other novels. Some are collaborations and I find them weak. Some are collections of stories and - some of the stories are funny or touching (I love 'Ado' and 'Even the Queen') but some are lousy or... nasty stories. There's also two novels, "Lincoln's Dreams" and "Remake" which are among her earliest work and just aren't up to snuff. Willis has improved greatly; I think her earlier writing is ok, but her later stuff is wonderful.

Does that help?

[Fedora]

Does that help?

Yes; thanks. I hereby award you your Ph.D. in Connie Willis studies :) Passage and Miracle sound most interesting to me. I was considering reading Lincoln's Dreams next but I think I'll try those first after reading your review.

[JenB]

Hehe - you know, if I move out to Colorado, I may become a Connie Willis stalker...

Seriesly, she and Heinlein are my chief writing role models - I love their styles and the way their novels work. So I've spent a lot of time thinking about her books. I could write a similar essay on the Heinlein novels I've read (which is everything he wrote before "Stranger in a Strange Land", btw).

[Fedora]

I like everything I've read by Heinlein so far, but I've got a ways to go before I finish his corpus. My favorite so far is Puppet Masters. How do you like his children's SF?

[RosieCotton]

Passage sounds intriguing...wish it was available here. Might have to check around other library systems and see if I can get it.

[JenB]

I love his juveniles. Some of that is nostalgia, I read them when I was eleven... and some is that I just enjoy SF in the grand old tradition.

Puppet Masters was good. Moon is a Harsh Mistress is my favorite.

[RosieCotton]

I know I've said it before...but I didn't like Rocketship Galileo...didn't think it was well written.

I DID like "Time for the Stars", though I still found it more technical than I like. Which is why I don't really care for his adult books...too many technical details...pages and pages and pages of 'em.

I dumb, I guess. But I find that stuff tedious.

But then, I don't have the nostalgia for these that you do. I didn't read much science fiction, really. L'Engle, for SURE, and some much more fantastic science fiction books like "The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet", but very little "serious" science fiction.

[Fedora]

some is that I just enjoy SF in the grand old tradition.

Me, too. My favorite SF authors are all Heinlein or earlier, with a couple exceptions. What else of his would you recommend besides Moon is a Harsh Mistress?

[Fedora]

How's L'Engle? We had one of her books in the house as a kid but I never got around to reading it.

[RosieCotton]

*gasp*

You haven't read any of her books? Oh, you must! At LEAST the most well known ones, in any case - A Wrinkle in Time, Wind in the Door, Swiftly Tilting Planet...

A Swiftly Tilting Planet is probably my favorite. I need to reread that...as I seem to say an awful lot these days...

[Fedora]

*gasp*

You haven't read any of her books?

I haven't [hangs head in shame as SF/fantasy geek credentials are revoked]. Wrinkle in Time was the one we had a copy of in the house, and I always thought the cover looked interesting, but for some reason I never read it. I guess I'll have to add that to the reading list!

Some other SF authors I like that we haven't mentioned yet are A. Merritt and Theodore Sturgeon.

[RMDupree]

Well, hello there Hobbit Hole!

I leave for a moment and by the time I return, we've moved again. *sigh*

[HairOfTheDog]

FR is really slow..... Moderators must be in a big thread...

Not ours though! ;~D