(no subject)

[gfish]

I just finished Doomsday Book. I think I finally understand why people are so gaga over Connie Willis a bit better now.

PS: I think necrotic is going to be my new favorite word.

Comments

[tylik.livejournal.com]

She's pretty unpredictable -- I think of that as being her best.

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Ga! Ga! Ga! I take it you'd already read some of her stuff and not cared for it so much? Personally, I love Doomsday Book, but it was her short stories that sold me on her. What of hers have you read?

[gfish.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed To Say Nothing About the Dog, particularly the fact that she and I both read Three Men in a Boat because Heinlein referenced it, but it didn't strike me as particularly brilliant.

I also read Firewatch and Lincoln's Dreams, and was fairly unmoved. There is a kind of... oppresive depression that comes through for me in a lot of her writing, much like CJ Cherryh. Even if I thought the book was good, after a while I just start avoiding starting new ones. Glad picked this one up at a library booksale in spite of that.

[tylik.livejournal.com]

Which C J Cherryh? I had that reaction to Rusalka and its ilk, to the Morgaine books (don't think I ever made it all the through) and a couple of others... but am fond of most of her Merchanter stuff, and Cyteen is one of my favorite SF books.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Everything of hers I've read other than the Chanur series. Which is what I've started with, and really loved, so I've ended up feeling very disappointed. I do like some of the Merchanter books, but it's more of an appreciation for the universe than the writing. Still haven't read Cyteen.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

She's very much like Cherryh, indeed.
Try "Bellwether" some time. I think you might like it. It's entirely different yet.

[rollick.livejournal.com]

I was so-so on "Lincoln's Dreams," though I adored the ending so much that I made Cass read it, and after he read it, he came up to me and made an unhappy noise that's since become relationship-speak for "I've just read or seen or experienced something that really impressed and moved me, but that's still left me feeling authentically miserable and in need of comfort." It's a little surprising how often this comes up. We're not dumb-romantic-comedy-watchin' people, though, so I guess we gravitate to that kind of film.

"To Say Nothing" did almost nothing for me, though I suspect in part that it's because I hadn't read "Three Men In A Boat" beforehand. But "Firewatch" contains "All My Darling Daughters," which is one of the most stunning and horrifying short stories I've ever read, and sticks with me to this day. Still, I think "Impossible Things" contains some of her best short work, including "Last Of The Winnebagos."

So… I dunno. I feel like you haven't experienced some of her best stuff. But at the same time, I can certainly understand people not being into her no matter what of hers they've read, for all sorts of reasons related to the particular kind of heavy-hearted emotions and screwball-comedy dialogue she specializes in.

[samildanach.livejournal.com]

I agree with the recommendation of "Impossible Things". I read "Last of the Winnebagos" two summers ago, a week before my dog died.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

That's SUCH a good short story.

[maribou]

Yay!

[cow.livejournal.com]

I so need to finish that. I started reading it just before I started at the UW, got about halfway through, and never made it back to the book.

What I read was excellent. I still have imagery from that that I play with.

[jhitchin.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed Doomsday Book and went on to read others of hers until I got to Passage which bored the heck out of me and I found wholly unsatisfying, especially when the abrupt shift in the storyline happened about two-thirds of the way through.

funny

[kamiilyaan.livejournal.com]

when I think back on how she writes dialog between romantically involved couples, I think of you and Vixy...