[LMB] Which Bujold for book group?

[Mark Allums]

Tora K. Smulders-Srinivasan wrote:
> I'll see what you guys come up with before biasing the discussion with
> what I've been thinking!
> 
> Oh, and I don't think we need to limit it to the science fiction.
> Even though that was my first idea.

I vote _Curse of Chalion_, because, even though it's a bit long, it's a 
page-turner, it's masterfully written, has an actual plot (like all 
Bujolds) and it should be available.  The drawback, if it is one, is 
that it doesn't introduce Miles.  Are you trying to hook them on Bujold, 
or trying to come up with a really good book for a reading group?  The 
_Mountains of Mourning_ is a story with a good potential for discussion. 
  It's short, though.

Are Non-Bujold books that are nevertheless SF/Fantasy eligible?  Some 
old standbys are _Fahrenheit 451_ by Ray Bradbury, _A Canticle for 
Leibowitz_ by Walter Miller (may be hard to find), and Heinlein's 
_Stranger in a Strange Land_.  More recent books might be the "teen" 
book _Uglies_, by Scott Westerfeld (first of a trilogy), Spider 
Robinson's _Variable Star_ (you can discuss the effect of one writer 
deliberately imitating another's style, in this case, Heinlein), or 
Philip Pullman's _His Dark Materials_ books, also aimed at youth but 
containing a lot of grown-up ideas.

--Mark Allums