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In reply to the discussion: Do You Have a Fictional Book That You Have Read Several Times? [View all]Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)Well written, superbly plotted, with interesting characters and good dialogue. Several of them, such as Memory and Cetaganda are actually mysteries (in Memory, something has happened to the chip implanted in Simon Illyan's brain to give him an eidetic memory. What has happened? Is it accidental or deliberate? When it turns out to be deliberate, who did it and how? Miles Vorkosigan is given the job of investigating, and he realizes who did it when the perpetrator offers him a bribe of something he really, really wants if he will frame someone else. Shortly after that, Simon asks him what he is doing. "Wrestling with my conscience." "Who's winning." "I'm going for the best two falls out of three."
I re-read Cordwainer Smith, since he was such a brilliant writer. My favorite is "The Dead Lady of Clown Town", about a revolution which "lasted six minutes and covered one hundred and twelve meters", yet changed worlds.