Oh! That makes sense. Somehow I forgot we were talking about Willis...all becomes clear.
Hmm.
My favorite of her novels, as I said, is Lincoln's Dreams, which is a slender, melancholy, gorgeous little thing. It is very much concerned with the Civil War, but I wouldn't call it a military book, if that makes any sense.
Other than that, I'd suggest either Doomsday Book or To Say Nothing of the Dog, depending on your tastes and what you feel like at the moment. They're actually set in the same universe, with time-traveling historians going back to study the past, but Doomsday Book (set during the Black Death) is about as sad and impressive as you'd imagine whereas To Say Nothing... (post-WWII) is a pretty hilarious romp.
The Impossible Things collection has "The Last of the Winnebagos," that story I mentioned above, which is definitely one of the polarizing ones; it's about the end of the world as demonstrated by the extinction of dogs. The range of stories in that one is impressive and I think it's a better collection overall than Fire Watch.
Um. I'm not actually sure I can do you any good here, since I am _such_ a fan. I even like her Christmas stories (she seems to do one every year for Asimov's and I find them tremendously charming) and her admittedly-slight collaborative novels. So I'm not sure I can give useful advice? But if there's one Willis book that I hardly ever hear unkind words about, it's To Say Nothing of the Dog.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-18 01:36 am (UTC)Hmm.
My favorite of her novels, as I said, is Lincoln's Dreams, which is a slender, melancholy, gorgeous little thing. It is very much concerned with the Civil War, but I wouldn't call it a military book, if that makes any sense.
Other than that, I'd suggest either Doomsday Book or To Say Nothing of the Dog, depending on your tastes and what you feel like at the moment. They're actually set in the same universe, with time-traveling historians going back to study the past, but Doomsday Book (set during the Black Death) is about as sad and impressive as you'd imagine whereas To Say Nothing... (post-WWII) is a pretty hilarious romp.
The Impossible Things collection has "The Last of the Winnebagos," that story I mentioned above, which is definitely one of the polarizing ones; it's about the end of the world as demonstrated by the extinction of dogs. The range of stories in that one is impressive and I think it's a better collection overall than Fire Watch.
Um. I'm not actually sure I can do you any good here, since I am _such_ a fan. I even like her Christmas stories (she seems to do one every year for Asimov's and I find them tremendously charming) and her admittedly-slight collaborative novels. So I'm not sure I can give useful advice? But if there's one Willis book that I hardly ever hear unkind words about, it's To Say Nothing of the Dog.