# Pennington Covers; Suzanne Delage; Recommendations *The Urth list — 2 messages, 2 voices, 09 May 1998* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### David_Lebling *09 May 1998, 12:02* >> Covers: The Pennington covers made me think of _The Dying Earth_. >> Suzanne Delage: I was prompted to reread this one, and I like the "universe conspiring against them" explanation, though immortality and vampirism are fun, too. The "extraordinary thing" is that he has no memory of ever meeting this woman whose life is parallel to his, yet it's beyond the realm of possibility that he never saw her or met her. When he merely glimpses her daughter, who looks just like her, he's bowled over. He _must_ have seen and been bowled over by Suzanne at some point in his earlier life. You could erect an edifice of supposition much like that whereby Severian1 is tranformed into Severian2; who has kept these star-crossed lovers apart for their entire lives? What eventuality does their non-meeting prevent? Is their never-to-be-born child a new Hitler, an Anti-Christ? This, I think, is the Borgesian reading of the story. Or maybe she's just a vampire... >> Recommendations: I heartily agree on _The Circus of Dr. Lao_; the affinity of the Green Man with Apollonius and the Hound of the Hedges is obvious in retrospect. Apollonius's fortune-telling is great. I'd like to add Keith Roberts' _Pavane_ and _The Chalk Giants_. Roberts has done other stuff, but these two seem to me to be the ones Wolfe fans will appreciate the most. Christopher Priest's _The Inverted World_ is an interesting counterpoint to "Tracking Song." Not just _Riddley Walker_, but anything by Russell Hoban is worth reading. Most of his stuff is "for children," but _The Mouse and His Child_ and _La Corona and the Tin Frog_ are good reading for any age. If you have children, and you don't already know the "Frances" books, run, do not walk, to the nearest library or bookstore and get them. They are nearly perfect. --viz (david_lebling at avid.com) --- ### Peter Westlake *10 May 1998, 23:21 · follows David_Lebling* >>> At 12:02 1998/05/09 -0400, David_Lebling at avid.com wrote: >>> Recommendations: > ... > I'd like to add Keith Roberts' _Pavane_ and _The Chalk Giants_. Roberts > has done other stuff, but these two seem to me to be the ones Wolfe fans > will appreciate the most. _Kaeti and Company_ is interesting too. It's several stories, in which leading characters are played by a kind of metacharacter, Kaeti, who discusses them with the author between stories. Also _Molly Zero_ requires careful reading, though more for nuances of character than to understand the plot. > Christopher Priest's _The Inverted World_ is an interesting counterpoint > to "Tracking Song." Hey, I could read that again, after developing my literary detective skills by reading Wolfe, and see if I understand the ending! Not that one is meant to, I suspect. > Not just _Riddley Walker_, but anything by Russell Hoban is worth > reading. Most of his stuff is "for children," but _The Mouse and His > Child_ and _La Corona and the Tin Frog_ are good reading for any age. A caveat: _The Mouse and his Child_ might be frightening for young children. It is quite frank about animals eating each other, and there are some moments of sudden violence as a result. Save it till they're old enough to appreciate that it's one of the best books of all time. Well, one of *my* favourites, anyway. I'd like to add a recommendation: _In Limbo_, by Christopher Evans. Peter. ---