Westmark book discussion: suggestions for supplemental reading?

[mrissa]

As the person who is hosting the Westmark trilogy book discussion--and as someone who is a complete sucker for This Sort Of Thing for widely varying values of This Sort Of Thing--I was thinking about reading some other books for comparison/contrast/other discussion purposes. Any ideas what goes well with the Westmark trilogy? I have a couple of books on the French Revolution at the ready, and I was thinking maybe The Prisoner of Zenda and Teckla and Night Watch (Terry Pratchett, not the other one) and Brokedown Palace. Other ideas for what might make interesting idea stew?

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

I'm nearly done with the first book. WHEEEEEE OMG! Some bits of it sounded very familiar, but I don't know why--common fantasy tropes? LA invented them and then they became common fantasy tropes? did I really read it as a child?

You are brilliant for thinking of this.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying. I love these, and I really think the best is still ahead of you.

[affreca.livejournal.com]

Paula Volsky's Illusion is a fantasy novel with a not-quite-French revolution.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Haven't read that one, but the library has it!

[aliseadae]

I don't know how many I'd be able to get a chance to read. Would the book group still work for those who'd read Westmark?

Also, I just finished season 3 of B5!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, the posts will be separate for each of the three books, and they'll remain up around here. So if you haven't finished Westmark until March 11, you can read the post and participate in discussion then--or if you read Westmark now but don't have time to do The Kestrel or The Beggar Queen, you can just read and discuss in the Westmark post(s).

Short version, I think it'll be fine.

Also, whee! S3 is the best! Who is your favorite Ivanova? Is it Ivanova? Because that's my favorite Ivanova too!

[aliseadae]

Mm. yeah. I've gotten Westmark from the library. I was mostly asking about the supplemental books you mentioned in this post as I have enough time to read the Westmark books but not enough time to read others. Though part of my celebration of Another Year Closer to Balance is going to be working on balancing out the time I spend and balancing the time I spend with friends, the time I spend on my own, the time I spend doing homework and the time I spend sleeping better. I'd like to fit more pleasure reading time in though I'm not sure how likely it will be.

Yes, it was fun. Now the song "No Hiding Place" gets stuck in my head. That and commons recently served Swedish meatballs, which pleased me and my fellow B5 watchers greatly.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh, oh, no! I didn't mean that anybody else should have to read supplemental books! Just me!

"No Hiding Place": heh. Yah. Gotta love the Narns.