Darkover

Discussion of fine arts and literature.
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Maria
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Darkover

Post by Maria »

When I was a teen I read all the Darkover books by Marion Zimmer Bradley that I could get. I enjoyed them, but in college I had little time for casual reading and when we moved to Germany, none of her new books showed up in the Army post exchange shops. Then came the kid years, and even less time and I never got back to the series.

Recently, I've been trying to find out what is so very compelling for me about the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold, and trying various facets of what her books are about in new series- without success. I was just not specifying the right elements in my search for a new series.

I recently decided that perhaps what I needed was the juxtaposition of a spacefaring culture with a medieval culture and finally remembered Darkover. I decided a re-read was in order... but there were very few audiobooks out there, and none in the beginning of the publication order that I wanted to read them in.

So I looked for Kindle books. At least with those I can adjust the print font size and minimize the visual disruption and difficulty of comprehension that is caused by Lyme disease. I've been listening to audiobooks for years because I'd been having what is called "textural bombardment" by those with the condition. This is the inability to comprehend large blocks of text because the visual focus remains inconsistent and you have too many words trying to be understood all at once. I know. It's weird. It's a Lyme thing. Anyway, I've been coping with that for a decade to my dismay. I'd been a book a day person before this happened.

Back to my story. I wanted to try MZB again, but her works were not available in the format that I have needed for a goodly chunk of time. No electronic forms a all. :nono: Very frustrating! I've managed to read paper books in the past by holding an index card up against a paragraph so that I can only see one line at a time. I figured, what the heck? I might as well try it. So, I got a paper version of one of the novels to check and see if they stood up against the test of time. Several series I liked as a young person don't actually appeal to me as a mature woman. So a test was in order.

To make a long story somewhat shorter, I found that the book I tried was not only readable and likeable--- but the index card was not necessary!!!! I could read a whole paragraph in an eyeblink. :D Read and comprehend and get lost in it!!! The neurological damage to my brain is reversing! Has reversed. Whatever! :D I can read paper novels again, just as well as listening to an audiobook. Better, because I'm not at the mercy of the interpretation of the narrator. :love: :love: Also, in addition to the dozen books I'd read when young, there are a couple more dozen written since then. :D

Not finding any Darkover books at the library, I decided to buy some. The price per book on Amazon is ridiculous when they charge separate shipping and handling for each book, so I went to Ebay. There were multiple big lots of books by MZB, and not all the listings actually wrote down which books were included in the lot. They just had pictures of them. :roll: So I had to create a spread sheet and go through the pictures and figure out which lots would have the least repetition and still get me the first dozen books in the order she'd written them. Once I've run through those, I'll have to go back and get the newer books. It is said it doesn't matter what order you read them, but I've decided to go in publication order to avoid spoilers.

Many of these books were made in the 60s and 70s. The pages are yellowed and worn and slightly musty smelling. I don't care. :) I'm back on Darkover after half a lifetime.

It feels good.
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Impenitent
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Re: Darkover

Post by Impenitent »

That's such good news, Maria! I cannot imagine not being able to read.

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Maria
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Location: Missouri

Re: Darkover

Post by Maria »

Oh, it wasn't that I couldn't read -- it was just slow and difficult. Now it's easy again. :)
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