Ok, Lois McMaster Bujold has been recommended to me over on the fantasy board, though the general feeling is that the Vorkosigan series is even better than her fantasy stuff.

I checked my local library and they don't have much. A couple of books, that from their titles and blurbs seemed to be not the early ones. Does anyone have a list of the titles in order?? I'd like to try these but I haven't tracked down a list.

My questions are: how many books, where to start, do you have to read them in order etc etc.

Can anyone help? 

Well, the order of the Vorkosigan books is a matter of dispute.  They weren't written in "chronological" order, so to speak. A book earlier in the history may well be written after a book later in the history.  Plus, many of the books have been later published in new compendium volumes.  Each book has a timeline in the back and the titles that correspond with that timeline, so if you get your hands on one of the more recently published books, that can help guide you.

A good place to start would Cordelia's Honor.  It's early in the series chronologically and was one of the first written.  It's made of up of two books: Shards of Honor and Barrayar.

Then there's Young Miles, which is made up of Warrior's Apprentice, "Mountains of Mourning" (a short story) and The Vor Game. 

You start to see the problem.  :)

here's a list from Amazon, but do check the contents of the books, because several of them are compendiums.

http://www.amazon.com/Chronological-List-Vorkorsigan-Books/lm/R1TP35AQSK5GIA/ref=cm_lmt_fvlm_f_3_rlrsrs0

Oh, and I meant to add that each of them can be and is intended to be read independently.  It's not a series that requires you read it from the beginning.

A stand-alone book by Bujold is Falling Free (love those quaddies!).

I consider it 'pre-Vorkosigian' :-)

I would start with Warrior's Apprentice, and if you like it, then read through the timeline starting from Shards of Honor. If you don't like Miles in Warrior's Apprentice, you're not going to care for most of the series.  In fact I think Barrayar is helped quite a bit by knowing the rest of the story in advance.  I read Shards of Honor first without knowing anything about the rest of Bujold's work, and didn't read anything else by her for several years until I stumbled on Warrior's Apprentice.  It just wasn't as interesting to me as a stand-alone I guess.

The only one I've read (so far) is Cetaganda--probably not a good entree to her work.

I agree that they don' need to be read in chrono order of the story line.  Most of the first published stories were published in Analog magazine at first, which is where I first read them (usually serialized I believe).

Anyway, I find that I enjoyed those stories more than the later books - where Miles is younger.  However, all the books are worth reading!

Some other links:

Baen Books Bujold Page:   www.baen.com/author_catalog.asp

Bujold's website    www.dendarii.com/

I highly recommend *not* starting with Mirror Dance. It's highly confusing if you haven't read Brothers in Arms, or A Civil Campaign (though ACC takes place after Mirror Dance).  That being said,   I started the series with the most recent book (Diplomatic Immunity), and enjoyed it enough to read all her other books (though I'm not as fond of Ethan of Athos or Falling Free as I am of the rest of them, probably because Miles isn't in either one).