a dire quail appears

you are not out of paper

you have so much paper

it’s okay to function as intended

you are not out of ink

i just refilled that cartridge last month

you can connect to that computer you’re supposed to connect to

The good news is that each book is written to stand in it's own, and it's not a series that much relies on big reveals, so the risk of spoilers is lower. That said, there is more of a chronology than, say, Discworld.

General advice is to read them by omnibus edition, which is Cordelia's Honor (Shards of Honor, short story "Afterwords" & Barrayar); Young Miles (The Warrior's Apprentice, "Mountains of Mourning", The Vor Game); Miles, Mystery & Mayhem (Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, "Labyrinth"); Miles Errant (The Borders of Infinity, Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance); Memory; Miles in Love (Komarr, A Civil Campaign, "Winterfair Gifts"); Miles, Mutants and Microbes (Falling Free, Diplomatic Immunity); Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance; The Flowers of Vashnoi (novella); Cryoburn; Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen. Absolutely no one recommends you read them in publication order, btw.

The Captain is a leader of a smallish group in a bounded environment; spaceship captain is the canonical version to me, here. The Captain has authority, she is undeniably the authority figure in this space and she expects her commands to be obeyed, but that authority is a contract. It comes with the knowledge that she uses that authority for the good of her crew.

The Captain is dutiful: her duty is to her mission second, and her crew first. Everything else, including her own personal feelings and desires, comes third. The Captain takes her duty as commander seriously and has a strong sense of responsibility. She is responsible for what happens to each one of her crew, responsible for their lives and safety, responsible for their failures and deaths. And she takes the weight of that responsibility seriously too.

The Captain is fair: her expectations may be high but she isn’t capricious. She does not ask her crew to do anything she wouldn’t do herself, and in the case of a crisis The Captain is ready to go down with her ship, making sure that everyone else gets out first.