memelaina | Year End Review

Everyone seems to be posting a year in review - but I'm thinking little about the past year and more about the coming one. Why, oh why, did we ever take on this worldcon thing? There's more work than time and I'd really rather just curl up on the sofa with one of my Christmas books and the last of the bon bons from Swiss Colony. Oh well. Perhaps next year.

We did end the year with a bang with our 25th Anniversary party - run entirely by my talented daughter and nightclub-manager son. There was music. There was DANCING. I got to do a waltz with my beloved husband. And when we announced the other country dances people just stood right up and danced them. The refreshments were tasty - and I didn't have to make any of them - the tea was poured by lovely ladies, and a good time was had by all. I received the ultimate compliment from our housekeeper the next morning. She and her husband (both Bosnian refugees) attended the party, and she told me the next day in her careful, broken English that it was the most wonderful party she had seen since coming to the US. "You acted like real people, not like Americans." How can you get a better (or more thought-provoking) compliment than that?

It's hard to imagine that we've been married 25 years - and spent 16 of them in Colorado! Colorado still seems like the place we came to, not so much the place we are from. And at 25 years I don't feel much different than when we moved out here after nine years of marriage. I suppose when you find the right match and settle in, things seem pretty normal.

Until, of course, your spouse wants to run a worldcon...

So I'll just end the year in review with my reading list for the year.

Barbara Hambly, Bride of the Rat God
Robert Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land (uncut)
Steven King, The Stand
Lucy Monroe, The Prince's Virgin Wife
de Courcy , Debs at War
Jeanne DuPrau, The People of Sparks
Eric Flint, The Grantville Gazette
Sharon Shinn, Angel-Seeker
Trudi Canavan, The Novice
Delia Sherman, Changeling
C.S. Lewis, The Horse and his Boy
Diana Wynne Jones, Charmed Life
Ellis Peters, The City of Gold and Shadows
Dick Francis, The Edge
Madeline Robins, Point of Honour
Patricia McKillup, Solstice Wood
Diana Wynne Jones, The Magicians of Corona
Georgette Heyer, Charity Girl
Anne Tyler, Saint Maybe
Dick Francis, Blood Sport
Eric Flint, 1632
Betty Levin, Thorn
Michael Stackpole, A Secret Atlas
Mary Wesley, The Camomile Lawn
Garth Nix , Sabriel
Dick Francis, Forfeit
Sarah Hoyt, Ill Met By Moonlight
Helen Hannf, 84 Charing Cross Road
Robert Heinlein, Friday
Dick Francis, Smokescreen
Anne Perry, A Dangerous Mourning
Laurie King, Beekeeper's Apprentice
Anne Perry, Defend and Betray
Lois McMaster Bujold, Brothers in Arms
Laurie King, A Monstrous Regiment of Women
Laurie King, With Child
Birdsall, The Penderwicks
Anthony Price, The Labyrinth Makers
Anthony Price, Our Man in Camelot
Laurie King, O Jerusalem
Georgette Heyer, Sprig Muslin
Lee and Miller, Local Custom
Lee and Miller, Conflict of Honors
Lois McMaster Bujold, The Sharing Knife: Beguilement
Katherine Kurtz, In the King's Service
Dick Francis, High Stakes
Hermoine Ranfurly, The Ugly One
Alexander McCall Smith, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies
Lois McMaster Bujold, Mirror Dance
Lee and Miller, Agent of Change
L. M. Boston, The Stones of Green Knowe
Patrick Carman, Atherton
Cameron Dokey, Before Midnight
Laurie King, A Letter of Mary
Lee and Miller, Carpe Diem
Lee and Miller, Plan B
Lee and Miller, I Dare
Lee and Miller, Crystal Dragon
Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club
Lois McMaster Bujold, The Sharing Knife: Legacy
Lois McMaster Bujold, Memory
Carrie Brinks, Winter Cottage
Lois McMaster Bujold, Komarr
Jean Karl , Strange Tomorrow
Jean Karl, Turning Point
William Sleator, House of Stairs
Lois McMaster Bujold, Civil Campaign
Laurie King, The Game
Lisa Alther, Kinfolks
Lillian Stewart Carl, Ashes to Ashes
Jo Dereske, Miss Zukas and the Library Murders
Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Lad and the Lion
Wilbur Smith, Eye of the Tiger
Anne McCaffrey, Renegades of Pern
Anne McCaffrey, Dragonsdawn
John Leslie, Night and Day
Elizabeth Moon, Trading in Danger
Elizabeth Moon, Marque and Reprisal
Jo Dereske, Miss Zukas and the Island Murders
Anne McCaffrey, Skies of Pern
CJ Cherryh, Pride of Chanur
Maiya Williams, The Golden Hour
Lee and Miller, Scout's Progress
Rex Stout , The Father Chase
Lucy Boston, Perverse and Foolish
Dick Francis, Longshot
Laurie King, Locked Rooms
SM Stirling, The Sunrise Lands
Rex Stout, Not Quite Dead Enough
Joan M…, The Ladies of Covington send Their Love
Diane Perkins, The Marriage Bargain
Rex Stout , Booby Trap
Mary Nash , Mrs. Coverlet's Detectives
Sarah Addison Allen, Garden Spells
Georgette Heyer, Black Sheep
Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising
Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass
Kirsten Seaver, The Frozen Echo
Lee and Miller, Balance of Trade
Johan Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson
Elizabeth Moon, Engaging the Enemy
Philip Pullman, The Subtle Knife
Mike Resnick, Starship Mutiny
Charles Stross, The Family Trade