Sci-Fi Meme

I'm bored, and I snurched this meme. It's supposed to be the fifty most significant science fiction novels written between the years of 1953 and 2002 (so says the Science Fiction Book Club, but I don't agree with all of their choices)

Anyhow, the deal is that I bold the ones I've read, italicize the ones that I've started but never finished, underline the ones that I own but have never started, strike out the ones I hated, and put an asterisk beside the ones I love.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien (I know. I know... I should read this.)

2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov (I loved the first one. I'm not sure why I haven't finished the series)

3. Dune, Frank Herbert* (I love the first three novels of the Dune series.)

4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein

5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin

6. Neuromancer, William Gibson (I'm not sure why I haven't finished this one. I like Gibson's style.)

7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke*

8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick*

9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley* (I loved this at one time. I haven't read it in years, and I don't know how I'd feel about it now. I think it was more of an adolescent kind of thing.)

10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury*

11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe

12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.*

13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov

14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras

15. Cities in Flight, James Blish

16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett* (I only give this an asterisk because I love Discworld as a whole. This is the first book in the series, and they get better as you go along)

17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison

18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison

19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester

20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany

21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey

22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card

23. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman

25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl

26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling*

27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (Why the hell haven't I finished this? Douglas Adams is great, and this is THE Douglas Adams novel.)

28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson

29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice

30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin* (Ursula Le Guin writes brilliant science fiction.)

31. Little, Big, John Crowley

32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny

33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick

34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement

35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon

36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith

37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute

38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke

39. Ringworld, Larry Niven

40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys

41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien

42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut

43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson (This is another one that I don't know why I haven't finished it. I've really enjoyed what I've read.)

44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner

45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester*

46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein

47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock

48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks

49. Timescape, Gregory Benford

50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer*

Welcome to the world, little Ish

Yay!

It's a girl, and she was born at 6:30 PM on November 13, 2006 in Loma Linda, CA.

7lb. 2oz.

and her name is Ishtar Anoushka.

I'm elated!

Rites of Passage

Apparently, within my circle, jury duty is a herald of rites of passage.

The last time that I was called, I ended up getting married on the same day as my civil service. Today, Christoph has jury duty, and I've received a call that one of my nearest and dearest friends is in labor. I'm so excited!

Denver Voting

I waited in line for over an hour to vote at our local library, and the computers went down during that time frame. Volunteers were directing people to other locations where they claimed (incorrectly, according to the newspapers) that there was no wait, but I was on foot, so I just stayed where I was.

My votes are in, and I'm happy. I didn't get everything that I wanted, but there were enough positive results to leave me feeling cheerful.

Halloween

Here are some pictures that my father-in-law sent from Halloween 2006. I'm missing pictures of a few people including the nieces who were dressed up as a princess and a zombie bride. I'll have to update the gallery if I can get my hands on some photos. They were both really adorable.

In case you're wondering, the anachronistic bunny rabbit is my goofball of a husband, and I'm supposed to be a skunk, but everyone thought I was some sort of weird cat.