Cooper's Rock and Science Fiction

Last weekend we went to visit Erik's parents in West Virginia. Erik's grandmother was visiting and I always enjoy talking with her. She is so lively and fun - it's hard to believe she is a Great Grandmother. We went to Cooper's Rock and had a picnic in the woods. The Rock was actually many rocks that overlooked a huge valley covered in beautiful trees with a river flowing at the bottom. Overall we had a fabulous time!

On Sunday morning while brushing Jenna's hair I noticed a tick. This was very odd since Sarah had a tick on July 19. I'm not sure why our kids have both had ticks recently - and not from camping. Those ticks are so nasty. Although Jenna seemed more worried that I was worried than about the tick.


I picked up a new book at the library called The Coming by Joseph Haldeman. I read Forever War and Forever Peace by Joseph Haldeman a few years ago and liked them quite a bit. In fact, a few years ago I decided to read all of the books that had jointly won both the Hugo and Nebula novel awards (awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy writing).

Here is the list of joint winners. The ones that I have read are highlighted. I do plan on reading them all someday but actually the library doesn't have all of them. So I'll have to find some other way to get these books. Probably robbery. That's what I'll have to resort to.

1. Dune by Frank Herbert
2. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
3. Ringworld by Larry Niven
4. The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
5. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
6. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
7. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
8. Gateway by Frederick Pohl
9. Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
10. The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke
11. Startide Rising by David Brin
12. Neuromancer by William Gibson
13. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
14. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
15. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
16. Forever Peace by Joseph Haldeman
17. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
18. Paladin of Souls by Louis McMaster Bujold
19. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon

Many of these books (Dune and Ender's Game) are among my top 10 favorite books ever. While Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are in the list, Xenophobia is not and I also really liked that book. I have not read American Gods by Neil Gaiman but did read Stardust and liked it quite a bit. So I think pretty soon I'll pick up on this list again and work my way through it.

81 on quiddler today. Quiddler would not let me use the words: hiney, zine, or hoth. This is a travesty!