"Whiskey in the Jar"

It's time for Friday poetry again. I'm not sure if songs really count as poetry, but they do have meter and (usually) some sort of rhyme scheme. And of course, as Professor Harold Hill said, singing is nothing more than sustained talking - right?

There's a old, traditional Irish folk song called "Whiskey in the Jar." Like other old, traditional folk songs, there are about as many variations on it as there are people singing it. This guy's, for instance, or this guy's, or this guy's, or this guy's (scroll down a bit; it's in the lefthand column). And if for some reason you're not familiar with the tune, you can find a MIDI file here.

And then came the early '60s, and two wonderful people - Tommy Smothers and his little brother Dickie - who gave us this version:

As I was goin' forth to the North Pole so merry
I met a St. Bernard, he was short and squat and hairy.
So I drew forth this stick and was gettin' set to heave 'er
Sayin', "Fetch and deliver, for you are a born retriever!"

Chorus: Mush-a-ringum-durum dar
Whack fol the daddy-o
Whack fol the daddy-o
There's whiskey in the jar.

Up around his neck, there was hung a keg of whiskey,
Now and then Old Rover took a snort and got so very frisky.
As he chased the stick he would do a tricky waddle,
Though he really wasn't tricky, he was pie-eyed from the bottle.

Chorus

I threw the stick so far, it was kinda hard to trace it.
Ol' Rover said, "Bow, wow!", and was gettin' set to chase it.
But a car came driving by and he changed his mind and sought it,
Though I knew he couldn't drive one, not even if he caught it.

Chorus

Well, that's about the end of my song and poor Ol' Rover.
He caught it in a fan-belt, and his rovin' days are over.
That poor retriever lies b'neath the ground so cold and chilly
And I have to fetch the stick myself. Boy! Do I look silly!

Chorus

Medal of Honor awarded for Vietnam service

President Bush awarded the Medal of Honor this week to LTC Bruce Crandall, US Army (ret), for service in the Ia Drang Valley on 14 Nov 1965. This was an upgrade of the Distinguished Service Cross that Crandall was originally awarded.

The citation reads:

Major Bruce P. Crandall distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism as a Flight Commander in the Republic of Vietnam, while serving with Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). On 14 November 1965, his flight of sixteen helicopters was lifting troops for a search and destroy mission from Plei Me, Vietnam, to Landing Zone X-Ray in the la Drang Valley. On the fourth troop lift, the airlift began to take enemy fire, and by the time the aircraft had refueled and returned for the next troop lift, the enemy had Landing Zone X-Ray targeted. As Major Crandall and the first eight helicopters landed to discharge troops on his fifth troop lift, his unarmed helicopter came under such intense enemy fire that the ground commander ordered the second flight of eight aircraft to abort their mission. As Major Crandall flew back to Plei Me, his base of operations, he determined that the ground commander of the besieged infantry batallion desperately needed more ammunition. Major Crandall then decided to adjust his base of operations to Artillery Firebase Falcon in order to shorten the flight distance to deliver ammunition and evacuate wounded soldiers. While medical evacuation was not his mission, he immediately sought volunteers and with complete disregard for his own personal safety, led the two aircraft to Landing Zone X-Ray. Despite the fact that the landing zone was still under relentless enemy fire, Major Crandall landed and proceeded to supervise the loading of seriously wounded soldiers aboard his aircraft. Major Crandall's voluntary decision to land under the most extreme fire instilled in the other pilots the will and spirit to continue to land their own aircraft, and in the ground forces the realization that they would be resupplied and that friendly wounded would be promptly evacuated. This greatly enhanced morale and the will to fight at a critical time. After his first medical evacuation, Major Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. That day he completed a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire, retiring from the battlefield only after all possible service had been rendered to the Infantry battalion. His actions provided critical resupply of ammunition and evacuation of the wounded. Major Crandall's daring acts of bravery and courage in the face of an overwhelming and determined enemy are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

Book list - Feb 07

In High Places - SF, by Harry Turtledove
The Gods of Mars - SF, by Edgar Rice Burroughs *
Fool Moon - modern fantasy, by Jim Butcher
Panzer Commander - memoirs, by Hans von Luck
Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel - history, by Frances and Joseph Gies *
The Road to Infinity - science essays, by Isaac Asimov
The Subatomic Monster - science essays, by Isaac Asimov
Mapping Human History - palaeoanthropology, by Steve Olson
The Journey of Man - palaeoanthropology, by Spencer Wells *
At the Water's Edge - palaeontology, by Carl Zimmer
Final Blackout - SF, by L Ron Hubbard *
The Warlord of Mars - SF, by Edgar Rice Burroughs *
Far As Human Eye Could See - science essays, by Isaac Asimov *
The Dancing Dodo - thriller, by John Gardner *
Guerilla - WW I, by Edwin P Hoyt
The Winds of Change - SF (short stories), by Isaac Asimov *
The Tinkling Symbol - mystery, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
Re-Birth (aka The Chrysalids) - SF, by John Wyndham *
Sandbar Sinister - mystery, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor
The Last Trump - thriller, by John Gardner *
Flandry of Terra - SF, by Poul Anderson
Agent of the Terran Empire - SF, by Poul Anderson *
Beyond the Farthest Star - SF, by Edgar Rice Burroughs *
Voorloper - SF, by Andre Norton
Young Rissa - SF, by F M Busby
Unexpected Death - mystery, by Dell Shannon *
Old Bones - mystery, by Aaron Elkins *
Anthropol - SF, by Louis Trimble *
Some Survived - WW II, by Manny Lawton
Sos the Rope - SF, by Piers Anthony *
Blitzkrieg - WW II, by Len Deighton
The Land of Hidden Men (aka Jungle Girl)- adventure, by Edgar Rice Burroughs *
Lallia - SF, by E C Tubb
Snake Eater - mystery, by William G Tapply
Past Tense - mystery, by William G Tapply

(Books marked with an asterisk were rereads.)

Averaged better than a book a day this month - nowhere near what I was doing in high school, but still much better than I've been doing the last few years. All the time I spent in bed last month whilst sick certainly helped. Maybe I should just forget about getting the computer fixed....

The Cybils: 2006 winners

One of the things I missed while I was sick was the announcement of the winners for the 2006 Cybils (the Children's and YA Bloggers' Literary Awards). They were:

Fiction Picture Books:
Scaredy Squirrel, by Melanie Watt

Non-Fiction Picture Books:
An Egg Is Quiet, by Dianna Aston; illustrated by Sylvia Long

Middle Grade Fiction:
A Drowned Maiden's Hair, by Laura Amy Schlitz

Young Adult Fiction:
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Fantasy and Science Fiction:
Ptolemy's Gate, by Jonathan Stroud

Graphic Novels (12 and under):
Amelia Rules, vol 3: Superheroes, by Jimmy Gownley

Graphic Novels (13 and up):
American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang

Poetry:
Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow, by Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Beth Krommes

Non-Fiction (Middle Grade and YA):
Freedom Walkers, by Russell Freedman

Haven't read any of these yet, but I'll be looking for some of them (and some of the other nominees). Actually, I was kind of disappointed that Beka Cooper: Terrier, by Tamora Pierce, didn't win the Fantasy and SF award - that's one book that I'm definitely going to be buying. (You can read the beginning of it here.)

Bleah

This blog has been kind of dead the last few weeks - mainly 'cos I've been feeling that way myself. Last Friday was the first day in a week and a half that I didn't get home from work wanting nothing more than to collapse in bed. (I had four days off during that period, and except for taking my daughter to school, getting something to eat, and performing other necessary evolutions I stayed in bed the whole day.)

Don't even remember the last time I was this sick - has to have been back when I was a kid sometime. Actually, my wife says I had it easy while I was in the Navy; I was around the same group of people all the time, and we immunized ourselves to each other's germs fairly quickly. Now that I'm working in the store, though, I'm around a lot more people, picking up strange bugs all the time. And since I'm spending a lot more time at home, I'm also more susceptible to what the kids bring home from school, and the wife brings home from where she works.

So now I've come down with another cold already....

Coming up: Seasickness, noses, snake eaters, tourists, more on bunks, and familygrams and e-mail.

A fib

Leonardo Fibonacci and his famous number sequence have come up a couple of times in the books I've been reading lately, so I thought I'd try writing a fib (a poem in which the number of syllables in each line follow the Fibonacci sequence) of my own....

I
think
this is
the silli-
est thing I've ever
seen. Don't you think so, too, Bubba?

What kind of reader are you?

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Literate Good Citizen You read to inform or entertain yourself, but you're not nerdy about it. You've read most major classics (in school) and you have a favorite genre or two.
Dedicated Reader
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

The Cybils

The winners of the Cybils will be announced on 14 February.

Mnemonics

When I went through Basic Electricity and Electronics, at Great Lakes, I learned about resistors. These little widgets come in many values (as measured in ohms), and they're colour-coded so people can tell them apart - little stripes of different colours (each colour representing a different number) are painted near one end of the resistor, and one who knows the code can read these stripes to know what sort of resistor it is. To learn the code, we were taught the sentence "Bad Boys Rob Our Young Girls Behind Victory Garden Walls;" the initial letters of the words are the initial letters of the colours, and the values are, in order, one through zero.*

From Great Lakes I went out to San Diego for A school (in those days all radiomen, sub or skimmer, attended the same A school). My brother had served 20+ years as an IC, retiring five and a half years before I enlisted, and he was still living in San Diego at that time, so I spent as much time as possible at his house. One day I mentioned the above sentence to him; he laughed, and said that in his day it was "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly."

Such sayings as these are known as mnemonic devices, things to aid one's memory. There are lots of them around; I think it was in eighth-grade music class that I learned "Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "FACE" - the notes which fall, respectively, on the lines and on the spaces of the treble clef.

Need to know the proper order for various taxonomic groupings? "King Philip Came Over For Good Soup" (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species).

How about the order for geological time periods? "Camels Often Sit Down Carefully. Perhaps Their Joints Creak? Proper Early Oiling Might Prevent Premature Rusting" (Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Recent - and if you want to split the Carboniferous period into the Mississipian and the Pennsylvanian, substitute "Mighty Precariously" for "Carefully").

Or you can memorise the following little poem:

Sir, I send a rhyme excelling
In sacred truth and rigid spelling.
Numerical sprites elucidate
For me the lexicon's dull weight.

As long as you spell it correctly, you can count the letters in each word and come up with 3.14159265358979323846 (sound familiar?).

I love these things, and history has always been my favourite subject, so it was with great joy that I discovered the following:

Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee,
Harry, Dick, John, Harry Three;
One, two, three Neds; Richard Two;
Harry four, five, six - then who?
Edward four, five; Dick the bad,
Harrys twain and Ned the lad;
Mary, Bessie, James the vain;
Charlie, Charlie, James again.
William and Mary, Anna gloria;
Four Georges, William and Victoria.
Edward the Seventh next, and then
George the Fifth in nineteen ten.
Edward the Eighth soon abdicated,
And so a George was reinstated.
Bessie again, to end the list,
And that's the lot - not one's been missed.**

And in case you haven't figured it out by now, that's a list - in order, of course - of the reigning kings and queens of England/Great Britain/the United Kingdom, from William I to Elizabeth II.

* See here if you really want to know the whole thing.
** Well, actually both Maud and Jane have been missed, but....

Book list - Jan 07

Mirror Dance - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Falling Free - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople - history, by Jonathan Phillips
Memory - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Komarr - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Marching through Georgia - AH, by S M Stirling
Sorcery and Cecelia - fantasy, by Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
A Civil Campaign - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Diplomatic Immunity - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Then There Were Five - children's, by Elizabeth Enright
A Princess of Mars - SF, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Spiderweb for Two - children's, by Elizabeth Enright
The Serpent and the Moon - history, by HRH Princess Michael of Kent
Bachelors Anonymous - humour, by P G Wodehouse
Adding a Dimension - science essays, by Isaac Asimov
From Earth to Heaven - science essays, by Isaac Asimov
The Tragedy of the Moon - science essays, by Isaac Asimov

Yep - sure can tell my computer's been down all month. Over twice as many books on this month's list as the monthly average for last year....

Seven of these were rereads: Stirling, Burroughs, the two Enrights and the three Asimovs. All the rest were new to me. And sadly, I've run out of Miles Vorkosigan books to read (though I hear she's working on a new one).

What he said

Right here.

The Cybils: 2006 finalists

Back in November I mentioned the Children's and YA Bloggers' Literary Awards (Cybils). As promised, the short lists for last year have been determined, and the judging committees are now working on deciding on the winners. No definite date yet for when said winners will be announced.

The finalists (five in each category) are:

Fiction Picture Books:
Emily’s Balloon, by Komako Sakai
Learning to Fly, by Sebastian Meschenmoser
Scaredy Squirrel, by Melanie Watt
Waiting for Gregory, by Kimberly Willis Holt; illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska
Wolves, by Emily Gravett

Non-Fiction Picture Books:
3-D ABC: A Sculptural Alphabet, by Bob Raczka
Aliens Are Coming!: The True Account Of The 1938 War Of The Worlds Radio Broadcast, by Meghan McCarthy
An Egg Is Quiet, by Dianna Aston; illustrated by Sylvia Long
An Island Grows, by Lola M. Schaefer; illustrated by Cathie Felstead
Little Lost Bat, by Sandra Markle; illustrated by Alan Marks

Middle Grade Fiction:
A Drowned Maiden's Hair, by Laura Amy Schlitz
Framed, Frank Cottrell Boyce
Heat, by Mike Lupica
Kiki Strike, by Kirsten Miller
Weedflower, by Cynthia Kadohata

Young Adult Fiction:
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life, by Dana Reinhardt
Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
The Rules of Survival, by Nancy Werlin

Fantasy and Science Fiction:
Ptolemy's Gate, by Jonathan Stroud
Silver City, by Cliff McNish
Beka Cooper: Terrier, by Tamora Pierce
The Last Dragon, by Silvana de Mari
Pucker, by Melanie Gideon

Graphic Novels (12 and under):
Amelia Rules, vol 3: Superheroes, by Jimmy Gownley
Babymouse: Beach Babe, by Jennifer Holm and Matt Holm
The Baby-Sitters Club: Kristy's Great Idea, by Ann Martin and Rina Telgemeier
Kat and Mouse, by Alex De Campi; pictures by Federica Manfredi
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel, by Siena Siegel and Mark Siegl

Graphic Novels (13 and up):
American Born Chinese, by Gene Yang
Castle Waiting, by Linda Medley
Dramacon, vol 2, by Svetlana Chmakova
Flight, vol 3, by Kazu Kibuishi, et al
La Perdida, by Jessica Abel

Poetry:
Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow, by Joyce Sidman; illustrated by Beth Krommes
Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich, by Adam Rex
Handsprings, by Douglas Florian
Jazz, by Walter Dean Myers; illustrated by Christopher Myers
Tour America: A Journey Through Poems and Art, by Diane Siebert; illustrated by Stephen T. Johnson

Non-Fiction (Middle Grade and YA):
Escape!, by Sid Fleischman
Freedom Walkers, by Russell Freedman
Immersed in Verse, by Alan Wolf
Isaac Newton, by Kathleen Krull; illustrated by Boris Kulikov
Team Moon, by Catherine Thimmesh

There are several books on these lists I'm going to be looking for....

RIP: Denny Doherty

From a New York Times article:

Denny Doherty, a founding member of the 1960s folk-pop band the Mamas and the Papas, died yesterday [19 Jan] at his home in Mississauga, Ontario. He was 66.

The cause was not immediately known, his daughter Emberly said. But she said her father had recently suffered kidney failure after surgery for a stomach aneurysm.

With chiming guitars and rich, meticulous harmonies that could be tinged with darkness, the Mamas and the Papas became one of the most popular and influential American bands of the era between the Beatles’ arrival and Woodstock. Their enduring hits, like “California Dreamin’,” “Monday, Monday” and “Dedicated to the One I Love,” mixed the gentle jangle of folk with a rock backbeat and sweet, layered pop vocals.

Though John Phillips was the group’s principal songwriter, Mr. Doherty sang most of the male leads, in a clear, friendly tenor that he occasionally punctuated with rock ’n’ roll growls.

The other members of the group, of course, were Phillips (30 Aug 1935-18 Mar 2001), his wife, Michelle (4 Jun 1944-TBD), and Cass Elliot (19 Sep 1941-29 Jul 1974).

RIP: Julie Winnifred Bertrand

According to an article from the Santa Fe New Mexican:

Julie Winnifred Bertrand, believed to be the world's oldest woman at 115, died in her sleep at the Montreal nursing home where she had lived for the last 35 years, an official at the home said Friday.

Bertrand, born Sept. 16, 1891, in the Quebec town of Coaticook, passed away early Thursday morning, according to Nicole Ouellet. Her nephew Andre Bertrand told The Gazette in Montreal that she died peacefully in her sleep.

"She just stopped breathing," said Bertrand, 73. "That's a nice way to go."

Bertrand became the world's oldest woman last month, after the death of Elizabeth Bolden, a Tennessee woman born on Aug. 15, 1890, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

And the new Oldest Woman in the World? From an article in the Hartford Courant:

With the death Thursday of a 115-year-old Canadian woman, Emma Faust Tillman, 114, is now recognized as the oldest woman in the world.

She moved up on a list of validated "supercentarians" maintained by the Gerontology Research Group in Los Angeles and other organizations.

Tillman is now recognized as the second oldest person in the world and the oldest woman, according to the research group and the Guinness Book of World Records.

-----

The daughter of former slaves and one of 23 children, Tillman lives at the Riverside Health and Rehabilitation Center in East Hartford. She was born Nov. 22, 1892.

The oldest man in the world is currently 115-year-old Emiliano Mercado del Toro, born 21 Aug 1891 in Puerto Rico.

A supercentenarian, incidentally, is a person who is 110 years old or older. According to the Gerontology Research Group, there are currently 86 of them: 79 women and 7 men. (31 of them, including three of the men, live in the US.) The official record is held by Jeanne Louise Calment (21 Feb 1875-4 Aug 1997), of France, who was 122 years and 164 days old when she died.

Greetings from the public library

Yeah, my computer's still down. I'm making do with occasional visits to the library, or to my mother-in-law's, but that doesn't give me time to do much more than read some of my e-mail, glance at a Yahoo group or two, and maybe have a quick look at somebody's blog. I'm hoping this won't last too much longer....

Victoria Cross: J. S. S. P. Vereker

JOHN STANDISH SURTEES PRENDERGAST VEREKER, 6th VISCOUNT GORT, DSO MVO MC

Captain (Brevet Major, Acting Lieutenant Colonel), 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards

Born: 10 July 1886, East Cowes Castle, Isle of Wight

Citation: For most conspicuous bravery, skilful leading and devotion to duty during the attack of the Guards Division on 27th September, 1918, across the Canal du Nord, near Flesquieres, when in command of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, the leading battalion of the 3rd Guards Brigade.
Under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire he led his battalion with great skill and determination to the "forming-up" ground, where very severe fire from artillery and machine guns was again encountered.
Although wounded, he quickly grasped the situation, directed a platoon to proceed down a sunken road to make a flanking attack, and, under terrific fire, went across open ground to obtain the assistance of a Tank, which he personally led and directed to the best possible advantage. While thus fearlessly exposing himself, he was again severely wounded by a shell. Notwithstanding considerable loss of blood, after lying on a stretcher for awhile, he insisted on getting up and personally directing the further attack. By his magnificent example of devotion to duty and utter disregard of personal safety all ranks were inspired to exert themselves to the utmost, and the attack resulted in the capture of over 200 prisoners, two batteries of field guns and numerous machine guns. Lt.-Col. Viscount Gort then proceeded to organise the defence of the captured position until he collapsed; even then he refused to leave the field until he had seen the "success signal" go up on the final objective.
The successful advance of the battalion was mainly due to the valour, devotion and leadership of this very gallant officer.

(London Gazette Issue 31034 dated 27 Nov 1918, published 26 Nov 1918.)


Note: Lord Gort was the father-in-law of William Philip Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle, VC KG GCMG GCVO PC.

Medal of Honor: D. A. Munro

DOUGLAS ALBERT MUNRO

Signalman First Class, US Coast Guard

Born: 11 October 1919, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Died: 27 September 1942, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands

Citation: For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as Petty Officer in Charge of a group of 24 Higgins boats, engaged in the evacuation of a battalion of marines trapped by enemy Japanese forces at Point Cruz Guadalcanal, on 27 September 1942. After making preliminary plans for the evacuation of nearly 500 beleaguered marines, Munro, under constant strafing by enemy machineguns on the island, and at great risk of his life, daringly led 5 of his small craft toward the shore. As he closed the beach, he signaled the others to land, and then in order to draw the enemy's fire and protect the heavily loaded boats, he valiantly placed his craft with its 2 small guns as a shield between the beachhead and the Japanese. When the perilous task of evacuation was nearly completed, Munro was instantly killed by enemy fire, but his crew, 2 of whom were wounded, carried on until the last boat had loaded and cleared the beach. By his outstanding leadership, expert planning, and dauntless devotion to duty, he and his courageous comrades undoubtedly saved the lives of many who otherwise would have perished. He gallantly gave his life for his country.


Notes: This is the only Medal of Honor yet awarded to a member of the US Coast Guard.

USCGC Munro (WHEC 724) and USS Douglas A Munro (DE 422) were named in his honour.

Book list - 2006

This is a recap of the 67 books - plus two novellas - I read in Apr-Dec 2006. (I didn't keep records for the first three months of that year.) I'm actually writing this on 17 Apr 2010, but I'm dating it 7 Jan 2007 so it will be in its proper place in the blog archives.

Asterisks indicate the 28 rereads. Numbers refer to the order in which the books were read.

"Adult" Fiction (26 books)
2. To Your Scattered Bodies Go - SF, by Philip Jose Farmer
8. The Union Club Mysteries - mystery (short stories), by Isaac Asimov *
9. Time Scout - time travel, by Bob Asprin and Linda Evans *
10. ARC Riders - time travel, by David Drake and Janet Morris *
11. Napoleon Disentimed - AH/time travel, by Hayford Peirce *
13. First Cycle - SF, by H Beam Piper and Michael Kurland *
14. Ralestone Luck - mystery, by Andre Norton *
16. The Ship That Sailed the Time Stream - time travel, by G C Edmondson *
21. Colors Aloft! - historical fiction, by Alexander Kent
24. Dragon's Fire - SF, by Anne & Todd McCaffrey
26. Sledgehammer - thriller, by Walter Wager *
33. A Meeting at Corvallis - AH, by S M Stirling
48. The Lost World - SF/adventure, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle *
49. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder - mystery, by Joanne Fluke
53. The Sky People - AH, by S M Stirling
58. Barrayar - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
60. Shards of Honor - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
61. The Warrior's Apprentice - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
62. "The Mountains of Mourning" - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
63. The Vor Game - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
64. Cetaganda - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
65. Ethan of Athos - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
66. "Labyrinth" - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
67. The Eyre Affair - AH/mystery, by Jasper Fforde
68. "Borders of Infinity" - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
69. Brothers in Arms - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold

Children's/YA Fiction (32)
5. The Borrowers Afield - children's, by Mary Norton *
12. Sinbad and Me - YA mystery, by Kin Platt *
15. Gone-Away Lake - children's, by Elizabeth Enright *
18. Swallows and Amazons - children's, by Arthur Ransome *
19. Swallowdale - children's, by Arthur Ransome *
20. Peter Duck - children's, by Arthur Ransome *
22. Winter Holiday - children's, by Arthur Ransome *
23. Coot Club - children's, by Arthur Ransome *
25. Pigeon Post - children's, by Arthur Ransome *
27. We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea - children's, by Arthur Ransome *
28. The Secret of the Crazy Quilt - children's mystery, by Florence Hightower
29. The Big Six - children's, by Arthur Ransome
30. The Dark Stairs - children's mystery, by Betsy Byars
32. Missee Lee - children's, by Arthur Ransome
34. The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet - children's SF, by Eleanor Cameron *
35. The Picts and the Martyrs - children's, by Arthur Ransome *
38. Great Northern? - children's, by Arthur Ransome *
39. Looking for Alaska - YA, by John Green
40. Fur Magic - children's fantasy, by Andre Norton *
41. Octagon Magic - children's fantasy, by Andre Norton *
42. Return to Gone-Away - children's, by Elizabeth Enright *
43. Sabriel - YA fantasy, by Garth Nix
44. Lirael - YA fantasy, by Garth Nix
46. Abhorsen - YA fantasy, by Garth Nix
47. The Saturdays - children's, by Elizabeth Enright *
50. Here Lies the Librarian - YA, by Richard Peck
52. Lavender-Green Magic - children's fantasy, by Andre Norton *
54. Mister Monday - YA fantasy, by Garth Nix
55. Grim Tuesday - YA fantasy, by Garth Nix
56. The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles - children's fantasy, by Julie Andrews Edwards
57. Drowned Wednesday - YA fantasy, by Garth Nix
59. The Report Card - children's by Andrew Clements

Non-Fiction (11)
1. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong - US history, by James W Loewen
3. The Steam Locomotive: A Century of North American Classics - railroad history, by Jim Boyd
4. Mother Was a Gunner's Mate - WWII memoirs, by Josette Dermody Wingo
6. Pegasus Bridge - WW II, by Stephen Ambrose
7. D-Day - WW II, by Stephen Ambrose
17. After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to Glaciated North America - palaeoecology, by E C Pielou *
31. Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors - WW II, by James D Hornfischer
36. The Medieval Castle - history, by Philip Warner
37. The Man from Waukegan - memoirs, by J P Zabolski
45. Rum: A Social and Sociable History - history, by Ian Williams
51. On Hitler's Mountain - memoirs, by Irmgard A Hunt

The biggest categories were SF (15), fantasy (10) and history (19).

I'd say Sabriel, by Garth Nix, and The Warrior's Apprentice, by Lois McMaster Bujold, were the best books I read that year. The following were also very good:

Napoleon Disentimed, by Hayford Peirce
Sinbad and Me, by Kin Platt
First Cycle, by H Beam Piper and Michael Kurland
Gone-Away Lake, by Elizabeth Enright
Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, by James D Hornfischer
The Man from Waukegan, by J P Zabolski
Rum: A Social and Sociable History, by Ian Williams
The Sky People, by S M Stirling
Mister Monday, by Garth Nix
Grim Tuesday, by Garth Nix
Drowned Wednesday, by Garth Nix
Barrayar, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Shards of Honor, by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Vor Game, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Cetaganda, by Lois McMaster Bujold

Problems....

My computer is down, for gods only know how long. This post and the last two were written using my mother-in-law's computer.

Hoping to be able to get back on-line soon....

Book list - Dec 06

Drowned Wednesday - fantasy, by Garth Nix
Barrayar - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Report Card - children's by Andrew Clements
Shards of Honor - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Warrior's Apprentice - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
"The Mountains of Mourning" - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Vor Game - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Cetaganda - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Ethan of Athos - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
"Labyrinth" - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Eyre Affair - AH/mystery, by Jasper Fforde
"Borders of Infinity" - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Brothers in Arms - SF, by Lois McMaster Bujold

Not a single reread this month!

And yes, I've finally discovered Miles Vorkosigan. The books have been recommended to me several times, but I'd never gotten around to reading any of them. Then, whilst going through a box of books a few weeks ago, I discovered that I had somehow acquired a copy of Barrayar, the second book in the series, so I started reading it. About a third of the way through it, I went out and bought the first, third and fourth books. I'm currently reading Mirror Dance, and Memory is waiting its turn....