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Nika
01 January 2012 @ 10:32 am
Yeah, I know I never post, but have an ancient meme stolen from Amber, because mmmmmmm books. XD

NPR's top 100 SF/Fantasy books. Bold if you've read, bold+italicise if it's a book/series you've read part but not all of. (Also adding "(uh)" if I remember reading it but almost nothing about it, either because it was long ago or because it didn't make much of an impression, and "***" if I liked it enough to feel like pointing it out.)

So, 72/100 counting partials. Although I apparently barely remember an embarrassing number of them. XD;;

1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien -- about fifteen times, probably. ***
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams ***
3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card ***
4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert -- even the WEIRD later books. ***
5. A Song of Ice and Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin ***
6. 1984, A Novel, by George Orwell
7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov -- have to admit to not liking it all that much.
9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman ***
11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman -- oops, I didn't even realize that was a book and not just a movie... Hmmm.
12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan -- most of it; did it ever get finished? ***
13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson ***
15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore -- wow, that high, really? Anyway, doesn't sound like my thing.
16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein
18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss -- interesting, I've never heard of this... I should take a look.
19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley -- OOOPS have I really missed this one?
21. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick ***
22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King
24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke
25. The Stand, by Stephen King
26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson ***
27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury -- started but somehow couldn't finished. It was probably depressing.
28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut (uh)
29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman
30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess -- should probably try reading...
31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein ***
32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams
33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
34. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein ***
35. A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller ***
36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
37. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne -- I read everything by Verne in elementary school.
38. Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keys
39. The War of the Worlds, by H.G. Wells
40. The Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny ***
41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings (uh)
42. The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley ***
43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson
44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven
45. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin ***
46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien ***
47. The Once and Future King, by T.H. White (uh)
48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Contact, by Carl Sagan (uh)
51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons (uh)
52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman (uh)
53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson
54. World War Z, by Max Brooks -- should probably try this one...
55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle
56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman -- should probably try this one too...
57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchet ***
58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson -- wow, I had no idea this was well known... Anyway, eh</b>.
59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold ***
60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett ***
61. The Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
62. The Sword of Truth, by Terry Goodkind (uh)
63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist
67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks (uh)
68. The Conan the Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard (uh)
69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb
70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
71. The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson
72. A Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne
73. The Legend of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore (uh)
74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi ***
75. The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson ***
76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke (uh)
77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey
78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin ***
79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire (uh)
81. The Malazan Book of the Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson -- I keep being told I should read this. Probably should.
82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks ***
84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart
85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson ***
86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
87. The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe (uh)
88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn
89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldon
90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock
91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury
92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley ***
93. A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge ***
94. The Caves of Steel, by Isaac Asimov (uh)
95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson ***
96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle (uh)
97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis (uh)
98. Perdido Street Station, by China Miéville ***
99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony
100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
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Nika
04 July 2010 @ 03:52 pm
Quick note: I am being EXTREMELY fail with my LJ f-list. Have been for probably a month. If there was something you think I'd be sad about missing, let me know, k? XD

We'll see if I manage to get much better. But really, I just go through phases with social stuff and have a tendency to disappear, so it's not particularly out of the ordinary.

Other than that, life's pretty good! TST's nice if a little overwhelming, I've gotten back to regular climbing, FMA is awesome, etc. Though work sucks, because I'm stuck doing an experiment I don't think will get anywhere. Ah well. /shrugs.

I'm also going to Oregon Country Fair (which is basically a big hippie festival) next weekend, and Molly's coming here to visit a few weeks after that (and helping me finally get the rest of my stuff unpacked, lol!), and then I'm off to Poland for two weeks or so (which I REALLY need to get tickets for already!). Things happening. 's nice.
 
 
Nika
24 April 2010 @ 05:17 pm
Quick-and-jumbled life update:
- Things are a bit meh lately, on and off. I need to do more things. Like rock-climbing tomorrow.
- I've been reading A Song Of Ice And Fire, which is an awesome cycle, but wow is it depressing. Probably responsible for a lot of the meh-ness. But hey, at least I'm finally letting myself read depressing books.
- I love my walk home from work, twelve flights of stairs and forest and all.
- I'm off antidepressants, and my appetite is back with a vengeance. I should probably try to curb it a bit before I need to buy new pants, because that would involve work.
- still unpacking, SIGH.
- I need to get my ass in gear at work. And ask for that goddamn job reclassification and raise that's been supposedly happening for half a year already. :|

In addition, a meme! From Jim and Name and probably other people. I like this one. Or at least I liked it when other people were posting it, lol.

Post here, and I'll respond with:
1. Something random about you.
2. Which color you remind me of.
3. My first memory of you.
4. What animal you remind me of.
5. Ask you something I've always wondered about you.
6. My favorite thing about you.
7. My least favorite thing about you. One thing I find surprising about you - unless you'd rather I do the original version, in which case let me know.
8. Challenge you to post this on your journal.
 
 
Nika
24 April 2010 @ 03:40 pm
Meme from momijizukamori, based on this thread over at Shapely Prose: Your mission: go forth and post telling us how fucking awesome you are, and all the fucking awesome shit you can do. And we in turn will look at it and not think of it as rampant narcissism or egotism of any of that shit. We will look at it and go 'wow, my friends are some pretty fucking awesome people.' And you will go, and tell them that they, too, should tell the internet how fucking awesome they are. And you can copy and paste this or whatever.


I'm Nika fucking Patena, and I am fucking awesome. I came to the US by myself at 18, a few days after 9/11, stayed, and I'm doing very well. I graduated from fucking Caltech with honors and two majors, and was the Dean's example of why students should be allowed to overload on classes. When my husband fell in love with another woman, I smiled at him and told him to go, because people should be free. I run a Linux laptop with heavily customized fvwm, do damn near everything in terminals, and have my own syntax highlighting for text files. I can program in a bunch of languages, none of which I took classes on. I'm extremely good at abstract thinking, and can do fantastic work under a short deadline. I can make and design ridiculously complicated bobbin lace pieces, and who cares if it's a girly hobby. I can ski double-black-diamond slopes, hike all day like nobody's business, climb anything you put in front of me, and you really don't want to try ambushing me in a dark alley. I literally laugh at pain. I'm self-sufficient, realistic, and make sense.


Now go do this meme, people.
 
 
Current Mood: proud
 
 
Nika
Tagged by (surprise!) darklightshades:

List your characters. Then pick a trait from each one that the two of you share and explain it. If you don't share a trait with any of them, put N/A. (My addition: also pick a trait that character has that you don't.)

causink_trouble Jenka
We share that particular kind of insane joy - the kind that makes you laugh at pain and refuse all reassurance. The kind that comes completely from the inside, shows up in the most incongruous circumstances, and revels in the fact that the world makes no sense.
I don't enjoy frightening people or making them uneasy (though I do enjoy getting strange looks). Well, unless they're really annoying people.
scaredbrilliant Justin Warrick
We both think about things too much. From all possible directions, with checks and double-checks and trying to figure out exactly what the solution is. We can't resist trying to analyze people, and have no issues with dissecting relationships in essentially mathematical terms.
I'm not nearly as nice a person as he is. I don't care about most people, and I certainly don't need anyone the way he does.
great_tests Cordelia Naismith
I like to think I'm similar to her in the way I deal with people. Honest, open, often ending up with meaningful conversation where only social fluff was expected. A little forceful sometimes. I don't want to force my opinions on people, but I want their opinions to make sense.
Unlike her, I'm not any kind of theist. I don't think life has a point. I think refusing tests you don't feel like doing is just fine.
 
 
 
Nika
03 March 2010 @ 07:46 pm
Tagged by Cy, like everyone else ever. XD

1. Write your username.
2. Write your 2 favourite bands/groups of the moment.
3. Write something you ♥, aka lemme see your heart.
4. Write the name of your favourite person of all time.
5. Write the name of your recent favoured person.
6. Tag 6 people to do this meme.



...let me know if you need a transcript. I know, my handwriting sucks.
/likes it anyway

afdkj;alkgh I fail! I left 5 empty to let myself think about it, and then forgot. D:
I'm not uploading it again, k? But for the record, in reverse temporal order over the last 14 months: Jim, Cy, Mia, Molly.
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Current Mood: amusedamused
 
 
Nika
Fandom meme, enabled by nabradia.

Bleach, Girl Genius, Cyteen, TST!Collapse )

RL update: I'm on a ski trip with my lab. The cabin has extremely sucky internet. Thus I'm not going to be around much until Saturday.
 
 
Current Mood: hopefulhopeful
 
 
Nika
18 January 2010 @ 10:02 pm
Siiiiigh, I want to tag but I can't! So have a meme instead.

If I were a...Collapse )
 
 
Current Mood: curiouscurious
 
 
Nika
18 January 2010 @ 01:44 pm
Once again, have a meme instead of a real-life post. They're just so much easier! ^_^

yes, it's the same one everyone else is doingCollapse )
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Current Mood: lazylazy
 
 
Nika
14 November 2009 @ 07:04 pm
Look what I finally finished! ^_^
/proud
/also sort of embarrassed at having such a surprisingly girly hobby

hardest lace piece ever, I swearCollapse )
 
 
Current Mood: accomplished