Blogging Resolutions and Best Books of 2010

I stole this image from Jennifer at Reading With Tequila because it made me laugh. I am not very good at looking back and reflecting on past activities, achievements, successes or failures. I live pretty much in the now with some moderate planning for the future. 
I read a quote yesterday about Resolutions which rang true for me.

"Resolutions are a waste of time," he said. "Why make unrealistic promises to yourself that you know you're not going to keep? If you want to change something about yourself, what's wrong with April or August?"

from The Heart of Winter at the 45% mark. Therefore, I will not be making new blogging resolutions for 2011. I do, however, look forward to making new blogging friends and deepening my relationships with the many blogs I read and follow. 
I have seen bunches of wonderful lists of people's favorite books from 2010. I saw lots of great titles that I read and enjoyed too. 
But the two books that stand out the most for me were two long awaited sequels in series that I have loved for years. In both cases, I bought the eARC as soon as it was available, devoured it, and then purchased the hard cover as soon as it was available and read it again. They both made me cry and still make me cry (in a good way) every time I read them.

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold is the next adventure of Miles Vorkosigan in this long running series. Miles is 39 and finally coming into his own as a happy family man and an Imperial Auditor. The book also came with a CD that includes all but one of the previous books in the Vorkosigan series in a variety of electronic formats. 

Mouse and Dragon by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is a book that fills in a gap in their long-running Liaden series. Going into the story, people who have followed along with the series from the beginning know how it must end. But reading it expands on the bare facts and enriches the series. 

If you do not already follow these series but love character driven science fiction, I can't recommend them highly enough. The Liaden Universe books are being republished in omnibus editions from Baen Books. This would be a great time to give them a try.