Who I was at 16

How it works: you comment saying you want to do the meme, I give you an age (please tell me how old you currently are as well, because I can never remember how old people are), and you fill out the meme questions with what applied to you back then, and what applies to you now.
naye gave me 16, so 2007 (my birthday is in January.) I added a bit to the replies.

( me at 16 )

8 years later:
( me at 24 )

Rosemary Kirstein: Steerswoman 1&2

I had heard about the Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein before and finally bought it because it was on sale (and still is until Sunday, info here.)
I wasn't very impressed by the first book: it was solid, but very slow, and if it was fic I most likely wouldn't have finished. It had some interesting elements, but overall it felt a bit bland. ( Spoilers )

I bought the second book, "The Outskirter's Secret", because it was cheap, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. It also has a lot of travel, but this time, because we're getting to know a completely new ecosystem and culture and because we know at least a vague shape of the overall plot, it's actually interesting. ( Spoilers )

The worldbuilding is interesting. Two things especially stand out: the magic, and the steerswomen. ( Spoilers )

I'm definitely going to read the next books, and I'm looking forward to them.

As an aside, one advantage of reading books instead of fic (I have all original novels labeled on my ebook reader as "origfic") is that there are new characters and also that I can ask for stories for Yuletide. One disadvantage is that I have to pay for them, I think I'll soon need a monthly book budget because buying ebooks is deceptively easy.