Random books from CarlosMcRey's library

Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Borders Classics) by Thomas Hardy

Memoria del Fuego, vol. 3. El Siglo del Viento (Memoria del Fuego) by Eduardo H. Galeano

Martin Fierro by Jose Hernandez

Punktown by Jeffrey Thomas

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Brew Like a Monk: Trappist, Abbey, and Strong Belgian Ales and How to Brew Them by Stan Hieronymus

On Writing [Unabridged] [Audiobook] by Stephen King

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Friends: baobab, guardiangrrrl, headrush042, JeremyCShipp, krisa, mariaretz, MissTrudy

Interesting libraries: 666777, amandrake, AnarchoHermetica, angrystarlyt, arnzen, Banoo, bcquinnsmom, bookmonkey00k, booksfallapart, brendanmoody, Cathytg66, devenish, errantdreams, FicusFan, Ganeshaka, goydaeh, irkthepurist, jalvarezruiz, kawika, LastCall, LisaLynne, littlegeek, lriley, MayorWhitebelly, nperrin, overtheseatoskye, PghDragonMan, ratsinthewalls, stephmo, tamara_gm3, tgthacker, TheBookImp, timjones, tom1066

LibraryThing authors: Brian Keene (BrianKeene), Eric Clifton Gibson (EricCGibson), M.F. Bloxam (MF_Bloxam), James Dashner (jamesdashner), Joe Hill (joehill)

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Member: CarlosMcRey

CollectionsYour library (763), To read (275), Currently reading (4), Read but unowned (70), Read 2009 (84), Read 2008 (91), Read 2007 (23), Read 2006 and before (50), Wishlist (7), Favorites (5), All collections (845)

Reviews166 reviews

Tagsnovel (286), TBR (225), GRTB (219), short stories (169), weird fiction (156), horror (142), food & drink (108), español (91), borrowed (82), 999 Challenge (78) — see all tags

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Groups1010 Category Challenge, 30-something LibraryThingers, 75 Books Challenge for 2008, 75 Books Challenge for 2009, 888 Challenge, 999 Challenge, A Pearl of Wisdom and Enlightenment, Aikido, Arrested Development, Author Theme Reads — show all groups

Favorite authorsRoberto Arlt, Roberto Bolaño, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Philip K. Dick, Umberto Eco, Shirley Jackson, S. T. Joshi, Thomas Ligotti, H. P. Lovecraft, Ricardo Piglia, Michael Pollan, Mark Richard, Jeff VanderMeer (Shared favorites)

Favorite bookstoresBorderlands Books, Copperfield's Books - Sebastopol, Moe's Books, Paperbacks Unlimited, Treehorn Books

Favorite librariesSonoma County Library - Rincon Valley Library, Sonoma County Library - Santa Rosa Central, Sonoma County Library - Sebastopol

About meWhere to start? I was born in Buenos Aires (Borges' hometown) on January 19th (Poe's birthday). The majority of my formative years were spent in Miami. I've lived briefly in the Seattle area and currently reside in Northern California. I've studied physics and economics in college and grad school. (And some German) My German is pretty rusty. My Spanish is pretty good, but I'm most comfortable in English. Anyway, that's it for basic biography.

I've always been a bit of a bookworm. When I was young, it was mostly science fiction (mainly H.G. Wells and Douglas Adams). When I got to high school, I got into cheesy AD&D novels, though I also liked some of the heavier works in my English classes. (The works that stand out from that time are The Sound and the Fury, Macbeth, Siddhartha, and Heart of Darkness.)

(True story: I was the only person in my 8th grade English class who liked Farenheit 451, and that includes the teacher.)

Ironically enough, I credit Lovecraft, whom I discovered the year after I graduated from college, with making me a more avid reader. From when I first read him, I was pretty hooked. First I read all his fiction. Then I started to read Lovecraft pastiches & other Cthulhu Mythos stuff. Then, having gotten bored with that, I got into other authors whose work bears some similarities, which brought me back to my roots through Cortazar and Borges.

Lately, I've become intrigued by HPLs influences and have been exploring 19th Century literature, which I found really dull when I was younger. I've also been trying to explore more contemporary horror outside the narrow Lovecraftian vein. And I've been trying to explore all that Latin American fiction that I've sort of neglected for years.

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About my libraryA good portion of it is in storage do to a move that has left me without much space for the time being. The absence of books has inspired something of a binge of book buying, and I've discovered the joy of library book sales.

Anyway, there's a fair amount of Lovecraft and Cthulhu Mythos, back from when I was exploring that tradition. Also, anything by Thomas Ligotti that I can afford.

A good portion of it is stuff I've held onto for years, some of which I've inherited. (I have a certain hesitance to give up any book that has come into my hands, especially if I haven't read it.) There are some classics in there I keep meaning to read.

Anything tagged "borrowed" was at some point borrowed, either from the library or a friend, and so is not actually part of my collection. Tags starting with @ are author tags, so far mostly nationality.

Homepagehttp://azolotl.blogspot.com/

Also onBlogger, BookMooch, Facebook, Lala, LiveJournal, Orkut, Pandora

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Real nameCarlos

LocationSanta Rosa, CA

EmailCarlosMcReynetscape.net

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URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/CarlosMcRey (profile)
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Common KnowledgeSeries (151), Awards (195), Characters (2088), Places (494)

Member sinceDec 2, 2006

Currently readingRamaseeana; or, A vocabulary of the peculiar language used by the thugs by Sir W. H. Sleeman
Selections from Dreamsongs 2: Stories of Fantasy, Horror/Sci-Fi, and a Man Called Tuf: Unabridged Selections by George R.R. Martin
The Da Vinci Code [Unabridged Library Edition CDs] by Dan Brown
Hourglass by Danilo Kis

Most recent activity

CarlosMcRey rated:
In the Valley of the Kings: Stories by Terrence Holt

CarlosMcRey added:
The Raw Shark Texts: A Novel by Steven Hall

CarlosMcRey added:
T'Ai Chi Ch'Uan: The Basic Exercises (Chinese Martial Arts) (Pt. 1) by Shing Yen-Ling

CarlosMcRey added:
Taking It All in by Pauline Kael

CarlosMcRey added:
Movie Love: Complete Reviews 1988-1991 (Plume) by Pauline Kael

CarlosMcRey added:
The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I loved "The Ceremonies" especially the fact that the author basically listed a whole bunch of classic horror stories as inspiration for the main character's book. I actually came across "The Ceremonies" as part of a list from a book called "Horror: the 100 best books" I found a link to the list of books here:

http://home.comcast.net/~netaylor1/jones...

Check it out!

posted by bookmonkey00k at 12:33 pm (EST) on Oct 5, 2009

Thanks for adding my collection to your interesting libraries. I also got into Lovecraft when I was younger and love it when I come across books that are obvious Lovecraft inspired (Our lady of darkness - Fritz Lieber, The Courtyard - Alan Moore, and Resume with Monsters - William Browning Spencer).

Which of Lovecraft's stories are your favourites?

posted by bookmonkey00k at 4:18 pm (EST) on Oct 2, 2009

Noticed you liked Charity by Mark Richard, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in reviewing my new novel and posting your comments here as well as a few other book-related sites. Thought you might like my book since it's extremely similar in style, content, and tone to Charity. I could e-mail you the novel in an e-book format if you'd like (I'm out of physical copies at the moment). Let me know if you're interested. Here's a link to a summary in case you're interested:

http://christophertusa.com/

Thanks,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 11:15 am (EST) on Jul 14, 2009

Papeles inesperados is a forthcoming book of Cortázar's previously unpublished texts. Google it, at least the first page of search results will cover this subject only.

posted by eairo at 2:10 am (EST) on Feb 12, 2009

Hello! Have you heard of Cortázar's "Papeles inesperados" yet? Sounds quite interesting, even though it may take some time before they'll be available in English and I can read them.

posted by eairo at 3:33 pm (EST) on Feb 8, 2009

Hello! I've sent you the email giving you author rights to the blog. Welcome! I look forward to reading your reviews.

posted by VictoriaPL at 9:42 am (EST) on Jan 19, 2009

It's from The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje. I have the page # it appears on written down somewhere if you would like it. Another great quote, this one from Faulkner: "O furious mad old man I hold no substance that will fit your dream but I can give you airy space and scope for your delirium."

posted by AnarchoHermetica at 7:49 pm (EST) on Jan 5, 2009

Hey, thanks again for recommending Wild Fermentations! I've had a few misses (fermented turnips = no fun) but the brown rice bread was outstanding. I'm tempted to try the year-long miso. Have you had any luck with the recipes?

posted by overtheseatoskye at 8:38 pm (EST) on Nov 19, 2008

Thanks again for your nice words about my photos -- that's what the "blog" is about so you didn't really miss anything not undrestanding Finnish.

But, back to books: do you happen to know Felisberto Hernandez and his work?

A while back I read Bartleby & Co by Enrique Vila-Matas, where Hernandez is mentioned very positively. Furthermore his wikipedia-entry states that both Cortázar as well as García Marquez "note Hernández as a major influence." Makes me want to check on him, but not much of his work is available in the local libraries.

posted by eairo at 5:09 pm (EST) on Oct 3, 2008

We noticed that you were a Jorge Luis Borges fan, and we wanted to let you know that we've just published a brand new translation of his story, "Gradus Ad Parnassum," in our anthology, 'flatmanCROOKED – First Winter.' "Gradus Ad Parnassum" is not currently in print in English, so we're rather excited to publish what is to many Borges fans brand new work. The book also includes debut fiction from National Book Award winner Ha Jin, as well as stories from myriad other established and emerging authors. Check the book out at www.flatmancrooked.com/fmcmarket.html. If you get it through our website, it's significantly cheaper than through Amazon or Barnes & Noble!

posted by flatmancrooked at 10:12 am (EST) on Sep 25, 2008

Dear Carlos, I just read your review of the "Alienist", and I agree with you. Nevertheless I can't refrain myself from pointing out, that the year is not 1986, which would be funny though, but 1896...

...To add an bit of an anecdote to the Croton Reservoir's history: When New York had its first "Great Exhibiton" in 1854, this event took place next to the reservoir in a huge building of cast iron and glass, the "Crystal Palace". In 1858 this enormous edifice burned to the ground - in direct vicinity to the largest body of water available in the whole city...

Where the "Crystal Palace" was now is "Bryant Park". The reservoir was replace by the New York Public Library.

Regards,

Matthias Feser

posted by matthiasfeser at 10:42 am (EST) on Sep 18, 2008

Nice review of Caleb carr's The Alienist . . . except for on eensy teensy flaw . . .

I think you mean 1896 and not 1986 :-{)}

Yeah, I've done stuff like that too, like putting down today's date, whatever today happens to be, for my birthday on some form, usually very important, not erasable and the last copy known to humankind.

posted by PghDragonMan at 8:08 am (EST) on Sep 18, 2008

Thanks for the 'interesting' nod! You've got a nice selection of brewing books. How was "Wild Fermentation"? I've been trying to decide whether to pick it up.

posted by overtheseatoskye at 11:49 pm (EST) on Aug 27, 2008

Hello Carlos,
Many thanks for adding me to your list of 'Interesting Libraries'. I see you are a H.P.Lovecraft fan.as I am,I will return the compliment and add you to my list too.When I get a spare moment I will explore your Library in full.
All the best from the UK.

posted by devenish at 3:21 pm (EST) on Aug 25, 2008

Hey Carlos,

Just wanted to say, very nice review of Moby Dick. That one is near the top of my TBR pile and I enjoyed your opinion of it.

posted by jseger9000 at 3:28 pm (EST) on Mar 13, 2008

Thanks for adding me to your Interesting Libraries. I returned the favor. You have a nice collection of Lovecraft and Ligotti, and I'm sure I'll be using your library to find new books to read.

posted by tom1066 at 9:46 pm (EST) on Jan 25, 2008

Yeah, love Kinsey...a girl I was working with had never heard of him, so I let her borrow them for a little while....she's an Asian Studies major through University of Virginia-she has just left to study in India for the second time (if ya wanna talk about jealousy...I am familiar with that emotion) I have a few other books on Tantra that I have not had the chance to log, but they are nowhere near the caliber of Kinsey. He really delves into his topics. I would be interested to find more of his work if it is out there. If you ever come across it, check out Cult of the Black Virgin by Ean C.M. Begg. It chronicles the history and lore of the Catholic Black Madonnas-with heavy comparisons to Pagan dark goddesses. Kali is referenced quite frequently. Interesting read.

posted by guardiangrrrl at 1:58 pm (EST) on Jan 7, 2008

Hey Carlos....finally got a chance to log a couple of books. I've got a long way to go to get the whole library.

posted by guardiangrrrl at 12:11 pm (EST) on Dec 25, 2007

i am into the good stuff in horror. Unfortunately most of it leaves me very cold. i'm looking forward to checking out your suggestions -- thanks!

posted by NativeRoses at 9:53 am (EST) on Sep 18, 2007

i'll have to check out Fishboy -- thanks! You might like After Dark. i found it strange, dreamy, and entrancing while still remaining tethered to the material world.

posted by NativeRoses at 1:49 pm (EST) on Sep 14, 2007

Hi again Carlos, i'm sure your opinions about Chuck's recycling are well justitified. i haven't read enough of him to recognize it. Even on a prurient level, Choke's blasé narrator kept me laughing. i see we share an enjoyment for authors like Borges, Murakami, Eco, and deLillo and would love to know what works you find the most amusing and/or delightful?

posted by NativeRoses at 2:36 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2007

Say what?!? i loved 'Choke' -- freakin' hilarious book. :-)

posted by NativeRoses at 5:15 pm (EST) on Sep 6, 2007

I see you're the only other person on this list who owns The Taint of Lovecraft. Way to go!

posted by gothic_cowgirl at 2:39 pm (EST) on Apr 15, 2007

Welcome to Books Compared. Hope you'll feel inspired to contribute a comparison review!

posted by margad at 4:00 pm (EST) on Apr 2, 2007

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