Member: Griff

Color me jealous! A good friend went, but I haven't heard from him yet. He also went to the Salamanca show and was disappointed, but blamed it on lots of comp tickets going to non-fans who really weren't into it. I think he said it was his 14th show or some such number!

Thanks for thinking of me -glad you had a great time.

posted by nodressrehersal at 8:28 pm (EST) on Nov 8, 2009

Oh man, I'm all in for picking a lyric/music-based name! I was thinking along the lines of Bookhenge or some other sort of bookly adoration route.

I've become so completely smitten with The Decemberists; hubby and I just saw them perform the entire "Hazards of Love" cd (and then some) at UB's Center for the Arts. Are you by any chance a fan? Anyway.

I just finished my re-read of Gilead. I think it just might be the most beautifully-written book I've ever or will ever read. I went all out and used a highlighter this time for favorite lines, phrases, and passages. I think now it might be faster to read the non-yellow words than the yellow ones.

posted by nodressrehersal at 6:16 pm (EST) on Sep 30, 2009

Yeah, I sent brianinbuffalo a librarything message when I saw how many books we shared as well, and also yeah, that group looks to be pretty defunct; a new one seems to be in order.

Getting email notifications of activity is a big help; I have my livejournal set up to receive emails when someone comments on a post, replies to a comment I've made in someone else's journal, and even when certain writers I enjoy post to their journals. Comments are threaded, too, which makes following exchanges so much easier than the cumbersome straight linear method of many sites.

I was in a google group in the past, and it worked fine. I can't remember if comments were threaded or linear... refresh my memory, how does your family one work?

Maybe we could establish a preliminary group here for the three of us and play around to see how it functions and what we get as far as email notifications, etc. The benefit of being here is, it's a good home base if the group thing functions well. And, it's a way to find other folks, etc.

I have a gmail account and love all things google, so that could work too. I'd like to explore this place first and eliminate it as an option. Naming it could be fun...

posted by nodressrehersal at 10:13 am (EST) on Sep 30, 2009

Hey Griff, nice job on reviewing The Air We Breathe. Good advice to stick with it. I remember getting bogged down in the descriptions of early x-ray techniques. Fascinating to a physician I'm sure, but not so much to this teacher/reader/housewife. Still looking for Barrett's short story collection. :-)

posted by Donna828 at 9:57 pm (EST) on Sep 27, 2009

Hey Griff,

I gave a thumbs up to your review of The Air We Breathe. Great job. Isn't Barrett terrific? I love everything she writes.

posted by brenzi at 9:05 pm (EST) on Sep 27, 2009

Ok, so I started clicking into all the libraries of the local LibraryThing members who had at least 100 books logged, and then looked at how many shared books we had. I then compiled a list of just over a dozen who shared anywhere from 8 to 31 books with me. I have no idea what exactly we'd do in a WNY group on LibraryThing, but it seems that it might be something worth establishing and then figure out what to do with ourselves from there. I'm sending this same message to brenzi.

We'd need a group name and description.
Options for group parameters with my choices in ()
(Local) or not local?
Who can view? (members only) or everyone
Who can join? (special people) or anyone
Include group discussion forum? (yes) or no
Who can post to the forum? (members only) or anyone

posted by nodressrehersal at 8:51 am (EST) on Sep 23, 2009

Griff,

I e mailed Tim and here's what he sent back.

How about these options?

1. Go to http://www.librarything.com/local and click "Local Members."
2. You can start a new group for where you live, perhaps starting by inviting local members from 1.

Best,
Tim

If you go there you will see thwere are many WNY members. So I guess the next step is to start inviting others. What do you think? I'm sending this to nodressrehersal too.

posted by brenzi at 12:45 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2009

Hi Griff,

Unfortunately I didn't make it to see Cathy Buchanan due to other commitments but I'm glad to hear you enjoyed her presentation. Hopefully, we'll be hearing more from her in the future since her debut novel was so good.

I think it would be great to get a group of WNYers together in LT to form a reading circle but I'm not sure how we could do it either. I'll send an e mail to Tim Spaulding who I think is the founder and see if he has any suggestions. In the meantime, let me know if you or nodressrehersal think of anything. I share your frustration with the messaging system.

posted by brenzi at 5:37 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2009

I ended up here because a bunch of folks from livejournal's hipsterbookclub were talking about it. Then I copied my entire library over into Shelfari because a bunch of people from a writing community yakked about that one.

I like having all my books listed, although they don't show up here until I've read them- so my runway (which can be anywhere from six to sixteen books long!) (I just made up those numbers because the alliteration works for me)is an unknown entity as far as LibraryThing is concerned.

But I don't find that much happens here as I currently exist in LibraryThing, except the unexpected delight of hearing from two other WNYers.

So I got to thinking... we could start a LibraryThing group for WNYers, although I've not looked into how that's done or what the benefits would be. Shall we explore that as an option?

posted by nodressrehersal at 2:07 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2009

Oooh, I'm glad you could hear the song right away! Many folks aren't as into music as some of us, thus the explanation. Are you a Hip fan? We had great seats at one of their many sold out shows @ Artpark in June.

I am currently rereading Gilead and loving it even more than before...

posted by nodressrehersal at 1:40 pm (EST) on Sep 10, 2009

Hi Griff,

Yes I am hoping to get to see Buchanan at Talking Leaves or B&N. I loved The Air We Breathe. I love the way Barrett uses science as part of her narrative. She just makes it work so well. I hope you enjoy it too. Bonnie

posted by brenzi at 11:07 pm (EST) on Sep 6, 2009

Hi there,
We have a lot in common. I was reading your review of The Day the Falls Stood Still which I also loved and I noted that you are from WNY. Me too. I was born and raised in Niagara Falls, NY and was naturally drawn to the book. I now live a little south of Buffalo. I'm looking at your library and see that we have a lot of books in common too. Bonnie

posted by brenzi at 4:09 pm (EST) on Sep 5, 2009

Hi Griff, I was glad to see on "Connections" that you had reviewed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It is a departure from my usual type of reading, but it looks intriguing to me.

On another note (or two)...Is that a quote from something I should be familiar with in the "About Me" paragraph on your profile? The reason I ask is that I am intensely interested in Griffin references as my new (well, he is a 1-year-old as of Dec. 7) grandson is named Griffin.

I also wanted to comment on your review of Home. I really liked it as well. Marilynne Robinson has been a favorite of mine ever since I read Housekeeping many years ago. I now consider Gilead the standard by which I measure books of a contemplative nature, which are in my opinion, the very best kinds of books. Happy Reading in 2009. ~Donna~

posted by Donna828 at 5:03 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2009

Griff - totally agree. I am a former chemistry major who regrets every damn minute I spent looking at molecules rather than masterpieces! Sigh. Thats why I read so many classics now, and why I've come to resemble Jane. Jen

posted by jhowell at 7:34 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2008

Hi Griff - Your reviews caught my eye - I was glad to see someone that felt as I did about Inheritence of Loss, which seems to get bashed here on LT. There aren't as many of us doctors/literati around are there? Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, I'd rather read a novel than a medical journal anyday! Jen

posted by jhowell at 11:16 am (EST) on Feb 9, 2008