Random books from Instigatrix's library

Golf Tips: How to Succeed in Golf Without Really Trying by Jeff MacNelly

Catspaw by Joan D. Vinge

Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

Finger Filth by Bob Fingerman

Islamic Metalwork by Rachel Ward

Tramps Like Us, Volume 9 by Yayoi Ogawa

Evans Guide for Civilized City Canines by Job Michael Evans

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Friends: ablueidol, AsYouKnow_Bob, Joan213, NADiaman, PandorasRequiem, SeiShonagon, Totoro, TRMcritic

LibraryThing authors: Bill Walsh (wfwalsh), Martha Wells (marthawells), Janny Wurts (JannyWurts)

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Member: Instigatrix

Library2,435 books — see library

Reviews3 reviews — see reviews

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

TagsNon-fiction (874), Fiction (739), Humor (650), Fantasy (430), Art (340), Reference (254), Comics (248), Comic-Strip Compilations (246), History (243), Magic (221) — see all tags

GroupsArt Books, Asian Fiction & Non-Fiction, Cartoons, Christianity, Comics, Drawn!, Editors, Researchers, Whatever, Edward Gorey, FantasyFans, Feminist SF — show all groups

About me Although I currently work in a research library, I'm also an editor (freelance at the mo), and have spent almost 20 years working on art criticism, essays, catalogs, reference and publicity materials--and, mortifyingly enough, a couple-few years on financial research. As a consequence, I'm afflicted by The Never-Closing Gimlet Eye; I can't even glance at a menu without finding a typo, which amuses my friends to no end. I'm also a compulsive archivist and a congenital book glutton--I don't want to borrow it from a library, I Want to Have It. The collection that's made my poor apartment impossible to navigate, though, is rendered microscopic by others documented on this site. (I'd've had several hundred more, mostly gems gleaned from second-hand places, were it not for the hideous perfidy of parents who threw away all the books I had at home without even a word of warning. And don't even get me STARTED about the Star Wars cards.)

About my library Whoof! I'm working on all my satellite shelves, obstructive stacks, and shifting piles first; it'll be a while before I get to the books that have homes on a proper shelf. (Those are most of my reference books, art books, and gallery catalogs.) Looking down this smoking barrel of documentation, I find it hard to believe that I only occasionally buy books these days. They must be breeding or something.

(UPDATE: I've made my way through about half the shelves so far, and most of the piles. I still think they're breeding.)

(UPDATE II, THE WRATH OF KHAN: I finally knuckled under and created a wishlist account--CakeOrDeath--since it seems quite unfair to me to have sheer, slobbering yearning alone bumping up my numbers. This account here is about what I already have in my greedy little hands; that one is all about the Oo and the Gimme.)

I have a downright embarrassing fetish for reference books; The Strand and Librarie de France are both perilous Meccas. I also lean pretty heavily toward humor (especially compilations of favorite comic strips), sci-fi/fantasy, comics, manga, and the generally dark and twisted. As a someday-wannabe theologian and a PK,* I have some religious-studies material too; my interests in subjects like social justice, politics, feminist theory, the martial arts, animation, and Native-American and Asian cultures also rear their nappy heads.

And then there are the art books and exhibition catalogs. Oodles and boodles of them. Most of the pre-1998 items were acquired during my tenure at MoMA; more recent art books, and many of those that stray beyond the bounds of modern and contemporary, were purchased at damage sales at the Met. Favorite architects include Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn, Santiago Calatrava, Zaha Hadid, Eero Saarinen, Louis Sullivan, Paul Rudolph, Le Corbusier, Otto Wagner, Hector Guimard, and Antoni Gaudí. Favorite artists include (deep breath, pull on hip-waders) the Pre-Raphaelites, the Symbolists, the Vienna Secessionists, the Surrealists, Diane Arbus, Romare Bearden, Hans Bellmer, Lee Bontecou, Paul Cadmus, Linda Daniels, Marcel Duchamp, Tracy Essoglou, Euphronios, John Flaxman, David Hammons, Eva Hesse, Jenny Holtzer, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Frida Kahlo, Anish Kapoor, Paul Klee, Barbara Kruger, Yayoi Kusama, Jill Levine, Glenn Ligon, Sarah Lucas, Aristide Maillol, Man Ray, Edouard Manet, Henri Matisse, Ana Mendieta, Michelangelo, Alphonse Mucha, Isamu Noguchi, Tom Otterness, Mark Rothko, Raphael, Ad Reinhardt, Ed Ruscha, Robert Ryman, Lorna Simpson, Kiki Smith, James Turrell, William Wegman, and Hannah Wilke.

* Preacher's Kid : )

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Membership LibraryThing Early Reviewers

LocationChelsea, New York

EmailInstigatrixgmail.com

Favorite authorsNone specified

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

URLs http://www.librarything.com/profile/Instigatrix (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/Instigatrix (library)

Member sinceAug 11, 2006

Comments from other LibraryThing-ers

(Leave a comment.)

Howdy again- I am afraid that I tend to answer "emails", if they come directly to me from an actual human being, although I have not had many contacts at all- certainly less than half a dozen since I hooked into the tubes and pipes of the internets. I am a letter writer, and I adore writing to folks and receiving letters in return- better on letter from a friend than 100 "e-mails". Plus, i like to snazzify my envelopes up so that folks know at once from whom the letter is. It is a nice feeling to hear from a corespondent who much they (and their kids!) enjoy my envelopes. Nope, for this old grampa, here is nothing quite like exchanging written thoughts, memories and dreams.
So, when did I began to read in class... it was when my son was in fifth grade (he is going into ninth grade this year), and the first book I read was 'Desperaux'. I have much regretted that it took me so long to start. I never read in any of his five older sister's classes- i guess I was afraid the kids would not like me, and it took me a long time to surmount that (apparent) misapprehension.
Last year I (read twice a week) in one Granddaughter's fifth grade class (I began reading to her class when she was in third grade), in another Granddaughter's third grade class (began reading for her in kindergarden (this year we read 'The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane' and 'Harry the Poisonous Centipede'), and in my oldest grandson's first grade class. This next year I will be reading in Granddaughter #2's fourth grade class, Grandson #1's second grade class and Grandson #2's Kindergarden class. I will also be reading for another first grade class (for the teacher in whose class I read last school year) and in the other second grade class (There are two first, second and third grade classes in our school), because I enjoyed the class so much last year I want to read for any kids who may have been selected for the non-grandson class- if that makes any sense to you (it seems somewhat convoluted to me, and I KNOW what I'm trying to say.
In the past I've read the first book of a coupla series in the higher grades, and have been richly rewarded by the fact that kids (almost all of them, actually) went on to read the entire series'. This year I'm gonna start the fourth graders off with 'Horns and Wrinkles', a terrific book! I always start the year for kids from kindergarden through third grade with 'All the places to Love,' and tell any kids new to the school or area how lucky they are to be here and we are to have them. For the younger kids, the next book is always something about a new baby in the family, so I can ask if any of them have a new baby brother or sister. Then, at sometime during the year, we will "read" 'Zoom', 'Re-Zoom', 'Flotsam', 'Imagine a Day' and 'Imagine a Night'. At Holloween, I read a really spooky story and the kids are totally silent- it is SO COOL!
Oops- I see I've run on again, and I didn't even get to my reference preferences! . Sorry. Anyways, thanks for responding-
Jamie

posted by JNSelko at 9:11 pm (EST) on Jul 16, 2008

Hello. I am a fairly recent (since late June) Librarythinger, and have been exploring what the various widgets & doohickey buttons lead to. I went to "clouds" and pushed POGO at random (to find out what happens when you push a cloud). Since you have a batch-o-Pogo, I then pushed your code-name. I saw that you too are a reference addict and that you like Pre-Raphaelite art (now, that's ART). I also like Mucha & Escher (I read to a bunch of classes at the local Elementary school, and try to introduce the kids to art and science as well, and I can tell you: Kids LOVE Escher, Dinosaurs and Mobius Strips). My favorite artists are the Red Rose Girls and English illustrators of children's books and post cards from the late Victorian through Edwardian periods.
Well, I tend to babble on when I am having trouble going to sleep, so allow me to apologize for the length of what was supposed to be an "I like Pogo also" snippet.
Jamie

posted by JNSelko at 4:30 am (EST) on Jul 15, 2008

I was poking around the internet, ran across this, and thought of you:

http://photos-246.ll.facebook.com/photos...

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 8:42 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2008

Right, Tavia! That's exactly it about the Strand - I no longer feel I'm going to find a treasure if I look hard enough. I knew I was having some wistful feeling I couldn't quite identify, and that's it!
Well I'm happy to join you as part of "remembering the Strand of bygone days club" :)

We'll try to give you some advance notice on when we expect to be in Manhattan again.

Best,
Maggie

posted by MaggieO at 9:49 pm (EST) on Aug 9, 2007

And a welcome smile in return, Tavia. :)

Thanks so much for the comment, but I must say: *chuckle*

How could I NOT add you to my "interesting libraries" list???

Not only do we share 109 excellent & diverse works of delight... BUT but but.... you also have a picture of two of my most adored characters of all time on your page. *delighted smile* Calvin & Hobbes are genius incarnate. Don't you love the strip with the snowman and the warm water bottle? LoL. What a deliciously dark sense of humour Mr. Watterson imbibed. And what a wonderful library you have built here! I am in awe, really, if I am to be so humble in my affectations. :)

Much bliss & happy reading!
~PandorasRequiem

posted by PandorasRequiem at 4:22 pm (EST) on Aug 5, 2007

Tavia - I miss the old Strand, too. I was talking to some other LTers about it, and no one else I know here seems to remember when there was no upper level, and the basement was a poorly lit, musty place with the occasional 4-legged, long tailed creature scurrying in the corners. When I saw the photo, I also had to stop and remember - now where is that?
Anyhow, it was such a pleasure meeting you, and I hope we can get together when we come to NYC again.
Best,
Maggie

posted by MaggieO at 4:57 pm (EST) on Jul 31, 2007

more then you wanted to know!

Penguins have two areas where their body is very poorly insulated and where they can lose a lot of heat, these are their flippers and their feet. These regions give penguins at the same time a problem and a solution. A problem because of the heat loss, and a solution because they can be used for cooling down. It's all well and good being brilliantly insulated, but when you use a lot of energy and so generate heat, or the temperature rises, not being able to lose that heat becomes a big disadvantage in itself.

The solution is really quite elegant. The muscles that operate feet and flippers are not located in the feet and flippers, but deeper in the warmer regions of the penguins body. The feet and flippers are moved by tendons that pass through them and attach to toes etc. like a sort of remote operation by wire or string. This means that it doesn't matter if the feet and flippers get really cold as they can still be operated normally by regions that are fully functional and at normal body temperature.

Penguins have a heat-exchange blood-flow to these regions. The warm blood entering the feet or flippers flows past cold blood leaving so warming it up in the process and cooling the blood entering at the same time. Blood in these parts is significantly colder than in the rest of the body. By the time the blood re-enters the rest of the body it has been warmed up and so doesn't have so great an effect on the core body temperature.

Penguins feet are never allowed to get below freezing point, blood flow is finely adjusted so that they are kept just above. When it gets very cold, the feet are covered by the feathers and fat layer of the body so they are not exposed to cooling winds. So while a man standing barefoot on ice would quickly get frostbitten, penguins can do so all their lives with no damage at all.

At low temperatures or when in the sea, the blood flow to feet and flippers is very low anyway so reducing heat loss further. When the penguin needs to lose heat quickly, the blood flow to these extremities is increased and so lots of warm blood enters them which cools quickly so dumping excess heat rapidly and efficiently.

posted by ablueidol at 1:39 pm (EST) on Jul 30, 2007

hi, hooking up with bookmooch members

posted by ablueidol at 9:53 am (EST) on Jul 26, 2007

Hi again.

Given that you have a 'thing' for reference books... we have a spare copy of Grainger's Index to Poetry (8th edition), which - ever since Grainger's went on-line - is looking for a good home. There's no market for it on eBay, it's ludicrously heavy to try to give away on one of the book-swap sites, so it's yours if you want it. (An 'Ex-library' copy, of course, but in VG condition.)

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 2:25 pm (EST) on May 28, 2007

Hi again. (I see you've spent the winter months 'tagging'.) Anyway, spring is coming: maybe at Easter break I'll bring the whole gang for a daytrip to NYC. The Strand is calling....

The Washington Post just reviewed a new (and mentions a reissued) Howard Waldrop collection:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
2007/03/15/AR2007031502608.html

- Bob

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 12:51 am (EST) on Mar 20, 2007

Hey Instigatrix. Catchy name - sounds like a character from the "Asterix and Obelix" series. Anyway, thanks for the thoughtful posting. And it's good to know that there are exculpatory factors behind your Garfield collection.

Fascinating bit about the storyboarding class with Faith Hubley. I'd love to see the image from "Cockaboody" you mentioned. So what stopped you from using it?

Ah, Pogo, my old love. Can I further stimulate your drool glands? It's so rare I get to brag about my stuff to a fellow comic strip afficianado; they're kind of thin on the ground in these parts. In addition to the books (one of which is signed and has a nice Pogo drawing by Kelly), there is the complete set of vinyl figurines, drinking cups, a few different pins from the "I Go Pogo!" campaigns, the Pogo-mobile (not a car, but a hanging mobile), the 33rpm LP "Songs of the Pogo" (also on CD), and a lovely original pen-and-ink drawing by Kelly (non-Pogo related).

I started collecting compilation books as a tad - the old Peanuts collections and Dennis the Menace, both of which were given to Goodwill by my Mom when I went off to college. Otherwise she was a very nice lady and I eventually forgave her. And as it happens, both of those are now receiving the complete reprint treatment you mentioned. All is forgiven, Mom.

I'm certain I learned to read and write from the comic strips. On those rare occasions I curse, stars and skulls and crossbones appear over my head. When I run, speed lines trail off behind me. When I sweat, it doesn't run down my face; it jumps off my head in droplets all around. (Okay, I'll stop now).

Anyway, thanks for writing, and a final hint: if you order the "For Better or for Worse" books from Lynn Johnston's website, she autographs them and draws a nice picture.

Burnit

posted by burnit99 at 10:43 pm (EST) on Mar 19, 2007

Hi. I was LT browsing, and was impressed with your comic strip compilations. Well, except for an unexplainable predilection for Garfield. If you think you'd like strips of an earlier day, Drawn and Quarterly has begun publishing the complete "Gasoline Alley" by Frank King. Great stuff.

burnit99

posted by burnit99 at 12:06 pm (EST) on Mar 16, 2007

I've only read Lamb by Christopher Moore, so I don't know if it's representative of all of his writing or not. I found it to be irreverently hilarious, and it made me think about the cultural and philosophical influences that Christ might have had.

posted by eclecticlibrarian at 7:56 pm (EST) on Feb 25, 2007

Woo-hoo! Another PK with a sense of humor who owns a copy of [Freezer Burn]. :)

posted by eclecticlibrarian at 11:16 pm (EST) on Feb 20, 2007

Hi, I've been meaning to respond to your great comment, but life has been hectic. I noted that you're right, I had written you last November because of that great profile pic you had. I love your Calvin and Hobbes too. Now I know why I felt I already thought you were cool even though consciously I didn't recognize our 'history'.

Anyway, I will write more when I can do it justice, all the responses are clamoring in my brain and I know once I start, I'd better have open ended time to let it out, and I'll take your experience to heart and do it in Word first. Doesn't it just drive you mad when the computer/internet swallows your thought into the ethers? Urgh! :)

posted by cckelly at 2:09 pm (EST) on Feb 2, 2007

Thanks for your message. It's good to have you on the Radio 3 Group. I hope that you will contribute from time to time. Happy listening!

posted by antimuzak at 2:50 am (EST) on Feb 1, 2007

I find my tagging useful, yes, but not nearly as fun as yours! My experience with Bookmooch has been great- I am a huge fan of it! I find the system works well, and I have never not received a book or had any sort of problem at all (which I sometimes experienced on other book trading sites). Good luck with your future bookmooching!

posted by shakespearelibrary at 4:58 pm (EST) on Jan 27, 2007

i am a big fan of your tagging- i only wish i was as creative!

posted by shakespearelibrary at 1:56 am (EST) on Jan 13, 2007

Sure -- if you don't mind crossing the street we could do coffee at the former Le Gamin. ;-) I'm still off this week if you're around during the day, and if not, some evening in the next couple of weeks. (My evenings are a bit booked for my last week of freedom. . . )

Teaching -- I love it most of the time though sometimes the students do make me crazy. I index books in the summer and though I'm always glad to get out of the classroom in May, I always look forward to going back to it in September. I need to get out of the adjunct racket, soon, though; somehow the notions of health insurance and a 401K grow more and more attractive as life marches on. (I'm kind of in perpetual grad student mode, I'm ashamed to say, but I got my last chapter into my advisor just before the holidays and met with him about it yesterday, so just looking at revisions now, finally. My friends graduated three and four years ago, so I'm feeling a little superannuated!)

posted by chelseagirl at 2:50 pm (EST) on Jan 9, 2007

I don't think there's any shade of dudgeon-flavoured misanthropy for which Totoro is not a universal cure-all: it should be kept in the medicine cabinet with the gauze and lollipops for skinned knees. Head and shoulders above the rest of Miyazaki, good as they all are!

posted by Totoro at 11:35 am (EST) on Jan 5, 2007

Oh my goodness, you're on the next block, then. I've been in my place for about 14 years -- another long-term resident. I got married 4 years ago and somehow we're still living in my studio, wishing we'd moved to a bigger place in Brooklyn or Astoria back then before rents got *quite* so insane.

My dad's retired but still working sometimes as an interim pastor for congregations between ministers. He's got one right now which was lovely as my in-laws were able to come with us to see him do a Christmas Eve service in a little country church . . .

I have to plead guilty to being one of those people who did the grad school thing and didn't want to leave New York and seems to have become a professional adjunct. (English lit and writing, surprise, surprise.)

posted by chelseagirl at 8:41 am (EST) on Jan 5, 2007

Sorry for the lack of reply -- end of semester stuff followed by my in-laws over from England for the holidays.

Lutheran, and I live on the seminary block, near the galleries.

And you?

posted by chelseagirl at 12:22 pm (EST) on Jan 1, 2007

ebooks? (egads! I can't believe how anyone can even stoop to them, unless out of necessity.) There is nothing like the feel of a book in the hand. Do you really need furniture anyway? :-)

posted by Opinicus at 12:47 pm (EST) on Dec 29, 2006

Giggles, Giggles, Giggles, Snort, Giggles, Giggles, Giggles, Giggles, Do you Flickr or Vox? You are forewarned they are even worse!

posted by Opinicus at 6:02 pm (EST) on Dec 21, 2006

I am addicted!!!!!!!!!

posted by Cairo at 9:46 pm (EST) on Dec 17, 2006

Oh, and I'm a PK too. Hmmm . . .

posted by chelseagirl at 4:30 pm (EST) on Dec 17, 2006

Chelsea, NY yes (well, Chelsea NYC, I don't know if there's a Chelsea upstate?). And yes, in an apartment far too small for my library . . .

posted by chelseagirl at 4:29 pm (EST) on Dec 17, 2006

P.S. And doesn't our "Books you share" list make an interesting collection all by itself?

(e.g., We're the only two LTers with the Mapplethorpe....)

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 12:34 am (EST) on Nov 14, 2006

>...a depth of genre experience<

I started with SF VERY early, with Andre Norton and Heinlein, and then worked my way alphabetically through the library: Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Delany, Ellison, Farmer, Goulart,....
It's famously said, though, that "The golden age of science fiction is 'twelve' " For me, that was the "New Wave" revolution of the '60s - Harlan Ellison, Delany, Joanna Russ, Tiptree... heck, I can remember reading James Tiptree back when the entire world thought she was a man. My first job was as a night watchman - a 12-hour (unsupervised!) shift, with close to nothing to do but read ( AND get paid for it): three books a night. (Good times...)

So I'm pretty good on Golden Age (Campbell-era) SF, real strong on the '60s and '70s, and begin to lose touch with the field in the mid-'80s. (Unemployed after college, I realized that I had read a LOT more Mack Reynolds than Henry James, and should take my enforced leisure time as an opportunity to do something about that.) So today, most of my reading is outside the genre; which means that I hardly keep up with just the Hugo winners, and there are vast regions of contemporary fantasy that are blank to me. (The SF/F field has grown, too; in the '60s, a person could read everything there was that was worth reading; I don't think anybody has the time to keep up with the entire field anymore. There's simply too much stuff coming out.)

P.S. I had a similar brush with Rand (at 16, in my case) but I woke up a couple months later as if from a fever, as my leftie politics threw it off.

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 10:40 pm (EST) on Nov 11, 2006

Hello!

Like you, I was kneeling at the alter which is AsYouKnow_Bob's library and read your comment. Your words made me laugh out loud and slap my knee; rarely does a writer inspire both simultaneously and I think I pulled a back muscle, bieng unprepared and not having stretched properly beforehand. I simply had to check you out. Upon spying your Calvin and Hobbes, I knew it was Kismet. I must peruse your collection and seeking out anything else you might write in the groups.

cckelly

posted by cckelly at 12:47 am (EST) on Nov 7, 2006

Nice library. I'm in the howling wilderness of upstate, and I agree with you about the perils of The Strand.

- Bob

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 8:23 pm (EST) on Oct 30, 2006

Hi. We do indeed seem to have a few books in common. The picture in my profile is from the classic Danish illustrator Kay Nielsen, whose work is pretty much sadly all out of print, but you can find a good online gallery here: http://nielsen.artpassions.net/nielsen.h...

I hope you're enjoying librarything.

uberfrosch

posted by uberfrosch at 11:56 pm (EST) on Sep 1, 2006

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