Member: Opinicus

Hello, New to LT, thanks for all the books and reviews you have provided! Very interesting stuff.
- Chris W lamin x poker chips

posted by Lighthouse13 at 2:04 pm (EST) on Feb 4, 2009

Hi Opinicus,

I just wanted to leave a note that I love your idea of colour coding your library; in fact, I like it so much that I've copied it, with minor alterations, if you don't mind.

rfb.

posted by rfb at 4:40 pm (EST) on Jan 20, 2009

Hi, I hope that you're still with this group and would love to hear back from you. I found your post on springerle when I googled "alton brown springerle". I used a tiny set of cookie stamps to mush peanut butter cookies for many years -- then I found the Wilton ones, now I've discovered all the rest, plus cookie molds. I've got a recipe chilling in the refrigerator right now. Come to think of it, it all kind of started when I was looking for a dragon cookie cutter (have lots of those too). I got 3 Anais Paradies ones (dragon, castle, acorn) in the mail a couple of days ago, and those are the ones I will try today. I've been looking for recipes that will give me the best results, and in the process have come across so many cool things that I will be seriously broke before you know it.

posted by cindy58 at 8:38 am (EST) on Jul 20, 2008

I saw in the Taggers group that you organize your book by color. I love the idea of doing the same with my library and have been playing with the idea for a few years, but so far I've been too cowardly to try it! I was just wondering, do you colorbetize it by the spine colors, or the cover colors? Did you find that the original organizing was a difficult task? Thanks!

posted by collsers at 11:14 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2007

Hello! Sorry so long in replying... and happy thanks for popping into my library. I love that you have tons of kids books in your collection--and I'd guess you're a chocolate fan too. By the way, I tried Haruki Murakami's The Big Sheep Chase and just couldn't get into it. Any recommendations for a second go? Your suggestions appreciated. Happy reading!
- Christine

posted by betterthanchocolate at 2:51 am (EST) on Jan 24, 2007

Hi Opinicus,

Thanks for the invite, I have joined the group. Have to say, this is all very addictive - a librarian friend of mine introduced me to the site, and it has sucked many hours of my time away!!
Nice to see authors like Banana Yoshimoto getting an appreciative audience.

:)

posted by damn_camera at 6:35 am (EST) on Jan 18, 2007

I see you disliked The News From Paraguay, which I couldn't finish either. Do try (if you haven't yet) At the tomb of the inflatable pig : travels through Paraguay by John Gimlette for a better account of Emma Lynch's adventures in that country.

posted by Seajack at 9:48 pm (EST) on Dec 31, 2006

Thank you for the invitation. You are right, I am very interested in this group. It is amazing to find such a site. I am looking forward to reading more of the discussions. Thank you again. Best, Purdom

posted by Purdom at 12:39 am (EST) on Dec 29, 2006

Thank you for the invite!

posted by nawfal at 8:49 pm (EST) on Dec 28, 2006

OK, thank you for the invite.

posted by stabino at 1:34 am (EST) on Dec 18, 2006

wow, what a neat group!

best,

liberty

posted by libertylidz at 11:34 am (EST) on Dec 15, 2006

Hi, there -

Thanks for the invitation and I've clicked to join the group. All this is sort of new to me (the site, I mean), but I should be up to speed as soon as I can stop living out of suitcases and settle down for a while.

Best,

Tim Hallinan

posted by thallinan at 1:47 am (EST) on Dec 13, 2006

i would be interested in discussions of murakami's work. best david

posted by SigmundFraud at 11:50 pm (EST) on Dec 12, 2006

That's great! It IS incredibly addictive. I'd say it's also free, but what with book buying - or at least shipping - we both know better. To our (ahem) cost. :) - And, I think, our immeasurable benefit.

Keep up the good work!!!

posted by Eurydice at 12:11 pm (EST) on Nov 30, 2006

Nice to have met you via BookMooch. I believe that your introducing me to LibraryThing makes you something akin to a crack dealer. So thanks!

posted by TimmyMac at 9:22 am (EST) on Nov 30, 2006

Well I'm glad you asked. :-) I thought you making that connection was pretty cool myself.

posted by wordpainter at 11:41 pm (EST) on Nov 27, 2006

Thanks for the comment. I had the fortunate opportunity to meet Cheryl at a booksigning in Dallas. I was the guest of another writer friend, and she introduced me to Cheryl. I remember immediately being drawn to her enthusiasm and humor. I was pleasantly surprised that that personality carried over into her work. The book she signed for me was Jessie's Outlaw. It's one of my most cherished books. When we talked again at a later time, she recommended Techniques of the Selling Writer. I just wish I would've gotten to know her better.

posted by wordpainter at 9:04 pm (EST) on Nov 27, 2006

thanks for the invite to the asian fiction group!

posted by doyouknowthewayto at 2:18 am (EST) on Nov 13, 2006

Thanks for the heads up about this group!

posted by lingjun.shen at 11:00 am (EST) on Nov 6, 2006

Thanks for the invite to the Asian Fiction and Non Fiction Group. I just created my account yesterday, not quite sure what a group is ( :) ) but won't let that bother me.

posted by cavrak at 10:56 am (EST) on Nov 4, 2006

Can't wait to hear what you think of [The Elephant Vanishes]. It's one of my daughter and my all-time favorite books. My daughter appropriated my copy. Let me know which of the stories you like the best! It'll be hard to pick, I'm sure.

posted by SqueakyChu at 7:51 pm (EST) on Oct 29, 2006

Thanks so much! I have joined the group. I used to live in Japan and Indonesia, and love Asian fiction. I just discovered LibraryThing last night and have many more books to add. I've tried to keep a written journal of books I have read, but this is much better. I can't wait to share with my book club and also students at school!

posted by ibudonna at 11:05 am (EST) on Oct 28, 2006

Thanks for the invite. I can see you're a big Murakami fan.

posted by drxray21 at 2:33 pm (EST) on Oct 26, 2006

Thanks for the invite!

posted by ott at 7:36 pm (EST) on Oct 24, 2006

thank you for the invite. :)

~sai

posted by saiyette at 8:49 pm (EST) on Oct 21, 2006

Hi

Thanks for the note about the Asian group I have joined.

Guy

posted by trott at 5:53 pm (EST) on Oct 19, 2006

Hi,

I've just set up a new forum, Children's Fiction, for readers and writers and I thought you might be interested in joining. There are several boards, including general fiction, Sci-Fi and fantasy, flash fiction and a board for chatting about anything and everything.

Please check out the forum:

Children's Fiction

Thanks,

Shelagh

posted by shelagh at 12:08 pm (EST) on Oct 19, 2006

Hi - thanks for the invite to the group...looks great :-)

posted by IsobelHiom at 8:40 pm (EST) on Oct 16, 2006

thanks for the invite to the group :D

I'll have a good look around...

posted by TheLaughingSam at 4:18 am (EST) on Oct 12, 2006

Oh my, Opinicus! You just about gave me a heart-attack this morning when I found that the Asian Fiction and Non-Fiction group, perhaps my favorite group here on LT, "no longer exists"! Glad to know it was just a glitch. I've signed up to the temporary group, so I'm still a member either way.

Good luck getting the group up and running smoothly again.

Regards,
Marie Therese

posted by marietherese at 3:14 pm (EST) on Oct 4, 2006

LOL! You deleted our group? I'm pretty sure that Tim can find it on some old back-up copy of the system. No need to worry. You can always start a new one. It seems to be pretty popular now. I'm sure you'll have no trouble enticing everyone to sign up again. Good luck!

posted by SqueakyChu at 12:36 am (EST) on Oct 4, 2006

*scroll. scroll.* *scrollscrollscrollscrollscroll*
Ah, here's the comment box ;-).
Re: self tagging. Yeah, I had just entered the first dozen books, and I was on a roll! I am not very good at those "describe yourself in 5 sentences" things.

posted by GirlFromIpanema at 2:43 pm (EST) on Sep 15, 2006

thank you! I can see I'm going to be heading out to acquire yet more books, ignoring the piles of unread paperbacks I already have piling up.

posted by finebalance at 8:35 am (EST) on Sep 15, 2006

Thank you for your invitation to join the Asian Fiction and Non-Fiction group. As you noticed, Asian fiction is one of my passions, particularly when it comes to all things Indian. China and elsewhere also gets a look in but books by Indian authors and about India are an addiction (as is visiting the place!).

A quick look at the group has shown a whole new range of authors I need to get to know. I'm off to Tokyo in October so I think some Japanese reading has to be top of my list. Any recommendations? Not that I really should be shopping with the number of unread books I already own, and the steadily diminishing amount of space left in my flat...

posted by finebalance at 3:40 am (EST) on Sep 15, 2006

Thanks for the invite to join asian books group. I've had a read of the comments and feel really inadequate!!! I rarely have a strong memory of the content/story of books (and despite advancing age don't really think it's down to that!) I have also read few of the books suggested there. I don't feel I could contribute a lot to the group because of that - but will keep 'lurking' to see what people say.

I see you were looking for recommendations of books set in /about India and would recommend Heather Wood's First Class Ticket - one of the best books about India I've read - although maybe a little dated now. The Raj Quartet by ............arrgh - my brain is so slow........Paul Scott, of course.I am currently trying to get back to ( a half finished) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, I found it slow, but oh how the characters live on in the mind.
LibraryThing has been such a joy - I've discovered so many books on the shelves that I had forgotten - or not read - and have really enjoyed reading various stuff in the groups - but have this real problem now that I have a HUGE list of things to read.....and hate to admit it but have bought 4 more books in the last week. Oh dear !

P.S. Probably ought to confess to being a librarian too........so many of us here are ! Although I found the site via Neil Gaiman's blog, I think.
Lynne Litchfield

posted by lynne.litchfield at 4:51 pm (EST) on Sep 14, 2006

Thanks for joining The Gene Pool, I look forward to getting to know you. Jaysee

posted by Jaysee at 3:16 pm (EST) on Sep 14, 2006

i never read Amy Tan. what should i start with? why? is she appropriate to an older man? are they "girls" books, if in fact there is such a thing. tho i confess 2 b partial to women novelists. At the moment i am into 20 century irish and english novelists.

posted by SigmundFraud at 11:42 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2006

thx 4 the invite. i am not sure that i know enuf re asian lit and non-fic 2 contribute.

posted by SigmundFraud at 11:40 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2006

Thanks for the invite, and for making me realize that Library Thing had groups.

posted by argorden at 5:49 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2006

So the naked hardback book (sans dustjacket) gives you the heebie-jeebies? Hmmmmm... veeeery interesting. Does the scritch-scritch of a nail file also give you the same reaction? And what do you see in this inkblot? :)

- Your partner in irritation from the Rant and Rave But Mostly Just Rant, Rant, Rant Group

posted by WestWind at 10:24 pm (EST) on Sep 12, 2006

Thank you for the invitation. I look forward to getting to know the group.
-Christina

posted by bettyx3 at 10:23 am (EST) on Sep 12, 2006

Thanks for the invitation...I didn't even know Library Thing *HAD* groups...

posted by realsupergirl at 4:07 pm (EST) on Sep 11, 2006

Your library seems anything but full of garbage. Books of all types can give pleasure, and comfort (and even, but less importantly, enlightenment and learning) at times. Take some advice from an old and wise one, and don’t obsess too much about creating the perfect library, your books should be a window to your true soul.

I agree with you about Amy Tam, my own views have oscillated between extremes, but I’m finding it more and more difficult not to relate the novels to author. Not ideal, but perhaps impossible to not be the case, in this age of celebrity. When you look back to the days of Hemmingway and Scott-Fitzgerald, personalities have perhaps been linked to works for longer than we think.

posted by magus at 8:33 am (EST) on Sep 10, 2006

Thanks Opinicus for asking. I decided to take you up on your offer although I'm probably not all that well versed in matters Asian. There are a few writers I do like--particularly Kenzaburo Oe--also Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh are very good.

posted by lriley at 3:00 pm (EST) on Sep 9, 2006

Thanks you for your thoughtful invitation to the Asian Fiction & Non-Fiction group Opinicus (my next task is to look you up in the dictionary).

I like the understated bizarreness, touched with a light handed philosophy that much of Asian fiction shares.

I need to read more though, at the moment I’ve been limited to Haruki Murakami (glorious, and currently very `a la mode I know, but I did first read him years ago), Vikram Seth (everything apart from “A Suitable Boy”, which I didn’t get through), and Kazuo Ishiguro. I see on the group that V.S. Naipaul is also mentioned, I’ve never really considered him to be Asian; but then again, I think all the other authors I’ve just listed now live in the West too. The more I find out about VS as a person, the less I like him as an author – I do realize this shouldn’t be the case though!

A Japanese friend thinks I need to read Mishima, and it’s near the top of my book list, but facing stiff competition from Anthony Trollope’s, The Barchester Chronicles. That must be the only time in history those two authors have been in the same sentence together.

It’s 4am Saturday here in London, heavens knows what I’m doing sitting at my keyboard!

nb Vikram Seth has written my favorite poem too - “All Those Who Sleep Tonight”.

posted by magus at 11:27 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2006

I note you have joined the Hymnboos group. Do you have your hynmbooks tagged in any way. (tags Hymnal, Hymnals Hynmbook, and Hynm book are linked)

posted by ringman at 12:28 pm (EST) on Sep 6, 2006

I think I have fallen in love...

I LOVE the chocolate blog you linked me to. Chocolate and books--I am not ashamed of my addictions...

posted by Fiso at 10:27 am (EST) on Sep 5, 2006

Thanks for the invitation. This is a great resource!

posted by jump4sushi at 3:23 am (EST) on Sep 5, 2006

Chocolate blogs? Oh you must share, new best friend!

I am a cupcake fan too, so if you have recipes, you must share them as well. I do the chocolate show in NYC every year, and I have a piece of chocolate every day. Just had a piece of chocolate rugelach with my bagel and coffee...

posted by Fiso at 9:45 am (EST) on Aug 31, 2006

The chocolate images for the group continue to inspire me.

posted by Fiso at 10:36 am (EST) on Aug 30, 2006

You might want to check your yellow pages for eBayer's Anonymous. Anything before 1950 I tag as "vintage cookbook." But age is relative - and I am old. Tell the kids it's summer and they don't need shoes. oldmom

posted by oldmom at 11:58 pm (EST) on Aug 13, 2006

Oh little grasshopper - you too can have lots of cookbooks if you go to eBay and spend unGodly amounts of money every year. The kids accuse me of just looking at the pictures because I surely can't cook. Ungrateful little wretches. oldmom

posted by oldmom at 3:29 pm (EST) on Aug 11, 2006

hmmm, opinicus, you have soon found my weaknesses! thanks for invites.

posted by overthemoon at 2:39 pm (EST) on Aug 7, 2006

Thanks for the kind comment about my profile, it was sweet of you to say so.

Cheers!

posted by misia at 9:15 am (EST) on Aug 6, 2006

So I got home and navigated to the storage folder to see how many covers I've uploaded . . . I . . . ummm . . . 938 so far (saved) and 126 more to add once I've added the books . . .

Might not be such a competition after all!

8-)

posted by pmorris at 8:45 pm (EST) on Aug 1, 2006

Thanks!

posted by rfb at 5:33 pm (EST) on Aug 1, 2006

Well,

I don't know how many covers I've scanned and uploaded . . . Since a couple of months ago my cover uploads kept going away, I started saving my scans. In the beginning I didn't and, boy was I sore when the images wouldn't appear. So now I save them just in case I need to upload the image again. I'm at work now, but when I get home I'll check how many I've saved since then. That count represents the minimum since I didn't save the earliest scans I did . . .

posted by pmorris at 10:21 am (EST) on Aug 1, 2006

:D Hey, it doesn't matter what level something is...as long as you enjoy it! :D

posted by annabethblue at 12:05 am (EST) on Aug 1, 2006

Hi there! I don't think that the Librarians who LibraryThing is private, but I've only tried to post as a member - so I could be wrong. :)

As far as the question goes (thanks, by the way...it's been really slow at the reference desk this morning, so this gave me something interesting to do!), I haven't found any reference resource that gives you the ability to search by Flesch-Kincaid. Our librarian who specializes in education and literature is, of course, in meetings all day. :)

It seems that Amazon gives the score, as you mentioned - but this is the only resource I have found.

Oh, Vanessa (the education/literature librarian) just walked by. :) She says there isn't really a nice reference source for finding books listed by score, but there is a database which libraries can subscribe to (we don't, currently), which allows one to search by the score. But, for now, maybe Amazon will be a nice, general source. I have no idea who figures these scores, so I can't speak to the accuracy - but it's something. :)

You would think, if the tests were created to "help librarians, educators, and parents" to know what grade level a book is..then they would index them that way in a book or in catalogs. ;) That would be a neat feature in library catalogs, wouldn't it? :)

posted by annabethblue at 11:54 am (EST) on Jul 31, 2006

Hi Opinicus --- after I read your post about Searching for Shona I searched for it on Abebooks and found about 30 copies of it starting for as little as $1

posted by Sodapop at 9:04 am (EST) on Jul 31, 2006

seems to be a problem with our libraries - I occasionally get yours

posted by fitzlade at 1:28 pm (EST) on Jul 30, 2006

Thank you for the Asian Fiction and Non-fiction group invitation - I've signed up. Wonderful idea! I'm not sure how much I have to contribute (at least on the fiction side, which I haven't much explored yet), but I will certainly enjoy reading the thoughts of others. And I'm *very* keen on the non-fiction side.

And I'm delighted that you created the group. Complementarity in action! I created the Japanese Culture group as a place to talk about Japanese culture in general or to discover how our interests overlap. But I fully expect that some people with specific interests will eventually create the appropriate finer-grain groups so that they can chat with fellow enthusiasts to their hearts' content... which is as it should be. (It's hard to find an umbrella much broader than "Japanese Culture"!)

posted by chamekke at 10:44 am (EST) on Jul 29, 2006

Now you should be able to post to the Anne Rice community :)

posted by cinnamon-tree at 8:55 am (EST) on Jul 29, 2006

It pains me to admit that the Highly Selective Thesaurus is not something I regularly crack open; I think it was a Christmas gift (possibly from Bas Bleu, as a matter of fact) along with the companion dictionary. Since I got three larger books for Christmas that year, it got short shrift. I guess I'd better go look for/at it. ;)

I'm glad the hyperlink suggestion worked!

posted by Linkmeister at 2:54 am (EST) on Jul 29, 2006

Thanks for the invitation to the Asian Fiction & Non-fiction group! I just signed up.

Alan Gratz, author of Samurai Shortstop.

posted by GratzFamily at 7:14 pm (EST) on Jul 28, 2006

Sorry to be so long replying! You're most kind, and I think any will actress soon learn how much compliments are appreciated, from all quarters.

When we were first able to upload our own pics, a number of those I share books with posted personal photos. I thought of a bookstack, or my cat (I confess - named Shakespeare) but having lost my camera.... well. I devolved into the personal.

People are indeed strange. And I would definitely mention Jim Morrison here if I wanted to. :) (After all, you hit on my favorite Doors song - and I've great respect for good songwriting.) I'm sorry it turned a bit messy, but glad you both 'bounced' back so well.

Hope the Keys were wonderful...

Julie

posted by Eurydice at 5:04 pm (EST) on Jul 22, 2006

thanks for the note. I love the Lang titles - they're filled with great stories and most are beautifully illustrated. The Dover edns are easy to come by (and very inexpensive,) so have a look around! Overall, there are quite a few truly gorgeous collections of fairy tale illustrations; I think the Harry Clarke illos might be my favorites, with Kay Nielsen close behind. I'm a big fan of "modern" retellings as well - the sort of things collected by Windling (and Datlow.) I tend to acquire lots of titles; let me know if you are looking for something you can't find. best, scott

posted by bookstopshere at 1:06 am (EST) on Jun 15, 2006