Random books from Talvalin's library

Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks

Mother Tongue: The English Language by Bill Bryson

A Wreath of Stars (Gollancz SF S.) by Bob Shaw

The World Before by Karen Traviss

Revelation Space (Gollancz SF S.) by Alastair Reynolds

Rose by Martin Cruz Smith

Dreamland by Kevin Baker

Members with Talvalin's books

Member connections

Friends: gordsellar, viplette

LibraryThing authors: Elizabeth Bear (matociquala), Leah R. Cutter (lrcutter), Sarah Monette (truepenny), Jus Neuce (jusneuce), Naomi Novik (naominovik), Martha Wells (marthawells)

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Talvalin's reviews

Reviews of Talvalin's books, not including Talvalin's

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Member: Talvalin

Library1,924 books — see library

ReviewedNone so far

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

Tagsunread (996), fiction (684), sf (488), fantasy (430), SF (208), tobuy (118), thriller (117), short stories (105), historical (99), non-fiction (91) — see all tags

GroupsAsian Fiction & Non-Fiction, It's a LondonThing, Japanese Culture, Manga!, Purely Programmers, rllmuk, Science Fiction Fans, The Culture

About me "The possession of a book becomes a substitute for reading it." Anthony Burgess in the New York Times Book Review; 4 December, 1966.

(from another LibraryThing user)

I have a compulsive book buying habit, I have more unread books than I could reasonably finish given 4-5 years of not buying any new books, and to top it all off I have an OCD about the condition of my books such that I cannot damage my books in any way without near crying.

To say that I am obsessive about books would be a mild understatement

About my library At some point this will contain a list of all the books that I own. As I own a fair few, and they are all in a large number of boxes and bookcases scattered over a few locations, this could take a while.

Last book read:
The War Of The Flowers by Tad Williams
- I keep on reading Tad Williams even though I hated Memory, Sorrow, Thorn and thought that Otherland was good but about 1000 pages too long. It's a slog for the first two to three hundred pages then picks up pace rapidly. Theo should win some kind of award for utter, utter cluelessness, though the fact it takes about 500 pages before it is explicitly stated that he is a fairy when everyone else worked it out about, ooh, 450 pages earlier can only be blamed on the author.

Currently reading:
The Knight by Gene Wolfe
- this could take a while

よつばと! (volume 1) by Kiyohiki Azuma
- slice-of-life storytelling that is infectiously joyous. Yotsuba seems a little, well, dim, but she seems to find everything interesting and according to Wikipedia, she's only 5 so I'll cut her some slack.

LocationLondon, UK

Favorite authorsNone specified

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

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

Member sinceOct 12, 2005

Comments from other LibraryThing-ers

(Leave a comment.)

I was just browsing the neighbors of a friend with an excellent sf & fantasy library and saw yours, which, aside from having many a selection for me to request from the library, also has an adorable picture of Marvin :)

posted by angrystarlyt at 8:56 am (EST) on Mar 27, 2008

I went to join the group 'The Culture' which you started, only to find that I can't. Is it a private group? I was just trying to start a discussion on the new Culture book. Maybe I'll start a group for the full Banks canon.

posted by Noisy at 7:46 am (EST) on Dec 22, 2007

Hi, i've just come back on to the site after months away from it, but yes i did get a message asking for some sort of copy of widowmaker. i had never realised how rare this book really is.
did you give him a copy?

Looks like we've got a lot of book's in common - 177.

posted by Nergal at 7:51 am (EST) on Mar 29, 2007

And how did you like the The Handmaid's Tale?

Our shared totals continue to creep up as I add books. I have maybe 50 or so more SF & Fantasy to do, some religion, lots of children's books, odds & ends. I don't read much SF these days, a few here and there; when I do read in the genre it leans towards fantasy (i.e Graham Joyce, Ian MacLeod). Have you read Judith Berman's Bear Daughter? How about Jeffrey Barlough? His stuff is pure entertainment, and I do tend to like a bit more meat in my fiction these days, but I enjoy his alternate Victorian England setting and the stories and characters can be fun.

Lanagan is my current genre favorite.

Now I'm going to go figure out why my copy of Foucault's Pendulum doesn't link with yours...

posted by avaland at 9:22 am (EST) on Feb 1, 2007

While we only share a mere 105 books at the moment, we share a fabulous literary taste! I'm learning that with the people with whom one shares books the quantity shared is far less interesting than the mix of what is shared. I've got a lot of cataloguing still to do so I imagine I will see your name again!

posted by avaland at 1:45 pm (EST) on Nov 18, 2006

Belle Collection!!! But I see that you have a lot to read.

posted by astro at 1:35 am (EST) on Oct 23, 2006

That was better. :)

posted by rparvaaz at 5:33 am (EST) on Oct 17, 2006

Hey, I know you! 80 books in common, huh? Well done!

posted by gordsellar at 8:25 am (EST) on Oct 11, 2006

wow!
Send me the unread books please.
Just kidding.
Bye.

posted by abhishekrai at 2:53 am (EST) on Oct 1, 2006

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