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The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis

Cloak of Aesir [novella] by John W. Campbell

Pretzel by Margret Rey

Bye-Bye, Mom and Dad by Mercer Mayer

The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven

Completely Automatic [short story] by Theodore Sturgeon

American Dialogue by National Task Force Performing Artists

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Friends: AllieW, aprillee, Archren, arthurfrayn, g0ldenboy, JFDR, JohnFair, LadyLovecraft, LisaShapter, ropie, spiphany, StefanY, StevenTill, SuperS, tollbaby

Interesting library: AlanPoulter, almigwin, andersonden, anglemark, Archren, arthurfrayn, aulsmith, Bev_n_Dave, bluetyson, blyoung, bookstothesky, bouillabaisse, carpentermt, ccandc, cesious, cshalizi, davisfamily, douggeo, eclangel, efros, EmScape, EnriqueFreeque, FicusFan, fugitive, G_Riv, gordo11231, gwyneira, hashiru, iftyzaidi, InfinityOutlaw, Jambyfool, jayson.summers, Jetton, JFDR, JillHuston, johnnyapollo, JRQ, Kilgor_trout, KingRat, kukkurovaca, Leischen, Librariasaurus, LizzieD, LouBriccant, lquilter, ludmillalotaria, lundblad, macha, markhagner, MartinWisse, martlet, MayorWhitebelly, mckait, MikeBriggs, MisterJJones, mkjones, Nanaimo, nwhyte, ochre24, paulhurtley, PhoenixTerran, Plessiez, PortiaLong, pretygrrl, psybre, Randki, RBeffa, revelshade, ringman, RobertDay, rojse, rowens, rpuchalsky, sardonicmanor, sdobie, selfnoise, sfuhrman, StevenTill, stochasticooze, sturlington, Sungold, the_red_shoes

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Member: clong

CollectionsYour library (4,901), Wishlist (30), Currently reading (1), To read (23), Read but unowned (885), All collections (4,931)

Reviews433 reviews

Tagssff (2,685), short fiction (2,065), kids (1,239), picture book (868), returned (648), literary fiction (300), ezreader (233), collection (214), mystery/detectives (196), non-fiction (195) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud, tag mirror

About meI am a 49 years old male, married with children ages 13, 11 and 8. I grew up in Southern California, went to college at the University of Chicago and graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. After 14 years as Executive Director of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, in 2008 I moved to Birmingham, AL, where I am now the Executive Director of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.

I spent several years as a site administrator at the Internet Book List and I am a part owner of the Internet Book Database of Fiction, where I've moderated forums for Heather Gladney, John Marco, Jack McDevitt, Elizabeth Bear, and David B. Coe (our Steve Miller/Sharon Lee and Debra Doyle/James Macdonald forums never attracted any participation). I came over to Librarything looking for a site with more members and more potential, and I'm looking forward to getting involved.

My favorite authors in recent years have been Theodore Sturgeon, Cordwainer Smith, James Tiptree, Jr., and Steven Erikson.

About my libraryOver the years I've read lots of just about everything (except horror and romance), encouraged at a young age by my English-teacher-turned-librarian mother. In my early teens I read mystery voraciously (especially Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner--I loved his A.A. Fair books--and Dick Francis) and westerns (just about everything by Louis L'Amour). Then I fell in love with the Lord of the Rings and got hooked on a bit of science fiction (the Foundation Trilogy, Dune, and a bit of Heinlein). Then came my years as an English major at the University of Chicago, where I set aside genre fiction for Literature and Drama and never really went back until my mother gave me the first three books of the Wheel of Time when I turned 32 (or so). Since then its been back to fantasy and especially science fiction with a vengeance.

Some taggage explanation: "elizabeth" are books that belong to my wife, "teens" are books that I read in my teens (location unknown), "mom" are books that I read in my teens which are presumably still on a shelf or in a box somewhere at my mom's house, and "returned" are books that have been returned to the library.

GroupsChildren's Fiction, Children's Literature, Classical Music, Combiners!, FantasyFans, Malazan, New Wave Science Fiction and Fantasy, Readers Advisory, Science Fiction Fans, SFFWorld —show all groups

Favorite authorsIsaac Asimov, J. G. Ballard, Iain Banks, Alfred Bester, Jorge Luis Borges, John Brunner, Algis Budrys, Lois McMaster Bujold, Octavia E. Butler, Italo Calvino, Raymond Chandler, Ted Chiang, Glen Cook, Samuel R. Delany, Philip K. Dick, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Harlan Ellison, Steven Erikson, Dick Francis, Erle Stanley Gardner, Heather Gladney, Ursula K. Le Guin, Elizabeth Hand, M. John Harrison, Frank Herbert, Barry Hughart, Robert Jordan, James Joyce, Walter M. Miller, Jr., Franz Kafka, Guy Gavriel Kay, John Keats, C. M. Kornbluth, Sharon Lee, Fritz Leiber, Stanisław Lem, George R. R. Martin, China Miéville, Steve Miller, C. L. Moore, Daniel Keys Moran, Haruki Murakami, Larry Niven, Wilfred Owen, Mervyn Peake, Luigi Pirandello, Edgar Allan Poe, Joanna Russ, Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Sheckley, Clifford D. Simak, Dan Simmons, Cordwainer Smith, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Theodore Sturgeon, James Tiptree, Jr., J. R. R. Tolkien, Jack Vance, Kurt Vonnegut, Bill Watterson, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Kate Wilhelm, P. G. Wodehouse, Евгений Замятин, Roger Zelazny (Shared favorites)

VenuesFavorites

Favorite bookstoresBookman/Bookwoman Used Books, Books & Company #309, Books & Company #313, Dark Star Books, Powell's - Hyde Park, Strand Bookstore

Favorite librariesXenia Community Library

Homepagehttp://www.ibdof.com

Also onFacebook, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, sffworld.com

LocationBirmingham, AL

Emailtheclongstergmail.com

Account typepublic, lifetime

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

Member sinceDec 25, 2007

Currently readingThe Complete Stories of J. G. Ballard by J. G. Ballard

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clong rated, added:
Mr F. is Mr F. [short story] by J.G. Ballard

clong rated, added:
The Overloaded Man [short story] by J.G. Ballard

clong rated, added:
Deep End [short story] by J.G. Ballard

clong rated, added:
The Last World of Mr. Goddard [short story] by J.G. Ballard

clong rated, added:
The Voices of Time [novelette] by J.G. Ballard

clong rated:
Chronopolis [novelette] by J. G. Ballard

Thank you for posting about the book sale at the Mt. Brook library this weekend.
It snuck up on me this year.

posted by trav at 10:56 am (EST) on Feb 25, 2012

I did as you suggested and added the info from "Chelsea Public Library" to the existing "Shelby County Public Library - Chelsea Public Library" entry. I marked the newer entry "defunct." Also changed the name of the older entry so "Chelsea Public Library" comes first. I think I'll do the same to the other Shelby County library entries. When those libraries are listed, in some views, it's impossible to tell, say the Harpersville and Vincent branches apart. All you see is "Shelby County Public LIbrary - …"

posted by Muscogulus at 12:15 pm (EST) on May 17, 2011

I like your review of Lem's Cyberiad, but it contains a mistake which I hope you will want to fix: the translation is by Michael Kandel, Daniel Mróz did the illustrations.

posted by jimroberts at 7:20 am (EST) on Mar 3, 2011

Hey, I happened to see your review of Search the Sky, which I read earlier this year. I just wanted to comment that while I agree essentially with everything you say about the book, I honestly wouldn't even give it the benefit of the doubt regarding its premise. For one, the idea of an entire planet full of people being genetically predisposed toward, say, obeying old people, is just ridiculous and nonsensical. More to the point, though, I felt that by the end Pohl and Kornbluth had simply decided to crib from the latter's story, "The Marching Morons".

The worst part is that my edition says it was "partially rewritten" by Pohl in the 80s, and it's still a horrible, sexist piece of crap. I can hardly imagine what the original version was like.

posted by stochasticooze at 8:38 am (EST) on Sep 16, 2010

Thank you for finding my library interesting! I see that I'm in some pretty exalted company, so I'm flattered. As it happens, "Salon du Faulkner" is currently reading and discussing Light in August, so your comments would be most welcome. (I blatantly read your mail and see that the almost-ubiquitous Chris has visited you.)
I read Gravity's Rainbow for the first time last year - a little too late in my life to be blown away by it. I'm always interested in what other people think though. And as I look at your list of favorite authors, I wonder whether I included Vernor Vinge in mine. Away I go to find out and rejoice or repair.
Peggy

posted by LizzieD at 10:12 am (EST) on Jan 12, 2010

Noticed you liked Light in August, 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 also southern and a bit dark. 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). Here's a link to a summary (and a sample chapter)in case you'd like to read more about the novel before you commit:

http://christophertusa.com/

Thanks,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 8:48 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2009

yeah, same to you :D

posted by g0ldenboy at 7:20 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2009

Hi,

Thanks for making my library an 'Interesting Library'! I will will return the favour as I have just browsed your well-tended library. My library, I am afraid, is in need of attention as only a tiny proportion is on, and what is there needs re-cataloguing. I used US-equivalents for my mostly UK-published books, to save the effort of creating records for each one, but very recently LT linked to the BL and other UK sources, so I have no excuse not to use the correct records.

I have never been to Alabama, but went to New Orleans a few years ago for the ALA conference. My, it was hot! For once though, even Scotland is warm today.

Alan

posted by AlanPoulter at 11:23 am (EST) on May 30, 2009

Thanks clong!!

posted by arthurfrayn at 12:08 am (EST) on Oct 16, 2008

Hey clong;

The Reality Dysfunction is a book I am sore afraid of. It's on the TBR pile, but...
I hear rumors of the ghost of Al Capone being a character. Your making it one of the worst books ever aint "talking me down". Could you go into a little here or on the hate thread what makes it stinko for you? If you get a chance...

-af

posted by arthurfrayn at 11:50 pm (EST) on Oct 14, 2008

Curt, I really hope the ASO can grow in popularity. I think there is a culture in Birmingham that will definitely embrace it, given the right exposure and promotion. From what I know, the ASO has struggled to draw in a younger audience. You would know more than I, but is that one of the challenges you are facing?

I would love to get together anytime for coffee and book discussions. There is a Starbucks down on my end of campus, as well as a local coffee shop I visit often called "Lucys." Anytime that is good for you. Just let me know.

Steven
http://steventill.com

posted by StevenTill at 2:33 pm (EST) on Jul 5, 2008

Welcome from Birmingham, AL! I saw your profile because you have George R.R. Martin listed as one of your favorite authors. I work at UAB in the IT Department. I just moved over to IT from Creative & Marketing, where I was working on a number of web sites for the university, including the Alys Stephens Center Web site. I know the Alys Stephens Center works pretty closely with the ASO. Nice to meet you. Maybe we'll meet around campus at some point. What made you want to move to Birmingham to be Executive Director of the ASO?

Steven
http://steventill.com

posted by StevenTill at 8:30 pm (EST) on Jul 4, 2008

Hi there Carl.

Nice to see you're still around - I admit I feared the worst when I saw your account on IBList had been downgraded to Basic :-/

Another library database to fill in, though it's persuading me to get the various piles my books are in sorted out, and verifying the correctness of the data. Busy, busy!

posted by JohnFair at 5:01 pm (EST) on Jun 4, 2008

Howdy, and right back at you:)

Thanks for finding my library to be of interest. We seem to have many similar tastes (Louis L'Amour, Steven Erikson and Lee/Miller/Doyle/MacDonald; too bad nobody was interested in the latter four authors at your moderated forum), though I have to say I've never been able to make it through Robert Jordan's first book. I've only recently discovered A.A. Fair books and just bought several at a used book store a week or so ago (now, to actually read them...:)

Take it easy,

bookstothesky

posted by bookstothesky at 2:27 am (EST) on Jun 3, 2008

Great review of the Excession. You are completely on point. And nicely put, too! Hey, but didn't you at least like the Outside Context Problem? Neat concept, I can certainly think of a few.

posted by pretygrrl at 12:12 am (EST) on Apr 12, 2008

Hey great-did likewise.
We share an enthusiasm for Stanley G Weinbaum!

posted by arthurfrayn at 9:42 am (EST) on Feb 15, 2008

I really agree with you on 100 Years of Solitude.

posted by sherrington at 10:50 pm (EST) on Feb 3, 2008