Member: espertus

Thanks for the note about updating my profile! It's so easy to be out of date...

posted by kmengeranderson at 1:05 am (EST) on Oct 26, 2009

Hey - thanks for the recommendation of The Atrocity Archives. I came across it recently and remembered that it had been recommended. My copy has an afterword where Stross talks about the similarities to Tim Powers's Declare, and the whole time I was reading I was thinking that Declare and Three Days to Never are similar. You might want to check them out.

Also, since you said you like reading books aloud, I think Bradbury, particularly the Martian Chronicles might work well, since he puts so much effort into describing the settings. Also, The City of Dreaming Books by Moers. In fact a number of his puns and literary references probably work better aloud.

posted by grizzly.anderson at 10:36 pm (EST) on Oct 10, 2009

Thanks for the recommendation - I'll have to check it out.

posted by grizzly.anderson at 11:27 pm (EST) on Jul 23, 2009

Thank you for the compliment, espertus! I tend to write reviews for a lot of YA and middle grade books so I'm sure you'll see my reviews around a lot. :)

- Stephanie

posted by stephxsu at 1:04 am (EST) on Mar 13, 2009

espertus -
A very heartfelt thank you for your comment to me about Flatland & link to the article, which is quite convincing.
I haven't read Flatland in some time, so I didn't remember the ending making the point clear, but that's really no excuse. I'm going to add that link to my review.
I'm also going to have to read Flatland again :)
According to lt, we share some unusual books.
If you've not read Planiverse you might check it out.

posted by amandrake at 7:42 pm (EST) on Jun 10, 2008

Apparently the compiled member recommendations won't refresh until tomorrow. Alas.

posted by infiniteletters at 4:48 pm (EST) on May 27, 2008

I'm glad you appreciated it. I went through the most popular books earlier that I own to make recommendations for more obscure books.

Now I went through your 5-star books and made some recommendations here and there. Happy reading! :)

http://www.librarything.com/profile/espe...

posted by infiniteletters at 4:45 pm (EST) on May 27, 2008

Thanks for the suggestion. I am not a real fan of short stories and try to avoid anthologies or collections most of the time, unless it has a specific author or series I am following.

I like to think of reading as traveling to see (often from the inside) places, people, and events that I would never be able to in real life. Either because they don't or no longer exist, or because my presence would change/prevent things.

posted by FicusFan at 11:06 am (EST) on May 25, 2008

Hi Espertus,

I am fine with your comment, and request. I have a list for you, which might be overkill, but its what I was able to come up with. It is mostly SF and F, some Mystery and some Fiction (didn't even do historical fiction (not romance) - which I can if you want, but it too will probably be long).

Some info so you know what you are getting. I try to buy all my books in paper, so I may not have a book by an author I like because its in HC and I am waiting for the paper version.

I like historical type settings, the older the better.

The books may have sex, violence, gay characters/sex, alternative lifestyles, and non-PC settings, themes, actions. There are also some older SF books that are probably sexist by the standards of today, but they are classics and I listed them because I love them.

So reader beware.

I didn't have a chance to check to see if these are in your library, so you may have them and/or already read them.

Enjoy, and if its too much just delete.

Fiction

Ricky & G-Man, by Poppy Z. Brite
Liquor
Prime
Soul Kitchen

A Thread of Grace, Mary Doria Russell
Will buy her new non-genre book when it goes into paper

Fantasy

SwordsPoint, Ellen Kushner
The Fall of the Kings, Ellen Kushner & Delia Sherman
The Privilege of the Sword, Ellen Kushner

Maledicte, Lane Robins

The Lions of al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay

The first 3 books of the Wraeththu Trilogy, Storm Constantine
The Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit
The Bewitchments of Love and Hate
The Fulfilments of Fate and Desire
Also sold now as an Omnibus

Black Wine, Candas Jane Dorsey

The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
Lost in a Good Book, Jasper Fforde
The Well of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde
Haven’t read the rest of the series yet

The Chosen, Ricardo Pinto
The Standing Dead, Ricardo Pinto
Third book has been delayed for years

The Gumshoe the Witch and the Virtual Corpse, Keith Hartman
The Gumshoe Gorilla, Keith Hartman
He stopped writing and moved to Hollywood to be a script-writer

Black Chalice, Marie Jakobar

Bold as Love, Gwyneth Jones
Sand Castles, Gwyneth Jones
Haven’t read the rest of the series yet

The Song of Ice & Fire, George R. R. Martin
A Game of Thrones
Clash of Kings
Haven’t read the rest of the series yet

Metal Angel, Nancy Springer

Blue Moon Rising, Simon R. Green

The Year of the Warrior, Lars Walker

The Nightrunner Trilogy, Lynn Flewelling
Luck in the Shadows
Stalking Darkness
Traitor's Moon

The Black Jewels Series, Anne Bishop
Daughter of the Blood
Heir to the Shadows
Queen of the Darkness
The Invisible Ring - Related, in same setting
Dreams Made Flesh, Short Story Collection

Godhead Trilogy, James Morrow
Didn’t Care that much for first book, Towing Jehovah
Blameless in Abaddon, James Morrow (best book)
Haven’t read the third book yet, The Eternal Footman

The Swan’s War series, Sean Russell
The One Kingdom (best book)
The Isle of Battle
The Shadow Roads

Soldier in the Mist, Gene Wolf
Soldier of Arete, Gene Wolf
Didn’t care for third book: Soldier of Sidon

Book of Words Series, JV Jones
The Baker's Boy
A Man Betrayed
Master and Fool

The Dominions of Irth series, Adam Lee
The Dark Shore (best book)
The Shadow Eater
Octoberland

Mystery

The Devil of Nanking, Mo Hayder

Sugawara Akitada series by I.J. Parker
The Dragon Scroll (#1 Story Order)
Rashomon Gate (#2)
Black Arrow (#3)
Island of Exiles (#4)
The Hell Screen (#5)

Baker and Llywelyn, Victorian PI Series, Will Thomas
Some Danger Involved
To Kingdom Come
The Limehouse Text
The Hellfire Conspiracy

Commissaro Guido Brunnetti series, by Donna Leon - Mystery
Death at La Fenice (US)
Death in a Strange Country (US)
The Anonymous Venetian (UK)
Death and Judgement (US)
Acqua Alta (UK)
Quietly in Their Sleep (US) (Death of Faith - UK)
A Noble Radiance (US)
Fatal Remedies (US)
Friends in High Places (US)
A Sea of Troubles (UK)
Book 11 – Willful Behavior (Not published in US yet, Don’t have it)
Uniform Justice (US)
Doctored Evidence (US)
Blood From a Stone (US)
Through a Glass Darkly (US)
Suffer the Little Children (US)

SF

Undertow, Elizabeth Bear
Ilium, Dan Simmons
Altered Carbon, Broken Angel, Woken Furies, Richard K. Morgan
Wreck of the River of Stars, Michael Flynn
Halfway Human, Carolyn Ives Gilman
He, She, and It, Marge Piercy
The Gate to Woman's Country, Sheri Tepper
The Faded Sun Trilogy (omnibus), CJ Cherryh
The Foreigner Trilogy (First trilogy 1-3), CJ Cherryh
The Chanur Saga (1-4), CJ Cherryh
Cuckoo's Egg, CJ Cherryh
Lilith's Brood (Omnibus Xenogensis Trilogy), Octavia Butler
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert Heinlein
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Clipjoint, Crashcourse, Psykosis, Chaos Come Again,Wilhelmina Baird
Miles Vorkosigan series, especially Memory (#9 Miles Vorkosigan) Lois McMaster Bujold
Lest Darkness Fall, L. Sprague De Camp
Becoming Human, Testament, Imposter, Valerie Freireich
Flesh and Gold, Phyliss Gotlieb
Dune Series (1-3 only), Frank Herbert
Warchild, Burndive, Cagebird, Karin Lowachee
Sardonyx Net, Elizabeth Lynn
Windhaven, George R.R. Martin & Lisa Tuttle
Sandkings, George R.R. Martin
Jurisdiction Series, Susan R. Matthews
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville
Salt, Adam Roberts
The Sparrow #1, Children of God #3, Mary Doria Russell
The Lensman Series, E.E. 'Doc' Smith
Red Genesis, S.C. Sykes
Snow Queen & Summer Queen, Joan D. Vinge
Starfish, Peter Watts
To Say Nothing of The Dog, Connie Willis
Dooms Day Book, Connie Willis
We, Yevgeny Zamyatin
Seafort Saga, David Feintuch
Snake Agent, The Demon and the City, Liz Williams (Waiting for 3rd book to be published in paper)
City of Pearl, Crossing the Line,The World Before, Matriarch, Ally, Judge, Karen Traviss
The House of the Scorpion, Nancy Baker

posted by FicusFan at 3:52 pm (EST) on May 24, 2008

Yes, I am or was. I'm not currently in the classroom but was for 30+ years. I didn't know that my LibraryThing catalog had readers and comments so you have a very belated answer.

posted by ksbioteacher at 9:04 am (EST) on Aug 23, 2007

Thank you!

posted by joiedelivre at 12:35 am (EST) on Apr 20, 2007

I was only asking because I like to have others imput about what they think of my reading.

It's great that you liked the Trickster books. When I have more time, I'm going to try reading other Pierce books.

:)

posted by books_ofa_feather at 8:52 am (EST) on Apr 3, 2007

I have read Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen. I loved them! I would really like to get around to reading her others, but my To be read pile is huge. I can't stop buying. :)

Just so I can have your opinion do you think I read too much light stuff?

The book you recommended Quo Vadis, I can't seem to find. Do you know the author of the book?

posted by books_ofa_feather at 9:08 pm (EST) on Mar 31, 2007

I've actually read the book, it was great. I don't have it listed yet, because it belongs to my sister. I'm trying to catalog all mine first. I see you're new to LibraryThing too. Do you like it so far? I love it! Have you read the Bloody Jack series, by L.A. Meyer? They're a must!!!!!

posted by books_ofa_feather at 12:14 pm (EST) on Mar 27, 2007