Random books from fyrefly98's library
The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1) by Joss Whedon
Peter Pan by James Matthew Barrie
America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction by Jon Stewart
Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry
The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings, Book 1) by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Members with fyrefly98's books
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Friends: akreese, bart154ce, bsquaredsf, DevourerOfBooks, LiterateHousewife, littlebookworm, Nymeth, OctaneZ, schmadeke, thebluestockings, xicanti, xombie
LibraryThing authors: Anna Elliott (AnnaElliott), Brandon Sanderson (BrandonSanderson), David Ebershoff (Debershoff), Dianne Ascroft (DianneAscroft), Janny Wurts (JannyWurts), Keith Miller (KeithMiller), Louis Maistros (LouisMaistros), Mark Hockley (MarkJH), Patrick Rothfuss (Rothfaust), Sneed B. Collard (SneedCollard), Arthur Phillips (arthurphillips), Lisa Carey (axel), Christine Blevins (chrisblevins), Carl Zimmer (cwzimmer), David Keck (davidkeck), David Mitchell (davidmitchell), Don Hoesel (dfhoes), Diana Gabaldon (diana.gabaldon), E.E. Knight (eeknight), Erica Eisdorfer (ericae), James Dashner (jamesdashner), Jenni Ferrari-Adler (jenniferrari-adler), J Scott Savage (jscottsavage), Lisa See (lisasee), Matthew Pearl (matthewpearl), Naomi Novik (naominovik), Robert Rummel-Hudson (rumhud), Sarah Beth Durst (sarahbethdurst), Hillary Jordan (scribblegirl), John Green (sparksflyup), Stefan Block (stefanmerrillblock), Trevor Corson (trevor_corson), Thomas Robisheaux (trobish), Bill Walsh (wfwalsh)

Member: fyrefly98
CollectionsYour library (1,710), Currently reading (5), To read (482), Wishlist (139), Books I have read (1,129), Books I can lend you (1,167), Purged and unread (40), DVDs (178), All collections (2,067)
Reviews560 reviews
Tags1-b (1,365), fiction (1,312), 3-read (987), 2-own-home (736), 1-a (624), 2-own-parents (623), 3-unread (490), fantasy (457), series (437), young adult (424) — see all tags
Cloudstag cloud, author cloud
Groups20-Something LibraryThingers, Aboard the Jolly Roger, ARC Junkies, Arrested Development, Audiobooks, Battlestar Galactica, Birds, Birding & Books, Bloggers, Board for Extreme Thing Advances, Book reviewers — show all groups
Favorite authorsDouglas Adams, Ray Bradbury, Michael Chabon, John Green, Robert Jordan, Guy Gavriel Kay, Barbara Kingsolver, Daniel Quinn, Matt Ruff, Brandon Sanderson, Patricia C. Wrede, Markus Zusak (Shared favorites)
About meLet’s see… I’m a voracious reader and am terribly addicted to used book sales. I am usually reading and/or listening to at least two books at a time, although it’s frequently more. I rarely go anywhere without a novel tucked into my jacket pocket or backpack, plus two or three audiobooks on my iPod. I’m a graduate student in the sciences, although only a small percentage of the books I read are science books. I read mainly fiction, typically a healthy blend of fantasy, historical fiction, young adult novels, and literary fiction. I’m not particularly well-read in the classics (my high school English classes tended towards more eclectic book selections), although I try to pick off at least one or two a year.
I'm also a bit of a junkie for stats, graphs, and other visual representations of data. I've got two pet book-related projects: a reading calendar, and a reading graph.
My reading calendar is on my blog, here. If you're interested in creating your own, the code for the calendar is here. You'll probably have to tweak the column widths a little to get it to fit on your page.
I use an Excel spreadsheet to track my reading progress by year, and to make pretty graphs like this: 
You can download the spreadsheet here. You enter: your goal for the year, the date you finish each book, and the number of pages in each book (or time if it's an audiobook).
It calculates: How many books you've read so far, how many pages you've read so far, average books per day, average days per book, average number of pages per day, your projected year-end total if you keep reading at the same rate, and whether you are reading faster or slower than the pace you need to reach your goal (green if you're ahead, red if you're behind, black if you're on target).
About my libraryMy physical library is messy, with sideways and double-stacked books everywhere, although I can lay hold of any book you want in under thirty seconds (unless it's one that I've got listed that's still in my room at my parents' house, in which case it might take a little longer.) Since I moved it got an extra case to spread into, although there still seems not to be enough room for all of my books.
My LT catalog contains books I've read but do not own, books I own but have not read, and books that I have both own and read - making it an amalgamation of my "physical" and "mental" libraries. I mainly use it as an extended book journal and reading list - keeping track of what I've read (and when), what I've thought about it, and what's on the pile to read next.
My giant To Be Read pile
Homepagehttp://fyreflybooks.wordpress.com/
Also onBookMooch, Last.fm, Ravelry, Wordpress
Membership
LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway
LocationMidwestern U.S.
Account typepublic, lifetime
Connection NewsConnection News
URLs
http://www.librarything.com/profile/fyrefly98 (profile)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/fyrefly98 (library)
Common KnowledgeSeries (432), Awards (573), Characters (9845), Places (2010)
Member sinceAug 7, 2006
Currently readingThe Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, Book 7) by J. K. Rowling
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Twelfth Annual Collection by Ellen Datlow
The Gathering Storm (The Wheel of Time, Book 12) by Robert Jordan
Fire (Graceling Prequel) by Kristin Cashore








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posted by PhoenixTerran at 8:45 am (EST) on Aug 18, 2009
posted by girlunderglass at 7:10 am (EST) on Jun 26, 2009
I loved your review. It was funny and poignant and you were much more patient than I was with "Edible History"-- and not over-the-top at all. That was a very good review. (I loved both the bits about Dan Quinn. Most Excellent and I laughed my fanny off:)
As for my review, I'm afraid it was put out a little hurriedly. But I just wanted to be done with it as I had had such high hopes and was frustrated that it wasn't what I was looking for.
As to the baby situation, you are, of course, correct: nursing prohibits conception. But honestly I couldn't get over the way he stated that 'mothers contemplate having additional babies'. As if it was just a mental process and physical desire (his and/or hers) had nothing to do with it. LOL.
Btw, have you posted that to your blog? I didn't see it.
posted by ThePam at 6:40 pm (EST) on May 27, 2009
posted by mmignano11 at 11:01 pm (EST) on May 26, 2009
posted by mmignano11 at 10:45 pm (EST) on May 26, 2009
I've added your blog to my Google Reader.
Regards!
Pam :o)
posted by ThePam at 4:56 pm (EST) on May 21, 2009
http://christophertusa.com/
Thanks,
Chris
posted by cmtusa at 10:04 pm (EST) on May 19, 2009
Thanks also for the tip about Bujold. I will definitely check her out!
Joyce
posted by Joycepa at 10:17 am (EST) on May 12, 2009
posted by plekter at 8:33 am (EST) on May 7, 2009
posted by lilyfyrestorm at 3:15 pm (EST) on Apr 5, 2009
posted by indygo88 at 11:07 pm (EST) on Apr 3, 2009
While browsing through my old reviews today, I noticed (only one year late) that you gave a high marks to Talyn, by Holly Lisle. I have a lot of Holly's books, and since you like Talyn, I thought you might like to read Lisle's Secret Texts trilogy: Diplomacy of Wolves, Vengeance of Dragons and Courage of Falcons. After Talyn, I consider it to be her very best work. (I agree with your review, that something seems to be missing in Hawkspar. Holly was involved in a protracted and ugly fight with her publisher over Hawkspar, and I believe her original story was intended to be longer.)
I agree with you that Holly's writing has some dark aspects, and The Secret Text trilogy has it too, but it is still one of my favorite trilogies. Another of her novels, written much earlier than these, is Hunting the Corrigan's Blood, another favorite of mine. If you do read any of these, I'll be interested to know your opinion on them.
Regards,
April aka Pandababy
posted by Pandababy at 6:41 pm (EST) on Mar 6, 2009
posted by Nymeth at 4:57 am (EST) on Feb 27, 2009
posted by espertus at 5:18 pm (EST) on Feb 15, 2009
posted by wester at 2:30 am (EST) on Feb 5, 2009
posted by PhoenixTerran at 2:38 pm (EST) on Feb 3, 2009
posted by lisa211 at 8:02 am (EST) on Jan 23, 2009
The ETTA website is up and running!
www.geraldkolpan.com
I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to play the song!
Best,
GK
posted by gkolpan at 12:58 pm (EST) on Jan 18, 2009
Again, thank you very much.
posted by Arctic-Stranger at 3:24 pm (EST) on Dec 31, 2008
posted by ocelott at 3:35 am (EST) on Dec 31, 2008
posted by PhoenixTerran at 7:00 pm (EST) on Dec 29, 2008
The journal was a great idea, I've already started making little notes and lists in a notebook so it was just what I needed.
By coincidence you were the only person who made recommendations for my Santathing recipient. I didn't ultimately go with them (although I wishlisted a couple for myself) - from reading up on The Omnivore's Dilemma and the other suggestion I thought my recipient might like something with human relevance plus a bit of a yuk factor, but yours were good, solid choices and really helped get me started for my search.
I hope the gifts you receive from your Santathing are as good as mine :)
Happy Xmas!
posted by Moomin_Mama at 7:51 am (EST) on Dec 22, 2008
Thanks again :)
posted by wisewoman at 3:39 pm (EST) on Nov 25, 2008
Again, thanks so much!
posted by jibrailis at 2:00 pm (EST) on Oct 19, 2008
posted by foggidawn at 7:39 pm (EST) on Oct 9, 2008
posted by jibrailis at 7:15 pm (EST) on Oct 8, 2008
posted by Miss-Owl at 6:26 am (EST) on Oct 3, 2008
posted by tjsjohanna at 9:39 pm (EST) on Oct 2, 2008
posted by ElizabethNeill at 9:13 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2008
posted by tjsjohanna at 11:37 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2008
Susette Newberry
Olin Librarian
posted by Susette at 11:51 am (EST) on Aug 30, 2008
posted by davismke at 3:34 am (EST) on Aug 24, 2008
regarding your Breaking Dawn review. I'm not sure you should say of a successful wedding ceremony that it went off without a hitch. :)
Capybara_99
posted by Capybara_99 at 2:14 pm (EST) on Aug 21, 2008
Another author I like who doesn't seem to have many books out is [[Nina Kiriki Hoffman]] who wrote [A Fistful of Sky]. (Hmm--maybe tagging doesn't work here?) This one is very fun--I think I've got a review of it in mylibrary!
posted by annatapl at 8:39 pm (EST) on Aug 3, 2008
posted by dchaikin at 5:07 pm (EST) on Jul 25, 2008
I'm being nosy. I just read your review of "A Geoscience Guide to the Burgess Shale" (a good review) and saw this comment: "I am not a geologist, so parts of those sections certainly went right over my head, as I'm sure some of the paleontology and evolution sections would to non-specialists." I'm curious, are you some kind paleontology/evolutionary specialist?
Cheers,
d (a geologist of sorts)
posted by dchaikin at 4:37 pm (EST) on Jul 25, 2008
posted by foxfire at 10:20 am (EST) on Jul 24, 2008
Enjoyed your review of the Connie Willis titles. One of the things I really love about To Say Nothing of the Dog and The Doomsday Book is that although they have the same basic premise (Oxford University of the future sending history students back in time to REALLY study history or to accomplish a task)they have such a different feel! Yes, TSNOTD was just absolutely hysterical in that PG Wodehouse kind of way, and in the Doomsday Book you were so there with Kirvan and her new-but-very-old friends. To make the Doomsday Book even more dramatic than it already is, I was suffering from pneumonia as I read it. All those symptoms seemed very familiar!
It's fun to revisit the pleasure I got from both of these titles. It seems that I picked up something else by Willis at ALA, but I have yet to unpack all my boxes...
posted by annatapl at 5:48 pm (EST) on Jul 20, 2008
posted by Booksr2awesome at 11:34 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2008
Thanks for adding all the libraries to LibraryThing Local. I've added more information for all of them. I ended up duplicating the Pontiac Branch (maybe a couple of times) so I deleted one--but I've just added to all your others. Thanks!
Melissa Kiser
IT Librarian
Allen County Public Library
posted by acpl at 11:58 am (EST) on Jul 2, 2008
posted by tjsjohanna at 2:17 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2008
posted by recipe_addict at 7:52 pm (EST) on Jun 23, 2008
posted by espertus at 2:37 pm (EST) on Jun 8, 2008
posted by InigoMontoya at 8:39 am (EST) on May 9, 2008
in what order do the "a modern faerie tale" books go?
posted by just-me-sami at 9:23 pm (EST) on May 8, 2008
posted by lilyfyrestorm at 12:42 pm (EST) on Apr 3, 2008
posted by DevourerOfBooks at 3:41 pm (EST) on Mar 31, 2008
Supposedly, it had been advertised all over Athens that "the great philosopher" Plato was going to give a talk about politics and philosophy in the forum. Hundreds of people showed up wanting to hear what this great master, author of The Republic, had to say. Plato introduced himself, then commenced a long and involved lecture on the intricacies of mathematics and geometry. This continued for an hour or two, as slowly, one by one, the members of the audience dispersed. Finally, when there was a small group left (maybe a dozen), Plato began to discuss politics. His motivation, it is claimed, was to weed out those members of the audience who weren't willing to "work for it."
Ultimately, some scholars have used this story (as well as other, textual, evidence), to argue that much of Plato's philosophy that has come down to us - and specifically The Republic - is intentionally misleading about his true beliefs... That Plato thought we ought to have to "work for it" to try and figure out his true intentions.
While I don't necessarily buy these theories - especially as regards his moral philosophy - I at least think that for Plato, I'd be willing to work for it.
Umberto Eco, however, is no Plato - philosophy degree notwithstanding. Plato, perhaps, had justification for this attitude - at least his philosophy was new, immense, and demanding. Eco's writing, though, involves all this work only to end up at a platitudinous moral which is in nowise worthy of all that effort. I'm definitely in the, "tried it, didn't like it" camp for him ;)
Cheers
Dani
posted by philosojerk at 11:17 am (EST) on Mar 31, 2008
Cheers
Dani
posted by philosojerk at 8:10 pm (EST) on Mar 29, 2008
posted by lisa211 at 3:24 am (EST) on Mar 20, 2008
posted by TheBookImp at 11:36 pm (EST) on Mar 10, 2008
I picked Name of the Rose for you to review next. Oh and hello I'm new to the group *waving from the UK*
posted by TheBookImp at 8:55 am (EST) on Mar 10, 2008
posted by jlelliott at 8:28 pm (EST) on Mar 6, 2008
posted by DevourerOfBooks at 1:01 pm (EST) on Feb 29, 2008
posted by DevourerOfBooks at 11:32 am (EST) on Feb 29, 2008
posted by alcottacre at 6:57 am (EST) on Feb 26, 2008
Yes, yes, yes! I just checked it out again. That's good now - IMO again - it looks pretty complete to me!! Wow, and it is so easy to understand - I really think wikithing help - FAQ (whatever) needs to be up the top of the page so all your good work is easy to find. I wish I had been able to find all this when I first joined - this was my first site I 'inhabited' on-line.
Oh, and I am laughing at your TBR pile - I am not game to numerically assess mine as this site has increased it exponentially!!!
And... I found out about the Battlestar Galactica group from your profile. I'm such a fan!
Have to go check out about the next series now...
:))
L.
posted by Lman at 2:59 am (EST) on Feb 25, 2008
I really like your wikithing page about profile but I can't figure out how to get to it from the main page without searching for it - as in typing 'profile' in the search box??? Sorry if I am missing something obvious here, is that the only way? I think it should be a heading in FAQ but there is already a profile bit - which IMHO is not nearly as good as yours.
L.
posted by Lman at 5:12 am (EST) on Feb 24, 2008
posted by VictoriaPL at 6:21 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2008
posted by VictoriaPL at 3:23 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2008
posted by VictoriaPL at 7:11 pm (EST) on Feb 18, 2008
posted by VictoriaPL at 3:45 pm (EST) on Feb 18, 2008
Thanks so much.
Anne
posted by amancine at 12:10 pm (EST) on Feb 10, 2008
posted by elbakerone at 9:25 pm (EST) on Jan 29, 2008
Ok, I'm hanging my head in shame at my lack of Martian Chronicles. *I'm a bad Bradbury fan...* My next library trip will not be complete without it. I've heard lots of good things about Naomi Novik too. I read a TON of Patricia Wrede stuff when I was younger but haven't cataloged it. Thanks for the rec's they'll be added to my ever-growing TBR pile.
Cheers! :)
posted by elbakerone at 4:37 pm (EST) on Jan 29, 2008
posted by whitewavedarling at 2:50 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2008
posted by citygirl at 7:37 pm (EST) on Jan 23, 2008
posted by fannyprice at 6:40 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2008
posted by readaholic12 at 5:00 pm (EST) on Jan 8, 2008
posted by maggie1944 at 10:25 am (EST) on Jan 6, 2008
posted by maggie1944 at 11:23 pm (EST) on Jan 5, 2008
I just found out that the author of Looking for Alaska (the Secret Santa book you sent me - and which I'm currently reading) is an LT author. How exciting! I just *had* to leave him a message that I'm reading his book now! :D
http://www.librarything.com/profile/spar...
Thanks again for both of the books!
Madeline (aka SqueakyChu)
posted by SqueakyChu at 1:06 pm (EST) on Dec 29, 2007
Thank you very much for the SantaThing books. I've been meaning to get myself a copy of "Last Chance to See" for years! It has gone straight to the top of my ever-growing reading list.
Thanks again, and Happy New Year,
Drew Kupsky
posted by drewandlori at 11:11 am (EST) on Dec 28, 2007
I just got hoem from work...and found my Secret Santa box from Amazon. I couldn't wait to see what was inside. The books you chose for me were *fabulous*! I've not read either of them, and both are books I've eyed before and wanted to read. Your selection for me was right on the money!
Since I don't celebrate Christmas, it was no big deal that that books did not arrive until today. I was on best behavior and didn't peek after Tim turned off the peeking access (although I did know I could peek by logging out). Anyway, I'm glad I decided not to peek. This was quite a fun surprise.
Hope your holiday season continues to be fun and that you have a safe and wonderful 2008!
All the best,
Madeline
posted by SqueakyChu at 8:30 pm (EST) on Dec 27, 2007
posted by LheaJLove at 7:46 pm (EST) on Dec 21, 2007
I also saw that you enjoyed Geek Love. That has been one of my favorite books since it came out. People think I'm nuts, but what a book...
Again, thank you so much! I loved doing SantaThing this year!
Best,
Lynn Evarts
LibraryLynn
posted by LibraryLynn at 10:27 am (EST) on Dec 19, 2007
posted by nancyewhite at 9:32 am (EST) on Nov 20, 2007
posted by reading_fox at 9:35 am (EST) on Sep 28, 2007
posted by sapiens at 7:39 pm (EST) on Apr 23, 2007
posted by margad at 12:20 am (EST) on Apr 21, 2007
Thanks! The technique you showed me for searching tags is exactly what I'm looking for, or at least enough of a kludge to do what I wanted to do. Thanks again for the advice.
Now I can scan the covers of the books that are here that don't have covers yet. :)
-kat
posted by katster at 5:22 am (EST) on Mar 6, 2007
posted by Seajack at 7:02 pm (EST) on Feb 18, 2007
posted by parelle at 12:32 am (EST) on Dec 19, 2006
i am a new person to this site but i have just read your review on the book thief and i think you put it in the best words that i have heard. i fell in love with that book from the beggining and cried at the end and i agree with you on how you just wish the ending was wrong
posted by purplestberry at 9:29 am (EST) on Dec 4, 2006
Thank you for your help with my "tags" question. I appreciate the help & I can't wait to start! By the way, I can't bear to part with my books either. My nightstand right now is but 3 stacks of books =)
posted by Beastie at 7:26 pm (EST) on Nov 10, 2006
posted by mikitchenlady at 2:42 pm (EST) on Nov 1, 2006
Can you tell I loved the way you phrased that?
posted by Caramellunacy at 9:39 am (EST) on Oct 26, 2006
I'm also a huge Jane Austen fan, I like to alternate reading P & P, and watching the 5 hour A&E/BBC version. Great on a long winter afternoon.
posted by TheaMak at 9:46 pm (EST) on Sep 22, 2006