Member: justchris

Hi Chris--
I just wanted to (belatedly) let you know I'm flattered you marked my library as an interesting library. I hope you find some good reads if you get a chance to poke around.

See you around the threads.

Deborah

posted by arubabookwoman at 7:49 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2009

Chris,

Thanks for opening up, and telling me so much about yourself. Don't think too much about the past that you feel is negative if you really are "late blooming", I say you should enjoy the transition as it happens! I admire the fact that you are going through some personal growth and are willing to change. Sometimes I feel I'm stuck in a rut and I need to do some of the opposite kind of change and be a bit more serious and responsible. LOL, in fact, I know I should.

Don't fret about the reviews, I often avoid them as well and then go through a creative frenzy. If you look at my first post, you can see how far behind I am.

Steph

posted by Cauterize at 3:07 am (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

LOL, how old is "old and cranky"? Nothing wrong with being opinionated, I can't wait until I'm super old so I can be an official "curmudgeon"! I've always been willing to go toe to toe with what I think, perhaps that's why I'm a lawyer. I truly believe that the day I stop ranting is the day that I'll become "old" and stop caring about life. Rants = passion and passion = life.

Steph

posted by Cauterize at 9:30 pm (EST) on Jun 13, 2009

??? There's no reason for any apologies or anything in the apology-family! I love conversation and especially rants. I'm a ranty person myself! Ask Mr. Cauterize! He loves it when I find others to rant with as he doesn't especially enjoy being my go-to person for ranting (especially about books - actually this will probably come up in my upcoming post about Fiasco by Thomas E. Ricks). I really have enjoyed your posts, as you have actually something to say other than "I liked that book too" or "Nice review". Not that I have a problem with those who do say those things - but I do want my thread to encourage dialogue about the books I have read and share opinions about them.

Mostly I haven't had any time in the last week or so to write my next few posts. Been out of town and distracted, mostly. I've barely been able to read other people's threads! I've been thinking of what I want to say in my (equally long) reply to your last post. Also, I've been dragging my feet about how to state my thoughts the next book - Snakes and Earrings.

TTYS,
Steph

posted by Cauterize at 6:09 pm (EST) on Jun 3, 2009

I had no idea that dissertations were available through ILL! I should check our local universities and see if they do it through their ILL system too. I've bought copies various dissertations off some websites that collect and archive papers on certain subjects (about $6-14 per thesis) and found some of them to be very interesting. I was just curious about your choice of reading material since I studied Near Eastern archaeology in uni. Never took a really close look at costuming, though textile technology was always important to understand...

All the best in your 'hobby-reading' - sounds like a great area to study!

posted by dk_phoenix at 8:30 am (EST) on May 22, 2009

That's quite a recommendation, Chris! I've ordered it forthwith.

posted by ronincats at 5:52 pm (EST) on Apr 13, 2009

Chris, I'm looking at The Silent Stars go By by James White on PBS. I see you have it. Is it worth adding to my collection?

posted by ronincats at 4:58 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2009

I don't know about LT etiquette but on the 75ers group I think pretty much anything goes. "The rules are, there are no rules." or something. Thanks for the note! And sorry it took me so long to reply - life a bit insane at the moment.

posted by FlossieT at 7:27 pm (EST) on Feb 12, 2009

Hey there,

Thanks for your message on my profile. I appreciate all the support I can get, even if it's just a 'great idea!' But this decision not to buy any books this year has been harder than you might think, even if I do know that it's with good reason. :)

Take care, and good luck with your 75 challenge -- I'll pop in to see how you're doing when I get a chance.
--Amy.

posted by alynnk at 5:42 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2009

Hey you - I got your present! Thanks! The earrings especially are amazing - and I don't have any in that color, which makes them all the more appreciated!

I'll try to write you a real letter one of these days - I'm lazy, but I should be able to manage it!

posted by ranaverde at 11:07 pm (EST) on Feb 5, 2009

Hi justchris

I guess that the books in my library are representative of what science fiction I've read, but I haven't kept many of those books. As I said I'm not a serious reader of science fiction. The ones I read are usually those set in the near future, often with social issues, also some alternative history/time travel kind of things. I also like dystopian fiction. I don't usually read "hard" science fiction or space wars kinds of things.

Of those in my library, I told you I liked Robert Charles Wilson, and I've read most of his books. Also like Jack McDevitt Octavia Butler, and some of David Brin. I'm not sure how to characterize Walter Mosely's sci-fi (he's primarily known as a mystery writer), but I usually like his work. Replay is Grimwood's only book, and it's an interesting story about a man who has to keep living his life over and over again. I like the Helliconia series by Brian Aldiss (3 books), about life on a planet where each season takes hundreds of years. Charles Stross is, I think, a prolific sci-fi writer, but Glass House is the only book of his I've read. It's about a scientific experiment in the far future where subjects are placed into circumstances like the Earth's Dark Ages, i.e. 1950-2000, to see what happens. Eiffelheim is the only book by Michael Flynn I've read, and I enjoyed it. It alternates episodes in the present time of a historian trying to discover why a particular village in the Alps disappeared during the Middle Ages, and life in that town in the Middle Ages, when ETs are stranded there. I haven't read the Maggie Gee or Ian McDonald books yet, but they come highly recommended. The most recent sci-fi book I read is The Slynx by Tatayana Tolstaya, which is like 1984 in a primitive society 200 years after "the Blast."

I don't know if any of these sounds like something you'd be interested in. If you read any of them, I'd be interested in your take.

Deborah

posted by arubabookwoman at 2:18 pm (EST) on Feb 5, 2009

Justchris,

Thanks for dropping by my profile page. Yes, I do own all the books that I have catalogued. I sure wish LT would get a 'wish list' feature so I do not have to keep my Continent TBR elsewhere!

I know how difficult it can be moving with books. We just moved into our new house at the end of May 2008, and I still have books that are in boxes because I do not have any shelves to put them on!

Stasia, aka AlcottAcre

posted by alcottacre at 11:53 pm (EST) on Feb 4, 2009

A calendar would be fine! Just let me know the URLs for the pics you want (and if you want them to go with particular months, note that, too).

posted by ranaverde at 11:03 pm (EST) on Jan 16, 2009

History of Private Life sounds interesting. I'll have to check it out. I have heard of Bloch, and I guess I need to go ahead and read that one. I do own the Joseph and Francis Gies books.

Can't wait to get to Spain myself.

Steven
http://steventill.com

posted by StevenTill at 11:59 am (EST) on Jan 14, 2009

That's quite an impressive list. What all does the History of Private Life cover? I haven't studied medieval Spain much at all. Most of my focus lies in medieval England and France. I would love to study medieval Spain at some point. Have you traveled to any sites in Spain personally?

I'm guessing since you mainly focus on medieval Spain, you wouldn't have any recommendations on English law or the institution of feudalism?

Thanks again,

Steven
http://steventill.com

posted by StevenTill at 12:06 pm (EST) on Jan 13, 2009

Always nice to find others interested in medieval history. I found your profile through the Medieval Europe group. Any particular book you would recommend? What's your favorite non-fiction book on medieval history? I'm always looking for new books to add to my library. Thanks.

Steven
http://steventill.com

posted by StevenTill at 5:19 pm (EST) on Jan 9, 2009

Agh, sorry. I lose track of which acronyms to use where. FB = Facebook. They have a sort of book tracking/virtual shelf application there, but it's rather clunky (especially compared to LT) so I only use it for library books. (It's rather out of date, too; I have a big stack of check-out slips needing to be entered.)

I think that it varies a lot how people use LT. I know that some people do list everything they've read, not just owned, and there are also some people out there who do indeed have these insanely large libraries. Plus there are some actual libraries (small ones) that use LT for their catalogs, and some weird projects that are in effect virtual libraries (like ones that are made up of the books that Thomas Jefferson owned).

If you want to upload everything you've researched into your LT account, click on the Tools tab, then select Universal Import. I don't know if it'd work with Endnote, but I don't see why it wouldn't either.

(I use the Export function when I'm getting ready to make a trip to Powells; I sort by incomplete series and take the spreadsheet printout with me.)

posted by ranaverde at 12:54 am (EST) on Dec 13, 2008

I myself try to limit this to books I own, though I know some people include books they've read, too. (I put those on my FB list instead.)

Why? Do you want to borrow something? :)

posted by ranaverde at 10:40 am (EST) on Dec 12, 2008

Howdy! :)

posted by ranaverde at 1:41 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2008