Random books from ladygata's library

About me I have very little patience for sitting still in a classroom, which explains my lack of degrees (not that I'm knocking university - I may yet return). I can, however, spend vast amounts of time immersed in a good book. People who know me like to call me "self-educated", though I guess I'm really being educated by other writers. I also like to learn by conversation with fascinating people, whether in my my native NYC or away on one of my rare forays out of town. Though I'd like to travel more, I'm usually quite satisfied ensconced in my home library with my ridiculously cute Persian cat Zenobia, a good cup of Darjeeling and a historical novel. When the weather is pleasant I prefer to read under the shade of a massive tree, and sometimes I wish I had my own garden. I also watch too much TV for my own good.

About my library I tend to haunt the public libraries often enough, so I don't think this list quite reflects the amount of books I've read in my lifetime. However, there's enough of me in it, as can be seen from the amounts of history, tea and poetry books I have in my personal collection. It may also show I'm a raving Anglophile. I am a somewhat curious person and like to learn about a variety of things, so I try not to limit my collection to only a few genres - but I do have my priorities!

Homepagehttp://queengata.blogspot.com

Membership LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Real nameCatherine

LocationNYC

Account typepublic, lifetime

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

Member sinceJun 27, 2006

Comments from other LibraryThing-ers

(Leave a comment.)

Hi Catherine, I see that you just added a scrapbooking book to your library. I do some crafting and have discovered a great site: www.tvweekly.com I think you'll enjoy it as well if you are a crafter. Cheers! Judie

posted by passy at 7:58 am (EST) on May 7, 2008

Thanks for the Tea and Sympathy recommendation over in the talk forums--I'm looking forward to checking it out now. I *love* your profile picture! I'm a bit of an Anglophile myself, so I'm enjoying looking through your library.

posted by Medellia12 at 10:53 am (EST) on Apr 29, 2008

Hi Catherine,

Hope all's well with you and the furry gang? :) How are you getting on with 'Middlemarch'? I'll admit I'm not finding it the easiest book in the world to read and significantly tougher than Dickens or Trollope. I find myself skimming through some of the more wordier sections. Nevertheless, I'm hooked into the story now.

kind regards

Laura

posted by digifish_books at 10:03 pm (EST) on Apr 27, 2008

Hey - I saw you on the Early Reviewers blog (you, like me, came up empty-handed for April. *Sadness*) You have a great library and list of favorite authors - and I always love meeting tea-drinkers - so I thought I would pop by and drop you a little "hello" from Chicago.

posted by universehall at 9:50 am (EST) on Apr 11, 2008

Hey, I'm glad you persisted with 'Nicholas Nickleby'! I loved it, even with its abundance of characters...

I like the current photo here. The teapot has a 'drip-catcher' device attached. Nice :)

posted by digifish_books at 11:20 pm (EST) on Apr 4, 2008

That's great! My own "Dickens in 2008" quest is proceeding a bit slower; so far I'm about 100 pages into Oliver Twist.

posted by bibliophool at 4:57 am (EST) on Apr 4, 2008

Thanks for adding me . Yes, I think a bit of catnip tea might be just the thing for Zenobia. She's a Persian? Perfectly OK about the mix-up on Barley, he's very light for a golden.

posted by passy at 1:50 pm (EST) on Apr 2, 2008

Had to check out your blog & found Zenobia. She's lovely. Does she like tea, as well?

posted by passy at 1:41 pm (EST) on Apr 2, 2008

Ha, ha, yes, maybe you have seen it a lot, but you could do worse than quote from it, as far as I'm concerned! "Barley is a golden retriever, 2 1/2 yrs old & my "angel-boy".

posted by passy at 1:38 pm (EST) on Apr 2, 2008

Hi Catherine, I just read your page & I also love teas of most sorts. My favorite tea shops are those of Mariage Freres in Paris. It is a real adventure to visit there. Last time I bought just a smidge of "yin-ZHEN" & I practically had to take a loan to pay for it. Worth it , though, if only for the ceremony they go through to take the huge tin from the shelf, carefully measure it out, pour it into one of their beautiful black signature bags, seal it, label it & write the brewing time on it. Then they patiently extol the virutes of the type purchased & go over just how hot the water should be & how long it should steep & if you should add anything to it. Of course the clerks don't handle money, so you then are escorted over to the cashier window to carry out your transaction. Wonderful!

posted by passy at 1:05 pm (EST) on Apr 2, 2008

Hi, Catherine. Thanks for checking out my library. I have to wonder - what did you find 'interesting' about it? Maybe it's just that we seem to have some common interests...I am also a cat person, and I noticed your blog post about the knitting cafe. My ownership of Stitch N' Bitch Nation must've outed me as a knitter. ;') Not a very good, nor ambitious knitter; I'm pretty handy with DPNs since I originally taught myself to knit specifically to make my own socks, but I've mostly just made iPod and cell phone socks. "Turning the heel" isn't as difficult as it's made out to be, but Second Sock Syndrome IS! Plus, I'm too busy to follow intricate patterns, too impatient to spend more than a few days on a project.

My 6 yo daughter is convinced that all cats in the world talk to each other, and therefore all know her name and that she's a friend to cats everywhere, so give Zeno a stroke and tell her Aidan from Los Angeles says, "Hi!"

posted by AprilHamilton at 2:00 am (EST) on Mar 1, 2008

Hi Catherine!

Thanks for adding me to your interesting libraries. Your library contains a few of my favorite books, especially 'The Crimson Petal and the White'. I have two persian cats as well! I'll definitely check back to see what you are reading!

- Brianna

posted by Bri794fsu at 9:04 am (EST) on Feb 21, 2008

Hi Catherine, I wandered over and had a look at you blog page. Lots of nice cats and tea there... Indeed the black & white cat does look very comfy and at-home! :D

posted by digifish_books at 6:04 am (EST) on Feb 20, 2008

Welcome to our group.Feel free to put in posts about where you favorite place to travel to has been, or any other travel stuff you want.
Sydney

posted by sydaisy at 3:32 pm (EST) on Feb 12, 2008

Hi, just to say that I love your photo of Regent Street, I work quite near there. Funnily enough though I have been really keen to go to New York recently!
Julie

posted by StringerTowers at 9:22 am (EST) on Feb 5, 2008

Yes, I'm quite often there. It's just up the road from the London Library in St James's Square, and I whenever I get to London (once a fortnight or so) I make a bee-line for that area. I actually lived in London for a number of years, and both my children were born there!

posted by joehutcheon at 2:22 pm (EST) on Jan 31, 2008

Just wanted to stop by and say good luck on the "Dickens in 2008" quest!

posted by bibliophool at 10:35 am (EST) on Jan 16, 2008

Thanks for adding me to your interesting Libraries list. I am happy to return the favor. Wow we share Q's legacy and Old Herbaceous and we're both tea-drinking Anglophiles.

posted by Marensr at 5:45 pm (EST) on Jan 9, 2008

Thanks for adding me to your Interesting Libraries list in return, ladygata! I enjoyed browsing through your collection and will likely take a closer look quite soon. Cheers!

Alana

(I re-commented this as I noticed a glaring typographical error in the last one I left. Eep!)

posted by Allama at 9:50 am (EST) on Jan 4, 2008

Thanks for adding my library to your interesting libraries list. I see that we have several books in common (especially tea!) -- maybe more in the future as I have not catalogued all my books.
Cheers,
Besotted

posted by bookbesotted at 9:32 am (EST) on Nov 30, 2007

Thanks for adding my library. It looks like we share a lot of books on early modern England. Since I teach Renaissance drama, I recognize you cat's name. (In fact, I just saw a production of Tamburlaine in Washington last weekend.) My tabby is named Rafe, and I, too, am obviously a bit of an Anglophile.

posted by Cariola at 4:58 pm (EST) on Nov 8, 2007

nice to see someone add me....a lil ol upstate ny'er like myself,imagine that? boy howdy,eh?

posted by ryan_wart at 2:39 am (EST) on Oct 25, 2007

So! A catophile and an Anglophile - we're bound to get on well!

If you do ever travel in the UK, look me up on couchsurfing....

posted by sarahemmm at 2:22 am (EST) on Oct 24, 2007

Thank you for adding my library! I have done the same for yours; quite impressive.

Kimberly
(artgirl74)

posted by artgirl74 at 8:14 pm (EST) on Oct 10, 2007

Hey! Another Queen fan! Do you mind if I ask you your favorite song of theirs? I'd say mine is I Want to Break Free, or maybe Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

posted by monohex at 9:13 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2007

They there! :) I'm quite jealous of your collection of books on tea. I read Empire of Tea for an essay I wrote in my Orientalism class about the impact of tea on religion in Asia, but I sadly own only two books about this wonderful subject.

posted by Wosret at 5:01 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2007

Excellent suggestion on Tea and Sympathy! Thank you :)

posted by parelle at 3:31 pm (EST) on Aug 29, 2007

Thank you for adding me :) I'm terribly jealous to read on your blog that you've gotten to see (and nearly stalk) Jasper Fforde! I am heading up to New York in September for a few days - I've been to Alice's Teacup (the first one, I believe) - but where would you recommend to go for afternoon tea?

posted by parelle at 3:44 am (EST) on Aug 28, 2007

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