Random books from sthitha_pragjna's library

Hollywood by David Thomson

The Nature of Space and Time by Stephen Hawking

It all started with Eve: [being a brief account of certain famous women, each of them richly endowed with some quality that drives men mad, omitting no ... of it in books, (McGraw-Hill paperbacks) by Richard Willard Armour

Reese on Play: Introduction to Good Bridge by Terence Reese

The poets of the New York school by John Bernard Myers

Absolute Friends by John le Carre

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Friends: cesa714, EdwardEinhorn, Saraswati_Library, theworldsbestbooks

Interesting libraries: bibliobibuli, Brian2006, Eramirez156, garth, nikodemus, redrackham, reverend.baron, ringman, Saraswati_Library

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Member: sthitha_pragjna

CollectionsYour library (1,330), Gorey (49), art (47), photography (20), programming (61), finance (70), math recreations (25), philosophy (37), lost reading momentum (1), bridge (227), chess (300), Currently reading (7), All collections (1,348)

Reviews75 reviews

Tagsnon-fiction (351), games (311), chess (225), bridge (223), fiction (132), art (89), chess problems (79), history (66), finance (62), biography (59) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

GroupsBaker Street and Beyond, BBC Radio 3 Listeners, Bookcases: If You Build/Buy Them, They Will Fill, Bookends, Chess, Cricket, Crime, Thriller & Mystery, Cryptic Crosswords, Duplicate Bridge Enthusiasts, Edward Gorey — show all groups

Favorite authorsDavid Bird, John Le Carré, John Horton Conway, Kinky Friedman, Edward Gorey, Anthony Powell, Terence Reese, Sankaracarya, Raymond M. Smullyan, Janwillem Van De Wetering, Alain Campbell White, P.G. Wodehouse (Shared favorites)

About meEx-physicist. Mathematical recreations and puzzle books were my first love. Then, I consumed YA adventure/detective/thriller genres, exhausting a few blockbuster authors. I never read the newspapers, but to do the crossword puzzle. Now, older and wiser, I am drawn to literature, some classics, and history (the newspapers I did not read in my nerdy childhood and wasted youth are now history).

Financial institutions and instruments, and the management of risk in the banking industry, as well as financial portfolios are my current and over-arching interest.

Although I hardly get the time to play nowadays, I am crazy about contract bridge.(Bridge is addictive. Bridge is a harder game than chess. I believe that book learning and rubber bridge are neccessary to become a good bridge player.
)

About my libraryPast interests include physics. These days, classics interest me more than fiction. I like to read books about literature. Occasionally discover a Indian writer.

I browse used bookshops, collect via online listings, and via auction (yeah, eBay) sites. Over the years, I have been able to patiently find Alain White's Christmas series (limited edition chess problem books) through the occasional listing, or from Strand's New York. I don't like Strand's much these days.

I have avoided the bestseller category successfully except, I am loath to admit, for Harry Potter.( With all these copies on the shelves of LibraryThing folk, when will they ever be recycled to pulp?) Thus, I hope to be a "long tail" reader. I do have a few bestsellers like the Ramayana in my collection, that I like.

I collect books on chess problems in just about any language which I don't understand such as Russian, Slovak, Dutch, German...

I chanced upon the works of Edward Gorey, loved his art, and went on a collecting spree. Luckily, Gotham Book Mart, a goldmine of Gorey originals, New York, NY was on the walk to work. Some Gorey books I own:

Pointless mysteries with quirky wit or attitude(Kinky Friedman, van de Wetering) are starting to take attention over nail-biting, closed box mysteries (Agatha Christie, Conan Doyle).

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Connection NewsConnection News

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

Common KnowledgeSeries (76), Awards (158), Characters (995), Places (186)

Member sinceMay 19, 2006

Currently readingThe laws and principles of whist stated and explained: And its practice illustrated on an original system by means of hands played completely through by "Cavendish" [pseud.] by Henry Jones
Tal's 100 Best Games by Bernard Cafferty
Rudolph Spielmann Master of Invention (Everyman Chess) by Neil McDonald
Beautiful Code: Leading Programmers Explain How They Think (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly)) by Andy Oram
Made in India by Reed Darmon
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Most recent activity

sthitha_pragjna added:
Letters to a Young Contrarian (Art of Mentoring) by Christopher Hitchens

sthitha_pragjna added:
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande

sthitha_pragjna added:
A History of Far Eastern Art by sherman lee

sthitha_pragjna added:
Kill Two Birds & Get Stoned: A Novel by Kinky Friedman

sthitha_pragjna added:
Edward Gorey: The New Poster Book by Edward Gorey

sthitha_pragjna added:
Winning the Won Game by Danny Kopec

I am curious about the book you own by Molly Daniels-Ramanujan.

You are the only person who owns it. What sort of book is it? Do you know Ms Daniels-Ramanujan?

I ask because I took a fiction class from her about 20 years ago. She was a great teacher. I wondered if she had ever published anything. This single work was all I found and you are the only owner.

Thanks
Amy

posted by acornell at 9:22 pm (EST) on Mar 2, 2008

Hi, I noticed a few chess titles in your catalog and thought you might like to check my forum site out, www.ChessForums.org, thanks, Greg

posted by gregfindley at 5:59 am (EST) on Jun 30, 2007

Aah! hi! I didnt expect to see a reply at all and completely forgot that i had left a comment..i apologize.

Well, yeah my name is given to me, but m yet to realize the full significance of it. I have heard my name being quoted in the sanskrit shloka(is it a shloka?) before and found it amusing!

In any case, m pleased to have found you...
I m not an avid reader, but certainly do think books are better than TV.
I m reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo right now..and finished Anna Karenina sometime back.

how about you?

posted by szmggan at 1:01 am (EST) on May 25, 2007

Hi. We share ownership of Ernst with text by Pauline Pritzker. I don't know if you are interested, or even if you have the same copy, but I've added a copy for my version. It's a bit of a photoshop job and I've had to add the top banner and lettering (which is slightly off but I'm no good at recognising fonts), but it will do me as I continue to search for a real copy/until I get my scanner fixed. I thought I'd let you know in case it matched yours and you wanted to use it.

posted by InigoMontoya at 10:43 am (EST) on Apr 18, 2007

hi! i finally found someone with the same name as mine!
Sthitha Pragnya ganesh is my name...

Sorry for the irrelavant comment though

posted by szmggan at 7:05 am (EST) on Apr 17, 2007

Hi sthitha_pragjna, the following web link is for the Correspondence Chess League of America (CCLA); http://www.chessbymail.com/

I use to play just postal chess when I was much younger (late teens to my mid 30's) - still like to read some of my old chess books now & then for some of the stories about different players but have not played chess for a long time. I never was any good at the game but enjoyed playing.

Have a good one! Virgil

posted by virg144 at 10:15 am (EST) on Jan 28, 2007

Hi:
I found your library quite interesting as well. I have been meaning to read the "Dance to the Music of time" series. How did you like these books? Bridge!!! Always found that intimidating. How does it compare to chess, cerebrally demanding? I have been contemplating getting into "GO" , the chinese war game. Seems like we have similar interests.
Nice to make your acquaintance.
-Gopal (redrackham)

posted by redrackham at 11:40 pm (EST) on Dec 12, 2006

Thank you for your comment. My wife has told me that for every new book that I add to my library, I must reduce it by one. I manage to add a couple now and then without her knowledge. Some of the books go back 30 years, so and when I pick one to read, it's like reading it for the first time.

posted by souscolline at 12:54 pm (EST) on Aug 31, 2006

Thank you for your comments on my reviews. I have been out of town for ahwile, hence the delay in replying to you. I am delighted to see that we share the same views on Primo Levi. I think I have pretty well all of his books and poetry; I think he was a wonderful writer who addressed and searched the greatest moral issues of our times. I was very saddened when I heard of his death. I take your point on the "Collector"; I would have to go back to the book to see if I misinterpreted this.

posted by John at 11:32 am (EST) on Jun 28, 2006

There seems to be a shared interest in bridge though you have only 3 of my 36 books. Destiny at bay and Right through the pack are only owned by the two of us. The reason for so little overlap is that most of mine were bought by my father in the 1940's.

posted by ringman at 6:46 am (EST) on Jun 9, 2006

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