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About meI vacillate between fantastic fiction, my first love, histories of various French uprisings, books about deaf culture, and Star Wars. I try to catalog everything I pick up, whether I finish it or not, just as a support to my sieve-like memory.

About my libraryI sometimes get the actual feeling my bookshelves look on in hopeless envy at my recently-acquired Nook. Certainly they are more rigourously organized than the digital version.

GroupsBBC Radio 3 Listeners, Deaf Literature, FantasyFans, Feminist SF, Feminist Theory, Fforde Ffans, I prefer men to cauliflowers, Irish & Celtic Studies, Legacy Libraries, Literary Snobs —show all groups

Favorite authorsJohn Barth, Alfred Bester, K. J. Bishop, Eavan Boland, Elizabeth Bowen, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Octavia E. Butler, Albert Camus, John Crowley, Jacques Derrida, Louise Glück, Ursula K. Le Guin, Sarah Hall, Guy Gavriel Kay, Robin McKinley, Naomi Novik, Colm Tóibín, Jeff VanderMeer, Virginia Woolf (Shared favorites)

VenuesFavorites

Favorite bookstoresBooks Inc. in Mountain View, Dark Carnival, Literary Guillotine, Logos Books & Records, Moe's Books, Ocean Books, Recycle Book Store - San Jose

Also onLast.fm

Account typepublic, lifetime

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

Member sinceFeb 12, 2007

Currently readingThe Solitudes (The Aegypt Cycle) by John Crowley
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips
Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind by Margalit Fox
Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Most recent activity

sylvan_eyre added:
Joystick Nation: How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds by J. C. Herz

sylvan_eyre added:
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissell

sylvan_eyre added:
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: How Fifty Years of Videogames Conquered Pop Culture by Harold Goldberg

sylvan_eyre added:
The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon--The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World by Steven L. Kent

sylvan_eyre added:
The Kindly Ones by Melissa Scott

sylvan_eyre added:
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip

Thanks for the rundown. Reading Mieville's PSS was one of the more weird and intense reading experiences for me as well; I thought [The Scar] was pretty good but definitely not as busy. I'm looking forward to reading his upcoming Kraken.

Haven't read [Finch] yet but no doubt I will make time for it. As for Harrison, I'm sure I'll be getting into [Viriconium] sooner or later as well (it sounds like the kind of book to reread and savor); about ready for a good sci-fi space opera, though. So much stuff in that TBR pile.

I was initially drawn to the color of your image, so very blue in numerous aspects. But the posture is telling as well. Looks like she's about to leap into the Haka.

Happy reading and good luck with [Kingdom Under the Waves]!

posted by gonzobrarian at 3:10 pm (EST) on Mar 5, 2010

Thank you so much for your message and your kind comments about "A Game of Chess"!

I'm about halfway through "Wolf Hall" right now and loving it. I really rate Hilary Mantel. My memories of Tudor history are fairly hazy so I'm also having to make an effort to keep track of who everyone is. Odd that I don't seem to have the same difficulty with the Stewards of Gondor...

posted by Altariel at 10:43 am (EST) on Dec 23, 2009

i guess it's not THAT late in CA. What did you think of the "Alchemy of Stone"? i'm considering bingeing on Sedia's books. BTW though it might not be close to your field, the group of statisticians, geographers, programmers etc. that i work with function as decently paid graduate students for all intents and purposes. Not a bad living. And while i have publik health and geography degrees i inadvertently ended up in research for NIEHS due to a bizarre library school thesis (excuse me, information science ;-)) that illustrated the possible utility of graph theory in comparing close readings of different poems.

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 4:57 am (EST) on Aug 8, 2009

i had a similar reaction to "Nazi Literature of the Americas" (sic) which was clever but essentially pointless. I did finish that one as it was short. I feel like i'm either clueless or looking at an emperor w/no clothes.

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 12:21 pm (EST) on Aug 7, 2009

No kidding in re Savage Detectives. The mash up of poesy theory and practice was wonderful and v. funny and then who, besides the self absorbed protagonist cares, about the rest?

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 11:02 am (EST) on Aug 4, 2009

The Bester collection was VIRTUAL UNREALITIES, here's the Amazon citation. Will be picking this one up, one of these days:

http://www.amazon.com/Virtual-Unrealities-Fiction-Alfred-Bester/dp/0679767835/re...

posted by CliffBurns at 9:35 am (EST) on Nov 30, 2008

Not for the sake of promoting my own, but you might want to check that out. Well, the laast bit which goes "Here, have a paragraph so you can see what the style's like!" anyway. Not so much the rest of it.

I... don't know how many other reviews do that, but I think this is one of those books where you can benefit from reading a section in advance and her Daughter of Hounds/u> (latest, far as I can tell) starts out with a wholly different tone from the two other works of hers that I've read. (And the third which I've only peeked at so far.)

I like it, but she does mean it when she says "This book is best read aloud". Unfortunately, as far as I know, there aren't any audioversions available. *burble*

posted by sparrowbunny at 4:45 am (EST) on Nov 28, 2008

Having just read your comment in the "What's your 'thing'?' thread over in FantasyFans, I do have to ask... have you ever read anything by Caitlín R. Kiernan? Don't think you've any of her books listed, so.

Not quite convinced what I've read falls under the second category you mentioned, but I find her style absolutely fascinating. Thought I'd drop the mention as a result. It's definitely not a style that suits everyone.

*ruffles hair, just curious*

posted by sparrowbunny at 3:07 am (EST) on Nov 26, 2008

That bad? For me it's just that it gives me a vague idea of what not to get my mum.

Oh, dear. Halfway through a book or halfway through the pile? *assuming the former, but one never really knows*

Mostly literature classes, but my study is... well, broad. Pretty much 'if it's to do with English, I'll have had an introduction in it' broad. It does (seem to) have a focus on (English) literature, though, so mostly I've been taking literature courses. Yourself?

posted by sparrowbunny at 3:25 pm (EST) on Nov 24, 2008

Definitely another era for me. It's only with LT here that I'm kind of getting back into larger internet communities again after Elftown.

That's good to hear! ^-^ And aye you have a large, large library. ^-^ Mine's only the size it is because I'm compulsive and added my parents' books. Only day I'll work up the energy to add the cooking books and find the ones scattered in nooks and crannies.

I've been well. ^-^ Think that about sums it up, really. *fails at answering such questions, ruffles hair* Waiting to see what classes I am taking/can take next semester, mostly. And trying to tackle my mt TBR with any form of efficiency. It's not working...

posted by sparrowbunny at 4:51 pm (EST) on Nov 22, 2008

Hey! Nice to 'see' you again! I'm glad to hear that I could help with your project! Also hope you enjoyed the recommendation. ^-^

It's been years since I last visited Elftown, so here I am sitting bemused at the coincidence and size of the (internet) world. I hope life's been treating you well in this time!

posted by sparrowbunny at 4:59 am (EST) on Nov 22, 2008

I added your library to my interesting finds list. Looks like I'll have to check out a few of the books you have as they appear to be very interesting. Anything you'd particularly recommend?

posted by Schehezerade at 12:48 pm (EST) on Apr 12, 2008

hope you dont mind that i added yours as an intresting libary

posted by sean2euro at 1:15 pm (EST) on Feb 6, 2008

Hello! I am going to have to get something by Italo Calvino as I have seen his name a lot on LT. Did not make it to the library again today - why is it so easy for me to get to a bookstore, where I have to BUY something, and not to the public library? Maybe I have a thing about ownership, be it paperback OR hardback!

posted by vgilder1 at 6:10 pm (EST) on May 19, 2007

ah, I found some - very nice. thank you for introducing me! the nicest thing about librarything is finding tasteful readers who share. I like her whole approach & I'll read more

posted by bookstopshere at 10:01 am (EST) on Feb 20, 2007

because . . . ? Convince me & I'll pick some up

posted by bookstopshere at 2:15 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2007

it was Possession or Crowley's Little Big. I love Byatt and Possession is her best; the digressions into the nature of story telling make it one of my favorite rerererereads. You have a nice library - who's Eavan Boland?

posted by bookstopshere at 12:51 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2007

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