Member: tanstaafl

I wrote a similar BoM review on another site, so I was sorry to see that somebody beat me to it here. However, yours is better, so I concede the victory and tip my hat to you, sir.

posted by AshRyan at 12:33 am (EST) on Aug 31, 2009

*snerk* So, "The Book of Mormon" is a no-go zone...? Wonderful exegisis! Skillful and succinct!

Thanks for the laugh, I really enjoyed that.

RMD

posted by richardderus at 12:51 pm (EST) on Jul 30, 2009

Loved your BoM review! hilarious, .. thank you!

posted by mckait at 2:48 pm (EST) on Jul 29, 2009

I'm jumping on the bandwagon: loved your BoM review! As a guy who was also raised in the Mormon church, I can relate! Great library, too! And I was going to make a funny comment about your Lebowski quote, but somebody else outdid me with their comment about your bookcase tying the room together. "Vagina." :p

posted by burningbooks at 3:55 am (EST) on Jul 9, 2009

Hi,

Was wondering if you'd be interested in reviewing my new novel and posting your comments here as well as a few other book-related sites. Saw you liked Paris Trout, and thought you might like my novel since it's also southern and a bit dark (in the same vein as Paris Trout). I could e-mail you the novel in an e-book format if you'd like. Let me know if you're interested. Here's a link to a summary in case you're interested:

http://christophertusa.com/blog/?page_id...

Thanks,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 10:20 am (EST) on Mar 18, 2009

I noticed on your review of American Rust you said you couldn't figure out how to give a half star? You have to click in between the stars. so if you want 3.5 click between the 3 and 4. Takes a couple tries to get it. =)

posted by Oklahomabooklady at 9:00 pm (EST) on Mar 8, 2009

Thanks T. In the amusement park of my life, Ayn Rand is someone I'd pay to work the dunk tank.

I like your bookcases. Are they Globe Wernicke?

posted by Ganeshaka at 10:18 pm (EST) on Mar 7, 2009

Your bookcase really ties the room together.

posted by anna_in_pdx at 12:44 pm (EST) on Jan 23, 2009

Now you're going to tell me that your show was neither good nor jolly.

posted by antiquitylover at 2:15 pm (EST) on Dec 10, 2008

Hilarious review of the Book of Mormon. I only read it as a child and I still thought, "How can anybody believe this stuff?! I am new to LT and am still exploring. I look forward to perusing your library. Happy December!
Bonnie

posted by bonniebooks at 7:04 pm (EST) on Dec 6, 2008

Good show, Old Man!

posted by antiquitylover at 4:16 pm (EST) on Dec 3, 2008

I love your review of the Book of Mormon. :-)

posted by sheherazahde at 12:46 am (EST) on Nov 29, 2008

Yay! another person to share with! See you on the boards. LibraryLady

posted by librarylady623 at 10:06 pm (EST) on Nov 24, 2008

Like GeekGoddess, I share more books with you than anyone else on LibraryThing! Well, except for bluetyson, but he has over 50,000 books listed (inlcuding, I think, books that he's read but doesn't necessarily own...?). At any rate, his total number is so large that it disproportionately skews the common number, which is only marginally higher than my common number with yours.

Nice collection! I like all your leather-bounds in the right-hand side of the pic.

John

posted by SpacemanSpiff at 10:54 pm (EST) on Nov 21, 2008

Apparently I share more books with you than anyone else on Library Thing!

GG

posted by GeekGoddess at 8:27 pm (EST) on Nov 10, 2008

Actually, giving the Book Of Mormon a half a star was too generous. Too bad they don't have the capability to show minus stars.

posted by saucie at 4:02 pm (EST) on Nov 1, 2008

sorry to burst your bubble, I just got busy and had forgotten to look up the reference. Since you have reminded me i'll try and remember to look it up soon. unfortunately I don't get to spend as much time as i would like on librarything so i didn't see your message until today.

posted by Merriwyn at 10:25 am (EST) on Oct 13, 2008

Actually, Archaeologists have changed their minds on the "Horses in South America pre Spaniards" bit. I'll have to look up the details and let you know exactly where I read it later.

posted by Merriwyn at 9:31 pm (EST) on Sep 28, 2008

Amazing review of The Book Of Mormon!! Having come from an LDS family, I can't agree with you more!!! Congrats on making "the front page", it really made my day!!

posted by TheBoltChick at 8:16 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2008

Enjoyed your review of the Book of Mormon. Entertaining. :)

posted by Bibliophilistic at 3:00 pm (EST) on Sep 20, 2008

Amazing review of The book of Mormon. The voice could not be more apt.

posted by mposey82 at 7:12 pm (EST) on Sep 17, 2008

That sounds incredibly scary! I hope the sleeping is peaceful now.
I shall avoid badminton from now on.
:)

posted by tomcatMurr at 10:10 pm (EST) on Sep 14, 2008

Congratulations on your trophy! Well deserved. In future LT.com lore, say 50 years hence, we'll be talking about your BOM review the way people still talk about Ulysses, War & Peace, etc., shaking our heads in fond remembrance, thinking, 'Man, they don't write 'em like that anymore!'

I suspect your former personal involvement with the LDS sparked the inspiration fueling your creative outrage over the lies & absurdities of the text.

I'm curious, if you don't mind me asking, who awarded you your trophy?

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 12:30 pm (EST) on Sep 14, 2008

Brilliant review of BOM! Easily the best (and funniest) I've read. Thank you.

posted by deanc at 12:16 am (EST) on Sep 5, 2008

Super entertaining Book of Mormon review. Refreshingly honest from a Mormon boy--good job.

posted by DanaJean at 9:03 pm (EST) on Aug 9, 2008

I have made a sincere effort to read the book of mormon (got about a third of the way through), so I can authoritatively say that your review was at least 10x more readable and comprehensible than the original. Nice try, though. ;)

posted by george.d.ross at 7:55 pm (EST) on Jul 26, 2008

Just seen your review of the Book of Mormon, which I've only dipped in to it very briefly. Quite apart from the general barminess of it all, what I could never understand was why J Smith chose to render text of the plates (if plates there ever were) into such poor sub-1611 AV prose. But at a much more basic level, why bother to construct the Book of Mormon at all? What purpose was it meant to serve?

posted by kranf at 7:34 am (EST) on Jul 26, 2008

no uvula? Golly, that must make swallowing pretty difficult. Can I ask what happened to it?

posted by tomcatMurr at 8:26 pm (EST) on Jul 24, 2008

Dude, you've been flagged 70 freaking times so far for that review (well on your way to surpassing 100 easily I'm betting, which btw, must be a lt.com record), so, in essence, your review is like The Da Vinci Code or Harry Potter of reviews. Congratulations! However, I'm not trying to lay no pressure trip man, but what on earth can you possibly create as a followup to BOM which won't be viewed as a commercial and/or critical dissappointment? Can lightning stike the same soul twice? Can you go Titanic, Thriller, or Rumours back-to-back? Your fans will just have to wait and see.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 5:22 pm (EST) on Jul 24, 2008

Feel free! All of the cubicle hamsters around "these here parts" use it so it may even be a public domain colloquialism. ^_-

posted by Allama at 4:14 pm (EST) on Jul 24, 2008

Great review of the BoM!

and now a related commentary from the great prophets of 'South Park'...
"dumb dumb dumb du-dumb"

posted by Enodia at 10:17 pm (EST) on Jul 23, 2008

Priceless Book of Mormon Review. I've just had a tonsillectomy, so if the sutures break after laughing so hard, my wrath will visit ye!!

posted by tomcatMurr at 10:06 pm (EST) on Jul 23, 2008

Though I see that you have already received a great many positive comments regarding your review of the Book of Mormon, I am compelled to add my own. Allow me to simply say that I laughed hard enough for people to prairie-dog over their cubicle walls to see what was going on in my little corner of the office.

Thanks for the laugh!

posted by Allama at 1:35 pm (EST) on Jul 21, 2008

OMG, I laughed until I fell out of my chair! Thank you, thank you for making my day.

posted by celebrian at 7:23 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2008

Thanks for the Book of Mormon review. I sense some hurting there. Is that true? I live close to Nauvoo, so see plenty of people coming here on a pilgrimage from afar. I can see no sense to the revelations. You stated everything so well. We share 130 books. I LIKE your library.

posted by kerrlm at 2:06 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2008

Hello, Thanks for the Book of Mormon review. I may give that one a miss then, not having perused of it before. Have you read 'Wild Bill Hickman'and the Mormon Frontier? I like your Library by the way.

Regards,

Stilestrider

posted by Stilestrider at 7:19 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2008

BOM review....it gave me a good laugh. Many thanks Dude.

posted by cayman at 6:52 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2008

My bosom burns--yea it must be true! I myself have read the self-same book and verily was appalled. Who would follow such a ridiculous prophet and his special glasses?

Many thanks.

posted by jrak at 6:16 am (EST) on Jul 18, 2008

After re-reading your review (out loud to my ex-Mormon wife) I felt a burning in my bosom as to the truth of what I must now do, that is, add you to my interesting libraries. May you populate your own planet someday.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 11:41 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2008

Fabulous review of the Book of Mormon. I needed that laugh, thank you so much!

posted by valkylee at 10:52 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2008

Loved your review of the Book of Mormon! I only read part of the Book of Mormon once, but it seemed to me as if someone who wasn't a very good writer tried to write the Bible. Very, very, very, very inferior to the Bible, and simply not credible by any standard. Martha Huntley
p.s. I notice we share 29 books or something like that, including a bunch of Robert B. Parker mysteries, and Under the Banner of Heaven.

posted by MarthaHuntley at 4:08 pm (EST) on Jul 16, 2008

What a review! My sides hurt from laughing.

posted by chanale at 8:10 pm (EST) on Jul 15, 2008

Your review of The BOM is the best parody review I've ever read. The Wittenberg Door is a quarterly magazine that would publish it, I'm almost positive, were you to submit it. Splendid satire! If there were a way to nominate it for an award here in lt.com, I would. Brilliant. You're lucky it's only the ultra nice Mormons you're spoofing. I dare you to spoof, say, The Koran. Go for it! I was one of Salman Rushdie's bodyguards way back when (see profile page logo), so I would make promise to protect you to if you like.

posted by EnriqueFreeque at 6:45 pm (EST) on Jul 15, 2008

And it came to pass that I did read your review of the Book of Mormon and Yea verily I say that it was AWESOME.

posted by TheLibraryhag at 1:16 pm (EST) on Jul 15, 2008

Dude, nice library! 307 in common! (So far, that is. Still uploading mine, although I haven't got too much further to go). I love all the leather-bounds.

posted by SpacemanSpiff at 8:55 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2008

I like your style Dude.

posted by KidSisyphus at 2:54 am (EST) on Mar 22, 2008

I absolutely love looking through your books:) Only 120 in common so far. Of your entire catalog can you estimate how many of them you have read so far?

posted by CarlaR at 5:52 pm (EST) on Jan 17, 2008

I put up photos of a lot of Easton Press books

posted by SThurston at 1:49 pm (EST) on Nov 28, 2007

My apologies, then. I mistook you for someone else :)

posted by Christopher.Altnau at 10:37 pm (EST) on Nov 13, 2007

Isn't there an extra "a" in your name? Isn't it supposed to be T.A.N.S.T.A.F.L. (T.A. Never Sticks To Anything For Long?) Or have I got the wrong person? If so, it would be a WILD coincidence. That's not a very common acronym.

posted by Christopher.Altnau at 9:32 pm (EST) on Nov 12, 2007

It's nice to meet you! I look forward to exploring your books.

posted by lisaunger at 7:28 am (EST) on Nov 12, 2007

Oh yes, tanstaafl! My dad raised me up on Heinlein. Like your collection--also collect Easton Press.

posted by rocketcitymel at 9:11 pm (EST) on Apr 15, 2007

Are you Mormon by chance?

posted by orchdork21 at 3:20 pm (EST) on Apr 12, 2007

246 in common...that's pretty sweet

posted by jabbman42 at 1:13 pm (EST) on Mar 14, 2007

103 books in common, not too shabby. You're not quite my number one but that guy has 11,000 books so he's probably everyone's number 1! I had to look up you name and found it amusing that there's a fairly extensive wiki for it.

posted by Drew_Blood at 9:33 pm (EST) on Feb 14, 2007

Ah yes, makes sense.

I live in Arizona so I experience the same lack of rainy weekends. :)

posted by daturaviolet at 5:10 pm (EST) on Dec 9, 2006

...and we have 43 books in common. :)

posted by daturaviolet at 3:48 pm (EST) on Dec 6, 2006

I see you've read much Dostoevsky.

posted by daturaviolet at 3:47 pm (EST) on Dec 6, 2006

We seem to have many books in common and I dig your style, Dude. Hit me back, just to chat, truly yours, your biggest fan (this is Stan).

posted by madimiel at 5:28 pm (EST) on Dec 5, 2006

I never even knew this site existed until six days ago, but now "New Shit has come to light, man!"

Glad to see someone has a sense of humour in these dark days. We share some tastes. Glad to know ya!

posted by gerrymcdonald at 11:16 am (EST) on Sep 29, 2006

Wow, we share all those books AND you're one with The Dude. I'm in love with you and I don't even know you!!

posted by rebel1031 at 10:23 am (EST) on Sep 26, 2006

You should join the Easton Press Collectors group. there are only 5 of us now but we do have some good images of the covers. Also, most of our books are identified as easton press editions becuase they have been entered manually. Hope to see you there!

posted by aschiavi at 2:44 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2006

You have easton press books. Are you going to tag them as such or id them in any other way? I have a bunch of them and am not sure how to enter them because the have no ISBN.

posted by aschiavi at 7:00 pm (EST) on Aug 28, 2006

I just joined the site today. I've only entered 60 books so far into my database, and we already have 21 books in common. So far we have 1/3 of my collection in common. I'll see where we're at when I loaded in a few hundred more.

cheers,
Chris

posted by ChrisG at 3:42 am (EST) on Aug 16, 2006

Great collection! The Dude abides ;-)

posted by xinelibrary at 1:49 pm (EST) on Jul 11, 2006

You had me at "seeking Queen". ;-)

posted by saucie at 12:57 am (EST) on Jul 8, 2006

would I be disqualified if I elbowed my way to the front of the
wanna be Queen line?

posted by saucie at 7:13 pm (EST) on Jul 4, 2006

My pitiful library is ashamed. And like my favorite person you enjoy the adventures of The Dude. You're neat.

posted by patrickr at 3:35 am (EST) on Jul 4, 2006

I don't remember seeing used Overholsers at the Tucson bookstore I was buying from when I was in my Western accumulation stage. I never spent much money on Zane Grey books, but the Navy library in Japan had almost all of them, and I read them over and over (it was a large library space-wise, but its collection was hit-or-miss).

posted by Linkmeister at 2:11 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2006

Somebody else actually owns books by Cliff Farrell.

posted by Linkmeister at 7:55 pm (EST) on Jun 30, 2006

tanstaafl!!! That's pretty much my dad's favorite acronym. I saw you on my list of users with common books, no shock Rand is there.

posted by k8_not_kate at 2:06 pm (EST) on Jun 30, 2006

Curse those godless bears! Will no one bring religion to these heathens? No one f@cks with The Jesus.

posted by squeakjones at 9:01 am (EST) on Jun 28, 2006

PS - but I like history, though often historical novels the easy option.

posted by Sally-AnneLambert at 3:52 am (EST) on Jun 26, 2006

Hi dude,
We have 5 books in common, which makes you number one tied on my list... but that's pathetic compared to the number one on YOUR list has 544 or sth in common!!!! Well I'm in China so I couldn't remember all the ones I have in my original collection. Most of what we share are classics, which I read because I'm in China and not too many modern ones are available... just enough. My Dad read the whole of his local library when he was in Samoa, shelf by shelf.
Sally

posted by Sally-AnneLambert at 3:50 am (EST) on Jun 26, 2006

Not only are you tops on my list, you're tops on my sister's list too!!! Fucking stalker!

posted by TheBrewmeister at 8:56 pm (EST) on Jun 19, 2006

I love your collection! Beautiful.

posted by rosethorne at 12:43 pm (EST) on Jun 18, 2006

A most excellent quote for your "about me" section!

posted by sagespot at 10:52 am (EST) on Jun 15, 2006

Are you from the University of Chicago?

posted by strangeknight at 11:59 am (EST) on Jun 13, 2006

Wow, what a collection.

posted by TheBookLarva at 10:46 am (EST) on Jun 10, 2006

Oh look at that, I finish another book and now you shoot into the top spot.

posted by TheBrewmeister at 5:04 pm (EST) on Jun 5, 2006

Your bookshelves are the coolest.

posted by vidalia11 at 12:51 pm (EST) on Jun 4, 2006

Go to your profile and on the right you will see the list of people that you have in common listed by the number of matches.

posted by LauraTho at 12:21 am (EST) on Jun 3, 2006

You are at the top of my list. If I noted correctly, you are new too. I love the format. You are now number one on my watch list. Pick some good books

posted by LauraTho at 3:00 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2006

You're number one! (On my list anyway of books in common, anyway.) And I like to think of it as us having the same great taste, thank you very much! :)

posted by absinthebride at 6:00 pm (EST) on May 28, 2006

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch?

posted by etrainer at 5:49 pm (EST) on May 28, 2006

I would vote on a few of the evolution books personally, but then again, you might like George more.

posted by TheBrewmeister at 3:21 pm (EST) on May 28, 2006

Pity. A pool table (and a bar) would make that the Library of my dreams.

posted by tartalom at 1:28 pm (EST) on May 28, 2006

Where's the pool table?

posted by tartalom at 1:02 pm (EST) on May 28, 2006

Great library!

posted by absinthebride at 9:35 pm (EST) on May 26, 2006

The Dude Abides

posted by TheBrewmeister at 4:13 pm (EST) on May 26, 2006

Word up!

posted by TheBrewmeister at 1:19 am (EST) on May 25, 2006