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Member: thegreattim

CollectionsYour library (1,935)

Reviews13 reviews

TagsTs Books (1,464), f (1,454), hc (1,065), fe (909), cmpl (826), Fiction: Science (501), From: BM (363), Js Books (349), rp (323), From: LS (247) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

GroupsBook Collectors, Bookcases: If You Build/Buy Them, They Will Fill, BookMooching, Combiners!, Early Reviewers, Modern Collector, Name that Book, Science Fiction Fans, The Green Dragon

Favorite bookstoresArgos Book Shop, Barnes & Noble Booksellers - River Crossing, Borderlands Books, Mystery House Book Shoppe, Redux Books

Favorite librariesChicago Public Library - Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Public Library - Merlo Branch, Grand Rapids Public Library – Main, Kent District Library - Walker Branch

Other favoritesPrinters Row Book Fair

About meNew pic again; this is from the NY Times article about BookMooch that had my picture and part of my library in it! (The New York Times Company (c)2007 - photo credit Adam Bird) View the whole article Here.

It seems 2009 is shaping up to be a year for the "mega-series" for me. After re-discovering the joy of Andrew Wiggin in Card's newly released Ender In Exile, I have nearly wrapped up a complete absorption of the entire "enderverse" (11 titles) in chronological order. It has been a delightful visit with dear old friends. Later, I have a planned trip to revisit King's seminal series, The Dark Tower (7 titles). This will not be the first time (or the second) that I have traveled to the clearing with Roland and his ka-tet, but I have an urge to climb those black stairs once again, and I have been told that I'm missing out by not listening to the audio versions of these books. So that's the plan this time around. Finally, I'm going to inhale the conglomerate that is Rice's magnum opus, namely the combined Lestat & Mayfair series (15 titles). As I'm reluctant to spend my reading time re-reading books, all of these series will be in audio format, which I can listen to while I 'm at work. This will keep my "in hand" reading for all those new and shiny exciting things and my "by ear" reading for all the old treasures. This should take me through the first few months of the year, at least!

And I'm so far behind on all my cataloging hopes and plans that I anticipate finishing somewhere around 2013. Wish me luck.

About my libraryThis library contains both Jess' books and mine. I mostly stick to mainstream fiction, with a lot of sci-fi and non-fiction science books thrown in. I'm also becoming a fan of the historical fiction & historical non-fiction genres. Jess tends to favor the cooking and baking books/manuals/compendiums, etc... since this is her chosen field. She also is a fan of other crafty type books (sewing, painting) and historical romances and modern mysteries. We both collect a few children's books from our childhood. We share the others such as the reference books and the books on Christianity. That's about it!

These are all books we own. I (Tim) am attempting to keep a running list of every book I have ever read (that I don’t necessarily own) and since I don't want to corrupt my basic library data I have created a companion profile. Please visit thegreattimsbooklist to check it out. Please make any suggestions if you think there is a book I might like. I'm always on the lookout for new good reads! All my favorite authors and reading specific groups are kept on that page, as well as any reviews for books I don't own.

Tags: A Dissertation, Or, How To Interpret My Mess
I'm in the process of going through my entire library and readjusting tags for nearly everything. Here's the new plan (3 to 4 sets of tags per book, in order of appearance)...

{Set One, Two Proprietary Tags}
1st Tag: Genre, my top level OSC (a representative sample)
---Fiction: Science
---Fiction: Mystery
---Fiction: Alt Hist
---Non-Fiction: Science
---Non-Fiction: History
---Biography/Memoir
---Comics: SKDT (I collect and catalog certain comic series)
---Studies: Christianity
---Studies: Psychology
---Studies: True Crime
---Food: Sculpture
---Cookbooks: Pastry
---Home/Garden
---Finance

2nd Tag: Ownership
---Ts Books (mine)
---Js Books (her's)
---Our Books (we share or can't distinguish)

{Set Two, Between 2 and 8 Descriptive/Conditional Tags}
1st Tag: Fiction or no?
---f (fiction)
---nf (non-fiction)

2nd Tag: Binding
---hc (hardcover)
---tpb (trade paperback)
---mmpb (mass market paperback)
---ac (audio cassettes)
---ad (audio discs)
---periodical (mags)

3rd Tag: Edition
---fe (first edition - may be local or overseas, though strictly first printing)
---rp (reprint - everything else)

4th through 8th Tags: Additional Notes (examples)
---xl (ex-library)
---nr (needs replacing – general/specific wear and tear)
---work (needs cover art or other data fixing)
---bce (book club edition)
---arc (advance reader's copy)
---mti (movie tie in - replace with normal edition when possible)
---mdj (missing dustjacket)
---bx# (in storage – box number)

{Third Set, One Acquisition Tag}
---From: BM (BookMooch)
---From: UBS (Used BookStore)
---From: RBS (Retail BookStore, really any retail establishment)
---From: BKN (BooKiNs)
---From: PBS (PaperBackSwap)
---From: JD (gift from Jess' Dad)
---From: GFT (GiFT from anyone else, even between Jess & I)
---From: OBS (Online BookStore)
---From: LS (Library Sale)

{Fourth Set, Between Ø and ∞ Tags for Collections, Obsessions, And Things We Hold Dear}
---Award: Hugo (because I track all the major SF awards)
---Award: Locus (you get the idea, there's five others)
---SFM: (gollancz's Science Fiction Masterworks collection)
---SFBC50: (Science Fiction Book Clubs' 50th aniv. set)
---King (Stephen King, my favorite author)
---Kenyon (Sherrilyn Kenyon, J's guilty pleasure)
---Baxter (Stephen Baxter, my favorite SF author)
---Signed By Author (for those lucky few)
---LEWS (b&n's Library of Essential Writers Series)
---IAC (sfbc's Issac Asimov special Collection)
---YBSF (dozois' Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies)
---Reviewed (those few that I have...)
---Anthology (self explanatory)

So... a recap. A book is tagged "Fiction: Science, Ts Books, f, mmpb, fe, xl, nr, bx8, From: LS, Athology, Baxter" This means that it is Tim's science fiction anthology, a mass market paperback original that once was owned by a library but who sold it to me, however it is beat up so it needs replacing and contains a story Stephen Baxter wrote and because I'm out of shelf space, it is in storage and in book box number eight. Got that? :-)

Anyway, that's the deal. It will take quite some time to finish this project and I'm sure some of the Acquisition Set will be in error, but... you get the idea. These are my goals.

Public Comments: A Field Guide
I use this field for two purposes, and two purposes only (in order of appearance - not all books will have both or even one entry):

1)[Series]: I don't particularly care for the way LT's common knowledge on series works. Due to some unavoidable issues with work combining (at this point) and a few user related issues, I am posting my series in this field encased in [brackets]. Therefore, I can name it what I want and order them how I see fit. Will always be in the format of [xxx series vol. xx]. Will probably eventually add [vol. xx of total] at some point in the future.

2)Multiple Work Details: This will take some time, however I am slowly getting them done. This entry is for any works that contain more than just what the title of the work suggests; four types:

a) Anthologies: books with more than one work by more than one author.
--These are presented with a detailed listing of every unique piece within, listed as such: "Title" by author's last name. Also included are any essays or prologues or afterwords, etc... in the same format.

b) Collections: books of multiple works by the same author.
--These are presented with a detailed listing of every unique piece within, listed as such: "Title", "Title", etc... no author's needed obviously. If the work contains an essay or such appendices by a different author, they are listed last; with author last name noted.

c) Miscellaneous Individual Works: Regular novels or works that contain additional material not indicated by the title.
--These works are assumed to contain whatever the cover says they do, however, additional pieces not related directly to the book in the format of prefaces, author notes, or other appendices are noted as follows: "Title" by author's last name (regardless if it the same as the author who wrote the book).

d)Omnibuses: Books containing a collection of larger works by same author, originally published as individual works.
----These are also presented with a detailed listing of the pieces within, listed as such: "...containing novels originally publsihed as x separate volumes: "Title", "Title", etc...". No author's needed obviously. If the work contains an essay or such appendices by a different author, they are listed last; with author last name noted.

That's it, now you know my obsessiveness. :-)

Also onBookMooch

Membership LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway

Real nameJess & Tim

LocationGrand Rapids, MI

Emailthegreattimgmail.com

Favorite authorsNone

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

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

Common KnowledgeSeries (376), Awards (364), Characters (5737), Places (1179)

Member sinceJan 3, 2007