Member: thegreattim

CollectionsYour library (460)

ReviewsNone

Tagsf (432), hc (370), fe (316), brdt (227), Fiction: Science (172), King (139), Signed By Author (137), rp (131), Limited (129), Fiction: Fantasy (104) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud, tag mirror

GroupsBook Collectors, Bookcases: If You Build/Buy Them, They Will Fill, BookMooching, Combiners!, Early Reviewers, Hobnob with Authors, King's Dear Constant Readers, Modern Collector, Name that Book, Science Fiction Fans —show all groups, The Green Dragon

Favorite bookstoresArgos Book Shop, Barnes & Noble Booksellers - River Crossing, Borderlands Books, Camelot Books and Gifts, Inc., 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 Lit Fest

About meNew pic again - This is myself and Hugo / Nebula / Aurora award winning author Robert J. Sawyer. Among many other wonderful books, he wrote the novel FlashForward about 10 years ago that was made into the television series of the same name last fall ('09). This photo was taken at Rob's "kaffeeklatch" event at the convention Capricon 30, held near Chicago in February, 2010. I must say, he is one of the coolest, nicest guys I have ever met.

It seems 2010 (and 2011 haha) is the year of the audio-book for me. I have been bogged down with school and probably will not physically read something other than a textbook until grad school is over. Until then, heavy investments in library rentals and audible.com will be in order.

And I'm so far behind on all my cataloging hopes and dreams 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)
---arc (some form of advance edition for review or editing purposes)

4th through 8th Tags: Additional Notes (examples)
---xl (ex-library)
---work (needs proper cover art)
---bce (book club edition)
---mti (movie tie in - replace with normal edition when possible)
---mdj (missing dustjacket)
---bx# (in storage – box number)
---brdt (jacket has been protect with a Brodart cover)
---cmpl (everything completed)

{Third Set, One Acquisition Tag}
---From: BM (BookMooch)
---From: PBL (PuBLisher)
---From: UBS (Used BookStore)
---From: RBS (Retail BookStore, really any retail establishment)
---From: BKN (BooKiNs)
---From: PBS (PaperBackSwap)
---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)
---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 (short stories, many authors)
---Limited (private/small press limited editions)
---Numbered (books that have been hand numbered from a limited run)
---Collection (short stories, one author)
---Slipcased (books with an external, removable shell)
---Doodled (books the author or artist drew little pictures in)

So... a recap. A book is tagged "Fiction: Science, Ts Books, f, mmpb, fe, xl, nr, bx8, From: LS, Anthology, King" 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, contains a story Stephen King 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 purposes of four pieces of specific additional data not present elsewhere (not all books will have some 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 seemingly 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.

3){Numbers}: As I have been collecting more and more limited editions of late, I have also been trying to match certain numbers for a particular author and this is my way of keeping track of them. This data will always be presented in the form of {No. xx / yyy} where yyy is indicative of the total number of books in that state. There is not even enough room to being to explain those differences here. :-)

4)**Inscriptions** Finally, this is were I note whatever words an author wrote to me in the book when he or she was singing it, besides their name. Just the name earns the "Signed By Author" tag, anything extra gets "Inscribed". In this field the data is delineated by the double asterisk.

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

Also onBookMooch

Membership LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway

Real nameJess & Tim

LocationGrand Rapids, MI

Emailthegreattimhotmail.com

Favorite authorsNot set

Account typepublic, lifetime

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

Member sinceJan 3, 2007