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I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson

Fossils by Frank H. T.; Zim Rhodes, Herbert S. And Shaffer, Paul R.

Sandstorms: Days and Nights in Arabia by Peter Theroux

Laurel's Kitchen: A Handbook for Vegetarian Cookery and Nutrition by Laurel Robertson

Shadow of the Silk Road (P.S.) by Colin Thubron

Spanish through Pictures, Book 2 by Language research inc

The Enchanted Canopy: A Journey of Discovery to the Last Unexplored Frontier, the Roof of the World's Rainforests by Andrew W. Mitchell

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Member: tropics

CollectionsYour library (528)

Reviews3 reviews

Tagsnonfiction (228), travel & adventure (108), nature (66), history (49), memoir (43), birds (38), field guide (36), fiction (34), birding (31), humor (29) — see all tags

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About meMarried female bibliophile, birder, amateur naturalist and photographer, armchair and real time traveler, kayaker, retired R.N., increasingly outraged media junkie.

Some favorite authors: Tahir Shah, Farley Mowat, Tim Flannery, Mark Twain, Carl Sagan, Graham Greene, Lawrence Durrell, Gerald Durrell, E.B. White, Paul Theroux, Redmond O'Hanlon, Bill Bryson, Edward Abbey,Jared Diamond, Scott Weidensaul.

A few of my favorite books:

"THE LIGHT GARDEN OF THE ANGEL KING: TRAVELS IN AFGHANISTAN WITH BRUCE CHATWIN" - Peter Levi

"THE CALIPH'S HOUSE" - Tahir Shah

"ANOTHER DAY IN THE FRONTAL LOBE: A BRAIN SURGEON EXPOSES LIFE ON THE INSIDE" by Katrina Firlik.

"TRAVELS WITH HERODOTUS" - Ryszard Kapuscinski

"DRIVING MR. ALBERT: A TRIP ACROSS AMERICA WITH EINSTEIN'S BRAIN" - Michael Paterniti.

"RETURN TO WILD AMERICA" - Scott Weidensaul.

"THE GHOST WITH TREMBLING WINGS: SCIENCE, WISHFUL THINKING, AND THE SEARCH FOR LOST SPECIES" - Scott Weidensaul.

A VOYAGE LONG AND STRANGE: REDISCOVERING THE NEW WORLD - Tony Horwitz

LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: SAVING OUR CHILDREN FROM NATURE DEFICIT DISORDER - Richard Louv

THE WEATHER MAKERS: HOW MAN IS CHANGING THE CLIMATE AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR LIFE ON EARTH - Tim Flannery

THE FUTURE EATERS - Tim Flannery

SEEDS OF CHANGE: FIVE PLANTS THAT TRANSFORMED MANKIND - Henry Hobhouse

LibraryThing

Click on photo of collared peccary for more Sonoran desert flora and fauna.

"The days are dust
And in the wind
They spill and tumble.
Here an Ancient Mariner
There a Kubla Khan;
They fall
And are no more." (unknown author)

About my libraryAlways expanding despite easy access to an excellent public library system. Books catalogued are limited to those actually on my shelves that I've read and do not include numerous books checked out from libraries over the years or those awaiting me in sizeable TBR piles.

Groups(BOMBS) Books Off My Book Shelves 2012 Challenge, 1001 Books to read before you die, 1010 Category Challenge, 50 Book Challenge, 999 Challenge, Ancient History, Audiobooks, Biographies, Memoirs and Autobiographies, Birds, Birding & Books, Books off the Shelf Challenge —show all groups

Real nameCarol

LocationSonoran desert, U.S.A.

Favorite authorsNot set

Account typepublic, lifetime

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

Member sinceMar 29, 2007

Most recent activity

tropics rated, added:
See Ouazazarte and Die: Travels Through Morocco (Abacus travel) by Sylvia Kennedy

tropics rated, added:
Tribes With Flags: A Dangerous Passage Through the Chaos of the Middle East by Charles Glass

tropics rated, added:
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver W. Sacks

tropics rated, added:
An Empire Wilderness: Travels into America's Future by Robert D. Kaplan

tropics rated, added:
The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler

tropics rated, added:
The Daily Coyote by Shreve Stockton

If you're a bird person, you'd likely appreciate "Bayshore Summer" by Pete Dunne.

posted by Seajack at 5:59 pm (EST) on Aug 4, 2011

Thank you, Carol. I do find watching the birds on the same patches of ground round the year a real pleasure: trying to understand the behaviour of the common birds as much as noting the rarities.
best wishes
Alan

posted by affle at 5:09 am (EST) on Apr 3, 2011

What a smorgasbord of pictures you have in top righthand corner;
many visiting critters, tons of desert scenery and nary a snowflake.
keep 'em coming!

posted by subarcticmike at 10:29 pm (EST) on Mar 1, 2011

Re: India

Is Alexander Frater's "Chasing the Monsoon" on your radar? He's a terrific author!

posted by Seajack at 12:41 am (EST) on Jan 9, 2011

thanks for sharing T. Shah's "tweet" -- this man is living my dream! i'm glad you're enjoying In Arabian Nights, i also felt that way -- if only the book could go on and on just like the stories of 1001 nights. i visited Morocco recently but was on a tour, so i never had the chance to explore casablanca on my own and look for Dar Khalifa. it would be lovely to have the chance to visit the house, and have a chat with Shah -- i'm sure i will not want to leave the place!

i see from your 1010 list Christ Stopped at Eboli -- have you read it already? i'm packing the book in my bag for my trip tomorrow -- pretty sure it will be a very good read.

i'm following your reads, by the way. you have excellent choices!

posted by deebee1 at 12:51 pm (EST) on Mar 31, 2010

Hi Carol:

I notice you're an amateur naturalist and photographer from the Sonoran desert. I started a blog awhile ago that focuses on writing fiction--haven't done that much with it--plus I post photographs I've taken with each written post. One photo I took at the Phoenix Zoo (I live in Phoenix) might interest you. Here's a link: http://writingprocess-charles.blogspot.com/

Charles

posted by CharlesBoyd at 10:35 am (EST) on Mar 24, 2010

Hi Carol
I appreciate your warm (AZ!) welcome to the birding group. Thank you for the great story of your tundra-acclimatized uncle. Hopefully I should be somewhat more modernized when I depart the north for southern climes... but I will keep a weather eye out for traditional lore and lifestyle...
Cheers from North of 60, Mike

posted by subarcticmike at 4:46 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009

I'm told David Sedaris is a lot funnier "on audio", I'll have to try that.

Hey, thanks about the kind comments about my library. Perhaps 40% of it is "virtual", especially those wonderful books in my TBR category. I've been plucking them from LT recommendations as well as members' libraries. I recently realized that if you add them to your library and/or then delete them, more excellent recommendations miraculously pop up! Great fun. For every book I finish I probably add 20 into the TBR list.

It's cold up here in New England; I envy your travels.

posted by Sandydog1 at 5:35 pm (EST) on Jan 8, 2009

love love LOVE that Van Gogh link. Thanks for sharing!

posted by VictoriaPL at 1:13 pm (EST) on Oct 30, 2008

Wow, Tropics, we've a remarkable number of similar interests. I'm always scrounging TBR titles and am looking forward to viewing your library. Regards,

Steve

posted by Sandydog1 at 11:00 am (EST) on Jul 19, 2008

Hello Carol! I don't know about a privilege, but I think people find the experience compares favourably with root canal work! We do our best to make sure people have a great vacation while learning about each particular country and, of course, seeing a lot of great birds. At the end of the day, it's more of a privilege for someone like me to be able to share some of the wonders of nature and to be outdoors in wild areas. I have happy memories of birding and staying in Madera Canyon from a number of different visits. What a wonderful place for a home patch. If you ever get the chance to go birding with Rick in Arizona - I know he leads Audubon trips when he can - it is well worth doing. His knowledge of Arizona's natural history is very impressive.

I'm not sure where you might have birded in a coffee plantation here as there are many great birding sites within Andean shade coffee plantations. It would probably have been in the lower Santo Domingo Valley somewhere - Rio Barragan, Altamira, La Soledad, San Isidro (if there were Cocks-of-the-Rock). Interestingly, unlike countries like Costa Rica, we have a lot of real shade coffee and these habitats are tremendously important for migrant and resident species alike. Cerulean Warbler is just one of the threatened species that winter in Venezuelan shade coffee areas.

Thanks again for your note. Who knows, perhaps our paths will cross one day? Happy birding! Chris

posted by chrisharpe at 1:06 pm (EST) on Jun 9, 2008

Hello there Carol! I happened to be logged in and just got your message. So you were in Venezuela in 1999 - I hope you enjoyed yourselves. Where did you go? I've been lucky enough to get to Costa Rica every year since 1999 to lead a tour for a company based not far from where you live - Borderland Tours of Tucson - perhaps you know Rick Taylor or Barbara Bickel? That's a lovely part fo the world, especially for birders! Many thanks for sending me your message. Happy birding! Chris

posted by chrisharpe at 2:01 pm (EST) on Jun 6, 2008

Tropics, thanks again for the link! Those sorts of sites are hard to find with my computer because the connection is so s - l - o - w!

posted by Facetious_Badger at 5:20 pm (EST) on May 25, 2008

Tropics,

you're welcome! It just took thumbing through a few pages and there they both were!

Happy reading :)

posted by fasciknitting at 9:12 am (EST) on May 20, 2008

Glad you liked it :-) There are larger versions available here, just in case you're interested!

posted by frithuswith at 3:49 pm (EST) on Mar 9, 2008

That particular sheep didn't lend me its wool. It was showing off at a very small fleece fest at the Prospect Park Zoo here in Brooklyn last April.

posted by AnnaClaire at 10:20 am (EST) on Mar 6, 2008

I'm also SqueakyChu on GeoBirds. I just got a new digital camera for my birthday. I think it might be fun to try my hand at taking picture of birds and posting them (once I learn how to use the camera better).

posted by SqueakyChu at 1:47 pm (EST) on Feb 1, 2008

A very belated reply: that's a wonderful anecdote! I'm so glad he made the effort to help you find the right 'Ryd'. What finally turned out to be your favourite country/city after those 4 1/2 months in Europe?

posted by desideo at 3:31 pm (EST) on Oct 18, 2007

I suppose I should admit to eating it as well... creamed, on toast, with fresh thyme! Mmm.

Admission no. 2: I had to look Almundsryd up. I thought it would be close to Tingsryd, which it sort of is. At least I got the landscape right! (The 'ryd' suffix gave it away.) Were your grandparents from Småland originally?

posted by desideo at 7:17 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2007

I was just reading your post in List Five Books parlour game and had to follow your link to your bio. Great profile. And we agree 100% on Catch 22, Guns Germs & Steel great reads. I always feel the need to give kudos to interesting people so consider yourself...kudosed? Oh well, you know what I mean...:)

posted by survivingniki at 9:15 am (EST) on Sep 19, 2007

Thank you for your comment, Tropics. It is nice to meet you.

I envy you being down there in AZ. From what I hear it's one of the Meccas of birding in the lower 48. I will definitely have to visit there some winter. Anyway, I'm sure migration will be there shortly, if it hasn't started already.

Yours,

posted by Mustapha_Mond at 10:51 pm (EST) on Sep 10, 2007

Hi, Carol,
I live in the sonoran desert also, been here permanently for five years and a bit.
When you work with addicts ad addictions, you find yourself using their language. Jonesing means to really want something, as in an addict really need a fix of whatever his drug of choice is. I think that we professionals picked it up, because it's easier to communicate with someone when you speak their language. It seems to have spilled over to the civilian population. Usually it just means you really want something, a cup of coffee, a diamond necklace, a piece of chocolate. That's all

posted by siubhank at 4:48 pm (EST) on Sep 8, 2007

I should have read your profile before posting my last comment. Just wanted to say that the Sonoran Desert is a wonderful place. My husband visited the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum several years ago while in Tucson for a conference. We returned to the area on vacation a couple years ago and made a beeline for it. That and Saguaro National Park were the highlights of the visit.

posted by lauralkeet at 6:53 am (EST) on Sep 8, 2007

Thank you for the link to the photos! They are wonderful!

posted by lauralkeet at 6:51 am (EST) on Sep 8, 2007

Regarding "Shake Hands With the Devil": I have read selected parts of the book, as necessary for the research I did several years ago during grad school, but have not yet read the book cover to cover. It is one of several that I have waiting on my shelves that were consulted but not read in full.

posted by grkmwk at 12:26 pm (EST) on Aug 27, 2007

I had a flood in my office some time ago and quite a few books got drowned. They don't dry out too well, but I found it very hard to throw them away.

I've got the Inflatable Pig book now, shall read it next week when I'm (officially) on holiday. There's a long list of really horrible tasks awaiting me! But I shall sneak a bit of time for LT.

posted by GeraniumCat at 11:37 am (EST) on Aug 6, 2007

You can have all my hadedas. ;-) They're evil, noisy and messy. I live very close to a golf course so I get to hear them all the time, sometimes even at night. As if that wasn't bad enough, a group of them have now decided that they like the roof of the apartment block directly across from me. Every time I look out the window or go to the garden, there they are, staring at me. Sometimes they come to my garden. My cat is terrified of them. They hiss at him and chase him away. It's great entertainment. :0)

posted by izzybee at 2:23 pm (EST) on Aug 2, 2007

You probably saw "Sorrow's Kitchen ..." in the Complete Sentences category, but I had used it earlier as well as one of the 5 titles that have most grabbed my attention; it's been a long time since I read it. I was going to write to say that you seem to have really liked my "Islands" game as you made multiple entries there!

posted by Seajack at 1:17 pm (EST) on Jul 29, 2007

Thank you for your sweet comment... Thankfully I was able to save [i]some[/i] of my grandpa's books. Love your picture!

posted by Heather19 at 10:31 pm (EST) on Jul 26, 2007

Hi again, Carol! I've been away, too, but nowhere exciting. Oregon sounds great - here in the UK it has rained relentlessly for weeks; even here, where we have missed the floods, everything is wet, so I shall get the other Gimlette book, as reading about Paraguay may take my mind off constantly wet feet (and dogs).

When I was a kid my dad made and sold lapidary equipment, so we used to have people show up from collecting trips all over the world, with rocks and sometimes fossils, and seaside visits always involved trudging along staring at the ground, no sandcastles for us!

Have a great trip!

Jodie

posted by GeraniumCat at 5:28 am (EST) on Jul 23, 2007

a smile your way, i love the picture!

posted by Tim_Watkinson at 8:30 am (EST) on Jun 28, 2007