Random books from xicanti's library

The Sandman Vol. 7: Brief Lives by Neil Gaiman

Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

ElfQuest: The Grand Quest, Volume Two by Wendy Pini

A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire

The Golden Ass by Apuleius

The Pop-Up Book of Gnomes by Wil. Huygen

Persuasion by Jane Austen

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Member: xicanti

CollectionsPermanent Collection (756), Your library (767), Electronic (2), Loaners (9), Sellers (35), Library Books (36), Wishlist (8), Read but unowned (85), Favorites (29), All collections (843)

Reviews385 reviews

Tagsused (492), pb (448), fantasy (363), new (295), tpb (190), 2008 (179), family (176), magic users (141), hc (133), 2007 (129) — see all tags

Cloudstag cloud, author cloud

Groups1001 Fantasy Roadies, Bloggers, Freebies, Book Giveaways and Contests, Go Review That Book!, The Green Dragon, What Are You Reading Now?, Writer-readers

Favorite authorsLloyd Alexander, Francesca Lia Block, Jackie Collins, Robertson Davies, Neil Gaiman, Robin Hobb, Robert Jordan, Guy Gavriel Kay, Ellen Kushner, Scott Lynch, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Gregory Maguire, Sarah Monette, Anne Rice, R. A. Salvatore, Brandon Sanderson, Ysabeau S. Wilce (Shared favorites)

Favorite bookstoresBison Books, Book Fair, Cover to Cover, McNally Robinson at Grant Park, McNally Robinson at Polo Park, Munro's Books

Favorite librariesMillennium Library, Pembina Trail Library

Other favoritesChildren's Hospital Book Market

About meWhen I'm not reading, I'm usually writing. I'm currently hard at work on the fifth draft of ARVORE, a fantasy of manners about two brothers training as spies. I hope to start querying agents before the end of the year.

When I'm not writing my arse off, I occasionally engage in such worthwhile activities as blogging, eating sushi, dancing, knitting, making masks, contemplating social issues and wandering aimlessly around whichever city I happen to be in this week.

I graduated from university in June of 2006 with a BA in Classics and Art History. I'm hoping to do my Masters eventually, but for the time being I'm taking a break from academic pursuits. I currently work for my alma mater.

Oh, and since I always rather wonder these things about people on here: I'm twenty-six years old and I'm female.

Currently Reading, Primary: Alien Earth by Megan Lindholm
Currently Reading, Secondary: The Iliad by Homer
Recently Finished, Fiction: Angel: After the Fall vol. 4 by Brian Lynch et al - keeper
Recently Finished, Non-Fiction: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson - keeper

I review everything I read, but I fear I'm rather behind in cross-posting my opinions to LibraryThing. If you'd like to know what I thought of my most recent reads, please check out my book blog, Stella Matutina.

About my libraryWhile I read pretty broadly, I somehow seem to end up keeping more fantasy than anything else. I thought I had a nice, diverse library, until I tagged it all. Blah!

I only keep books that I'm going to read at least once more or that I'll refer back to from time to time. I'd rather see the others go to people who'll enjoy them. Most of these are listed on BookMooch; my account is linked below.

Now that collections have arrived, I've begun reorganizing this catalogue to include books I don't own. These are are all corralled under Sellers, Loaners and Library Books. Sellers are books I've passed along to others, Loaners are books I borrowed from others and Library Books are books I borrowed from the library. Anything that belongs to me is catalogued under Permanent Collection. I still maintain a separate TBR list on my side account, too.

I've written comments for most of my books, detailing my personal experiences with them. Some of these comments also include semi-reviews. I'm slowly but surely entering formal, honest-to-goodness reviews as I reread things and as I admit new books to my collection. I plan to review everything eventually, but it's going to take a while. I tried to steer clear of rereads in 2007, but I did go back over some old favourites in 2008 and am hoping to do the same in 2009.

Homepagehttp://xicanti.livejournal.com/

Also onBookCrossing, BookMooch, Facebook, LiveJournal, Twitter

Membership LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway

Real nameMemory

LocationManitoba

Emailxicantigmail.com

Account typepublic, lifetime

Connection NewsConnection News

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

Common KnowledgeSeries (199), Awards (282), Characters (4061), Places (727)

Member sinceAug 6, 2006

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I would recommend the edition of the Iliad translated by Robert Fagles. It is available in paper and trade paper editions.
I thought I'd you added to my friends here, but then I realised not! *feels silly*
Hi there Memory, I read and enjoyed your review of "A Canticle for Leibowitz" so gave it a thumbs-up with grateful attention to your tender years...glad to see the books of my youth still being read.

Cheers
RMD
Wow, you gave out some 4 1/2 and 5 star reviews? I am now forced to add these to the TBR.
I did hear that Graceling's prequel is coming out soon... but I also heard the rumor it isn't as good? After I just said that, I looked online and realize it's not out yet, but I can't shake the feeling that I had somehow heard this? Really what I'm looking forward to is the sequel, Bitterblue. I thought she was a great character!
Hi Xicanti, just wanted to tell you that I read Graceling because of your review and enjoyed immensely, and have had you on my private watch list for awhile. I think my next rec I have from you is that Elizabeth Bear? Moon? book. Keep up the reading!

Cauterize
Hi Memory...

You had previously indicated you might be interested in a group read of Dante’s Inferno.I am planning to start my read on Feb 25th. While I’m not planning to do a college level course in this, I do want to spend a little more serious reading time with this one than I have on some of the others. Please see http://www.librarything.com/topic/56314 to sign up and join the party. Looking forward to 'reading' with you.
Tina (aka Tutu)
oops, sorry for the extra message, it was meant for someone else hehe!
Of course!

pollynjimsmith@yahoo.com
absolutely! Why didn't I think of that!
pollynjimsmith@yahoo.com
Thanks for the Interesting Libraries add!
Thanks for the "Any Given Doomsday" review. Having just detoxed off the whole damn "Twilight" saga, which raised many interesting questions and answered none of them, I'm happy to have avoided this one.

Whyizzit that there are so few really good vampire stories?

I like Buffy, too, but I find it somewhat uneven when it strays from the vampire plot line and into the mummies, giant bugs, astral projection and the rest of it.
Hi Memory,

Your reading output is awesome! Perhaps you want to challenge yourself to 250 books next?! Almigwin has just started a 250 Book Challenge group. If you're interested, it's here.

Happy reading!
You said: Thanks for the info on Rachel Hartman! ...

One last tidbit -
You might enjoy reading her blog, http://webamused.com/milkbreath/, although I admit I feel almost guilty for even knowing about it, it makes me feel like a stalker! O_o
I was just entering my copy of "Amy Unbounded" and saw your review. I think it's an undiscovered gem, for adult readers, too! :-)

If you search online for Amy Unbounded, the Ashcan Series, you might find some of the stories before "Belondweg Blossoming". I'm definitely searching!

Also, Rachel Hartman's blog mentions she's writing a novel, so there's something to look forward to!

Good reading,
E.
Thanks for your review of Flora's Dare! Just requested the first book at the library, and I'm fully expecting that it and the sequel will be the Xmas present for my niece. I don't know how I would have heard of it without your review popping up in my Connection News.
Hey! Nice start to your blog. I'm looking forward to reading more.
Hi,

Really enjoyed your review of House of Dreams (I checked it out because you were the only other person who reviewed it). Made me think I should have elaborated more, since your review totally kicked my review's ass. Just wanted to give you a kudos, since you articulated exactly what I liked about the book.
Hi xicanti...great library...and we share some of my favorite books! I wanted to offer a little suggestion for posting hyperlinks: add target=new after the quotes and before the close-carat in your hyperlink; that way we get your link in a new window, and don't have to backtrack to get home to your post.

An idea for your consideration only. I enjoy your intelligent and informed posts greatly!

Cheers
Richard
I wanted to let you know that your reviews for the 1001 Fantasy library are amazing. They are exactly what I was looking for and I don't have to do any editing either! *hugs* ~ Morph
I'm interested in Time Bandit if it is still available.
I notice we both seem to have Jasper Fforde, Agatha Christie and J.K. Rowling stuff. I have only just started on LT, so do not have that many books in, and I too only purchase books I'll re-read. So my library is pretty much that.
Thank you, xicanti. You've written a good fair few and so really helped to fill out the pages. I've now added your reviews which are numbers 171, 204, 209, 224 and 237. You might want to just double check that I didn't miss out on any formatting you wanted (italics and the like). The wiki code is completely different from the html used in LT so it has to be added in and I know I've probably missed some.
Hi, Memory. On Go Review That Book!, I've created a group Wiki page to keep track of the progress of the game and the reviews that have been generated. Some may find it easier to read the reviews by having them in one handy place. There's a discussion thread in the group and this is the first Wiki page if you are interested in having a look. To avoid any difficulties with copyright, I'm seeking your consent to add your reviews to the group Wiki page.
Did you ever finish the Hippopotamus Marsh? Did you move on to the next two in the trilogy? I finished them a short time ago and just wondered why you found the one you were reading so sloooow?

Bob Barker
Cool, thanks for giving me the html code. I never learned any of that. It worked!

re: Robertson Davies, I'm definitely going to get on with the Cornish trilogy after I finish up a couple things I'm reading now. I really liked the first book--probably just a bit more than the Salterton trilogy, which I read this previous summer.

take care!
bookie
Thanks for leaving a message on my 50 book challenge about Robertson Davies. I'm going to read the rest of the Cornish Trilogy, but I'm spacing it out a bit. I've read the Deptford and Salterton trilogies--is there any further reading you'd suggest by him? I really loved the Deptford trilogy, which I read about seven years ago, and have only recently come back to Davies and read more. He's just fabulous!

On a side note, how did you get your profile to link to your other account? I have two accounts (one for books I own and one for books I've read) and I would like them to link, but I couldn't figure out how to do it!

Happy reading,
bookie
Thanks very much for your encouraging words on my Lloyd Alexander tribute. It was really nice to get feedback on what I'd written!
Thanks for the info on Theives & KIngs. maybe I'll use this hiatus to try and catch up on 8 years of being out of the series.
I finally read The Fairy Godmother! I really enjoyed it! Thanks for the tip. If you have any other recommendations, please let me know.
Thanks for the suggestion you left on my SantaThing request. I went to the library and checked out The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey. My brother is a big fantasy/science fiction fan and he said you made a good recommendation too. (Of course, I also looked at her website, the LT reviews, etc. I am always looking for a good author to start reading!) Thanks again!
Thank you so much for the SantaThing gifts! They were both on my wishlist, which you couldn't possibly have known, so you chose really well. I hope you get the delight of receiving soon too - thank you again!
That's what I suspected. I'm still interested to check them out, so I think I will do what you suggested. Thanks :)
I keep seeing you mentioning that graphic novel series about the Buddha in the "What Are You Reading Now" threads. They look really interesting, but I'm wondering if they're something you think would appeal to a reader who doesn't usually go for graphic novels?
I was reading the thread on Reading the Bible, and was wondering what the title is of the Bible you have. I would like to find a copy for myself. It sounds really interesting, and more to my way of thinking when it comes to how I think of the stories and books of the Bible. Thanks!
Just saw your post about writing in your books. I too always write my initials, date, and the place where I started reading the book. I tend not to keep books unless I really like them, so I always hope that the person who picks it up in the charity shop or from the hotel bookshelf will add theirs, and there will be a trace in the book of all the places it has been read...
"I definitely don't have the expertise to go down on my own"

Caving on your own is a passtime of the very strong minded! Pretty much everyone caves as a group, a) it safer, b) its a lot more fun.

If you want to do more caving the best way is to join a caving club. In the UK at least there is one in every city and most towns, even those a long way from the main caving areas. Such clubs are used to arranging the longer trips needed to get closer to the caves. Of course this does mean committing some time to it, and I'm not sure how it works out with the USs vastly larger geography.

Have Fun.
Another green dragon caver?? really? Is it that popular a sport in the US? Over here in the UK its really struggling, with many clubs dying through lack of members.
You are an excellent namer of mummified cats. (I bet you've never received that particular compliment before in your life!)
Me, too. But he lived a long time. And he and his wife of 60+ years died within two weeks of each other. So, I guess I'm more sad for myself than for him. :(
Xicanti, did you hear Lloyd Alexander passed away?
I really enjoyed your posts on the Wicked discussion. I still find it an odd book, but it's makes a lot more sense to me now.
I agree with your take on the Oz series. I just finished the first and am irritated, because wouldn't you want to live somewhere fantastic rather than somewhere that everything is gray? Thanks for commenting! Happy reading!
Hello.
Thank you for your reply to my question about paperback cataloguing.
It's always interesting to learn about other Libaries and it sounds as tho' your Library is hard pressed for funds if it is re-binding books and not fully cataloguing items.
Dispiriting to think you are so underfunded and that this is not a problem confined to the U.K.
Best wishes - Lizzier
Hi xicanti, your comment #60 in the thread for what you're reading week of 2/10 led me to come and ask: Did you go farther into "Sons and Lovers" than the self-required 100pp? I read the whole miserable thing for a reading group I was in, just so I could rip the bejabbers out of the dratted thing! And the kicker is, I was the one who suggested the book to the group in the first place.
I'd love to hear what you think of New Moon when you're finished. Did you like it as much as Twilight?
i stumbled on your profile while navigating and noticed your glowing review and 5 star rating of corelli's mandolin. have you read his trilogy beginning with "the war of don emanuel's netherparts?" if not, check them out. 3 of my favorite books of all time.
I just wanted to say that your review of "Macbeth" wins at life.
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