Member: PitcherBooks

CollectionsFREE PD E-Books (5,466), FREE ©'d E-Books (1,145), Kindle Editions (7,175), Fiction (1,638), Non-Fiction (2,393), Your library (1,048), ARC: Advance Reading Copy (18), Loaner (54), Favorites (893), Award Winners, Nominees & Classics (1,441), Bestsellers (273), Wishlist (125), R future (155), R1 (43), R2 (23), R'd (192), N/A; Ck Later (109), In my Dreams (189), WL. PD (16), WL. ©Oldies (171), WL. HC (149), ART Books (226), Maryland (98), Ireland (300), Humor (919), Juv / YA (2,731), Childhood Memories (37), Picture Books (1,733), Illus Books (Some Illos) (1,681), Anthologies & Collections (1,748), FairyTales, FolkTales, FolkLore (1,091), Sci-Fi / Fantasy (1,700), Mystery (732), DIY: How To (230), Holiday Books (309), Movies :-) (42), Reference (37), For Good Kids ! (612), Gifted/Given Away (978), Donated: Bks for Africa.org (351), Donated: Good Will (789), TRASH BIN (42), All collections (12,106)

Reviews199 reviews

TagsFree E-Book (5,576), Public Domain (5,395), KidLit (4,453), Gutenberg.org (4,212), JF (4,172), NF (2,837), Fiction (2,688), Fantasy (2,681), Picture Book (2,671), Archive.org (2,171) — see all tags

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Recommendations46 recommendations

About me"Be who you are and say what you feel...
Because those that matter... don't mind...
And those that mind... don't matter."
~~Dr. Seuss

Happily married for 36 years and hopefully another 36 years should we live so long :-)

Enjoy and collect well-written & well-illustrated children's books. Tend to favor colorful and more complex art (ex. Arlene Graston, Laurel Long, Kinuko Y. Craft, Susan Jeffers, Scott Gustafson) over cartoon-style but find there are invariably exceptions to be made (Harold & the Purple Crayon for one :-)

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I was in serious danger of becoming a book hoarder but thanks to my husband's kindle gift, I am still a book hoarder but at least my new books do not take up any more house space! Between the public library (for copyrighted works) & all the wonderful sites for public domain book downloads - I am in book nirvana still!

E-Readers don't even need a kindle.
Highly recommend the FREE CALIBRE e-book program for an excellent quality reading app. Open source e-book library manager for Linux, Macintosh and Windows platforms. Features include e-book conversion, sync to e-book reader devices... http://calibre-ebook.com/

FREE E-BOOK DOWNLOAD SITES:
https://archive.org/details/texts
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Free_Kindle_Books
http://www.thinkinghumanity.com/2014/07/free-books-100-legal-sites-to-download-l...

GUTENBERG.org is the origin for most of the human and well-edited FREE kindle editions online. Scam sites will ask for money for the hard work and titles which Gutenberg volunteers provide free. ARCHIVE.org provides FREE e-pub and pdf editions of titles also (easily readable with the Free CALIBRE-ebook.com app]. Project Gutenberg is a great organization. They will never ask you for money before allowing you to download their books, but voluntary donations are welcome.

Only SCAM SITES & CON ARTISTS will ask for money for the hard work and e-book titles which the Gutenberg volunteers provide free. Their latest bs? "You're paying for the ability to wi-fi your download." Really? So these con artists who steal Gutenberg's hard work then re-post what should be FREE e-books for sale .... rationalize it because they provide wi-fi downloads? Now that is a load of nonsense. Do you think these scammers are donating all the money back to the non-profit Gutenberg? I don't think so. Please don't patronize e-thieves or con artists. And don't let them gull you. How hard is it to plug your e-reader into your computer and do a manual download? Pretty damn easy. If you don't know how to do this, ask one of your grandkids to show you how.

There are lots of free pre-1923 public domain kindle books on Amazon.com. [Type in 'free' and 'public domain' in the search bar.] Some current authors make their copyrighted e-books available free on Amazon and other sites also. [I would assume as a form of advertising and/or as a loss leader for a book series. Make sure to review their books as a thank you.]

ManyBooks.net offers Gutenberg's books in a different formatting. If the book you downloaded from them doesn't work for you, maybe you can get a different copy of the same book there.

FeedBooks.com/publicdomain offers Gutenberg's books in a different formatting. It also offers ebooks for sale. If the book you downloaded from Gutenberg doesn't work for you, maybe you can get a different copy of the same book there.

Make sure to read Banned Books! Check 'em out. Many available at the above free ebook sites and your local library...
http://archive.postdesk.com/banned-books-list-reasons-why-censorship

About my libraryI never used to use LT for anything other than books that I owned. But now they have come up with their wonderful "Collections" feature, besides My Library Collection, I now have a Gifted Out Collection (so I don't give anyone repeats), and I'm mulling over a Swap Book Collection, etc. Oh the possibilities are endless!

The best way to view my books here is by choosing the COVER (rather than LIST) format and +ing to the largest size available. Since the majority are picture books, yeah, you can judge a book by its cover :-) Other than those, search genre by tag (sf, history, art,...) and have at it...

I'm a book enjoyer rather than a book critic. So I rate my books by my personal enjoyment level. If a book's unrated it's either because I read it so long ago (or not so long ago) and have forgotten it necessitating a re-read or I simply haven't gotten around to reading it in the first place...

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2019 update:

I’ve been on LT since 2008. My method of rating books has changed over the years. Currently, I rate by genre.

• 5 STAR: Shelf-worthy. I love this book! If a book is tops in its genre, I give it a 5. That in no way means I consider it a classic (though I tend to give my favorite classics a 5). But if you’re interested in the best of a particular genre or read cross-overs, these are the books I recommend unreservedly across the board to all readers.
• 4 STAR: Shelf-worthy. A great book that I recommend to readers of that genre though it may appeal to crossover readers too.
• 3 STAR: Books I would donate. A decent read to pass the time but wouldn’t re-read it. I don’t recommend it to anyone but only because it’s not memorable and doesn’t inspire me to look for more books by that particular author.
• 2 1/2 STAR : Books I would donate. Take it or leave it. Didn’t do a thing for me.
• 2 STAR : Books I would donate. Generally, a book has at least one redeeming trait for this rating: A novel idea or fresh concept (though probably poorly executed); No egregious spelling or grammar errors; Excellent Illustration even when paired with subpar text; etc. At least, it’s not offensive on a personal or spiritual level.
• 1 STAR: The worst books I’ve ever read; of no redeeming value. A book I would throw in the trash rather then keep in general circulation. Atrocious writing on a completely odious concept. The kind of books that make one create and keep a list of horrible authors to avoid in the future. Ugly books by deficient, damaged or amoral authors that portray, promote or glorify gratuitous brutish cruelty, depravity, hatred, violence, stereotypes, or any type of amoral, harmful or inhumane behaviors.

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I read mostly soft sci-fi and fantasy, some history, some trashy romances and any top of the line stuff from most genres. How's that for honest? But I love ART! So I collect beautifully illustrated and well-written (and sometimes not so well-written if the art is good enough) Children's Picture Books. And ART books! Pre-Raphaelite Art. Dutch Masters. Mannerism/Surrealism. Golden Age Illustration. Fantasy & Mythology in Art. . .

My house is a library. There are books in every room. My hope is, one day, that I will actually have all my books here on LT. One can dream :-)

Here on LT, I've tagged all my books by illustrator so, when one sorts by tag, all the books are sorted by illustrator. A prime consideration in picture books :-)

Mar, 2014 BOOK LISTS:

Irish Picture Books for Children group: http://www.librarything.com/list/447/PitcherBooks/A-Childs-Book-Tour-of-Ireland

Best children's picture books: http://www.librarything.com/list/57/PitcherBooks/

1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up (still incomplete)
http://www.librarything.com/list/507/PitcherBooks/1001-Childrens-Books-You-Must-...

Best Young Adult Books:
http://www.librarything.com/list/186/PitcherBooks/Best-Young-Adult

GroupsBritish & Irish Children's Fiction, Children's Fiction, Everything Illustration and Comic Art!, Fairy Tale Readers, FantasyFans, Golden Age Illustrators, Maryland Librarythingers, Picture books, Read YA Lit, Science Fiction Fans —show all groups, Tattered but still lovely, The Green Dragon, Urban Fantasy

Favorite authorsDouglas Adams, Paul Adshead, Aesop, Saladin Ahmed, Mitch Albom, Hans Christian Andersen, Lucie Attwell, Julianna Baggott, Antonia Barber, Shirley Barber, Cicely Mary Barker, Jill Barklem, J. M. Barrie, John Bauer, Fritz Baumgarten, Nicola Bayley, Josh Bazell, M. C. Beaton, Wladyslaw T. Benda, Alix Berenzy, Jody Bergsma, Elsa Beskow, Eleanor Vere Boyle, C.L. Bevill, Guy Billout, Autumn M. Birt, Ida Bohatta, Alan Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Jan Brett, Molly Brett, Katharine Mary Briggs, Anthony Browne, Ruth Brown, Quint Buchholz, Christopher Buckley, Octavia E. Butler, Smedley D. Butler, George Washington Cable, Italo Calvino, M. R. Carey, James Christopher Carroll, Kristin Cashore, Becky Chambers, C. J. Cherryh, Ted Chiang, Cinda Williams Chima, Kay Chorao, Ernest Cline, Rene Cloke, Bruce Coville, Kinuko Craft, Rie Cramer, Walter Crane, George Cruikshank, David Delamare, Jana DeLeon, Paul Delvaux, Andrew Diamond, Charles Dickens, Angel Dominguez, William Donahey, Tim Dorsey, Richard Doyle, Daniela Drescher, Andrej Dugin, Edmund Dulac, Jane Dyer, Cooper Edens, Wallace Edwards, Mary Engelbreit, M. C. Escher, Janet Evanovich, Jean-Henri Fabre, Eugene Field, Virgil Finlay, Fannie Flagg, Maxine Gadd, Neil Gaiman, Iassen Ghiuselev, May Gibbs, Yvonne Gilbert, Rob Gonsalves, Mother Goose, Edward Gorey, Deirdre Gould, Arlene Graston, Eulalie Osgood Grover, Johnny Gruelle, Scott Gustafson, Bessie P. Gutmann, Michael Hague, Jennie Harbour, Nick Harkaway, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Florence Parry Heide, Robert A. Heinlein, Racey Helps, Frank Herbert, Marilee Heyer, Robin Hobb, Heidi Holder, Billie Holiday, Jeremy Holmes, Jonathan L. Howard, Langston Hughes, Trina Schart Hyman, A. E. Jackson, A. J. Jacobs, A. J. Jacobs, Harriet A. Jacobs, Ellen Jareckie, Susan Jeffers, N. K. Jemisin, A. M. Jenkins, Darynda Jones, Rachel Joyce, William Joyce, Richard Kadrey, Jonas Karlsson, Herminie Templeton Kavanagh, Becky Kelly, Charles Kingsley, Barbara Kingsolver, Maggie Kneen, Dorothy P. Lathrop, Harper Lee, Madeleine L'Engle, C. S. Lewis, J. C. Leyendecker, Astrid Lindgren, Laurel Long, Lisa Lutz, C. L. Lynch, Patricia Lynch, Jonathan Maberry, George MacDonald, Drew Magary, René Magritte, Henriette Willebeek Le Mair, Peg Maltby, Gabriel García Márquez, Bob Marsocci, Charles Mathes, Mercer Mayer, James McBride, Anne McCaffrey, Peter McCarty, Lisa McCue, Seanan McGuire, Vonda N. McIntyre, Maria Sibylla Merian, Daniel Merriam, Lauren A. Mills, J S Morin, Claire North, Seumas O'Brien, Robyn Officer, Pixie O'Harris, Seumas O'Kelly, Daniel José Older, Daniel O'Malley, Rose O'Neill, Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Arto Paasilinna, Charles Perrault, Nick Pirog, Maurice Pledger, Edgar Allan Poe, Daniel Polansky, Michael Poore, Beatrix Potter, Terry Pratchett, Margaret Evans Price, James Whitcomb Riley, Jordaina Sydney Robinson, W. Heath Robinson, Jon Ronson, Ann B. Ross, J. K. Rowling, Carrie Ryan, Ruth Sanderson, Charles Van Sandwyk, Andrzej Sapkowski, John Scalzi, Scheherazade, Adrienne Segur, William Shakespeare, Kory M. Shrum, Graeme Simsion, Michael Sowa, Jerry Spinelli, Gennady Spirin, Virginia Frances Sterrett, James Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Maggie Stiefvater, Charles Stross, Jonathan Swift, Lian Tanner, Audrey Tarrant, Margaret Tarrant, Laini Taylor, Mark Teague, Colin Thompson, Molly B. Thomson, David Thorne, George Tooker, Traditional Fairy Tales, Beth Vardon, Remedios Varo, Vivian Vande Velde, Joan D. Vinge, Jeannette Walls, Maurice Walsh, Martha Wells, Donald E. Westlake, Oscar Wilde, Eloise Wilkin, Garth Williams, N. D. Wilson, Sophie Windham, Milo Winter, Sulamith Wülfing, Charles Wysocki, Jacek Yerka, Jane Yolen, Tae-Eun Yoo, Hiltgunt Zassenhaus, Paul O. Zelinsky, Markus Zusak (Shared favorites)

VenuesFavorites

Favorite bookstoresBarnes & Noble Booksellers - Towson, Drusilla's Books, The Book Thing of Baltimore, Inc., The Children's Bookstore, The Kelmscott Bookshop

Favorite librariesBaltimore County Public Library - Cockeysville Library, Baltimore County Public Library - Parkville-Carney Library, Baltimore County Public Library - Pikesville Library, Baltimore County Public Library - Reisterstown Library, Baltimore County Public Library - Towson Library, Enoch Pratt Free Library - Central Library, Enoch Pratt Free Library - Roland Park Branch, Maryland Historical Society, Owings Mills Branch of the Baltimore County Public Library

Other favoritesNational Book Festival, Baltimore Book Festival 2008

Favorite lists1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up, Best children's picture books, A Child's Book Tour of Ireland

MembershipTinyCat. https://www.librarycat.org/lib/PitcherBooks
ER. LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Real namePat

LocationMaryland, USA

Account typepublic

URLs /profile/PitcherBooks (profile)
/catalog/PitcherBooks (library)

Member sinceJan 29, 2008