Memberrabbitprincess

About My Library

I probably have more mysteries than anything else but I don't read them exclusively, or at least not nearly as exclusively as I did in the past. Areas of interest include Canada, the British Isles, historical fiction, the occasional Western, science, and military history. And then of course there are Doctor Who novels.

I am drawn to books with interesting plots and strong senses of place. Characters are less of a consideration in stand-alone novels but become more of a factor in a series. I use police procedurals set in the British Isles as my "cozy" mysteries -- the coziness comes from the locale, not the crime. I like writing that is unobtrusive but I do appreciate amusing descriptive asides, particularly about characters.

I get recommendations from book blogs, random library browsing, friends and family, the odd newspaper or magazine, and my boyfriend's mum's book club. I'm not actually a member, but she usually sends me the lists in case I have any of their selections. Anything in my library tagged "book club" was either read by the club or at least up for consideration. Lately, though, my biggest source of recommendations has been all the book bullets I get around here!

Rating System

For the most part the star system is based on how I felt reading the book, although sometimes affection for an author or the person recommending it may lead me to round up when I may otherwise round down. (Sometimes I qualify these stars in my reviews, e.g. "A respectful four stars" or "A pleasantly surprised 3.5".) In general, this is how it stacks up:

1 = Didn't like it. Quite probably did not finish, or finished under extreme duress. If I really hated a book I may delete it from my catalogue entirely to forget the whole experience, so there shouldn't be too many 1-stars.

1.5 = There may have been promise in pockets, but overall this wasn't a great reading experience for me. I likely did not finish the book.

2 = It was okay. Any problems I had with it were not small enough to overlook but not big enough to make me angry.

2.5 = Almost liked it, but not quite.

3 = I liked it. Usually this means the book has met whatever expectations I had, but did not necessarily exceed them. (This is not necessarily a bad thing.)

3.5 = Above average (even though this is the halfway point between 1 and 5…this is subjective stuff, not math!). Meaning I liked this book and really liked other aspects, but it was not quite causing me to jump for joy around the apartment.

4 = I really liked it. I finished the book with a smile, or I laughed aloud quite a lot, or learned a few interesting facts.

4.5 = Really, really good, but just short of perfection. Either that or I am worried that a five-star rating may be influenced by other, non-book factors (e.g. for True Grit, where my love of the movies hung very heavily over my reading of the book)

5 = Excellent! I was left breathless by the end, had my expectations exceeded and beyond, or gushed about it to everyone I knew. (There are a few books where the five-star rating was awarded in the heat of the moment. Some of these may be adjusted at a later date, if I think of it.)

About Me

Reader, Canadian(-)music fan, unrepentant maker of horrible puns, sporadic knitter, occasional baker

Location

Ottawa, ON, Canada

Memberships

TinyCat

Also On

Goodreads, Ravelry

Currently Reading

Orkneyinga saga : the history of the Earls of Orkney by Hermann Pálsson,

The stone by Nigel Tranter

Un jardin au bout du monde : nouvelles by Gabrielle Roy

Foundations of Safety Science by Sidney Dekker

Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Basic Skills by William Hughes

Behind human error by David D. Woods

The Challenger launch decision : risky technology, culture, and deviance at NASA by Diane Vaughan

The Classical Music Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (DK Big Ideas) by DK

Favorite Authors

Douglas Adams, Linwood Barclay, Dave Barry, Peter Capaldi, John le Carré, Agatha Christie, Douglas Coupland, Len Deighton, C. S. Forester, Graham Greene, Reginald Hill, Arnaldur Indridason, Thomas King, Ross Macdonald, Ben Macintyre, Hugh MacLennan, L. M. Montgomery, Louise Penny, Ian Rankin, Edward Rutherfurd, Sarah Vowell, Richard Wagamese

Favorite Lists

BBC Radio 4 Bookclub, Best Science Books for Non-Scientists, The Guardian's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read, The Telegraph's 110 Best Books: The Perfect Library

Local Favorites

Bookstores: All Books, Argosy Books, Ben McNally Books, Benjamin Books, Berry & Peterson Booksellers, Book Bazaar, Books on View, By the Lake Books, Chapters - Rideau, Chapters - World's Biggest Book Store, Chapters Bookstore, Dragan Tail Bookshop, Foyles (old Charing Cross branch), Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights, Novel Idea, Patrick McGahern Books Inc., Perfect Books, Russell Books, Strand Bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop, Waterstones Glasgow Sauchiehall Street, Waterstones London (Trafalgar Square)

Libraries: Library and Archives Canada - Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, Library of Parliament - Centre Block, Morisset Library, University of Ottawa, Ottawa Public Library - Carlingwood Branch, Ottawa Public Library - Main Library, Ottawa Public Library - Nepean Centrepointe Branch, Ottawa Public Library - Rideau Branch

Member Connections

Friends

ahef1963, Caroline2, ColinMcN91, connie53, eyelit, GrilledCheeseSamurai, Jackie_K, jenniferw88, Jestak, Jinjer.Hundley, jll1976, johanna414, kayandtea, kgriffith, LynnB, mathgirl40, Melissa_J, mstrust, ofthatilk, oldmysfan, RaimeyGallant, rubyslippersreads, Sace, sisilia9, thegreeneyedreader, This-n-That, ultrabookgeek

Interesting Library

AB_Aviation_Museum, booksandscones, cbl_tn, Cecilturtle, clamato, GCPLreader, isabelx, Jestak, John_Vaughan, L-Anne, leslie.98, Louve_de_mer, Marissa_Doyle, mysterymax, paruline, PawsforThought, raidergirl3, sadiegrrl, ultrabookgeek, vancouverdeb, VivienneR