THE KITCHEN

I thought we might need a place to hang out in when we are NOT posting on our own or each others' threads. What better place than the kitchen! Isn't that where some of the best informal gatherings happen? There seems to be plenty of refreshments here also, Cariola, thanks!

I suppose we could introduce ourselves. My name is Lois and until a year ago I was a bookseller (events coordinator, actually). I'm currently a full-time student, finishing a degree I perhaps should've finished ages ago but, well, life just got in the way. I enjoy all kinds of books, all kinds of fiction. Left to my own devices, I enjoy going on author jags (several books by the same author and additional related nonfiction) or theme jags (currently, African fiction). I'm pleased to be sharing my reading with such a fine group of readers.

I'm Jim, AKA drneutron, renegade physicist and system engineer building spacecraft. I'm mostly reading current fiction these days since my public library reading list is now approaching 60 items. About 25% are non-fiction, though, so there's some variety. I'll read almost anything.

I thought this would be a fun way to keep track of this year's reading and see what other folks are enjoying.

Hello, my name is Cyrel and I am a retired high school art teacher. However I am now head of a programme for visual arts certification for teachers. So, I am still very much interested in art education. I also love to read fiction,memoirs, travel books and history. Lately, I have become interested in graphic novels. I have found out about many interesting books from LT readers. I have put most on my really big TBR pile(s). This group gives me an opportunity to learn about more authors and books and to track my own reading.

Thanks, avaland, great thread. I've been MIA for the past few days as my computer crashed, and it has taken me awhile to get things reinstalled on the new one. Really bad timing, as I'm a professor, classes start on Monday, and I was just about to begin working on syllabi.

Anyway, I'm Deborah. I teach English at a PA State System university. My area of expertise is early modern British lit, particularly drama. (Hence all the plays and books on Tudor and Stuart culture in my library.) I also teach general education courses (freshman writing, intro to lit for non-majors). With a heavy course load (four courses and up to 120 students each semester) and huge stacks of student papers to read, fiction keeps me sane. I read a good bit of historical fiction, but I also enjoy classics, Asian fiction, and literary contemporary fiction. I also read an occasional biography of an author or historical figure that interests me. And, of course, I read a lot of material for my research as well.

Hi I'm Diana, a high school teacher here in Canada.
I have always loved to read and have very eclectic tastes - I really can't say what I like best, and I read both fiction and non-fiction but the latter often has to do with history in some form (I particularly like books about the development/origins/usage of the English language). Fiction ranges from "popular" to more literary works, and also includes BritCrime novels, historical novels, and humour. I have several books going at once right now - The Fight for English, Collapse, The Shipping News and A Personal History by Katharine Graham. My goal is to finish two of these this week!

I meant to add that I read a lot of CanLit. This isn't really done because I'm Canadian - of course, there is more visibility of these books here, but they are just excellent writers in the Great White North. For those of you who may want some recommendations: the usual Atwood, Shields, Munro, Findley, Mistry but also - Anita Rau Badami, Mary Lawson, Wayne Johnston, Richard B. Wright, Bonnie Burnard, Frances Itani, Ami McKay, M.G. Vassanji and more!

Badami fan here! I've just ordered her latest which has NOT been published in the US (shame!); I waited until a Canadian LT friend pronounced it 'excellent" before spending the money. I've read Itani's Deafening and very much enjoyed it; and picked up McKay's The Birth House because it had been nominated by several Canadian libraries for the Impac Dublin Award; haven't had time to read it yet though. I would also add Thomas Wharton and Michael Crummey to your list of lesser knowns. . .also Jane Urquhart.

I like all of Badami's but The Hero's Walk was my favourite - but her latest is excellent too.
I found Deafening hard to get through but well written - her new one sounds promising though. I will certainly give it a try. I didn't really care for the story behind The Birth House but McKay is definitely a good writer.
And I'm afraid I couldn't take Jane Urquhart's Away so I never gave her others a try.
I will keep my eyes open for Wharton and Crummey.

Wharton is a very creative writer. I believe he appeared on the literary scene with Icefields and later with an odd, intriguing book called Salamander. I suspect, he is a big Borges fan. His third book, The Logogryph is a collection of very clever short pieces that any reader would delight in because it's all about books and reading. It made the shortlist for the Impac Dublin award (a global award). I'm a little disappointed that his cleverness has been steered towards what appears to be genre fantasy with new novel coming out this year in that genre. Well, I suppose one must pay the bills. I have recently ordered Icefields (which I think won an award).

I have been collecting Urquhart for some time - one of those 'meaning to read' sort of things. I have only read Away and some of her poetry, but based on that I will read more.

Hey there, all! I'm Charlotte and I work for a real estate law firm. I prefer historical fiction above all, but I do read other things. I usually try to have at least one fiction and one non-fiction (most often history) going at the same time.

I read Away last year, finally getting it out of my TBR pile where it had languished for years. Liked it pretty well. Am open to suggestions as to the next Urquhart book I should add to the TBR shelf.

Charlotte, have you read any of Philippa Gregory books? I have The Other Boleyn Girl on my TBR mountain; there seems to be mixed feelings about Gregory's historical accuracy. I was disappointed in the Robin Maxwell book about Anne Boleyn.
My favourite all time historical novels are: Pillars of Iron by Ken Follett, Follow the River by Alexander Thom and The Peaceable Kingdom by Jan de Hartog. The latter I read when in my teens - my opinion might be different now. I also read a lot of Jean Plaidy at that time.

Hi Charlotte- my favourite Jane Urquhart books are The Underpainter and The Stone Carvers. Both mix historical fiction and history of real people. I wasn't so fond of A Map of Glass although I think that some LT readers liked it.

dihiba, I've avoided Philippa Gregory for just that reason - the questionable historical accuracy reason - though I have come this close (thumb and forefinger held about 1/8 of an inch apart) to just trying her anyway. As for Ken Follett, I just realized this afternoon when I was adding Pillars of Iron to my gigantic and truly embarassing wish list on Amazon, why it is that I've never even checked this book out (even though I have seen it mentioned in about a bazillion places on LT) when I saw that Library Journal said this book was "a radical departure from Follett's novels of international suspense and intrigue". Books containing "International suspense and intrigue" (which translate in my mind as the primary elements to a spy story) are ones I do not read if I can help it at all. Boring and tedious. However, thanks to you, I checked out PoI, decided that it was actually something I would probably read and heaved it onto the pile for purchase later. And while I was at it I added The Peaceable Kingdom (what's with touchstones dragging up the Hauerwas book ???) and Follow the River, too. Torontoc, I have also added the first two Urquhart books as well. Thanks to both of you for the suggestions. I wonder if I will live long enough to read all this stuff.

I felt the same away about Ken Follett and the spy genre until the friend who lent me Pillars of Iron told me it was an historical novel. He has written a few others but nothing near as good (for example A Place Called Freedom which I read for a second time a couple of years ago - I kept saying to myself, "this seems awfully familiar" - half way through I realized I must have read it already).
I am not sure if The Peaceable Kingdom would still be in print - or even Follow the River.

I believe I said it was Alexander Thom who wrote Follow the River - it is actually James Alexander Thom.

>11 dihiba:, >13 Fourpawz2: Do you mean Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett? The one about building the cathedral? I read that ages ago. . .well, '89 when it first came out. Enjoyed it but wouldn't say it was a favorite historical fiction. I'd have to think about that question.

I've had someone tell me that Urquhart's The Whirlpool was their favorite and I always thought that I'd pick up that one the next time I wish to read one of her novels. Now, Cyrel, I may hesitate and hover over all her titles in a fog of indecision!:-)

Yes, avaland, I guess I did. Don't know where my powers of observation were when I put it on my wishlist.

Hi all! I'm Sarah and I teach literature and mythology at two local community colleges. Though I love to read almost anything, my favorite books are often fairy tale retellings or other books that incorporate folklore in different ways.

I'm trying to challenge myself to keep better track of my reading, which I used to do in grad school, and I think this group might help me do that. I'm a terrible procrastinator, though. :)

I just started Atonement by Ian McEwanthis morning. Am I the last one on LT to read it?! Any thoughts? I hear the movie is wonderful. And just how is "Briony' pronounced?

dihiba, I'm going to reread Atonement soon. I listened to it as an audiobook, and I'm convinced that my negative response to the reader had something to do with my relatively negative view of the book, as I'm a big McEwan fan.

But because I listened to it, I can give you the pronunciation: BRY-uh-nee.

beserene, welcome and we will love observing what you are reading:-) Have you read much Angela Carter? I have loved her fairy tales.

Thanks Cariola. I will certainly be posting here what I think of the book and I will probably be going to the movie.

avaland, I have read some of Carter's work--in fact last year I worked my way through a collection of her fairy tales and I thought they were wonderful--disturbing, eerie, sensual, and wonderful. I have a couple of her novels floating around as well--I might be getting to them as part of the 75 this year.

I did want to note, on that subject, that I just realized the original 50-book group has many of their members carrying on with their 2008 lists in the same group (lots of them are doing 75 in '08 like we are). Is there a particular reason why we are a separate group? Could/should we merge or are those fighting words? My good friend tapestry100 has his list there, so I might move mine, but I hate to cause offense (almost as much as I hate to double-post). :)

She has a short novel entitled "Love". A modern gothic set in '69 - weird love triangle thing. Creepy cemetary, creepy love, mental instability... Carter loved Poe and it shows up in this little novel - the female character's name is Annabelle (if I remember correctly). I went through all her short fiction last year and some of her nonfiction, a couple of novels.

I think Cariola saw interest in a larger challenge (75 instead of 50) while over there and thought to create a new group for it...perhaps it could've been done all in the same group. On the other hand, there are a fair number of users over there who I know fairly well (we are in many of the same groups), so its nice to be over here and meet new people, imo. Doesn't mean we can't go over there and read their posts or vice versa:-)

Hi - I'm Kris aka fannyprice. Finished grad school last summer, so now I have both more and less time for reading, I guess. Two cats and a significant other. Thinking about trying to learn Welsh for no reason whatsoever.

I have incredibly eclectic tastes and can get interested in just about anything. I guess that I am in particular interested in novels from England and the Middle East, social & commodity histories, books about language, dystopian & post-apocalyptic novels, and history, but I have probably left off ten of my favorite subjects without even realizing it.

Three genres that I want to read more of this year are fantasy YA books - because I never read them as a kid (I was entirely too serious....), graphic novels - because I have trouble savoring the visual aspect of them and would like to better 'train' myself to do so, and short stories - because I don't read enough of them but they are often more perfect than a full-fledged novel. Also trying to read beyond England, America, and the Middle East when I make my fiction choices. These ideas are all reflected in my goals for my 888 challenge, which overlaps with my general numerical challenge.

Ok, given that I have just upped the ante by 15 books, I now need to go start reading again and stop re-organizing and re-tagging my books on LT.

Good afternoon! My name is Ceri... i'm not imaginative enough to come up with a better alias! Work wise I am a solicitor but wouldn't want that to define me... i'm trying not to let the demands of my job eat into any more precious reading time. I only just scraped the 50 book challenge last year, so I am really upping the ante by aiming to read 75.... it is a huge challenge especially as I keep getting distracted by book reviews on LT/ blogs and newspapers, making more to read lists etc... Don't get me wrong I love reading and so this challenge is about making more time for myself and broadening my reading horizons..

Specifially, I am going to focus more on reading travel writing classics, such as The Marsh Arabs by Wilfred Thesiger, A short walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby and In Patagonia by Bruce Chatwin. I also want to read at least a good portion of the huge lists of books to read in 2008 that I have on LT and I am going to start reading poetry again, starting with Benjamin Zephaniah... think that will keep me busy for a year at least...

As an aside, Angela Carter was a fabulous writer... I love Wise Children a very clever, deep and funny book...

Cool, more new people:-) Welcome Ceri and Kris.

I have incredibly eclectic tastes and can get interested in just about anything.

I am so with you there, fannyprice.

How odd - I was at B&N just yesterday afternoon determined to spend my remaining gift card money there and I ran across Angela Carter for the first time. I picked up a copy of The Bloody Chamber, read the first two pages (I never buy short stories) and had to have it. I never heard of her before yesterday, but on the strength of those two pages I'm expecting this to be a great book.

Good Sunday Morning to you all! I'm Kathi Phillips and I live near Syracuse, NY. I'm an assistant professor at St. Joseph's College of Nursing, with a specialty in (and passion for) the field of mental health/illness.
This will be brief, because I'm way behind with the essential project of the day, which is a major revision of a 3-hour lecture on "Therapeutic Settings and Treatment Modalities." (I can see your eyes glazing over!!)

My LT catalog also reflects:
-My lifelong addiction to mystery fiction.
-My current nostalgia for my hometown of Detroit, Michigan
-My love of classical music, especially choral, and my efforts to become a better singer.
-My interests in spirituality, religion, faith (or the lack thereof)

Pax,
Kathi

Kathi, I too like mystery fiction. Am particularly drawn to BritCrime. Notice from your book list that you like Peter Robinson - just about my favourite. I missed a chance to see him at a bookstore here last year and am still kicking myself!
I also like Graham Hurley, Andrew Taylor, Ruth Rendell, P.D. James and more. And want to read (actually reread as in 30 years later) some Agatha Christie!

Hi Kathi, Is LT your therapeutic setting?:-) It certainly is mine (well, I have some others also). I have loved mysteries also although I haven't read very many in the last year or so. LT has some wonderful musicians and singers on it, is there a group for that yet? cckelly and teelgee are two users who come to mind.

Oh, yes, LT is a therapeutic setting for me, and a treatment modality, too! In the "real" world I actually have colleagues who belittle my interest in books and my desire to have a large personal library. I'm told to just stick to the most basic nursing textbooks for my class preparation. Can't do that.
Won't do that. Here on LT nobody thinks I'm weird because I buy a lot of books. A virtual support group, available 24/7!

I haven't yet found an LT group which quite matches my particular passion for choral music and solo singing. Am a member of the Syracuse Chorale, and I get very caught up in whatever works we are preparing to perform in a particular season. Right now it's the Mozart Requiem. I keep one CD in my car and another in the house. Am reading Opus Ultimum: The Story of the Mozart Requiem byDaniel N. Leeson. Then I plan to read 1791: Mozart's Last Year by H.C. Robbins Landon. The film, Amadeus, was entertaining but they got pretty much everything wrong with respect to the Requiem and Mozart's demise. We are doing the Robert D. Levin completion which is totally stunning, and not previously performed in Central New York (we think).

I think I've just talked myself into starting a group for choral junkies...

pax,
Kathi

Hi, I'm Sharon. I didn't come up with a clever name because I just came to Librarything to find out about books about South America, however I've found it a good resource for books about many subjects and places, plus it's fun to interact with people some.

I've lived in South America for 24 years with my husband and will be leaving in June. We added 4 kids to "us" during our time here and one has already flown the coop and married. Last summer (Northern Hemisphere summer) we took the remaining three on an epic journey from Buenos Aires to Quito by bus. It turned out to be a great adventure and family time. (Hence wanting books on that topic.)

My husband and I are going to the middle east next and I researched books on LT for that as well. He travels for his work (ministry) and I'm his secretary and companion. I don't get to go all the time. Right now he's in Central America for 10 days. (Boo-hoo!)

We're not looking forward to moving back to the states, but it does seem to be the next right step for our family and ministry and you can only take one step at a time.

Hi, All ~

I'm a life-long bibliophile in many forms; collect, read, trade, lust after and do a bit of writing as well. I work at the circulation desk of our local public library so, at present, I am literally surrounded by books most of the time.

I am determined to spend this year working through my incredibly long TBR list. I read in just about every genre imaginable except hard-core sci-fi and romance. I read about as much non-fiction as fiction, mostly history, although I'll grab anything that seems interesting.

I look forward to getting to know all of you!

Hi everybody! I'm Lizzie (another one with a less-than-imaginative user name...) and work in academic quality at a university in London.

I have a 30 minute commute to work each day, which can easily be spent napping, but I find that when I read I'm more alert for the start of my working day. So, ultimately, I thought by joining this challenge it would help push me into staying awake.

I'm going to try and read a majority of new (to me) books this year - I have a habit of comfort-reading the same books over and again, which I'd like to get out of. It also gives me the excuse of having to buy more books, which is never a chore!

Ok, I finally made it over here. I'm 'rissa (it’s Carissa but no one gets it right) and I'm 26 living in metro Boston, (well, technically metro Cambridge) but you get the idea. I live with my partner and 2 other roommates in a very small apartment. (One of our housemates lives in the “non-fiction section”.) I knit, sew and make/refinish furniture which often gets in the way of my reading.

I missed my 75 book goal last year, mostly because I miscalculated and counted things like Divine Comedy as one work rather then breaking it down into 3. This year, I will not be making that mistake.

I like reading really hard books with what I term "brain break" or "train books" (ones that I can read caffeine deprived at 7:45 am) in-between. If I don't have to work at a book or am not blown out of the water by the authors’ style or imagination or art work, I'm not interested.

I'm also working on the 1001 books to read before you die list but plan on going more on the international edition out in April. Hopefully, there will be fewer Jane Austin's and Bronte's and other tiring, predictable romances on it.

This is a joint account I share with my partner but it's only me who ever posts.

Where you have room to make/refinish furniture, prophetandmistress, is beyond me! Funny, my daughter's name is Larissa but she often signs her name "reesha" because, as you say, "no one gets it right." Our fault, really, we added the extra 's' after being accused by my in-laws of picking a 'communist name" - this was 1982 (it comes from Doctor Zhivago, the book, not the movie). Anyway, welcome.

Hi - I'm Nancy and I live in London, UK. In between running my business, I absolutely live to read. I read every night, every time I am on the train, in fact, every spare minute I can find.

I read pretty much anything, although I too am not a huge fan of sci-fi. Non-fiction - I love history and art history (I did an MA in Art History so old habits die hard). Fiction - well, anything really but I love crime fiction, historical and modern fiction. It just depends on what kind of mood I am in...

I might have read 75 books last year but I wasn't very good at recording them. LT is certainly going to help me do that and what better than being part of a group to give me that inspiration. Looking forward to getting to know all of you this year.

Well, since we are in the kitchen, I'm going to recommend a fabulous cookbook I just discovered--perfect for the cold weather we are experiencing here in PA: The New England Soup Factory Cookbook. Yesterday I made the Spinach, Feta, and Pine Nut Soup, which was divine.

Hello all,

My name is Stasia. I am a 45-year-old housewife, homeschooling 2 teenagers, and working a part-time EBay business. My wonderful husband and I will be celebrating our 20th anniversary this June.

I read a lot as well as listen to a lot of audiobooks. My fictional preferences are for mysteries, romance and romantic suspense although I will admit that LibraryThing has certainly broadened my horizons in regards to what I now read. I have read several books recently that a year ago I would never have dreamed of picking up to glance at.

I also read nonfiction - primarily true crime, biographies, books about books (one of my favorite categories), books on exploration, and histories.

I generally read more than 75 books in any given year, but thought this forum would help me keep better track as well as introducing me to some people who make interesting comments and suggestions as to reading material. One of my goals every year is to read at least 100 nonfiction books. I learned about this by reading Louis L'Amour's autobiography Education of a Wandering Man - one of the books I read at least once a year - and it has stuck with me.

Amazon is just too easy. Soon as I read Cariola's post about The New England Soup Factory Cookbook I clicked right over there and bought it. Can't wait to get it.

I think you'll like it. My all-time favorite soup cookbook, however, is Twelve Months of Monastery Soups.

Hey Kitchen People -

I have a question - am I the only one who has a hard time reading books about which there is a HUGE amount of buzz? In particular I refer to The Kite Runner and Atonement. I see these books (and a few others) talked about on LT just everywhere and seeing those names - over and over and over - makes me not want to read them. I think that seeing those titles so many times I am either, tired of them or I am afraid that I will expect too much of them.

Tell me - are they really, really, really worth reading?

#43 - I cannot comment on Atonement since I have not read that one yet, but to me, The Kite Runner was definitely worth it.

One of the things I truly enjoy about LT is that it has expanded my reading horizons immensely through reviews of books I might not otherwise have touched by repeatedly exposing me to the opinions of other people on them.

Of course, not everyone is going to like everything that the majority of other people seem to enjoy (for me it was The Other Boleyn Girl, but it gives a person a starting point for some truly excellent reading pleasures.

I enjoyed The Kite Runner, but I did not think it lived up to the hype. Although I love McEwan, I didn't care for Atonement. However, I listened to the audiobook, and it may have been that I didn't like the reader (who read another book I despised, Never Let Me Go--talk about overhyped!). I'm going to give Atonement another go--in print this time.

Memoirs of a Geisha is another one that I thought didn't live up to the hype--basically a Western white male's geisha fantasy.

fourpawz, actually I have a tendency to avoid books that have a lot of buzz around them. I have not read Harry Potter, for example. Now, that said, I have read quite a lot of them but I read most of them before they were published. It is interesting that one can many times recognize a book that will 'take off' (Water for Elephants, for example. This is one of the things I enjoyed doing as a bookseller. However, left to my own devices, I try to make my own choices.

Sometimes we like to read books that many others are touting; it provides a common experience and, in the case of some books like HP, a cultural experience.

Cariola, I have to agree with you on Never Let Me Go, it just didn't wow me. A bit tedious in spots also (well, I suppose that is Ishiguro's style). Something like The Secret by Eva Hoffman takes the same idea (cloning) and makes it into a meditation on self-identity (sorry, no touchstone).

I did like both Atonement and The Kite Runner. I couldn't abide The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and gave up after about 20 pp - but it certainly got lots of positive hype on LT. Also thought The Memory-Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards was good but not great - she shows some promise but the plot and characterization was uneven, IMHO.
A Thousand Splendid Suns also by Hosseini was good, but not the great book I was expecting.

I agree that being on LT has widened by reading horizons.

I am so glad that someone else didn't like The Thirteenth Tale. Thanks, dhiba! I saw the book on some LT reader's top five! And it was on my bottom group. I think that Diane Setterfield can write well but I hated the plot and characters.

Add me to the list of those unimpressed with The Thirteenth Tale. It wasn't awful, just nothing memorable.

I agree with the fact that her writing was fine. The plot and story just didn't do anything for me.

I liked The Thirteenth Tale as an audio book, read by one of the Redgraves. Great entertainment for a boring drive from Lake Placid, NY to home, but not something I'd put even vaguely near the top of my 'best of' lists.

Put me on the list of the unimpressed. The plot was the problem for me as well - it just wasn't interesting, and the other aspects of the book just didn't make up for it.

Well, I put The Kite Runner on my Amazon Wish List – Thank you Kitchen People for your input. Found it interesting how many other titles you all have mentioned that I have also avoided like the plague on account of that aversion I have concerning over-buzzed about books. The only one of them that I have read is that wretched The Memory Keeper’s Daughter which I hated from somewhere in the first chapter onward, but finished anyway for the idiotic reason that it wasn’t mine. I have a problem not finishing the books that other people lend me – sort of like not finishing what’s on my plate when I’m invited to dinner at someone else’s house – they might be insulted if I don’t eat it all. I read it extra fast because I wanted to get it out of the way so that I could move on to something that I really wanted to read.

I hate the feeling like I have to read something because "everyone's talking about it". Took me years to read Harry Potter - it was being bed-ridden wit appendicitis and being on painkillers that did it (then I loved it, I confess, until the later books when she obviously needed an editor....).

I liked The Thirteenth Tale alright - I think I gave it more stars that it warranted (four), but I found it kind of labored and the twists were not all that twisty - despite this, I raced through it to find out what would happen next. Sometimes the most intriguing books are not the best books.

I still haven't read The DaVinci Code--and I doubt that I ever will.

#55 Cariola: If you ever do find yourself just itching to read a Dan Brown book, I suggest that you make it Angels and Demons instead of The Davinci Code - the former is a much better read IMHO.

Funny, I got through The Da Vinci Code but couldn't get into Angels and Demons - but most people seem to think it's the better book. They really aren't the kind of books that normally appeal anyway - but I felt I had to read Code... and I was working in a bookstore at the time and the whole world was reading it : (. The movie, though, really smelled. And I am a big Hanks fan.
Am reading my first Dorothy L. Sayers book - love the way she writes! Her characters are great.
I must get the TV-dramatisations versions from the library (Lord Peter Wimsey). I'll be unemployed as of next Fri., so might have some time on my hands!

#57 dihiba: Huh. I wonder, did you read The Davinci Code first? If so, maybe that's it, since I read Angels and Demons first, and they are similar in a lot of ways, so maybe whichever comes second is just too much like the first read? Anyway, I didn't even bother with the movie because I thought it looked no good, so I'm glad that I didn't see it now.

I did see the movie--pretty dull.

Horribly dull. I fell asleep about a third of the way in, woke up and was still able to see the end "surprise!" coming a mile away. Never read the book. Don't want to.

I read Code first. I turned the movie off (rented it) after about 20 minutes. I found the cinematography very dark (literally) and had problems with that.

I was just thinking that if one is aiming for 75 books this year, that's about a book and a half a week or 6 or 7 books a month. Just a thought.

I read a little over 100 books last year, so I'm not really aiming for 75, 100 or anything. If anything, I often wonder if I shouldn't slow down and really savor a book! But, I suppose, I'm compulsive about it.

My reading during the academic year is a bit slow--although I do count rereads that I'm teaching. But I read three times as many books during summer break. That will be my catchup time. I read over 80 last year, so I should be able to make the goal of 75.

Is it bad if it takes you a month just to get over to The Kitchen and introduce yourself? Is it better if you say "I was too busy reading"? Anyway, I'm Terri from St. Charles MO, and I think this is a fabulous idea. I would rather read than do just about anything else (except dance with a good partner). I love to own books, which irritates a lot of people I know (probably especially my mother, who is tired of giving me bookcases for gifts), but delights my children and godchildren, because they always know what to give me! I am a single mother of 3 grown sons, work for a health care system in information technology, training doctors & office staff on our computer systems. I also teach part-time, training future medical assistants on the non-clinical aspects of health care. I have precious little time to read, but I make time for it because it makes me happy. My tastes are eclectic, but I absolutely do not like to read "romance novels," things that are poorly written, and in general, any author who puts out more than one or maybe two books a year. There are a lot of other things I could say, but gee, I need to get back to reading! Looking forward to spending the year with all of you!

Hi, I'm a bit late to the party as well. My name is Carlos and I'm currently living in the Seattle area with my long-time girlfriend. We're moving back to California (Sonoma County) at the end of February. For the last few months, I've been trying, mostly successfully, to fight the urge to buy new books. (More stuff to pack.)

Last year, I managed to average ~10 books a month for the last four months (which is when I started to keep track), but with the move coming up and my desire to take on some more substantial books 75 seems like a manageable challenge. I'm not sure how to describe my tastes. I'm always trying to balance depth and breadth, but I definitely go off on particular fixations. This year, I'm hoping to read some lesser-known gothic classics, take on some bigger books, and get better acquainted with the literature of Latin America (esp. Argentina, where I was born).

Hello, Terri and Carlos, and welcome! Terri, I used to live in Columbia and had a good friend from St. Charles.

Carolos, I've been thinking about tackling The Monk or The Castle of Otranto. Gothic is not a genre I usually read.

Thanks, Cariola. I've got The Monk on my list of planned reads for the year. The Castle of Otranto was okay. It was a quick read so I'd recommend anyone who's curious to give it a try. It never really grabbed me, but at least it never slacks off so I wasn't exactly bored either.

Hi, Terri and Carlos! Carlos, I read an Argentine author in 07 who was new to me (in English translation)...Cesare Aira and the book was How I Became a Nun. It was very good (and more of a novella, really).

Hi. I just joined librarything and am addicted! My name is Heather and I currently live in London with my husband, two aging dogs and cat. I work as a library assistant and love libraries, though for some reason I can't stay out of bookstores either. Our holidays are spent investigating english-language bookshops and libraries. I read a variety of things, classics and a lot of junk I find at work. This year (beginning in August) was my year to read/reread the classics and I've already consumed 'The Woman in White,' some Steinbeck, and a few gothic novels (Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) and The Monk is on my list too! I am just recovering from a victorian england jag (oh the Bronte sisters) and would like to try some Russians maybe. I also want (I'm not sure want is the word) to read Ulysses but am dreading it, though I feel any self-respecting 'Paris in the 1920s' obsessive needs to read it. Don Quixote is also on the reading list for this year...I have a sinking feeling I'm not going to make it to 75.

welcome, hjelliot, you are indeed now amongst your own kind here:-)

Hi, Heather. You're tackling a number of books I've had on my "should read" list for quite awhile.

Hi, my name's Rachel and I live in Brussels, Belgium. I'm new to LT and I'm still finding my way around, but when I stumbled across this group yesterday I thought it looked like fun - and I'd like to thank you all right away for the wonderful ideas for future reads that I've got already just from reading your posts.
I read mainly fiction, and literary fiction in particular. I have no reading list as such for 2008; I have a couple of groaning TBR shelves, which I may or may not make significant inroads into, depending on what else I pick up along the way. (I'm currently enjoying Los Premios by Julio Cortazar, which has been on my TBR pile for, oh, 15 years...)
I look forward to keeping track of what you're all reading this year.

Welcome, Rachel! Are you a native Belgian or an expat enjoying living in a lovely country? We will look forward to hearing about your reading (as we are all literary voyeurs of a sort here on LT:-)

Hi, Avaland. I'm British - have been living in Belgium for about 5 years now, for work.
"Literary voyeurs" - there's a thought!

Cool. Oh yes, there is definitely some literary voyeuristic pleasure being exercised here on LT (peeking in others' libraries, for example)

I putting the hot water on the stove for all the newcomers:-)

Hey folks. Its an honor to be in your company. I love to meet others who read as much as I do.

As may be obvious from my screen name, my name is Patricia and I live and work in New York City. I specialized in Anthropology and Middle East Studies and I hope to go back to grad school by the end of next year. I hope to go back for International relations/history(with a concentration in Africa and the Middle East). I also hope to go to law School for international Law. As you can see I have a lot of schooling to do.

I work in the dormitory of a ballet school. I act in "loco parentis". I am friend, counselor, nurse, mediator, disciplinarian and all manner of things. Its a challenging job but I love my co-workers and the kids I work with. They can be trying as most teenagers are but they are also really great kids. I really think its the environment that we have cultivated here that allows that.

As to my background: well I was born in New York and my parents moved to Nigeria when I was really young because my dad got a job over there working in television. I went to primary school(I guess that's grade school in the US) and high School in Nigeria and I came back to the US a few years ago for college. So this background may inform some of my reading choices.

I find that I have a voracious mind. I love to read and watch almost anything. I love to sit at home and curl up with a good book and have some lovely tea. I am currently reading four books but I find that I am concentrating most on Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. I was going to read Oil but I wanted to read something he had written earlier so I decided to try The Jungle first.

In my opinion Angels and Demons is a much better book than Davinci Code. There was more suspense and intrigue in A&D and though I liked Davinci codewell enough, I found that it was just a rehashing of A&D. The situations were very similar and the characters were less compelling. And the movie was ghastly. Much as I like Tom Hanks, he was terribly miscast as the professor.

Alrighty I have said more than a mouthfull so I will go make some tea with that water that Avaland was boiling :)

Hi, Trish. Welcome to the group! You have sure had an interesting life, and it sounds like the future will be just as exciting.

We discussed Cranford awhile bacl. I hear it is available on DVD for pre-orders at Amazon USA.

Hey Cariola thanks again for the welcome. Yes, we did discuss Cranford. It is quite lovely, not on the level of North and South but really good.

By the way Cariola, I have been meaning to ask you, can you recommend a good book that I can buy that gives me a close to honest review of Tudor England, specifically Henry the 8th and his wives. I have enjoyed reading the Philippa Gregory books and watching The Tudors but both are riddled with inaccuracies and Gregory takes extreme liberties. Though I have done some independent research on the period, I want to know more concrete information on the period. I would greatly appreciate it.

Trish, I think David Starkey's books on the Tudors are pretty good, quite readable, and fairly accurate. Try Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R.

How about Antonia Fraser and Alison Weir for royal treatments?
I am debating whether to read The Other Boleyn Girl next as my daughter wants to see the movie on the weekend.

TrishNYC - I want your life. *heaves huge sigh, both envious and forlorn*

Fourpawz2, you are so sweet. Thanks for the compliment. Can I just say that I love your collection? Goodness, I swear before I discovered libthing, I was sure that I was a great reader but now that I see all of you guys' collections, I stand in awe.

Cariola and dhiba, thanks for the recommends. I will definitely look them up at my local bookstore as I want to have more concrete information on that period.

Alrighty, I am off to finish Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. I absolutely love it. I had never heard of it till recently when I heard of the movie "There will be blood" which is based on his book Oil. I wanted to read an earlier work by him to get a feel for his writing before I read Oil. Anyway, I hope to be done tonite.

As to The Other Girl , its an interesting read as long as you take it as fiction with certain historical facts thrown in and thrown in not necessarily how they happened. If you read it as fact, you will find yourself getting annoyed which is what happened to me when I read The constant princess. I spent the first few chapters going "what?". But once I reminded myself that it is fiction, I was able to enjoy the book. Gregory's books are highly entertaining but she is lite on truths.

Trish, The Constant Princess was her worst to date, as far as irritating historical inaccuracies go. I can only say that, however, because I've heard such awful reports about The Virgin's Lover that it has been sitting on my TBR shelf since it first came out (maybe four years?).

How's this challenge going for everyone? I've been absent for a long time and have struggled to find a book that grabs me for the last month and a half. I think that putting down a set list of TBRs (for the 888 challenge) really hurt me in terms of wanting to read - like I anticipated it would, sigh....- all of the sudden reading became yet another obligation. So I'm revising that list and adding some flexibility in order to make it seem less painful. Isn't that sad though? Reading is something I LOVE, not a chore. What's happened to me!?

85> I'm up to 20 books for the first two months, so I think I'll have little trouble making the goal. I would never force myself to stick to a reading list; I have to do that in reading for the courses I teach, and I want my extracurricular reading to be strictly for my own pleasure and interest--the latter of which may change from day to day. My huge stack (make that stacks, shelves, bags, and drawers) of TBRs includes books of all sorts that I plan to get around to--when I'm in the right mood.

As to struggling to find the right book for the right moment, I'm sure we've all experienced that. I find it especially hard to be satisfied after reading a book that I particularly enjoyed or that really moved me.

>fannyprice, we have missed you here! Yep, i know what a book funk is like. For me, it's not being able to get into anything I pick up OR it's a listlessness where I start four or five books (like I've been doing lately - I am progressing). I do have to be careful not to agree to too many group reads. . .

>87 avaland:, Yeah, honestly, group reads kill me. I really tried to get into them and even proposed a number of them in various groups, but they never worked out. And when they did, I found the book to be not to my liking. I'm mostly staying out of them now.

>88 fannyprice: ah! but we're trying 'theme reads' , something with far more flexibility (Reading Globally, Girlybooks) than all reading the same title. It will have a different sort of discussion but, I think, equally interesting.

If you have about 15 books listed thus far than you are on track to hit 75 by year's end (it averages out to a little under a book and a half a week). We are 10 weeks into 2008.

Hey guys(and feel free to laugh after you read the question), as I look at you guys' pages, I see that you guys are able to italicize, bold and basically carry out many functions on your page that are common in Windows. How do you guys do this? I have tried to bold, italicize, etc and none of it works. Can anyone help me after laughing at what may seem so easy but which I have obviously no idea how to do? Love and kisses in advance.

>91 TrishNYC:, Hey TrishNYC - basically, you just need to use some formatting marks - for example, to make things bold, just type before the thing you want bolded and afterwards to close it off - except eliminate the spaces between the marks - I just put them in so that you see what you need to use, rather than seeing the result itself. For italics, use "i" and for underscore, use "u" in the same fashion.

I frequently refer to this page when I want to format things on LT:

http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

I'm not an expert by any means in this and I have yet to have success with things like photos on my profile page. Feel free to PM me with additional questions.

Fanny, Fanny , Fanny, thank you buckets. You are so amazing!!! I am off to use all the suggestions you just gave. Again thanks a mil.

You can also put images in your messages if the image is somewhere on the web by



Once again, remove the spaces after the open bracket and before the close bracket.

Woo hoo - FP is back in the game! I'm cruising along now - this weekend I have finished The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History by Katherine Ashenburg and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. Now I am getting around to some fiction - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Just needed something to get my interest up again, I guess. And to get off the computer and stop playing ridiculous games, even if they are fun time-wasters.

Thanks FannyP. I, too, have been completely at sea when it comes to Italics and what not. I knew that someone on LT would probably enlighten me at some point.

>94 drneutron: I've always used the dummies way of posting pictures by uploading them to Photobucket and copying & pasting the code they generate. Using your method, how do you control the size of the image?

>94 drneutron:, 97 Also, using the web address leaves you at the mercy of that particular site, and if the image disappears from there, your link will no longer work.

#97, 98 - Never tried to control the size of the image. So far I haven't experimented with posting images other than a few occasions in a different group. If there's a better way, I'm all ears. What's Photobucket?

Photobucket is a free online photo hosting service, which I have become acquainted with over the last year or so. It automatically generates the html codes for one to copy and paste into various other online venues. It also provides some standard sizes for one to edit their picture to (but once edited there is no return to original size unless you upload it again). Here are the directions I wrote up for another group:

You need to have a Photobucket.com account or Flicker account. I can only speak to Photobucket because that's what I have (I gave them as little 'real' information about myself as I could get away with when signing up).

Once you have uploaded photos to photobucket, you may resize your photos as you like by using 'edit' above your photo. However, because some LTers still have dial up, I would suggest 'clickable thumbnails' (little photos that when you click on them they get big!).

To post a photo as is or as edited: You copy and paste the "html code" underneath or on the right of the picture into your post or fields on your profile page.

To post a clickable thumbnail: click on the little box under your photo (to the left of the name of your photo). Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the bar for "Generate html and img code". The screen will produce a couple of options, I use the top one. Copy and paste the code here in your post. Voila!

Note: One uploads a photo to photobucket like one uploads the photo on your profile page.
**any code with brackets is not going to work in a post because of our touchstones.

Thus you can post a book cover you have downloaded to your computer and uploaded & resized to a thumbnail on PB like this:


Or post a clickable thumbnail of a larger picture:

So with the first quarter of 2008 almost gone, how is everyone doing? I'm almost at the 1/3 mark on my list with 24 books read.

Doing ok - I'm at about 28% percent read. I've been a little fluffy so far this year and have left my larger, more challenging books to sit, unread.

I'm reading numbers 18 and 19 (haven't posted 16 and 17 here yet) so I figure I'm about a quarter of the way done - pretty much on target, I guess.

I'm on 32 and 33.

I just added #26, so I'm at the 1/3 mark. I'm ahead! Probably thanks to the time I've spent on airplanes for business lately...8^{

I should have 40 or 41 done by the end of March - so I am ahead.

Okay,sorry to interrupt the thought, but I was wondering why some people make their librarything library private? Isn't the the whole point of librarything the sharing of what we are reading, read or are going to read. I am just wondering.

>107 TrishNYC: People use LT for different reasons. Many people use it for the social side, but many others use it simply for cataloging what they own (for organization or insurance purposes, etc.) Since LT doesn't let a user have select parts of the library public, it's either all or nothing. If someone has expensive books (or simply books they don't want to show publicly), they make their library private.

>107 TrishNYC:, Trish - I think the sharing may be the point for some users, but for others its just the ability to have a catalog of their books. Honestly, when I joined LT, what drew me in first was the ease with which I could catalog my books, manipulate the data, and keep reviews organized. The social stuff was secondary. Some people have made their libraries private until the feature to mark individual books private is rolled out. Some people will probably keep their libraries private even if that feature gets implemented.

Ahh, well thanks for explaining it guys. When I first heard about this site, I came on mainly to catalogue my books and it wasn't until later that I realized that you could look at others libraries and that there were social networks. So I guess I was just excited to find the added bonus of talking to other readers and the thought of making one's library private never even crossed my mind. But I totally get what you guys mean.

I'm keeping my head above water currently considering that a lot of my reading is articles and books for research. I am trying to document that if I read a book or a book's worth between several books. Everything should lighten up after June or July when I will be finished - I will then, no doubt, start gulping down books at a furious pace (and a good thing too! I'm accumulating quite a pile.)

Too funny! I just noticed that the 75 Book Challenge group has 75 members at the moment.

I'm hiding in here from my TBR pile. . .(don't tell it I'm here, please)

Hey Avaland's book pile, have you been looking for her? She is hiding behind the biscuit tins in the kitchen. She said not to tell you she was there but I just felt it was something you might want to know :) .......trishnyc sneaks off after having betrayed Avaland.

I wish you luck in hiding from your TBR pile, Avaland. Mine has a tendency to avalanche over on me!

#49 Cariola - I did not like The Thirteenth Tale and could not understand the hype about that book. I returned it after I slogged to the end, as the Canadian store I purchased it from said it was a 'guaranteed read'. Glad I am not completely alone in my opinion on this one.

I didn't like it either! I left my copy of The Thirteenth Tale in a resort book shelf in Hoi An, Vietnam in November.

>thanks, Trish and alcottacre. If it gets too aggressive, I'm calling you two to wrestle it off me!

#117 Torontoc - hello to a fellow Canuck! Wow, I cannot better such a dump site for a book. Maybe it would work better as a book to practice English!?!

Vietnam is a place I would really like to see!

Another Canuck here and I didn't like The Thirteenth Tale either. I borrowed it on a one-week "speed read" from the library - but they got it back within a couple of days! I gave up on it pretty quickly.

Go Canucks Go!!!

dhiba - I would not have read it past the second chapter if Indigo/Heather had not made it a guaranteed read - I was waiting for the guarantee part to materialize.

Attention Wharton fans! Help save Edith Wharton's "The Mount"!

The Mount is facing imminent foreclosure and the possibility this property could be no longer available to the public. Click HERE for more information, and then click through to the regular website and see just what a fabulous restoration project this has been. I used to live just up the street from this property back in the 70s and was thrilled to see it restored. As an Edith Wharton fan I felt compelled to make a pledge (they won't call in the pledges unless they can make the whole agreement with the creditors goes through).
Please consider making a pledge to save this beautiful property and keep it in the hands of the public.

Sorry, posting this on all my usual stomping grounds and where I hope to find more Wharton fans. I can't bear the thought of this going into foreclosure and some very wealthy buyer scooping it up and taking it out of the public sphere.

#122 avaland: Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will gladly contribute!

I am in such a funk now. I have been working at three books now for a couple of weeks. They are books that I wanted to read but I just can't get into it. Has anyone else felt this way?

Totally, went through a patch where I gave up or finished a book in disappointment about 8 times in a row......try something familiar from a favorite author to remind you the joys of reading!!!!!

YES! After a streak of really good books, nothing seemed to satisfy me. I started and put away three or four books I had been looking forward to reading.

My solution has been to shift to short stories; it usually works for me.

I know the feeling-the book that I am reading now is similar to a few others that I have read but this one does multiple images badly- I want to finish but- it is hard-I'll give it one more night.

I only have about 80 pages of one book, about halfway finished with another and the third is by an author I really like. I'm only about 50 pages into it. How frustrating!!

#124: I have the same kind of funks, and seemingly so does everyone else. My solution is to have one day a week where I do no reading at all (normally for me that is Wednesdays). Cariola's solution seems to be a good one, too, so you might try it before resorting to my more severe one.

Well I got the one book down and I'm not going to add anymore until I'm done with the 2 I'm reading. I usually read 3 at a time. I'm waiting for an ER book and 2 LTers have sent me books so for once I'm hoping the ER book is delayed! I can't believe I said that!

Hey everyone,

If you are interested, PBS Masterpiece Theater is broadcasting Cranford on their website http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/ - a Masterpiece Theater first. Each episode is available for a limited time only. If you are like me and do not get PBS, this is a great opportunity!

Stasia

Wow, there is a place in the US where there is no PBS? I am shocked. I have three different ones in my area.

For all the lovers of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, I was just on imdb looking up the kid who played Eric Bana's son in Romulus, my father and I discovered that he is the movie version of the book. To hear that this great book was being made into a movie made me very happy but I was made even happier by the fact that one of my favorite actors, Viggo Mortensen, is playing the father. Anyway, just wanted to let other fans of the book know that the movie is on the horizon with a possible release date of November 26th.

Oh, wow. That's great! I hope they don't mess with the story too much...

Thanks! I will look for the movie in Dec. 08- I saw Romulus at the Toronto Film Festival last Sept. - it is a very moving film. One of my friends who lived in Australia for a number of years said that the book (that the movie was based on) is required reading in schools. Has anybody read it?

I missed both the movie and the book but I am interested......a little more info, please!!!

Very happy to hear about the movie for The Road as I am a huge McCarthy fan. I have been pleased by the movies made of his work so far. No Country for Old Men captured the quirky and truly western/southwestern feel of the book. Some of the characters in the book (and movie) reminded me of family and friends. all the Pretty Horses was really quite a good adaptation of the book. They had to skimp a bit on the story, but the feel of the book translated very well to the screen. I've always felt the movie is under-rated.

Viggo is just right for the Dad.....he can get the guilt/fear/hopelessness from the Dad's character and can play the tough guy who's really not tough but forced to be in these circumstances.

#136 I agree, Viggo is a great choice as the father in The Road. I haven't seen Romulus so don't know the actor playing the kid.

Hi. I'm Linda and live in Bethlehem, PA (USA.) I am a publications adviser at Lehigh University and have been in this profession for approximately 25 years. I supervise/oversee students who pull together the yearbook and the student newspaper. Most days I love my job, though sometimes I grew very weary of trying to motivate students to accomplish the necessary imperative of a deadline.

Reading and working with words is my life. My earliest childhood memories are spending countless hours at the local, small-town library where the floors were wide planked and wooden; the books smelled musty; the lights were dim and Miss Blake, the older librarian served tea to me on special rainy days.

I am enjoying this newly found site and my reading list has grown quite a bit since joining librarything.com.

I'm currently reading The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander and it has re-sparked my interest in Russian History.

Whisper1.....welcome to the 75'ers group. I see you are the most recent member and I jumped to your library profile page to look a bit at your books. I always look first to the area which tells me what books we share in our libraries. The books we share gives me an idea about your reading habits and preferences as compared to mine and then, when I have more time, I surf through your whole library. I look forward to perusing yours as we share a few books in certain areas and I'm sure your full library will give me some good ideas for new books to look out for. The books we share are classics, some science fiction and horror, and some legal thriller/adventure type books, as well as quite a few true crime books. This last is the most interesting to me as I don't often find that the true crime part of my library is shared with many folks.

I look forward to your posting your current reading list for this year on the 75'er group here. This is a nosy bunch and we love to look at what people are reading and ask lots of questions.

Again, welcome.

Hi, Linda. I'm also in PA (Chambersburg) and work at Shippensburg U. I really enjoyed The Kitchen Boy, but not so much Alexander's next book, Rasputin's Daughter.

This must be a PA kind of group. I'm from near Altoona.

I'm indulging in a day of PBS period dramas - Jane Eyre and Sense & Sensibility. Such a nice way to spend a day and a good break from reading, which has started to feel overwhelming to me. I'm feeling behind on my challenges and am oppressed with big books right now, so I'm hiding from my books. :)

#142 I do that every now and again. I've been on a real kick of watching the old Masterpiece Theatre/BBC series: The First Churchills, the original Forsyte Saga, Wives and Daughters, Cold Comfort Farm, North and South, Return of the Native, etc.

Are you watching Cranford? It's delightful!

>143 Cariola:, Not today, but I do have it Tivo'd for future lazy nights!

#143: I watched the first episode of Cranford over the internet last night (I do not have PBS here) and loved it! I will catch up with episode 2 over the course of the next week. I am so glad the Masterpiece Theater people are finally putting the episodes out on the internet to watch so people like me do not have to miss them.

#134, Dr. Neutron

"I hope they don't mess with the story..."

Do you mean you don't want to see an added bit about how the son gets captured by cannibals, and how in the process of rescuing him, the father discovers the last bleached-blonde bimbette. How together they run off -- her in the shopping cart -- to live in the last valley on earth with greenery, running fresh water... a veritable Eden from which mankind and creaturekind will arise again.

139: Thanks for the welcome to this group. For some strange reason, true crime reading continues to hold a fascination for me. Not sure, but I think I'm drawn to this because Of a background in social work wherein I spent many years trying to discern what motivates people -- how we as humans make choices and which ones lead us on the light or dark path.

#140. Hi Cariola. What do you do at Shippensburg U? I'm almost finished reading The Kitchen Boy. Like you, I did not find Rasputin's Daughter as interesting.
I grew weary of the character running in and out of alleys, buildings, basements...

#148 I'm an English professor, specialty in Renaissance drama.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day!!

Message 141
Hi. I've checked your library and want to thank you. After reading your list, I've now added many to my list of those to read.

My name is Aubrey. I live in North York, Ontario.
I am the office manager at a Montessori school, which is run by my parents, so I go and do wherever and whatever I'm needed. I do a lot of filling in for sick staff members.
When I am in my office, I am able to spend a great deal of time reading. When things are slow I sometimes read all day. I also read on the bus to and from work.

I was a Visual Art major for two years at York University. I didn't see myself becoming an artist so I switched to the only other subject I ever cared about, English. Then I, basically, took four years of English courses in two years so I could still graduate at the same time.

I really enjoyed my whirlwind years of being an English major. I discovered many books an authors that I wouldn't have otherwise. For example, Thomas Hardy whom I adore.

I am married and my husband doesn't read AT ALL. His passion is music. He collects LPs so he understands how I feel about books.

Besides reading, my other current passion is collecting plugs for my 00g lobes.

Welcome Aubrey! Hope you are enjoying LT!

hi ya'll

I live in the southern part of Louisiana, I'm a hairdresser/stained glass artist and I read a good bit too. I'm bad about re-reading books I forgot I already read - or buying books I already have. I love the idea of keeping track and being able to refer to the list. I'm still cataloging my books and adding to the piles. I go to the library twice a week and thanks to these forums I have loads of suggestions.

oh and I *liked* The Thirteenth tale

beeg, I didn't know you were a stained glass artist. That is soooooo cool. We need pictures.

Hi all

Been on this list a little bit, but only just found the kitchen (must have got distracted by the window).

Hmmm, what to say? Well, I work in diabetes research and I live in Cambridge (UK). Reading, gigs and travelling are probably my 3 favourite things to do... Yep, that's me more or less.

This group has very quickly become my favourite, but I'm not very good at getting around to checking in on a regular basis, so I keep losing the threads of conversation! My only major problem is that my TBR pile was already pretty big and it's now becomming enormous... :)

Seconded stained glass artist beeg - I'd love to see some of your work!

#143: Cariola - I love all those BBC/Channel 4 adaptations... although after a while, you do start to notice that they all have the same actors!

Hi flissp,

I star the threads I want to keep track of, and check "talk" and my "post" (up at the top right). It helps, otherwise I would never be able to find conversations. I do have pics of some of my work posted in LiveJournal
I could send links if you're really interested.

Welcome beeg and flissp! Yes, starring the threads you want to track really does help. It is easy to get lost in here! (Even easier to get those TBR stacks a little higher . . . )

Augh, I've been away for what seems like forever. Was out of town at a lovely wedding and then have had internet/new computer problems all week. I HATE WINDOWS VISTA.

Interesting.....I just bought a new Dell computer and insisted on the only laptop available which is still available to run on XP because of comments just like yours.....looks like I made a good choice.

Ha, I just bought one of the few remaining XP systems too, after spilling liquid on my long-suffering laptop for the third and final time. I'll switch to Vista when they pry my cold, dead computer from my warm, living fingers, but only because by that point XP probably won't be available anymore.

161 and 162 - You guys were so much smarter than me. Vista was the default, so I went with that. Seriously wishing I hadn't right now.

>161 blackdogbooks:, 162, 163 My husband bought a new laptop just as Vista was being launched and expressly asked that his have XP NOT Vista. I have a MAC:-) (actually, two).

Have you have seen the newish commercial where the young Mac guy is standing next to a group of men: the less savvy PC guy surrounded by three other guys who represent Vista. The Vista group are all holding coffee cups like they're in an AA meeting. I thought it quite funny. I couldn't find it on YouTube, maybe it's too new. Well, I don't mean to twist the knife, fanny . . .

>164 avaland:, Haha - I love those Mac commercials. My boyfriend is totally a Mac person (owns three now, but that's a different problem....) and has been smirking at me all weekend b/c all his computers basically work right out of the box and play very nicely with each other. VistaHome has like military-grade security protocols for people who are basically doing nothing other than sending email and writing a few word docs. But (crosses fingers), I think we've got things working now. I think the problem was actually this stupid pre-installed Dell software that I have since gotten rid of. But there is something seriously wrong when a brand-new computer has to basically be rebuilt from scratch twice in one weekend......

165> I've had two Dells--and will never get another one. The first one totally crashed at least once every three months (which they tried to tell me was normal!). The motherboard in the second one died two days after it was off warranty. I replaced it with an HP with Vista. So far, so good.

Microsoft has shot themselves in the foot with Vista - everyone is now looking at MAC as the only viable option. We just bought two laptops - both MACs - for exactly this reason. Dell - I understand - has recently had real problems with quality......

MACs are just such beautifully designed machines - I would never go back.

My last three comps have been Dells, and over all I've been pretty happy. Upgrading is coming up soon and I'm really leaning towards a Mac because of Vista - that and they just look so damn cool.

I bought a Macintosh in 1984 on the first day they were available. 24 years later, I'm still a Mac person. I do use a Windows XP machine at work (all day, 5 days a week and sometimes on weekends via VPN) and basically hate it with a few notable exceptions - at least my group hasn't been forced into the Vista world (yet :-)

I now own a 2.8 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac 24" (love the 1920 x 1200 resolution) with 4GB SDRAM and 500Gb hard disk. Other than software that deals with networking to Microsoft stuff, I've never had much if any difficulty installing and using software. Never had any issues (knock on formica) with viruses, spyware, malware, etc.

To be 100% fair - I haven't upgraded to Leopard (Mac OS 10.5) yet. I use 3rd party software for virtual desktops and the Spaces concept in Mac OS 10.5 is frankly a step down and it forces it's limitations on the third party apps as well. :-( I do like most everything else about Leopard and Spaces is probably great for those who have no experience with Virtual Desktop software. I have experimented with Leopard, since you can install it on an external Firewire drive and boot from that drive.

I would never buy a PC for home use. Well (to paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan), maybe hardly ever.

Why would anyone buy a MAC? Apple's use of proprietary technology is despicable. It's not just Dell that have design faults, every MAC released in the last 4 years has also had faults - it's just luck of the draw with most manufacturers. My advice is buy a generic laptop and get Linux installed on it; use Open Office, Firefox, etc.

#170, i'm with u, jargoneer...i'm a satisfied convert to Linux since 4 years ago.

I agree - I wish Apple were less "Apple" just like I wish MicroSoft were less "MicroSoft"

I guess it's all about tradeoffs - I find Macs and Mac OS easier to deal with than the endless tinkering that Linux seems to entail. Then again, I've never installed Linux from scratch, so maybe I should try to have that religious experience. Still Linux seems a bit too geeky - c.f. http://www.ubergeek.tv/article.php?pid=54 :-)

Note: I disdain long arguments about religion and computers/software/operating systems/etc.

I just went out and spent $300 to "downgrade" to WindowsXP. Someone kill me now.

My commiserations!

I think I am returning my computer and getting a version with XP instead of Vista. Thank god for Dell's nice return policies. Otherwise I would probably be killing myself right now. Thanks for commiserating with me, folks. LT is good for so much. Fortunately, I have three wonderful Macs and an old but functional IBM laptop at my disposal until the new and "unimproved" thing arrives. That and lots of books.

thanks for the keeping track recommendations - can't believe they never occurred to me before!

beeg: Please do post links to your stained glass pictures. I know of someone else in Southern Louisiana who does stained glass art---wonder if you're pals.

I would love to see them.

Ceri,

With those interests in mind I suggest you seek out Robert Byron. You would probably allso enjoy Abroad by Robert Fussell which is a summary history of travel books between the wars.

BOOK GIVEAWAY

I have two copies of The Husband by Dean Koontz and I want to give one away. I will send it to however wants it. I have no criteria and do not want you to name your first born son after me or write me an essay on why you should receive it. Just drop me a line on my page, with your name and address included and I will send it out to you via media mail. Its a first come first serve type of deal. The book is in excellent condition and one of the copies has a book jacket and the other doesn't. I would rather keep the one that has a jacket but if you really really want it with a jacket, I will happily give it to you. Alrighty, that's it.

In a few days I will also have another book giveaway for The Translator by Daoud Hari. The difference will be, its not yours to keep. You have to read it and pass it to someone else and they pass it on and on and on and on. I got the book from another LTer and they got it from someone else. So if you are interested in this book, keep an eye out for it.

Trish
I really like your idea of passing along books that get passed along, along, along.

I'll check my library and give some books away as well.

Thanks for thinking of this!

I concur on the book karma front. Cal8769 gave me a copy of Night by Elie Wiesel. I have passed it on to a friend here in my hometown and gotten it back already. Now, I will pass it on to another and if I get it back, I'll post it here like TrishNYC did for her books. As I told Cal8769, I read a quote (can't remember who said it now) which said in substance that your library in heaven will carry the same number of books as you gave away or loaned in your lifetime. Great sentiment!

I have a book to give away and will send (book rate) to the first person expressing interest:

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

I'll give LT'ers first crack at this lot, which I intend to donate to our local library's next book sale otherwise:

All Mortal Flesh Julia Spencer-Fleming

The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion

Pressure is a Privilege Billie Jean King

Ruth Elizabeth Gaskell (NOT a Virago in case you're looking for those, and rather heavily underlined, which put me off when I tried to read it---I've replaced it with a clean copy)

The Sound and the Fury A 1959 paperback tie-in to the movie, with Yul Brynner and Joanne Woodward on the cover. Rather brown and brittle, but would probably hold up through another reading. Has that marvelous old book smell. (I have another just like it, among my 7 or 8 copies of S&F)

Inherit the Wind

I'll use media mail, and only within the U.S., please. Leave me a private message on my profile with your name and mailing addy, if you want any of these.

Geesh, you all need to join BookMooch:-) Lots of Lters on BM. . .

I recently discovered bookcloseouts.com...saw this mentioned on a LT post... For the month of August -- they have a huge sale -- $1.00 per copy! I received my first shipment this week and was very pleased with the speedy delivery, price of the books and customer service.

Yep, this BookMoocher has had requests or over 90 books in the past two weeks.

I like BookCloseouts, but I didn't find anything I wanted on sale this time.

oh no, another obsession for me...BookMooch. I will check this out over the weekend.
Thanks...I think.. (I'm smiling)

I'm a BookMoocher too...have accumulated lots of points so that's where I get most of my books now. Of course, the more sought-after books are hard to get.

I'm a Moocher too (coming up on my 1st anniversary). Cariola, did you say that you have requested that many in the past two weeks or they have been requested from you? I know better than to enter more than two or three at a time in my inventory;-)

>188 Whisper1: well, whisper, don't leave us in suspense!

109> They were requested from me. I moved from temporary digs to a newly renovated office, so I decided to purge books as I reshelved them--particularly nine boxes of books that had been in storage for a year and a half. If I didn't need them in that time, I probably won't need them now.

In retrospect, I should have spaced them out, because in the past month I've spent about $300 in shipping costs, and I still have about 10 I've marked "delayed".

But you must have a gadzillion points!

My experience with BookMooch has been quite frustrating. I have sent a large number of books out in the last 18 months - and it is very expensive, ie hundreds of dollars. The users I have met are always, without exception, great.

My problem is that I can never find anything I want - my wishlist has stayed large and I browse away to no avail. If I do find something, inevitably they do not send out of their country so 9 times out of 10 I cannot mooch a wanted book. (Many of the books I want come from UK moochers).

Upon reflection, I would rather just give my books away and use the postage spent to buy the books I really want. ie. I don't think I will participate much longer.

Hello everyone - I've only just found this thread in the group, so while it seems a little late to "introduce" myself... I'm Rachael, I live in Cambridge (UK), and work part-time for a literary magazine and bookshop (in London, sadly, so there is a bit of commuting involved - although I'm working from home today!).

I love LibraryThing and am overwhelmed at the enormous numbers of books in everyone's libraries - I thought of myself as a pretty serious reader, but my 300+ looks pretty feeble up there!! (I console myself that I haven't catalogued *all* my books, particularly not all the ones that are still at my mum's).

I'm really, really enjoying this group.

#193 I've gotten quite a few books I want from BookMooch, although I have run into the problem of "not willing to send to your country" quite often. I do wish they would refine their browsing feature. For example, I don't want to go through every darn work of fiction if I'm looking for historical fiction or literary fiction. On that score, PBS is better.

But I took nearly all of my listings off PBS after an incident with a person who chastized me for ignoring her requests about scent-free books. I am a non-smoker with allergies to perfume myself, and this was a brand new exam copy that had been stored in my smoke-free, scent-free office. In addition, I've recently had two books go missing in the mail--and they take the giver's points away for lost books.

>193 kiwidoc: kiwidoc, yes, I can see that would be a problem. And you're mailing from Canada which has been talked about at length on the Book Mooching group. I have a rather eclectic wishlist also, the bulk of which remains there; but every now and again something shows up. And yes, they do need to work on their browsing. I seldom browse by topic (more like a slog) but prefer these days to search for specific authors or books.

>194 FlossieT: Welcome FlossieT/Rachel. We love LT too!

Hi kiwidoc;

Are you on the bookmooching group here on LT?

There are lots of people on the group (including me!) who would happily mooch US (and other country) books for you.

There are also a couple threads in that group where you can post if you are looking for particular books--and a thread where people offer highly wishlisted books to LT'ers first.

In addition, that group is followed by a rep from BM so problems and complaints are usually actually followed up on by BM--Yay! Somebody's listening! Guess they don't want unhappy LT'ers griping to a large audience and discouraging people from using BM.

Eclectic, yeah, I understand. I have 240 books on my BM wishlist. Some of them I fear will never be available there. But enough are that my tbr pile is totally out of control.

Cariola--ouch! I didn't realize BM deducted points from the giver when a book is lost. I thought it was a wash--with the giver keeping their point and the receiver getting a point back.

I haven't had time to check book mooch but had read these recent posts.

I have an idea (spontaneously thinking.) I'm wondering if there is a way we can start some time of book swap here on LT. ... something uncomplicated and not time intensive, but simply a list to offer books available.

197> PBS takes back the point; BookMooch does not.

>193 kiwidoc: kiwidoc re Bookmooch - I have the same problem in the reverse direction - most of the books I want to mooch (if they're available, which most aren't) are from people in the US who won't send over to the UK... I think the problem is that both the UK and the US have highly expensive postal services. It's still a great site though...

In the UK, there's a website: www.greenmetropolis.com where you can buy and sell second hand books for between £3 & £5, which is quite a good backup - maybe there's something similar?

>194 FlossieT:, Hi FlossieT/Rachel! Good to meet someone in my timezone and, indeed, postal code :) Also loving LT - been a member a while, but only recently been drawn into groups - this is definitely my favourite. Warning though - I've gone from having an overlarge TBR pile to despairing of the fact that I'll never have the time to read everything I want to read!! This is a great place for expanding your horizons though...

>195 Cariola: Cariola - I've never heard of PBS - is it international (or related to the TV channel?!)

>197 streamsong: streamsong (out of interest, is there a story about your choice of user name?). I clearly need to read the Bookmooch group listings more often...

>198 Whisper1: Whisper1 Sounds like an idea worth investigating. I think the Early Reviewers group does a similar thing - offering up read ER books to the next person who wants them, although I'm not sure that everyone will send them overseas...

My problem is that I'm anally retentive with books - I only ever give them away if I didn't like them, or I know beyond a doubt that I'll never reread them (which is more constrictive than you might imagine!).

I give away mostly paperbacks I know I'll never read again. so someone should start a topic and everyone list the books they're willing to give away. as far as paying for shipping and the trouble doing so is a different story.

HERE'S the link to the BookMooching group. I'm not sure I see the point of trying to recreate a book exchange system here; BM keeps me sane.

Off to peek at fllssp's wish list on BM. . .

eta the 'not'

#200 paperbackswap.com (PBS) has no connection to the Public Broadcasting Company. I think they are US only.

#198 I'm with avaland (I think she left out a "not" there); I'm having enough trouble keeping up witih my groups here and my swaps on BookMooch. But it's nice to offer a book to someone who has mentioned wanting it, or to check out their wish lists on the swap sites.

#197 Streamsong

Thanks for the info on the bookmooching thread - I appreciate it and will check it out.

I really don't mean to moan about BM and I would just like to clarify that the site is great and the users have been wonderful. I think my distress comes from:

a. the very high Canadian postal rates ( I never get a book off in Canada or overseas for less than 10 dollars on the whole unless it is paper thin.

b. Whenever a book I want comes up (which is quite often), I go to mooch it and it has been taken.

c. Often people write on their profile how expensive it is and how broke they are and I cannot mooch from them due to guilt!!

I think I am forgetting that it is not Amazon or Abebooks where most titles can be sourced, but good-hearted charitable types who want to share.

#204 I owe you a Book Mooch, don't I? I haven't forgotten. Friday is payday, and your book is next on the heap.

The expense thing works both ways, I guess. I send to Canada a lot, but those going elsewhere get pretty pricey. I just sent two very small books (plays) to Japan on Monday and it was almost $14. I rarely say no to mooches, but I've felt guilty telling a few people overseas who wanted heavy textbooks that I just couldn't do it. I don't mind waiting for surface mail--but the US stopped offering it and charges straight air mail rates for books going aborad.

kiwidoc--ouch! $10 to ship every book! No wonder you are discouraged.

flissp--There's a picture on my profile page of the creek going through my proprty. The photo was actually taken from a dam that has about a ten foot drop--so the sound of water dropping over the dam is the background music of my life. My horse ranch and out of print books are also called Streamsong. Interestingly, I have a doppelganger here on LT. The second most similar library to mine is owned by a thinger named watermusic .

Cariola--Thx for clearing up the lost book points thing. I'm on PBS and Bookins, but Bookmooch is my favorite. I didn't realize that PBS took points away.

whispers--the Early Reviewers group has a 'done who wants it next' thread where people list ER (& I think other) books they'd like to trade or give away.... maybe that would help you?

Hi Flossie T, and Welcome.

LT's a wonderful place, isn't it :o)

kiwidoc, if you come across a book in the US whose owner won't send to Canada, let me know and I'll mooch it for you.

Wow - what a generous offer, Avaland. Thanks a lot.

(See what I mean about the great BMs and LTers!!!!!)

Cariola - absolutely NO rush on the book. I have over a 1000 books yet to read in my library!!! My TBR pile is outrageous.

Now I am feeling a bit guilty for griping.

There is a thread somewhere on the BookMooching group about cheaper postage options in the US - obviously not of personal interest to me since I'm in the UK but may be useful for some of you.

I am so sad there is no surface mail option from the US any more - and that posting internationally seems to be so expensive. I haven't yet said no to an international mooch from the US (or indeed from anywhere!), as even sending airmail is actually not too bad from the UK, but I've had several requests turned down on grounds of expense.

Beyond BM, it's library sale season once again here in the US. If you all don't know about booksalefinder.com; run, don't walk to google. . . I've found this to be invaluable and it has gotten better over the years I've used it.

WOW! I checked booksalefinder.com! What a great site. Thanks avaland.

Just went to booksalefinder.com... what a great site! Thanks for the info avaland.

Dear all,

I just wanted to make it clear that the messages which have been appearing on my thread over the last few days are nothing to do with me, and that they are not being posted by anyone I know.
Tim blocked this individual's account yesterday, but he did warn me that if they were logged in at the time, it might take a little while for the system to catch up with them. Anyway, with a bit of luck it won't go on for much longer.

Thanks again to all those who have flagged these posts - I hope this won't stop you visiting me!

Rachel

Rachel,

It is unfortunate that an individual would post such inflammatory material on your thread, but I am glad that Tim has taken care of the problem. I will certainly continue to visit and I imagine everyone else here will as well.

Stasia, aka alcottacre

Ok, everyone has to STOP READING NOW. I'm having a little trouble catching up/keeping up and not reading for awhile would help immensely. I have 21 threads starred here, not to mention probably an equal number on the 50 book challenge group. Ack!

Just kidding, of course:-) I know asking any of you to stop reading would be like pushing back the sea.

I know asking any of you to stop reading would be like pushing back the sea. A little more difficult than that I'd bet!

Well, I've not tried (pushing back the sea), but I imagine it to be very, very difficult.

avaland..thanks for the smiles and the great analogy. I added three books this morning to my tbr pile.

are you also on the 50 book challenge group? I didn't join this thread because of posting on the 75 book challenge. But, once in awhile I pop over to that site and find additional interesting books to add to the mound of those yet to read.

all in all, I'm having a delightful time!

well pushing back the sea is not THAT difficult... I live on land that was once a sea, see
wiki page about Flevoland
Keeping you all from reading... I don't think some dikes would be enough LOL

WOW FAM
That is incredible. Do you like living there?

hi Whisper1

We live here now for 3 years and I like it.
Because it is "new land", no one has parents or grandparents who lived here their whole lives, no old clique, that makes the city more open to newcomers. This part of the city is relatively old, the houses were build in 1982/1983.

For us, Dutch, it is not that incredible, large parts of the country were origial wetlands that were pumped dry, called polders. The first polders were constructed in the 11th century.
wiki page about polder.

FAMeulstee, doesn't global warming make you nervous? I didn't realize the Dutch were still creating 'new land'.

Whisper, I don't have a thread on the 50 Book Challenge but quite a few of my 'friends' do, thus I probably have another 20 threads starred over there also. Best I can do is get there when I can.

Hi everyone, I'm Leslie and I'm addicted to books and Librarything. I know that I'm really late to the gathering here and I'm sorry. I have posted both here and on the 50 challenge, so if I fall a little short here I'm still reaching a goal I have set. I am a young whippersnapper, 23, I went to college for a short time right out of high school and while I know that a higher education is very important, at this time in my life it is not the right path for me. I am currently a homemaker. My husband, my hero, is deployed and when he get's home I will be reentering the workforce. Until then, I have lots of time to read, read, read. I enjoy a large variety of books and am open to suggestions. I hope that I get to know some of you and thank you for tearing away from your story long enough to read mine.

Leslie

Welcome, Leslie! You will get a lot of great book suggestions here. What kinds of books do you enjoy most?

Hey, it's never too late to join the fun!

Mostly contemporary fiction, mystery, young adult, biographies, memoirs, and historical nonfiction. There are tons more but I'll limit myself to that I guess.

Welcome, Leslie! We'll enjoying peeking at what you read:-)

Hi Leslie.
Welcome! We are a friendly, well-read and curious bunch. Be prepared for lots of questions regarding books you read/are reading.

Hi Leslie. Everyone is welcome! please pull up a chair and let us know about you. Tell your husband Thank you from me.

>223 avaland: avaland
This part of the country was the last, started in the 1950s. They had plans to do more, but in the 1980s that plan was cancelled.
Global warming... well there is enough knowledge here to keep our feet dry, I suppose ;-)
The greatst future problem is not the rising of the sea level, but more rain gives more water in the rivers, so there are big projects to rise the hight of the dikes along the rivers.

>224 LibraryOMidas: molly4407
Welcome Leslie!
Never too late to join ;-)

>231 FAMeulstee: I had not thought about dikes on the rivers!

Leslie/Molly 4407

I have a very close friend in Iraq and a nephew in Iraq. God bless you and your husband for the sacrifices both of you are making.

We are over in The Kitchen II. Come on in!

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=45777