INTRODUCTIONS

I doubt we all have time to check out each other's profile pages, so here is a thread for short introductions. From my viewpoint, this is a fascinating group of readers which will become apparent to ALL of you through these introductions. Some of us know each other from our travels on LT, a few of us have even met in person. Our user names allow us enough anonymity to talk a little about ourselves publicly, yes? (only if you are comfortable about it, of course)

I'm a former bookseller (about 10 years), but prior to that worked in community journalism and many years in the law enforcement and emergency services fields. I was introduced to LT by a Random House sales rep who felt I would need something to help me transition from the bookstore to 'real' life. I am currently a full-time student finishing a degree - now working on my final project. It's complicated and hard to explain but it involves women's social history in five different eras of New England history. I am the mother of three children ages 24, 26 and 29, all of whom have science or engineering degrees - not an English major among them (*weeps silently*). I live about 45 minutes northwest of Boston (on a good traffic day) and have been hanging around dukedom_enough for 10 years now (some say it was love at first sight but it might have been my employee discount at the bookstore).

eta: My reading interests include: global literary fiction, poetry (living poets seem to interest me these days), police procedurals and some SF (social issues, dystopian), women's studies, literary criticism, social history, New England (US) history, and a smattering of everything else.

I'm a 26-year-old composer & Ivory Tower dweller. Born and raised in Texas, from which I escaped as quickly as possible--spent two years doing my master's in Minneapolis (I'd dearly love to return there when I settle down), and am now working on my doctorate in Manhattan. The small town Texas girl in me is still amazed to find myself where I am in life. In six days, my husband and I will celebrate the 11-year anniversary of the day we started "going steady"--he was 14, I was 15. Young love. He used to be a reader, but not so much anymore, much to my chagrin.

I am a book lover living in a small neighborhood that has 4 scholarly bookstores, a great library system (both public and university), and book stalls lining the streets. This and discovering LibraryThing has created an ever more intractable situation in our little apartment. My husband has recently expressed the feeling that the books are closing in on him--I prefer to think of it as a literary hug.

edited long after the fact to add my reading preferences: My current big reading project is Proust. My other interests, in which I am still indulging when I'm not reading ISOLT, include literary fiction (global, both classic and contemporary, love magic realist works), science fiction, fairy tales & folklore, the occasional literary mystery, and just about anything that's well-written and imaginative.

I'm a 49-year-old writer who lives in Wellington, New Zealand. (As well as writing, I'm also a sustainable energy and climate change activist, and I work part-time on communications and marketing for a web company to pay the bills that writing doesn't.) I've had five books published to date, and have also recently guest-edited a New Zealand literary journal.

If you'd like to find out more about my books and my writing, please check my profile, or see my blog, http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com

I joined LT on Christmas Day, 2007, and have added somewhere between half and two-thirds of my personal library - I plan to add the rest, mainly SF with some poetry and books about cricket, this southern summer. I am a keen borrower from Wellington Public Library, and have only added a small fraction of the books I have borrowed from libraries.

My reading interests tend to be in four areas: (1) science fiction and fantasy - my consuming interest in my teens and twenties, but a smaller part of my reading now; (2) literary fiction, especially but by no means exclusively that which tends towards the surreal or metafictional - I write, and enjoy reading, short stories as well as novels; (3) translated fiction, especially Spanish-language and Russian-language fiction; (4) poetry, mainly New Zealand poetry.

Most of the non-fiction I read is either research for my writing, or for my job. I won't usually list this in my 2009 reading.

I don't have a reading plan for 2009, except that I'll be reading 12 or so books for the book group I'm in. I do want to read some more recent New Zealand fiction next year - considering it's what I write, I should read more of it!

My background is in geography, with side trips into public health and library school en route to finishing my phud. Been working in environmental/reproductive epidemiology for the NIEHS (Nat. Inst. Envi. Health Sciences) in RTP, NC since..1985 as (more or less) a reasonably well paid graduate assistant.

Probably half of what i read is either SFiction or fantasy/fantastic (there are a host..well a few..current writers, who, i'm convinced, if they wrote in Italian or Spanish instead of English, would be regarded as major talents but have been relegated to the fringes of literature). Poetry and books about music probably comprise the next reading tier. Children's and YA fiction are also a major interest. And then what catches my eye on (usually on the new books shelf) @ our local small town (~ 3,000) library - checked out The troublesome offspring of Cardinal Guzman, Coraline & nazi literature in the americas this afternoon. Usually if i find a new author that i like, i'll go on a spree and read everything in his/her oeuvre. This can get expensive - in the last couple of years been on a Murakami bender.

When i feel crappy, i'm usually reread something light and amusing. Putting down Bolano and go w/ Martin Millar.

#4: Did the Murakami bender myself (all I have left is The Elephant Vanishes and a few stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman), though Pinball, 1973 came from the library here. Can't fathom shelling out a few hundred dollars (or even a thousand dollars) for that little thing!

>4 bobmcconnaughey: Bob, does your interest in YA and Children's Lit come out of parenting, by chance? Because you have children reading it also? Sometime in the future we will need to have a discussion about YA lit, not the books themselves per se, but the genre and its attractions. Here on this thread is not the place, me thinks. btw, Margo Lanagan and Kelly Link have new YA books out:-) *note to self: there is more than one Bob in this group

>4 bobmcconnaughey:, 5 I have prepared myself for a Murakami jag but have not made the leap yet.

Oh yeah, the interest was jumpstarted in 4th gear after becoming parents. Both patty and i WERE book nerds as kids, but patty was pretty much self made, while i had the benefit of my Jewish mom's obsessiveness in the 50s and her very extensive knowledge of kiddie lit. About half our collection came from overseas orders from Blackwells of London. And my dad was a high falutin English grad student..just called his program "American Studies" and while my mom bought the books, my dad just took his own and started reading poetry, in particular, to us from a very early age on. It's a little poignant now that all my nieces and nephews are in or getting ready for college - though they've made a point of thanking us for taking them beyond HPotter (not to take anything again from that series!). The nieces/nephews got the older classics (hawthorne, melville, Ceasar (in latin) from their own parents..but we/I dragged them into the post 1960s world.

#5 I ended up buying most of Murakami in paperback editions which wasn't too bad; well worth the trouble regardless and even our library has about 50% of his books.

I'm a 41 year old biologist. I've been a naturalist and conservation nut for as long as I can remember. For the last 20 years I have lived and worked in Latin America and have spent long periods of time in Nicaragua and Peru, besides my home country, Venezuela. I've worked mostly for NGOs and universities in various capacities, from field biologist to regional programme director, and also for intergovernmental agencies like UNEP and UNDP. I have always liked to get outdoors to share nature with others, and to that end I've led field trips for 30 years. These days I own a company that runs bird and nature tours, almost exclusively in Venezuela. I also lead tours throughout America - from Alaska southwards, mostly Latin America - for US and UK-based companies.

I don't remember being a big reader as a child and I missed out on most of the childrens' classics. I did have a large collection of field guides and would read them as novels. I really got hooked on literature in my teens when I would sit out in the woods with a volume of Thomas Hardy or some poetry whenever I could. I am a slow and forgetful reader, and I certainly don't have the insight and experience that make the notes by members of this group so interesting. Nor have I read anything like the breadth or depth that most of you have. So I look forward to reading your posts, and will enveavour to contribute when I can.

Thanks for inviting me!

>8 chrisharpe: I now understand why you asked me about the nature books. I'll see if I can find a back copy of that issue.

#8 - one of my best friends from grad school has been a life long birder. His jobs, first in the peace corp and then later for AID contracts took him all over Africa for 20+ years and then as he became known as one of the worlds top guys for evaluating/implementing aids prevention programs, got to be sent to a host of other countries as well...So his birding does v. well by his employment..BUT he still makes use of guided bird tours, esp. in S. America. Don't think he's been to OZ - that'll be the last place he'll go to patch up his lifelist. But his last two trips were to the Brazilian rain forest and then going up hill on the other side of the Andes. I think he added ~ 300 new birds in 4 weeks. Though he also spends 4 weeks a winter camping out the the Cornell run program to spot the putative Ivory Bill that might haunt some of our southern swamps. Each birder goes out on their own for 12 hrs each day in a particular sample quadrant and moves as little as possible...and hope they can find their way back to base w/ their GPS in the dark..NOT for me~!

I am 34 years old and a former academic. I got a PhD in evolutionary ecology and spent 6 years studying the genetics of ageing, but got thoroughly disillusioned with it all. I currently work in two bookshops, one a major chain, the other a charity bookshop, and am fairly poor and pretty happy. In my spare time I read (obviously), walk in the country, watch the wildlife, take photos, go to football (soccer) games and try to write. I have moved around a lot in my life, mostly in the UK (Luton, Nottingham, Sheffield, London) and New York. I (like everyone else), have my personal demons to battle, and my username is a little joke on myself to make sure I don't take myself too seriously. Which I don't. Usually.

I'm 51 and more or less an ordinary postal worker if there is such a thing. I offer that with the proviso that if there are any disgruntled postal customers out there I have nothing to do with postal policy decisions. You'll have to reach much further up the food chain. My wife and I have two kids--a daughter 17 who this week has been putting in applications to various colleges and universities and a son 16 who is currently a junior in high school. They are both excellent students--more due to my wife's influence actually than mine--she's pushing and prodding them all the time. My son also has Asperger's. One of his big interests are birds by the way. He's been messing around with some Cornell U. online course for some time now on birds.

Anyway I never went to college--which makes me expert in almost nothing but interested in practically everything. Other interests include ice hockey--as my profile page says I'm a die hard Rangers fan, music and politics (I was furiously debating {at least at times} over in the Pro and Con group leading up to November's election--Obama won--Hooray!!!-sorry if you voted for the other guy--I've since backed off a lot).

I'm 57, and work in a small scientific-consulting firm, mostly these days on remote sensing science and software. I read fiction, mainly science fiction, so that's most of what you'll hear about. I read some nonfiction books, but a great deal more in online commentary. However, I will write about that only when it's exceptional - I don't want to do much on the blog-post-of-the-day, and LT has other places for political discussion anyway. I read a certain amount of poetry, but mainly by rereading books I've had for a long time; there won't be many new books to report in any one year. I'm married to avaland; we've been together ten wonderful years. I have no kids - avaland's youngest was 13 when she and I met.

Thank you to avaland for inviting me--I'm looking forward to hearing about the reads in this group.

I'm an associate publisher and editorial director, living in Connecticut and working in CT and New York. We publish mostly puzzle magazines (about 80 titles), plus some fiction magazines (Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine) and a horoscope title, as well as a number of puzzle books we sell through mail order. I'm married with three kids, ages 13, 10 and 5. I'm very involved in my kids' charter school, and I love to cook, but other than those two things I spend every spare moment reading. Earlier this year, I tried blogging about books, but it took too much time away from my reading. I also had trouble keeping up with my 50 Book Challenge thread, but I will do my best here in 2009.

I'm 39 years old, Canadian, somewhat melancholic, and politically left-wing in one of Canada's most conservative provinces: Alberta. I don't have a real career of any kind. I've been a writer in the CD-ROM industry, a small-time journalist, a bookseller, and a sessional instructor. I've also lived in various places: Edmonton, Ottawa, Jakarta, London (UK, not ON) and Havana, and I currently reside in Calgary. My father is a diplomat, which explains my childhood year in Indonesia. I got my Masters in London. Which I miss. Sometimes really dreadfully. And I have been working away on this dissertation for a shamefully long time, partly because I struggled to get either books or a reliable internet connection in Cuba (excuses, excuses...)

My reading is of two general sorts: for school and for pleasure. For school, I read about Anna Kavan, Sylvia Plath , critical theory, melancholia, allegory... And for pleasure I read poetry, memoirs, fiction, books about London, books about books and anything else that takes my fancy. I'm not married. I live with my English boyfriend and my Cuban dog. I love this group!

I am (gulp) 50, although I have little memory of how that happened so fast. I am a family doctor in Vancouver, Canada, although born in the UK, and teenaged in New Zealand. I spent most of my youth traveling, only stopping when my kids were born.

I have always loved to read. I read constantly as a teen, in obsessive bouts and whatever was in our home, so Hardy and Conrad and Leon Uris and Alastair MacLean and HG Wells were consumed off Dad’s shelves, as were books on science and sailing and gardening. We had few books in the house because of all the moving to and fro with the RAF.

In med school I read not one single book (other that textbooks). I just couldn’t bear it. So most of my 20s was a desert wrt literature.

In my thirties I had kids so l transferred my book love to children’s books, amassed a wonderful collection up through their growing years. They were pulled to the library every day I was not working.

Now they are teens, 14 and 17, so everyone reads the same stuff, and I am so behind in all the wonderful works out there, it makes me quite panicky. I am trying very hard to catch up, but there is so much that is so important and so wonderful to read.

I am Amanda, 48 years old, and Australian. My career has been in music (various positions) and I'm currently teaching piano and guitar at home. I have three boys aged 21, 20 and 17.

I'm 55, a freelance editor with a focus on science and environmental issues. I live in New York City (and have for all my life except college -- I love it here) I've have been an avid reader since my father taught me when I was about 4 years old. I was fortunate to grow up in a home filled with books, and my own decor is no different!

Hello all, I'm Char.

I'm 33. I grew up in Cambridgeshire. I now live in Leyton, East London, with my partner Trevor. No marriage and no kids.

I work as a freelance fundraiser, writing funding bids and fundraising strategies for various charitites. I got a £30,000 donation yesterday for a centre for people with alcohol problems, so I'm enjoying work at the moment!

As you'll see from my thread, I'm planning to start a PhD in 2009.

I don't think I have hobbies as such. I like the cinema, theatre, gigs and TV. A lot of sitting on my backside, basically! I should do something a bit more active, but never seem to get round to it. I try and do a bit of travelling when possible, although 2008 has been quiet.

I'm 32, and I've been a librarian (or in library-related jobs) for about 10 years now. I'm also in Wellington, New Zealand (*waves to Tim*), and I've just started a job last week in the public service.

I got my reading-lust from my mother, who read to me a lot as a child, even though she wasn't a big reader herself. She also read The Lorax to me a lot, which explains my Green tendencies. I don't think it was a surprise to anyone when I did an English degree, a library degree, and went to work in a library!

My reading habits mostly consist of literary fiction, plus I go through periods of interest in particular non-fiction subjects, where I'll read lots in one area for a while. I have a particularly bad track record with prize winners (90% of the time they aren't my cup of tea), so I have learnt to trust my instincts on that one, even if everyone else is reading it and loving it.

My library looks a bit eclectic, but that's because I've catalogued the lovely hubby's books in there too (his books mainly fall under the sport/dinosaurs/fantasy categories). I've also got a second catalogue, KilleymoonKids, for my kids books (of which I don't have any yet. Kids that is, not books).

I don't quite have a reading plan for next year yet, but next week we're finally moving into a house that's big enough to hold all our books. I think the process of shelving them all will probably spark a few ideas.

*waves back to Killeymoon!*

Hello, everyone. I'm Deborah, and I am an English professor at a state university in south central Pennsylvania. My area of expertise is late-sixteenth and early seventeenth-century British literature, particularly drama (Shakespeare, Marlowe, Middleton, Jonson, et al). I was a returning student and finished my PhD at U-Michigan in 1991. I taught in Missouri for six years, and I've been here in PA since 1997. I have a grown daughter who lives in Nashville and a brother in Texas. I'm divorced--it's just me and my 18.5 pound kitty, Rafe.

I read mostly literary fiction and historical fiction for pleasure, but I also started collecting Virago Modern Classics about a year ago, and I also enjoy Asian literature, poetry, biographies (mostly of literary, historical, or artistic figures), and contemporary drama. At the moment, however, I'm mostly reading pretty dreadful student essays, exams just ending and grades being due on Tuesday.

I tend not to plan my reading in advance, probably because I already have a lot of planned reading in connection with classes that I am teaching. Perhaps its a rebellious reaction, but I just like to pick up whatever I'm in the mood for when I finish a book. I have a HUGE TBR mountain to choose from (actually, an assortment of shelves, bags, boxes, drawers, and piles full of books) which has gotten worse since I discovered book swapping. At the rate I am going, I will never have to buy a book in my retirement years!

Hobbies? I wish I had more time for them. About the only thing I can fit in is hanging a bird feeder in the back yard and looking out the window once in awhile to see what birds have arrived--can't really call that active birdwatching. I do drive to Washington every few months to see plays, and I watch a lot of movies on DVD. Lately I've been rewatching a lot of made-for-TV classics (The Catherine Cookson Collection, Wives and Daughter, that kind of thing), and I recently discovered some British series that I've been enjoying (Black Books, The Vicar of Dibley, MI-5, to name a few).

Hello everyone, I'm Sean and I grew up on the edge of Coventry City in the UK where my Dad worked on the Shop Floor in the Car Industry. As a kid the one place I remember getting to spend money was the second hand bookstores and I used to have a shelf load of musty R.M.Ballantyne's.

I went to The University of East Anglia in Norwich and took a degree in Theoretical Physics before moving into teaching Science and Math. In 1989 I relocated to Seattle in Washington State where I married. Up until recently I worked in the 'public' schools as a Science teacher and was involved in developing Science Curriculum with The University of Washington.

Back in August my wife, and daughter, and our family dog moved to Yangon in Myanmar, (Otherwise known as Rangoon, Burma) where I now teach High School Math at the International School Yangon which is a US Embassy sponsored School. I suspect my early encounters with R.M.Ballantyne and my taste for adventure are not unlinked.

I read when ever I can and as one of the many who got stuck in Bangkok two weeks ago when the airport was taken over by demonstrators I got plenty of reading time in. My inclinations are varied. I love poetry, and return over and over again to that genre. I am especially taken with Peter Reading but have Tennyson's "Idyll of the King" on my 'to read soon horizon' so I my tastes are fairly open to anything that looks absorbing.

I like to hover over a pile of books before choosing my next read. I like to pick each of them up and read a few lines, the back cover, draw my thumb across the page edges, and if the book is an old one I wonder about when it was last read and what the readers world may have been like then.

Next week we fly to London where I am excitedly looking forward to visiting Courtalds Gallery as well as the Byzantium Exhibition at the Royal Academy. My 15 year old daughter has shopping on her mind and after being in Yangon since August I can appreciate her focus! I shall definitely be looking out for second hand book stores. It isn't too easy to find books here so people stock up when ever they leave the country or they borrow from each other.

One thing to know in corresponding with me is that the internet here can be unpredictable, it is usually at it's best in the mornings but can be down completely for two or three days if the Government get jumpy about something.

I’m Kris – Early thirties, I live in Arlington, VA with my long-time boyfriend (so tired of the “My god, dating for so long…why don’t you just get married and make it real comments I’ve even started to get from close friends) and two lovey cats (and the friendly ghost of a third who was taken from us too soon). I have a B.A. in Religion with a focus in Judaism. I also have an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on modern Lebanon, Middle Eastern literature, and intellectual history. (Although I plan to remain happily without kids of my own) I collect childrens books – about cats and those with particularly amazing illustrations, Edward Gorey books, and cartography books. None of my collections are particularly huge at this point & I am currently not at all concerned about first editions, etc.

I discovered LT at a strange, sad time in my life and found that obsessively cataloging my library was a cathartic distraction from other things that were going on at the time. My library consists of my various academic interests - Middle Eastern history & politics, Judaism, Islam, social histories, English history - English literature, Middle Eastern literature, a few art books, books about maps, cookbooks, a random bunch of novels, and books relating to the languages I've studied (Russian, Hebrew, and Arabic). You will also probably find the occasional trashy serial killer or vampire novel in my library, because I just can't resist them...In the last year I became less serious and discovered young adult books and manga – not everything I read needs to be a work of staggering genius. I’m in a fledgling book club with some friends, which is going to be interesting, since we all have really different tastes and opinions. Any reading plan I try to make and stick to almost immediately fails because every book I read spurs in me the desire to read a whole new subset of books; I also hate feeling like reading is “work” and the existence of a list of books automatically causes that for me. Despite this, I constantly make lists of what I am going to read next.

Some books I've just finished: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen, The Uncommon Reader: A Novella by Alan Bennett (an Early Reviewers read), and Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit by Daniel Quinn. I'm also currently on a Syria binge, making up for the fact that I wasn't able to do my master's thesis on this country, so expect to see a lot of that turning up on my recent reads.

Hey citizenkelly. Although we have met before, I find that we only have two things in common: whisky and playing guitar badly. Wouldn't that make for a fascinating evening!

Hello all. Since I am finally caught up on all of the threads, I thought I'd better stop lurking and introduce myself. I joined LT in March 2007 and already know a few of you from other groups. I am a former librarian and before that I worked in a bookstore. Reading, old movies, LibraryThing, gardening, and needlework take up my spare time and there is almost always music (or NPR) in the background.

I collect Modern Library, Konemann, and Virago books. In 2009 I will be reading books related to the Project 1929 group, books by Stefan Zweig, some Viragos and whatever fits my mood from my tottering TBR piles.

Female, 54, U.S.

RELIGIOUS VIEWS: Lapsed Catholic-by-way-of-Anglicanism-having -been-raised-Unitarian, so I think I can say I am not cut out for organized or disorganized religion, though am devout in my way, and hope that's good enough fire insurance.

SOCIO-POLITICAL PROFILE: Born into the working class, used to be a Marxist, but gave up on politics after Nixon was elected in favor of community involvement on a non-partisan basis (though I still vote to the left, mostly).

Served a term on our local library board and have worked with the state library association and state library.

EDUCATION: First-generation in college with M.A. in medieval lit, concentrating on Anglo-Saxon hagiography, which is so esoteric that I ended up in journalism, which I teach at a Midwestern land-grant university.

Freelance writer/reviewer. Sometime contributor to Commonweal magazine.

ARTISTIC NOTES: Read novels as drug of choice, not having had a drink or a smoke or a toke for 25 years, no brag, just a desire to break a cycle of family dysfunction, sorry if that's too personal.

Favorite movies include "Now, Voyager," "Night of the Hunter," and "Miller's Crossing."

Despise most poetry written after Blake, most music, and most TV with the exception of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Red Green" (apologies to Canadians who may feel he is a national embarrassment) and "House."

PERSONAL: Married to a carpenter, have a 13-year-old trombone player, three cats, and am in the process of unloading all but my favorite books on BookMooch.

I enjoy knitting, drinking coffee and griping, most recently about that stupid "Twilight" series.

>29 nohrt4me: I once had oboe and tenor sax players, and an alto sax player-turned-percussionist, but now they are just three 20-somethings:-)

Do you use the same user name on BookMooch?

Growing up, our neighbors had to deal with my sister's clarinet playing, my brother's trumpet practice and my piano practice - all going on simultaneously early in the morning before the bus came for school. We lived in a 60s modern house- all glass and no insulation so there wasn't much protect our neighbors from our combined racket.
(my brother and sister were very good players - i was very average - my sister went to conservatory and my brother was probably better than she. But there's not much pleasure in playing clarinet or trumpet on yr own so i'm the only one who still plays, a little. Janet does sing w/ the NOrleans choral society so she gets her music in that way. But piano/guitar..there's virtue in being able to play chords!)

>30 avaland:, I used to be an oboist!

avaland, yes, I use the same moniker on BookMooch. I will be "unloading" a bunch of stuff through this week, so you can check out my inventory if you want. Some good readin' in there, as Aunt Flossie used to say about the National Enquirer.

I like the trombone as opposed to those squeaky clarinets and ear-piercing trumpet/cornets. I believe that my time in Purgatory is reduced by one-third everytime I attend a middle-school band concert.

Just squeezing myself in before the beginning of the new year. I'm Turner (yes, that it is my Christian name) and am older than I act. I am one of the few Scottish people living in Edinburgh (the original one, not a colonial namesake).

Spent most of my working life in IT, which isn't particularly exciting. As a consequence over the years have done courses on just about everything else - currently studying literature with the Open University.

Don't have any plans for what to read in 2009 - some of it will be determined by book groups and study but most will be on a whim basis, or, to be more accurate, whichever book I can find easily at the right time. (It would be safe to say that the organisational structure of my library is slightly laissez-faire).

Hi, everyone. I'm a 45 yr old university student. I have six classes left, which means I will probably graduate in 2010. I'm working on a major in English lit and an extended minor in the humanities. When I'm not doing student-type things, I'm a wife, mom to two daughters (8 & 12), and part-time corporate writer. I live outside of Vancouver, Canada (waves at Kiwidoc).

Welcome, Nickelini - *waves back*

Glad you joined this group - it promises to be very enlightening!!!

Hi, everyone! I am Jill - I live near Tampa, Florida (USA) with my husband, two boys (ages 7 and 9), two cats (Cosmo and Olie) and our basset hound, Emma. Emma is the newest member of our family, adopting her from a local humane society in November.

I work as a marketing manager at a four-hospital system, where I am in charge of our health system's Web strategy and marketing our neurosciences, orthopaedics, rehabilitation, women and children's services.

I am an avid reader and book blogger. I post reviews on LT and on my blog, The Magic Lasso. I regularly get books from publishers and authors, which is a lot of fun. I also participate in a lot of book challenges.

Thanks, Irish (Gail), for inviting me. I look forward to reading everyone's threads!

Hi everyone, I'm Laura and I see lots of familiar names here. Thanks to Irisheyz (Gail) for the invitation!

I'll be 47 in February. I'm married, with two daughters ages 13 & 16, as well as 2 dogs (labs) and 3 cats. We live in Chester County, Pennsylvania on the borders of Delaware & Maryland. I work in IT which, as jargoneer said, isn't particularly exciting.

Books, on the other hand, are definitely exciting. I've been part of the LT community for just over two years and have developed some really strong friendships here. And thanks to those friends, I've discovered some amazing literature, worlds away from the bestseller lists. I enjoy literary fiction, books by & about women including Virago Modern Classics, prizewinners especially Booker & Orange, and books in translation.

As for my other hobbies, I also enjoy gardening -- primarily fruit & veg -- and I volunteer at a bird rescue & rehab center.

JFetting - glad you could make it!

Welcome Laura and Jennifer and Jill! Good to see you here.

Hi everyone - thanks Lois for starting the group and Gail for inviting me.

I am a marketing director at a group of independent bookshops in the midwest. I have been working here for almost 20 years.

My husband and I have a lovely 7 year old daughter and a 10 year old lab.

I read lots of different stuff, but main categories are: women's fiction, literary world fiction, social criticism and business books. I get a lot of advanced reader's copies from publishers so I often read things before publication and I have stacks of TBR piles around my basement.

Lately, community involvement has become one of my strong interests, so I have spent more time volunteering and online than I once did - thus, unfortunately, less reading. I am trying to find more time for reading without taking away from the other.

Oh, and I got a Wii Fit for the holidays - let's hope I stick with that!

My name is Nancy, but you can call me alphaorder (like my books) if you wish.

Hi everyone nice to see familiar faces in here.

My name is Mandy and I live in Australia with my partner and 3 cats.

I am a Records Manager with and Aust Govt Department and have been there for 6 years now.

Generally I try to read different stuff but invariably I end up gravitating to fantasy, sci-fi, young adult, chick lit, and mystery.

Thanks Gail for the invite.

Hello. Hope this isn't too late. I'm Nancy. I live in Western Pennsylvania with my partner, our 3 year old son, our little dog, Parker Posy, and my 15 year old crabby cat, T.C.

I work for our local health insurance company on the doctor's website. I've been there for 8 years. It is a career but not a calling.

I primarily read fiction and memoir. I'm drawn to crime fiction and thrillers particularly series. I'm trying to read more literary fiction and books from countries besides the US and England.

My eyes are much larger than my ability to consume, so I have an obscene TBR pile that I'd like to reduce. LT is not helping in that endeavor :-)

>44 nancyewhite: I should like to see an "obscene TBR pile", sounds delightfully naughty.

Ahhhh. All the truly obscene ones are already read and they were delightfully naughty for the most part.

Hi, everyone! I'm writer and reader Meg Waite Clayton, from Palo Alto, California. I count in my fold two well-read sons, one well-read husband, one non-reading dog (though his name is Frodo, so he's not without literary merit). Also two published novel, with a third under contract. I primarily read novels, though I've been on a poetry and biography reading binge lately. And I definitely have an obscene TBR, which I hide in my closet.

I keep a list of books I've read on my website, but am working up the nerve to add a thread here.

Hi everyone,

I'm a 33 year old female living in Cambridge, UK with my husband, 7 year old daughter, 1 cat and 3 gerbils - oh and lots of books, some would say too many but what would they know?

My paid profession is a librarian (Cambridge University Library - Periodicals Department) but I am also a writer and hope one day to make this my paid profession.

I read all sorts of books, according to my mood but I particularly like women's fiction/history and anything written in the 19th century.

After working, reading, writing and bringing up my animals and daughter. (Think that's a breeze? You haven't met my cat!) I also like knitting, sewing, walking, music (mainly folk/rock) and the odd glass of whisky.

As far as this year's reading goes, I am participating in Orange January (and hopefully July too!) I've also signed up to Project 1929, here on LT. I also have a box of Bookcrossing books that I've had for way too long. As we are hoping to move this year I would like to get these read and moved on before then.

Looking forward to meeting you all.

Hey, purpleelephant, I lived at Madingley Hall one summer 30 years ago now studying Tudor England (the late A.L. Rowse was one of our lecturerers as well as that David Starkey fellow who turns up on TV to talk about the monarchy).

Took a lot of trips in to Cambridge, including the library, but I liked hanging out in the countryside best. Fields of poppies, encounters with stinging nettles, and my God roses everywhere.

The people were lovely!

I asked an elderly dairy farmer for directions to Dry Drayton, and, when I told him my grandmother kept Jersies and made her own butter, he ended up spending a couple hours talking to me about the pitfalls of using heavy farm machinery in the fenlands and let me meet some of his cows and tour his barns. A very memorable afternoon!

Hola Club Readers

I'm Chrine. I'm relatively new to the LT Talk/Groups sections. I saw Club Read in a couple of people's Groups list in their profiles (checking out people whose posts I enjoyed) and have been lurking and reading the posts here regularly since.

I am a 28 year old student of pharmacy who lives in Charleston, SC with my husband (newly married) and our two cats (BIN and sakai). I love books and reading and cannot remember a time when I didn't.

I've yet to finish a book in 2009 so I've yet to post a thread/reading log here. But I have posted in a few people's so I thought I'd say hi (I also don't have much of a profile yet. lol). Embarrassingly, the first book I finish this year prolly be Twilight. A friend loaned it to me and wants it back soon and people are raving about so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I am also reading All the Pretty Horses currently.

Hi folks! Lots of new names here, nice to meet you all.

As you might quickly surmise from my thread, I work in Christian ministry, but I am not a prosletyser. That is - do not fear that I will try to convert you from whatever you are (or aren't). And I am pretty good about keeping my religion-speak limited to the religion/theology groups. I just needed a place to keep myself honest about the reading I am doing this year (both professionally and for pleasure).

I am in my mid-forties, living in Ohio now, though I grew up in the North Central US. Until I graduated college, most of my reading was non-fiction. But since college, and especially over the last 5-6 years, I have grown to love reading fiction. I like short stories and novels, especially fantasy and some sci-fi. I am also a member of a local library-affiliated book club, so you will see some of those books listed, too.

fannyprice, I enjoyed Lies My Teacher Told Me very much when I read it several years ago. I had my copy in storage while I was in grad school. Last fall I sent myself 5 boxes of book from that out-of-state storage, and I am looking forward to re-reading LMTTM.

I just joined, prompted by the mischievous urania1.

Hi everyone. A number of you know me already (and probably think 'what is she doing here?' ;-)), but for whom does not, I will say that I am 52, born and raised in Italy, and moved to New York almost 24 years ago.

My name is Paola, I have three children (21, 18, and 14), a bookoholic significant other, two dogs, and three cats. I work for an office of the Italian government in New York and, during my long commute, I manage to read quite a bit (provided I do not fall asleep). Since I have a degree in English language and lit, my main interest are, and have always been, literature and fiction from English speaking countries. I am almost ashamed to say that I have neglected Italian fiction for a number of years but, apart for a few exceptions, I do not find much that interests me among "young" Italian authors.

In more recent years I have become increasingly more interested in women writers, and one of the things I enjoy the most is to 'discover' little known (at least to me) authors.
I collect Viragos, both Modern Classics and non, and have a particular interest in women writers from Australia and New Zealand.

I also like children's and illustrated books, especially Victorian ones.

I have no idea what I will be reading in 2009. My TBR is enormous and, just like Deborah/Cariola, it is scattered all over the place in piles, boxes, shelves etc. This, of course, does not mean I am going to stop buying books.
I usually pick up a book according to my mood. For example, I have been on a Georgette Heyer's binge for the past couple of weeks (just needed candy for the soul), and it is now time to move onto something else.

I suspect I will observe all your threads for a while, before I start posting something about my reading journey. For me, it is much more exciting to read than to post.

And aluvalibri forgot to mention that she can charm the socks off of anybody.

Oh my! You make me blush!!!!!!!

Hola aluvalibri

I'm looking forward to learning more about Italian fiction in your thread. It's funny cause I was just thinking about it the other day. That I knew of classic British, French, Russian, etc. works, but couldn't think of any Italian ones off the top of my head. The reason of interest being that I'm part Italian.

I'm also enjoying reading far more than posting here. Everyone is so much more well read than me and I am loving learning about all the books there are out there.

I'm not Italian, but my mother-in-law was, which means I live with two generations of partially Italian men.

I refuse to coddle them like Ma did, but she and I did get beyond the "you and your cooking are no damn good and never will be because you are not Italian" phase.

When Ma was on her death bed, she looked at me and said, "Do you remember that good pork roast you made for Easter just before the baby was born? Tell me what you put it in it."

One of those vita e bella moments.

I miss her every day.

I went on a Grazia Deladda jag (translation only) many years ago. She won the Nobel prize for literature, I believe. She's worth reading.

Yes, Grazia Deledda is definitely worth a read.
I remember when, as a teenager, I read Canne al Vento (Reeds in the Wind). I was amazed at the realistic descriptions in the book, written at a time when most women wrote mostly romance like novels.

#55> chrine, as I mentioned in my brief self introduction, my readings of Italian fiction are not up to date. I believe the most recent authors I have read and enjoyed are Mariateresa Di Lascia, who sadly died at a relatively young age and wrote only one book, Silvana La Spina, and Andrea Camilleri. I have no particular fondness for Alessandro Baricco or Roberto Calasso, for example.
But I will be happy to talk more about it, if you wish.

P.S. nohrt4me, I am sure your pork roast is superlative! :-))

P.S. aluvalibri secretly likes Dacia Maraini. She just won't admit it.

#52: aluvalibri, your "and have a particular interest in women writers from Australia and New Zealand": I would be happy to suggest some New Zealand women writers who aren't in your library if you like.

Thank you, Tim! I would really appreciate it.

Mary, leave Dacia Maraini alone, please ;-)
I am not saying that she is not a good writer but, since I work in an office promoting Italian culture, I have seen and heard of her WAY TOO MUCH!

#60: Just a very quick list now as I am visiting LT in my lunch break at work, but:

Fiction

Elizabeth Knox
Mary McAllum
Charlotte Grimstead
Patricia Grace - I don't think you had any of hers already
Stephanie Johnson
Fiona Farrell
Marilyn Duckworth

Poetry

Helen Rickerby - disclaimer: a friend of mine, but I think her second collection My Iron Spine is tremendous & I suspect it would appeal to you
Johanna Aitchison
Sue Wootton
Emma Neale
Fleur Adcock - has been in the UK for a long time, but is in fact Marilyn Duckworth's sister
Hinemoana Baker
Tusiata Avia
Kay McKenzie Cooke

Well, Paola, you have made a splash here as soon as you entered. It MUST be that Italian charm.

Since you don't have your own thread started yet, I will throw a question your way here.

In my childhood in communist Czechoslovakia in the 60s, THE most popular book for children from good homes was a translation from the Italian, and I thought by d'Annunzio, translated into Czech as The Heart. It was an extremely sentimental tear-jerker, depicting on the one hand the life of a wealthy noble family, teaching all the important virtues, (nobility of spirit the primary one), but also interweaving into it a series of tales in a style similar to Sheherezade's. I wonder if that rings a bell with you or anyone else. I have never seen anything like it listed in the d'Annunzio bibliography, so perhaps it is not his, and I of course have never seen it since, and have no idea what its Italian or English title might be. I do have some of my childhood books in a box in some closet somewhere, but I don't think that is one of them. So, a literary mystery begging a solution :-)

Oh no!!!!!!!!!
Polutropos, it was not by Gabriele D'Annunzio but by Edmondo De Amicis. It is called Cuore, and it is one of the most unbearably syrupy concoctions I have ever read!
Unfortunately, it was one of my father's favourite books, and he read parts of it to my sister and brother (both older than I) every night, before they went to sleep. I believe there were three copies at home, two of which 'mysteriously' disappeared before I was old enough to understand what the whole thing was about. Father did read it to me too, but not with the vehemence my siblings were subject to.
Cuore has been ridiculed by many writers, more or less famous, among whom Umberto Eco. In one of his books (right now I can't remember which one), he wrote a piece called "In praise of Franti", where he ridicules the 'good' characters and - as the title says - praises the 'bad' one. Very amusing!

On the other hand, one of my favourite children's books, Il Giornalino di Giamburrasca, has never been translated into English. A real pity, because it is a fantastic book. Along with Pinocchio, it played a very important part in my childhood, and it is the book that ignited my passion for reading.**

Tim, you are a darling!!!!! Thanks so much for the list, which I will investigate at leisure. I have the feeling that many among those authors will end on my Amazon wish list (if I am lucky enough to find them). If worse comes to worse, I will revisit some online bookseller located downunder.

**If only I could persuade NYRB to translate it and publish it......

Thanks, Paola,

that mystery was solved quickly. Well, I said sentimental tear-jerker, you said syrupy concoction, obviously good reasons for its popularity. :-)

I also have a Czech original book which I would love to find and translate into English, since it IS excellent, but I can't now find it even in the original Czech. It is called Perutenka and is about a girl who grows wings. It is I am sure one of the first sources of my exhilarating flying dreams.

Perutenka sounds just like my kind of book!
Could you try to translate it? I have often thought of doing that with Giamburrasca. Who knows.....
By the way, I have a book in Czech: Věčně Nespokojeni! by Gérald – Mont Méril. I have no idea what the subject is, although I think it might be historical, but I bought it a long time ago on Ebay because it is illustrated by Alfons Mucha, an artist I like a lot. Now, finally, I have found someone who can tell me what the title means!!!!!!
Hurrah!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you nohrt4me and aluvalibri

I wonder if I'll be able to find books by those authors in my library system. There is always amazon. I think I'll definitely have an Italian fiction category for my 999 (101010) next year (and an Orange book (I think that is what they are lol) and I'll just let ya'll and anyone else here populate it. I've never hear of any of those authors except Umberto Eco and I have one of his books on my TBR case. I'm going to take a gander at some of the others' works over the next day or so.

Oh no! I couldn't wait until tomorrow and decided to check a few out tonight. They are all in Italian. I should mention that I don't speak or read Italian. I feel stupid now. lol

You are not stupid at all!!!!!!!!!! Don't ever say that!
I will give you some other names, among my favourite authors, whose works have been translated into English, and are not difficult to find on Amzon.
Here they go (not in order of preference): Natalia Ginzburg, Italo Calvino, Elsa Morante, Rosetta Loy, Leonardo Sciascia, Italo Svevo, Luigi Pirandello, Giovanni Verga, Giorgio Bassani.

Some of the touchstones do not work, so you do not see them in blue, but several of these authors' works are catalogued on LT. Check them out.
Once you have done some research and come up with some titles that sound interesting to you, just let me know and, if I have read them, I will tell you what I think.

:-))

Tim, thanks for the list of recommended NZ women writers. I had not realized that Elizabeth Knox was a Kiwi, I read her Billie's Kiss in arc form in '01 or '02 and enjoyed it well enough. I may have to look into her other works:-) And I have Patricia Grace in the pile already from depressaholic's recommendations.

#65

Vecne Nespokojeni, Paola, means The Eternal Dissatisfaction. LOL Are you more satisfied or more dissatisfied now that you know that?

And Alfons Mucha, well, I have strong feelings about him. I have always liked him, and saw a lot of his stuff in Czechoslovakia. BUT. I left the country when I was 13 after the Soviet occupation. I left behind relatiives, memories, roots...very painful, and we all (those who left in those dark times) thought we'd never be able to return. Mercifully communism fell, much to our shock, and 26 years later I returned for a visit, crying everywhere I went. I went to the house in which I grew up, being brought up by my grandparents, house which under more normal circumstances would have been my inheritance, and I would have been living in. The house, now occupied by my cousin, is of course redecorated and in every room there is Alfons Mucha. Framed reproductions, wallpaper, knickknacks....And my bleeding sensibilities are screaming, "This is not my house, not the house of my grandparents, not the house I remember!" Not of course Mucha's fault, and I never did let on to my cousin, but I have a really hard time looking at him now.

Hola Aluvalibri

Perhaps stupid wasn't the best choice of words, silly would have been better. It was late and I am not the most eloquent of writers. I don't think I'm stupid or have an inferiority complex or something. I do marvel at the range and amount of ya'll's reading. And I do want to learn to speak Italian one day. Foreign languages were always my downfall in school (I took German and Latin). School came easy for me and I actually had to study in those classes.

I'm off to check out some Italian authors now.

#68 Leonardo Sciascia--very good one.

My favorite Italian writer is Curzio Malaparte but what's available in translation is all about World War II. His Kaputt IMO is a masterpiece.

I've read Deledda a couple times. She is good. I also like Eco.

A few others--Antonio Tabucchi, Nobel prize winner Dario Fo, Ignazio Silone and Paolo Volponi.

I'd mention Tommaso Landolfi's An autumn story as a pretty good gothic horror story.

Oh, thanks Lriley too. The teeth on the cover of Kaputt are a bit creepy.

I just found you guys so I thought I'd drop by to introduce myself a bit.

38 years old and still a grad student - just trying to finish writing up my thesis on making fruitflies live longer ... not quite getting there as fast as I'd like ... spend too much time here ... didn't really help myself by having a baby in my final year of lab work (klarusujunior on LT - haven't finished adding her library yet but I'm on the case).

I read anything as long as it's good but I love classic lit and I do switch off with young adult stuff and sci-fi/fantasy etc and I'm re-reading a lot of the books I read as a child (under the guise of purchasing them for junior but really just because I want to). I'm also a sucker for collecting things (books on all sorts of lists, specific publishers like Virago Modern Classics ... just started on the Norton Critical Editions ... I like to think that if you list them, they will come).

I look forward to following people's threads - hopefully I'll find some new reads that I wouldn't have found otherwise (which is usually the case with LT) ... shucks, who needs any space in the house anyway ... if I had a guest room that wasn't full of books ... well ... I might actually have to invite guests ... then I couldn't read ... that's bad on many levels.

OK, I give in to another group -- thanks for the invite dchaikin, who was my first LT contact and friend. But I know many of you here and look forward to knowing many more.

I'm a community college professor at a college named after the manatee (actually it's named after a county named after the manatee, but I won't quibble, since I don't live in that county). I teach literature (English lit, women & lit, contemporary lit and sometimes world lit) and intercultural humanities -- and yes, all at once, as our teaching load is 5 courses per semester. So most of my reading happens during the summers and on vacations.

I'm a rather obsessive book collector and have gotten worse since Amazon started selling used books. Unfortunately, the wonderful remainder book store in town burned this summer, and will not reopen, much to my heartbreak.

I'm 60 -- have two children -- a son, 30, who consults in Washington DC and a daughter, 23, who has gone back to college after a year in Americorps, to finish her BA. My husband is a professional stage actor and actually has managed to make a living, if not a fortune, outside of NYC and California. We've lived in Florida for over 25 years, but try to leave in the summers which seem to last almost as long as the winters do in western NYS where I grew up. But I'll take the summers in FL over the winters in NY any day. I'm driving away to the Key West Literary Seminar on Thursday, so it will take me a while to catch up with all of you.

#75 Wow, and I thought a 4/4 course load with three preps was bad! At least you're not teaching freshman comp, eh?

I've delayed adding to this thread, because I'm not sure what to say. I'm 35, a father of a 2 & 4 yr-old. I grew up in Florida. For ten years I've been in Houston,TX working as a seismic processor/interpreter, which, if that doesn't mean anything to you, just means I work in a somewhat obscure part of the oil industry.

I can't really describe my reading interests, as they don't seem to stay focused in any one place very long. I read a lot a contemporary fiction, and LT seems to have pushed me towards newer books. Lots of other things interest me, or have in the past, or will in the future. This might explain why I own so many books I'll never read, why I have trouble reading books I own...yet I still buy new books. *sigh* It also explains why I like the library.

doesn't it mean you get to play w/ dynamite and then interpret the results? (seismic processing), in the hope that oil or gas shows up?

#78 Well, to some extent. I mean someone does play with dynamite (or another "source" like a air guns or vibrating trucks). I sit in an office, and look at wiggle lines on my screen (i.e. interpret the results).

ETA - I've seen the guys who do play with dynamite at work - I don't want their job.

I am a 32 y/o married female who works as a social worker - currently working in the field of substance abuse.

Not much more to tell

#76 -- Cariola -- the only reason I'm not teaching Freshman Comp is because of my loooooong seniority, friendship with the Department chair, and because I took on a couple of distance learning classes as well as the humanities. But honestly, I'd far rather teach 5 preps than duplicate classes -- I get bored teaching the same thing over and over. And I am grateful not to be grading Freshman Comp essays!

Been looking for Italo Calvino's CosmicComics (do I have the title right? not coming up in touchstones), so aluvalibri maybe can steer me right.

> nohrt, the title should read The Cosmicomics. I assume you wish to read it in English, right? I will take a look on a few websites and let you know if I come across a copy.
:-))

Just did and found several copies on Amazon. Check it out.

Hi.

56 years old male, Norwegian, living in Bodø (36,000 inhab.), have been working in the local hospital for 36 years.
2 children, a daughter 33 yr, a son 30 yr, and a little grandson 2 months old.

In 2009 I'm going to read 50 (or more) plays, many of them by Shakespeare and Ibsen, I imagine.

The sun is back :))

Best wishes and happy reading
from
Kjell

Welcome kjellika. We'll look forward to hearing about your reading.

Congratulations on your returning sun. I'm sure it's most welcome!

Hi, I'm Darryl, 47 y/o born in northern New Jersey, spent my teens and twenties in the Philadelphia suburbs, 4 years in Pittsburgh for medical school, and now a resident of Atlanta for the past 11 years. I've been a member of LT since 2006, but only started actively participating over the past year or so.

I have worked as a pediatric hospitalist (inpatient pediatrician) at a major children's hospital in Atlanta since 2000.

I enjoy international literature, non-fiction (especially works on medicine and public health), and biographies and memoirs.

Ha! For a moment ther kidzdoc, I read that as an 'impatient paediatrician' ... I thought "Well, they can't be very good then." ... then realised that speed-reading is not my forte! ;)

Klarusu, that term (impatient pediatrician) is what the members of my group jokingly refer to ourselves as (either that or incompetent pediatrician)!

We only take care of kids who have to be admitted to hospital whose private pediatricians or family practitioners don't have hospital privileges or who prefer that we take care of their inpatients.

Hi, I'm soon to be 51 female, living in greater New Orleans. This is the first LT group I have joined, and I'm jumping in kind of late.

I've lived in Lousiana most of my life, but I have lived in Tennessee (age 12-18) and Tucson Arizona (age 24-30).

My reading choices tend to be random, mostly fiction, but I do read some non-fiction when the "right book" comes along. I'm usually reading only 1 or 2 books at a time, but right now, I'm reading four, and it's driving me crazy. I "should" sit down and finish the "shorter two" first, but the "longer two" interest me more. I have no idea which one I will finish first.

I am looking forward to logging what I read, though, and interacting with others who may share similar (or contrary) interests.

> since Amazon started selling used books.

Powells.com is also a great source for used.

Welcome, ciridan. I'm guessing you have lots of company in the reading-several-books-at-once thing. I usually have about four going: always a novel and an audio book, then usually one or two non-fiction titles at the same tim.

>91 ciridan:, 92 I join the gang of multiple book reading. I thought I was recovering until I went back to school. Currently, it's two novels, one collection of flash fiction, and, by day, some nonfiction (but not cover to cover). Sometimes, it becomes geographically-based - one book upstairs, one down, one in the master bathroom . . .

Just bringing this thread back up to the top so the newbies see it.

Introductions are a good thing.

Hi
I'm Deborah and I found this group while I was wandering around LT exploring. I'm trying to catch up reading everyone's threads.

I'm 58 and I have 5 kids. My 30 year old is a financial analyst in NYC, my 28 year old is in her second year of a pediatric residency in Richmond, my 25 year old is trying to break into the entertainment business, my 21 year old is about to graduate UW with a degree in microbiology, and my 18 year old is a freshman at UW planning to study business. My wonderful husband of 38 years is an on again/off again reader.

I was born and raised in Aruba, and it is the home of my heart, even though I have been able to go back only 3 times since I left at age 16. I currently live in Seattle, where I came via London and New Orleans.

I am a tax attorney trying to ease my way out of that career into my true life vocation of fibre artist. With kids in college that move is going very slowly.

I have read all my life. I am in a book club and know many people who describe themselves as readers, but I have never met anyone in real life who shares my addiction to books and reads as voraciously as do the people here on LT. I am so glad I found this site.

I primarily read literary fiction, and in the past ten years or so have broadened that to focus on world-wide fiction. I also read classics. I like British police procedurals and pyschological crime stories. I like science fiction dealing with dystopian futures or time travel. When I read nonfiction, I tend to read political or art books.

Welcome arubabookwoman -- enjoy your sojourn here.

#95, arubabookwoman: your post sent me off to Wikipedia to find out more about Aruba, which we don't hear too much about here in New Zealand. What I read makes it sound a fascinating place.

Nice to see you here too, Debora/arubabookwoman. I spotted you in a couple other groups.
:-))

Hi, I'm Tad. I'll be 52 next week, have been married for 17 years with 3 kids still in school. I was an Army brat who lived all over growing up, but have settled down in northern NJ and will probably stay here as my wife is from the state. I started life as a chemist but didn't enjoy it, so now I write software.

I was in the 75 Challenge last year and loved it, but this year's version is burning me out and I find myself withdrawing from it more and more. Since I don't care a hoot for the number '75', this group's aims might be more what I'm looking for.

I read pretty much anything, though I don't care overmuch for romances or horror. I used to be heavily slanted toward science fiction and mysteries, but recent years have been much more distributed. I have a couple of ongoing, personal goals that I hack away at each year which I'll keep track of in my thread.

Welcome to the group Tad. Happy reading !

Good to see you here, Tad!

>99 TadAD: Good to see you again, TadAD. Yeah, I noticed the new group was moving at lightning speed. I can't even get over there to visit without each thread having 80-100 messages!

Relatively speaking, we're pretty laid back:-) Happy Reading.

Hi, there!

I'm Natália, a 19-year-old English Graduate Student and I'm from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hence the not-so-good English. I like reading anything fiction, but currently I'm reading this really really great non fiction book called Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, by Julie Powell.

I used to read a lot more and a lot faster, but recently I've been having difficulty at concentrating, so I'm trying to read lighter books, leaving the crazy stuff - such as Kafka - for College.
Oh, yeah, I'm also an obsessed cinephile, and even though I do love reading, cinema is and always will be the love of my life.
Well, that's about it. I haven't really done anything interesting with my life so far - but I'll keep you posted.

Welcome, Natália! I haven't seen anyone else from Brazil in Club Read, so I'm sure we'll all be eager to see what you're reading.

I'd be very interested to learn more about contemporary Brazilian authors. I only have two books that I'm aware of, Quincas Borba by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis and Ashes of the Amazon by Milton Hatoum, neither of which I've read yet.

Well, I don't know Milton Hatoum, but I sure know Machado de Assis. He's the most important author in Brazilian Liteature. Last year was his 100th death anniversary, and there were many, many events to celebrate his life and work.

I honestly don't know many contemporary Brazilian authors, I'm more acquainted with the classics, most of which I read at school. But I've always wanted to read Chico Buarque, who's one of my favourite musicians.

Hello everyone.
I'm glad to find a brazilian here. :) I knew they were hiding somewhere.
I'm from Brazil too. I'm a 24 year old girl living in Sao Paulo. I'm currently finishing my masters in International Trade and Negotiation (June, I hope!) and I work for a logistics/transportation company.
My passion for books comes from a long time ago, when my mom used to give me her books when I was 5 or 6. I didn't understand anything, but the fact of having a book in my hands was very comforting.
For 2009 I'll try to read more complex books (not just easy chick-lit - which are starting to get to my nerves to tell you the truth). I, unfortunetly, don't have too much time to read, and when I do it's usually before I go to bed, when my husband is watching TV and I'm trying to concentrate at the same time.
This year I also would like to try more biografies, so if anyone has an interesting one to suggest, please let me know.
I'm currently working on Jose Saramago's Blindness (which is very disturbing sometimes) and Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer (which was only released a few weeks ago in Brazil).
Anyways, I love LT, even though I don't know many of the books you talk about... it just feels good to be "surrounded" by so many cult, inteligent, interesting people :)

Welcome Mariana. You can us which Brazilian authors we need to read.

#106
I'd like to know about some Brazilian authors and books as well.
And I love your profile picture. I am a Norwegian, living in Northern Norway.

Hello, thanks for the warm welcome.
For the brazilian authors I can highly recomend you Erico Verissimo (The time and the wind - the trilogy), he's one of my favorites.
Machado de Assis is also a classic, but I'm not a fan (maybe because I HAD to read him for school and University).
Currently, the most famous one is Paulo Coelho, but he doesn't write the kind of books I like to read (too much religion and God involved, and I don't like it).
Any Norwegian authors and/or books to recomend me? I'm putting together my TBR list for 2009.

>108 kjellika: kjellika, Norway may be part of the Reading Globally group's "polar region" theme read later in July. Your input would be most welcome. You can read about it here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/52078 (around message #50). chrissharpe, also a member of this group, may be setting up the thread later, if you wish to talk to him about it.

>109 marianapdias: marianapdias, thanks for your recommendation, I'll visit the local library later (after reading some of my TBR books) to look for some of the authors you mention :)
I recommend the Norwegian books
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (modern novel)
Hunger by Knut Hamsun (classic)
Sofie's World by Jostein Gaarder (modern novel on the history of philosophy)
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (trilogy, classic)
The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen (play, classic)

>110 avaland: avaland, I've just visited the thread you mention and starred it. Seems interesting.
I'll check off and pay attention to the prospective thread, hoping to participate there...
Thanks for your info :)

Hahahaha, thanks for reminding me Avaland! Yes, I would like to help setting up that thread, not least because I want to learn about it myself. kjellika, you might like to get involved...? I'll try to begin when I get back home in late March/April. Welcome pekala_ and marianapdias! I'm "next door" to you but am sorry to say I have read very few Brazilian books. How about a theme read?

>112 chrisharpe:, Yay! I can't wait for the Polar Regions theme reads. I am going to get so many ideas for my "Frozen A** Places" category for the 999 Challenge.

Kjell, beside the excellent titles you mentioned, for Norwegian authors I would recommend Dina's Book by Herbjorg Wassmo, which I really enjoyed.

ooo aluvalibri--I loved Dina's Book.

Oh, it is nice to hear that, aruba!!
:-))

I've always wanted to go to Norway. I guess I'll have to read some Norwegian lit in translation instead.

I am a 38 year old single female who has worked in a hospital setting for the last 20 years, first as a Pharmacy Technician and more recently as an Emergency Department Patient Representative.

As well as working full-time I am a Junior enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as an English major with a Political Science minor. As a result, my personal reading has recently taken a back-seat to my college assigned reading. I am not quite sure what will follow after graduation - one possibility is a Master in Library Science, but no decisions as of yet.

It goes without saying, yet here I am saying it anyway, I have always been a voracious reader - as I am sure most of you can identify with. I have been known to resort to reading shampoo or hairspray bottles when stuck using the "facilities" without a magazine or book. My love of reading nearly made me directionally un-functional when I obtained my driver's license. Most of my time in the car prior to that point was spent with book in hand. I have made huge improvements in that area, but am still the last person anyone asks for directions on how to get somewhere.

I love to write as well, but am aware that it is highly improbable that I will ever make a living doing so. Yet, when you possess that compulsion you must write regardless of any hope of monetary compensation.

I look forward to sharing my reading journal with any and all of you who are interested and hope to glean some insights from many of you as well.

As well as working full-time I am a Junior enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as an English major with a Political Science minor. As a result, my personal reading has recently taken a back-seat to my college assigned reading. I am not quite sure what will follow after graduation - one possibility is a Master in Library Science, but no decisions as of yet.
-------------------------

Welcome, exlibrismcp . . . (I sure hope you share your real name or a nickname with us soon, because that's hard to type!) . . . we have quite a bit in common. I too am a mature student, doing an English major and I'm looking at a Master in Library Science. This is my dream, but reality may get in the way. My personal reading is gone until I'm finished by term reading in April . . . but I picked some courses where I'm getting to do some great reading, so it's not too much of a sacrifice. I'm off to check your library and see what you "have" to read.

#112, yes, I might get involved in "the polar region" reading, is it for only one month, or??

#114, 115 etc.
I read the first half of Dina's Book some years ago. Don't remember why I didn't read the rest of it, but I will soon, I imagine

#118: welcome, exlibrismcp - it's always good to see another writer on here!

Another welcome, exlibrismcp (I too hope you will tell us your name).
I have always greatly admired (and still do) people who can work and study at the same time. If I could go back to the university, I would definitely pursue a course of study in Library Science.
Now I am off to check your library.
:-))

>120 kjellika: Yes, it runs for just the one month of July.

Welcome, newbies! We hope you chronicle your school reading along with any pleasure reading.

I was avoiding introducing myself but introductions seem appreciated by some here and I just got that this was a private group then opened out I think, so it seems polite (if late). Anyway, I'm 40ish, and in north east england, home of great footballers, castles and beaches and where steam trains began. I'm a sorta kinda of therapist, but not the kind I trained as or really want to be at the moment. I love literature and poetry (surely not different things?) and have managed to avoid studying them much, which I think was in some ways deliberate and helps my enjoyment - I hardly read any History now, largely because I have studied it. I'm also interested in philosophy but find a little reading of that goes a long way - if I wasn't studying for my current job I have an idea I'd like to research about Pascal.

I'd also like to write - and in recent years have found myself writing poetry (of a sort), I'm trying to develop that and my writing in general. In the meantime I've been concentrating on reading more, its amazing the number of books I knew something of but had never actually read - I believe someone wrote recently on how to talk about books you haven't read - maybe I should read that too as it may cover some familiar ground, but I have higher priorities than that tangent. Makes me wonder how well do I really know something I read even 2 years ago? Which might be why I try to keep my comments on books to being less like efforts to explain and describe them but rather to talk through my personal reaction to them (and to some extent my interpretation of them), which seems to be what I remember best and is most important to me -- if I really want to be in touch with them then further study and rereading would be necessary - this approach was prompted by joining the 50 book challenge (which helps me keep focussed) and deciding I would write something about everything I read as a simple list was pointless to me at least. Anyway thats a little about me, some I hadn't thought of before digressing - I've enjoyed being here for the last few weeks, look forward to more.

Thanks for all the welcomes. Sorry, I meant to include my name and forgot. It is Melissa - should be a little easier to type.

>125 exlibrismcp: Melissa,

A belated welcome. I grew up in Charlotte, and still have sacred relics there whom I visit pretty regularly despite the excruciatingly long, five-hour drive. Perhaps we can meet at a local bookstore the next time I'm there. I've looked in the telephone directory, but apart from the usual Borders, Barnes and Noble, and Joseph Beth, the pickings look pretty slim. I did go into one indy bookstore in Park Road Shopping Center, but it had such a weird collection (with no particular rhyme, reason, or niche), that I left feeling rather like Alice after she fell down the rabbit hole and rashly drank from a bottle labeled "Drink Me."

Hello, all. My name is Tracy, and I live in a suburb of Minneapolis, Minnesota. I'm 44, one husband, no kids. As of the January 1, I am unemployed, so if anyone has any job leads . . . . I love to garden - both vegetables and flowers - even though I am plagued by deer, shade and the winters of Zone 4a. I play the piano, do some cross stitch and like to spend time at the dog park with our 2-year-old mutt, Brix.

On my reading list you'll probably see literary fiction, historical fiction, a few classics, mysteries, garden books, foodie books, Georgette Heyer, memoirs, and environmental writing. I would really like to re-read Paradise Lost - maybe this year? And it's been at least 3 years since I went on a Shakespeare binge, so who knows.

Hello fellow readers!

My name is Melissa and I have a serious book addiction! : ) I worked for a long time at a bookstore, so I have books in every corner of every room of my house (much to my husband's chagrin). I read mainly fiction - general historical and WWII fiction are my faves right now - and books about tea (my other addiction). I'll throw in an occasional "chick lit" (love the British authors) when I need something just for fun. I have a Master's in English, so I have read a wide range of books from many periods and genres. When I am not teaching (I teach composition for several online colleges), I enjoy a great book and a hot cup of tea. Right now I am reading The Girl With No Shadow, the follow-up to Chocolat by Joanne Harris. My TBR stack(s) are varied, and include (to name a few) Five Quarters of the Orange, Can You Keep a Secret?, A History of Reading, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I am also working my way through Tea and Taste: The Visual Language of Tea and A Year in High Heels.

Very excited to be here with so many other true book lovers!

Uh oh, two Melissas! Now we all will have to type exlibrismcp's username! Unless melissas09 consents to being called Melissa S?

>127 Talbin:, Tracy, which suburb? I'm originally from Minnesota but live in Arlington, VA now. How's your weather? :)

Funny how we all drift about - I used to live in Arlington, VA but live in New Hampshire now.

#127 Talbin - I'm glad to hear you have just one husband. My wife recently let me know that last thing she wanted was another husband; she figured out what she actually needs is a wife.

#111: kjellika - I'm not an expert in Scandinavian lit, but I'll second Out Stealing Horses. I'm curious whether Jostein Gaarder is worth noting, or perhaps was intentionally left off your list. I enjoyed Sophie's World.

>129 fannyprice: Hi, Kris! (And now that I know you're from Minnesota, I think it's a safe bet that's short for Kristin. And I guessed the "in" at the end because your intro said you were in your early 30's. My sister is an "en", but she's 41 - it seems en's tend to be older.)

Anyway . . . . I live in "prestigious West Bloomington." (Which - for everyone else - isn't all that prestigious, but the late-70's, early-80's ad campaign tried to make it so. What stuck was the semi-mocking nick-name.) I grew up in Edina, then lived in various parts of Minneapolis for many years. We ended up in Bloomington because we couldn't find a reasonably affordable house in the St. Paul neighborhood we really wanted (Mac/Groveland or Highland Park). This particular house is a mid-50's modern on an acre lot bordered by a pond. It's beautiful, but I often miss living in a city.

And for some real interconnectedness . . . didn't someone here - I think Bob - mention in another thread they had a son go to Macalester? If so, then that Mac/Groveland neighborhood I was talking about is the area right around Macalester. (And BTW, I almost went to Macalester but ended up at rival Carleton instead.)

And as for the weather, well, it sucks. It seems as if half of January was spent below 0F, and now it's been over 32F and raining off and on for the past week. A lot of the snow has melted and it just looks plain ugly right now - dirty, grey and brown, cloudy, yuck. I'd rather that it was cold and sunny than this.

>131 dchaikin: Dan - I wouldn't mind a wife, either, especially when it comes to making dinner and cleaning the bathrooms . . . .

>131 dchaikin: My wife recently let me know that last thing she wanted was another husband; she figured out what she actually needs is a wife.

OMG, too funny! Your wife is brilliant. Yes, yes, a wife would be nice (but I am rather attached to my husband).

#131
Jostein Gaarder and Sophie's World IS on my list, but touchstones didn't work.
And this novel is a very good intro to philosophy, and it's exciting as well.

134> When I clicked on your link, I was surprised not to recognize the essay. Then I realized it wasn't by Judy Syfers, who wrote an essay "Why I Want a Wife" in the first issue of MS magazine in 1971. That's the one I always used in Freshman Comp. Here's a link to that essay: http://www.cwluherstory.com/why-i-want-a-wife.html

>136 janeajones: Jane, right as usual. I simply read the first couple of lines, they sounded familiar, so I posted without reading further. I shall delete the aforementioned post.

Well, I guess I missed this one when I first found this group.

I haven't ever had a job dealing with books, but I've always been a reader as far back as I can remember, and even farther back than that if my mother is to be believed :)

I read for information and I read for entertainment. I'm probably one of the few males that will actually read instruction manuals on things :) I tend to gravitate to science fiction and fantasy, although I also pick up a bit of what I would call action/adventure, mystery and thriller type for my entertainment, and informationally it's whatever I'm looking to be informed on at the time.

137> Mary, I didn't mean for you to delete your link! I was just adding to the conversation ;-0 -- Jane

>128 melissas09: Greetings from a fellow former bookseller!

OK, we've reached 100 members, can I close the door now, make the group private, lock others out . . .

Just kidding, of course.

However, it is official, I can no longer read everyone's thread. Sorry. I suppose we gravitate to the readers who read the kinds of books we read, or the kinds of books we aspire to read, or the readers who have damn interesting things to say about books we'd probably not read.

Now, I do need to ask. Why do some of you feel you need to be on two logging groups? Is it lack of sustenance on one that finds you fleeing to another, or just a tendency towards exhibitionism:-) (or perhaps you're looking for more fans...OR perhaps you're afraid you'll miss something!) Come on, tell Uncle Sigmund all about it.

Why do some of you feel you need to be on two logging groups? Is it lack of sustenance on one that finds you fleeing to another, or just a tendency towards exhibitionism:-) (or perhaps you're looking for more fans...OR perhaps you're afraid you'll miss something!) Come on, tell Uncle Sigmund all about it.
*parks self firmly on couch*
I have stayed in the 50 book challenge as well because I had a few regular visitors last year whose input I enjoyed. One of them has started a thread here (I'm looking at you, Tony!), but the rest haven't visited Club Read (so far as I can tell), so I would've missed their presence... Or do you want me to invite them all over here? ;)

I sure do enjoy the reasonable size of this group, though. I had to do a ruthless culling of the 50 & 75 Book threads in order to be able to follow the ones I want, without having hundreds of others filling my talk page.

Why do some of you feel you need to be on two logging groups? Is it lack of sustenance on one that finds you fleeing to another, or just a tendency towards exhibitionism:-) (or perhaps you're looking for more fans...OR perhaps you're afraid you'll miss something!)

I don't want to post on two groups, but I do. I started with the 75 Book thread first, and I know there are people who look for my posts there. Then I got invited to this group, and this is really more my style, so I post here. It only takes a minute more to copy things over, so I can live with it. Next year I will drop the 75 Book group, because I don't give a fig about the numbers.

And I don't even try to read everyone's posts. I pop in where I can, and that's good enough.

First of all, hi I'm lunacat. I'm 23 in.....6 days and I'm from the UK. I read mainly historical fiction and fantasy with other stuff thrown into the mix as and when.

As for why I now belong to two logging groups.......well, mainly because the more book recommendations the better!! I like meeting new people, and those with similar libraries to myself and so the easiest way to find these people is to log my reading and then see who is interested enough in me to reply.

Although, why I'm looking for more books to read I'm not sure, as my tbr pile (actually owned books) is at about 250 at the moment. Maybe I should just leave now.........................

Why do some of you feel you need to be on two logging groups? Is it lack of sustenance on one that finds you fleeing to another, or just a tendency towards exhibitionism:-) (or perhaps you're looking for more fans...OR perhaps you're afraid you'll miss something!)

I'm in a similar position as Nickelini in #143. I don't give a fig about the numbers either; I joined 75 Books b/c I figured that was a group reading at about the same pace as me. I'd been with 50 Books for two years prior to that. But really, I was just looking for a place to log and discuss my reading. And it's not a big deal to post twice.

Having said that, I'm also enjoying the "experiment" of observing the different conversations that happen on my two threads. It's interesting how a book can spark lots of comment on one thread, and nothing on the other, or vice versa. That intrigues me!

As far as keeping up with posts is concerned, I have starred threads in this group (and in 50, 75, 100, and 999) in order to keep up with people with whom I share common reading interests. Time permitting, I check out new-to-me LTers, and add them to "my starred." I couldn't possibly keep up with everyone, even if I were only checking this group!

>141 avaland: avaland - I'm a refugee from the 75 Book Challenge group - when I joined this group I left the other group behind. I still have a few peoples' threads starred, but otherwise I'm out. I found the sheer number of threads overwhelming, and I wasn't very happy with the level of discussion. There are many long threads over there, but they seems to be filled with lots of chit chat. I was looking for something a bit more substantial, which I have found here.

Actually, it took me several weeks to get up the gumption to join this group. I noticed that it had started out as a private group and everyone seemed to know each other. I was definitely worried about feeling like an uninvited guest. But people have been wonderfully welcoming, for which I am thankful. I hope that I can make some sort of contribution, and I'm looking forward to learning about some interesting books that can be added to my already teetering TBR pile.

>141 avaland:: Mostly because there are still friends over on the other group who asked me to do so. Since I joined the "yearly" group, I figure it's very little effort to clipboard a cross-posting for the rest of the year.

I think it also takes time to work one's way into a group to the point where the people are "old friends" who respond routinely to your reads and comments. Until that point is reached, sometimes it's nice to get the comments from the old circle.

#143: I agree completely with Nickelini. However, the 75 Book Challenge Group is way too big and growing way too fast for me to keep up with, so I'll be spending the majority of my time here (although I'll still post book reviews to my 75ers thread).

Wow, I feel liberated. I just dropped the 75 Book Challenge because I got tired of posting basically the same thing in three different threads - I was starting to feel like a spammer every time I finished a book! Plus, the "Your Groups" view in Talk was just completely overwhelmed with 75 Challenge threads. I've still got a number of people starred that I'll follow, but I feel that I have just given myself a few more seconds a day for actual reading & reading time has been a precious commodity this week.

--->141 avaland:

For me, I like the different purposes of the different groups and I do different things with each of my threads.

Club Read is pretty much the first place I read in Talk when I log in. I manage to read the majority of the threads even when I don't log on for a few days. I've also starred members here other threads else where because as mentioned above different discussions are generated different places. I know I don't currently read on the level that most of ya'll do. But I do so enjoy reading the intellectual discussion of books here. It reminds me of a more causal version of the academic atmosphere of college/grad school that I miss in my current day-to-day life. (I'm also addicted reading to the Reading Globally, Author Themes, and Monthly Authors.) Here I try to keep more of what I would in a hand-written book journal (which I'd never manage to keep consistantly if I tried to): reading lists, thoughts and questions on books, etc. I found this group by checking out groups in peoples whose threads and posts I liked profiles.

The 999 Challenge was the first group I joined and posted in here in Talk (which I'm still relatively new to). I've never done a book challenge. I know I won't complete it in a year (I do not have enough reading time to). But I will have fun trying. I'm also using it to try to read book I've been meaning to. *cough* TBR piles *cough* And I like lists. I mostly just put the books in categories and post short reviews there.

The 50 Book Challenge is where I post book reviews which I form from my comments on the book in my Club Read posts. I am trying to improve my writing of them. Again, I know I won't manage to read 50 books this year. But I enjoy making a list and I'm keeping track of pages read which I've never done before either (last year was the first year I kept track of the number of books I've read).

So basically, I log the book into my library, write my thoughts here, try to form them into a more coherent book review on the 50, and just plug the book into the 999. I don't get many posts in any of my threads, but am delighted when I do. But I mostly write in them for me more than anything else. I joined LT to keep from buying books I alread own or have read before and have become addicted to the Talk sections.

Okay, I was just over reading Fanny's (liger genetics topic) and Urania's (witty posts around Russia)threads and thinking. Basically I want to learn to read and write like all ya'll (you guys) here. I figure hanging around here can only help. I'm like ya'll's (you guy's) literary groupie.

#141 - In two years on the 50 book challenge I had just one other regular contributor to my threads (looking back at you Medellia! :) (#142)). Here I've had four other contibutors already (long may that continue). There I never took the goal of 50 books too seriously, here that doesn't matter at all which seems a bit more in tune with me. Though there it did help me focus at times, having that notional goal of about a book a week, albeit that I only manage a little over half of that due to fallow periods. I think thats why I'll be sorry to let it go, its focussed a lot of my reading over the last two years. Hopefully this group can help me do that too and I can of course still keep a discreet count if I like. However, the clinching point is that I am a bit reticent of posting my views on what I read at all - never mind posting them twice, seems pointless for me and I'd hate to post the same thing in two places (sheer personal preference). My posts didn't stir up much exictement over there anyway - but I will be sorry to leave it (well not set up a new thread at the end of my second year this month).

I've used the internet for a long time now, but that it allows such things as interactive reading journals with contributions from people all over the world continues to amaze me.

>151 chrine: chrine,

Thank you!

I agree with everything said so far. This is a fabulous group, all my friends are already here, I've made some really cool new ones, and met some great new people, and I love the level and amount of conversation.

Happy Valentines Day, everyone.

And now will someone please change the sand in my litter tray. It's getting kind of... damp.

Happy V Day to everyone here too.

Since Murr is also a writer of very amusing posts and I've already scooped two cat boxes this morning, I'll take care of his quickly before I go shower so no one else has to smell of litter.

*small amount of time passes*

There. It's done.

Happy Valentine to everyone!

Murr, today I was lucky to find a copy of The Best Tales of Hoffmann. Needless to say that I snatched immediately.
My other copy (in Italian translation), which I bought when I was a teenager, is still at my mother's, in Italy.

I'm using the two threads I post to for different purposes. There I track books I complete toward my 80-something book 'goal' with my thoughts nearly immediately after finishing.

On this thread, I let the book marinate for a few days and then try to focus and cull my thoughts and feelings into the three sentence review. I'm also keeping track of other things I read on this thread. Not every little thing, but things that have made an impression or that I'd like others to know about or that I'd like to remember.

Finally, I find the two groups really different. Generally, this one is definitely more literary and the other more focused on popular lit. I find myself interested in both kinds of books. That being said, I read Club Read first when I log in and enjoy the interactions more. I do feel a bit intimidated, but, like chrine, this level of reading/writing is what I aspire to.

Thank you chrine. I feel much relieved now.
Happy reading Aluvalibri!!!!!

Uncle Sigmund thanks you all for your interesting responses (and is now mulling over a theory that involves metaphorical tables and tree trunks).

>146 Talbin: Actually, yes, we did start this as a private group. It was a little experiment of mine. I wanted to 'seed' the group before it went public, and allow some time for the seeding to 'take'. It was my hope that by doing this the core group would attract like readers. I wanted a somewhat higher level of conversation that what was happening on the What Are You Reading Now? group (it used to be so much better). And a word about how I chose: I was less interested in what someone read than how they thought about their reading. Although I wanted to include a fair amount of readers who read widely - across genres, across the world...etc. I was also interested in a variety of perspectives - thoughtful readers living in different countries, particularly non-English-speaking ones (i.e. Venezuela, Myanmar, Japan), having different levels of education, different kinds of careers, a variety of ages and a reasonable parity of female to male readers.

I should also note that I purpose/y avoided inviting members from the 50 and 75 Book groups for fear of being accused of proselytizing. Some of the early members knew each other from other groups, some did not. I chose both people I knew but also people I didn't.

Has my little experiment worked? Considering that one has little control over something when public, I think it has worked fairly well. There is room for more of these logging groups, if only to keep the numbers of each group down a bit.

thoughtful readers living in different countries, particularly non-English-speaking ones (i.e. Venezuela, Myanmar, Japan),

We have a member from Myanmar? Who knew!

LOL I was just thinking about posting a where do you live thread this morning? I know it's mostly likely in the intros thread, but I'm horrible with people's names and info face-to-face much less on the internet. I also thought about including how old are you (or about how old), degrees and in what, career past and present.

Avaland, it's interesting the why, how, and whos of your starting this group.

I am now going to go look up Myanmar on a map, being geographically-challenged as I never took a geo class in school ever.

102 members. 65 member threads posted in within the last month.

>140 avaland: BeesleSR is a teacher currently living in Myanmar. See message #23 above.

>161 chrine: hint: I keep an index card next to my laptop with user names and their real first name, if divulged. But I think most probably prefer their user names as well as anything on here. Some of us have been hanging around in the same groups now for as much as two and a half years (or slightly more).

DON'T LET our chit chat discourage anyone from posting a REAL introduction, btw.

Thanks Avaland. That is a good idea. I figure after a few months I'll go and read the intro thread and people's profiles again. Then I'll think "Oh, I didn't know that about them". LOL

As per request:

I'm (nearly) 72 years old, an ex-pat living in a rural area in the country of Panamá. I have a doctorate in chemistry but other loves that have persisted through my life no matter what I did for a living are reading and gardening/farming. Another great passion of my life is the US Civil War--I'm not an expert but I suppose I qualify as what is called a"buff", if only in enthusiasm.

Book interests, other than US Civil War: mystery/thriller (especially from non-US countries), history, historical fiction, Latin American/Spanish authors (especially Brasilian), history of Latin America (especially Brasil and Panamá), tropical ecology. I'm sure I've let out something! But this will do.

Thanks, joycepa. In reading your intro, I'm thinking you will find some readers who might interest you on this thread.

#148, #143 I agree with kidzdoc and Nickelini, but there are some 75 Book threads I'm following and I feel it's sort of polite to also post my reviews there.

159: avaland - It's a good thing I didn't know any of that before I joined, or I probably would have shied away.* I kind of randomly picked this group over the others, but two things nudged me this way. One is that there were no goals embedded in the name, and I didn't want to have any. The other is because, well, a group you start tends to catch my interest.

"Has my little experiment worked? "
IMHO, absolutely yes. I love this group! What I really like is that it's a moderate size and I can somewhat keep up; that there are a lot of very thoughtful posts, many very intelligent, and which are about books and reading; and that the threads feel open to anyone, even more to casual readers like me. It's a nice balance. I don't do well with chit/chat. I want the conversations to be fun, but also have some substance and be interesting. There are a number of great threads in the other groups, but they a just a little more difficult to find.

*Er, good for me, hopefully not too bad for the group ;)

>168 dchaikin: . . . an then there is serendipity, yes? That would be you. . . and many others.

Pam here. I've been lurking here for a while, reading reviews. Just bought Wizard of the Crow because some very thoughtful readers recommended it.

Middle-aged, high school science teacher, living in Australia. Planning a career change in an indolent sort of way, in between books.

Pam, it is a GREAT pleasure to see you here!!!!!
:-))

Thank you very much, Paola, for that kind welcome.

Pam -- glad you're prioritizing your books before your career change. You'll fit in great around here.

Thanks Nickelini. If there are any fiction writers out there, I'm looking for a bit of help with the resume.

Just passing by and saw this group which sounded interesting. I'll probably lurk a bit before joining too many conversations.

Primairily I read non-fiction, mostly SF and Fantasy without any clear division between them, but also crime adventure thrillers and other random stuff. For the last year+ I've been trying to review everything I read, so there's quite a few already. I'm also a member of the Go Review that Book group for specific review requests. I don't have a goal other than to read. I don't (ok seldom) buy new books until I've read my existing TBRs and I quite enjoy re-reading.

Otherwise I live in the UK and work with mass spectrometers in a biological research facility.

Hola!

I read a lot of nonfiction - trying to fill out my Dewey Decimal, Library of Congress, and UN Nations reading lists. I'm not trying too hard though; I like seeing how my natural choices happen to fall into those categories.

I'll be 40 this year (groan). I have a nine year old son and a five year old daughtger. My daughter has been reading since she was three and I'm having a hard time feeding her enough to read. I'm so proud!

I've been a LT member for some time but have only recently been posting.

I work for a semiconductor company in Dallas as production planner. Nothing exciting but it pays the bills.

Life begins at 40! Fabulous 40s!

I joined this group today this morning because I thought it sounded interesting. I took part in one of the challenges two years ago and liked the aspect of logging your books for others to see, but I didn't like that the nature of the challenge made me shy away from longer books that interested me. This group has all of the former with none of the latter, so it should be perfect.

I teach social studies at a mid-sized high school (1300 students) in northern Indiana (USA), and I have three children. Teaching and raising children takes away a lot of the time that I could be reading, but I do try to read at least a little bit every day. Hopefully, I will get enough reading done this year to make my reading list interesting.

Welcome fuzzy_patters.

179 -- Another northern Indiana lurker here.

Hi, all. I've been using LT since 2006, but never became very active in its groups (beyond one or two; hello, bookmoochers) until a few months ago. However I've been looking for a good place to keep track of my reading lately, and Club Read was recommended to me... so here I am now, enjoying everyone's January and February posts and planning to add my own log soon.

About me -- I grew up in the midwestern US, then moved to North Africa and lived in Morocco and Egypt for a while, traveling and studying. I ended up applying to grad schools in 2003 and luckily got some yeses, so I moved to New York and began work on a PhD in Comparative Literature. I've just recently finished the coursework.

Meanwhile, I also married. My husband is Moroccan and a simply wonderful guy... except he's not a reader. I've realized, however, that I can get along quite happily anyway, thanks to bookmooching and LibraryThing. Currently, we're living in Indiana while 1) I write, and 2) we wait (and wait and wait) for the US to finally grant his long-overdue greencard so that we can begin to live a somewhat more 'normal' life, whether here in the States or in Morocco.

Anyhoo. I've always felt most at home in mixed crowds -- mixed ages, nationalities, backgrounds etc -- so I'm hoping Club Read will be a good fit for me and vice versa...

Thanks for reading. :)

ETA: My reading habits have of late, by necessity, emphasized literary theory and North African Arabic and francophone fiction and history. But I'm also a big fan of literary fiction from elsewhere (Milan Kundera, Amelie Nothomb, Orhan Pamuk and Nabokov are faves) and I collect Martha Stewart Living magazines and 'trashy' romance novels (of all ages, the older and cornier the better) so long as they feature pseudo Afro-Turko-Arabian characters and locales. Heh.

Two other northern Hoosiers? We could almost form an army.

Fleela! I've seen you around before, but I never realized... :)

>181 Fullmoonblue: I, for one, will be interested in your input in regards to North African lit. I'm a big Djebar fan, but also have enjoyed Jelloun, Mahfouz, al Aswany, el Saadawi, Memmi . . . with more on the TBR pile. I'm sure we'll gobble up any crumbs you wish to throw us (I'm particularly interested in woman writers).

I think beesleSR just finished a Kundera novel.

(*Waving to #179 181, and 182 *) One thing Hoosiers seem to love is finding other Hoosiers, and I am no exception, although it's only one of my allegiances. I was born in Newton County, Indiana. (Actually, Fullmoonblue, I'm from a little town called Morocco in Indiana). When I was four, my family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, which was growing fast and needed teachers. My dad was both a librarian and a teacher, and mom was a teacher, so I grew up as a total nerd--no surprise that I would love something like LT today!

At college in California, I fell in love with the study of Mandarin and detoured from an intention to pursue European languages and history. Instead, I majored in Chinese Language and Literature. A year studying in Taiwan, and later, a summer studying in Beijing, made me want to have a career dealing with Chinese, but I could never find a job to lead in that direction. Working at a Japanese company, I met and married a Tokyoite and have spent the last 22 years trying to learn Japanese.

My husband's first Christmas gift to me was a stack of 40 books on Japan. I'm also keen to read non-fiction and fiction related to China, India, Africa, and the Middle East, but I don't exclude anyplace on the globe.

My experience with conventional Literature in the English language is very lacking, so I am truly awed by some of the discussions on LT in the literary arenas. Speaking of which, thanks, tomcatmurr for inviting me to this site!

Ai Yo! Bu yong nemme ker chi la! :)

It's great to have you here! Can't wait to start reading your thread!

I am Lisa, a 54 year old Chicagoan, born and raised and living in Chicago. I have known my husband for over 30 years, but we have only been married for 13. I don't remember not reading; he likes the idea of reading, but doesn't. Fortunately, he only occasionally comments on the piles of books that are found in almost every room.

I went to college in my late twenties, and received my law degree when I was 34. Liberal arts degree with an emphasis in finance and a minor in French. (For some reason, the Catholic grammar school I attended in the 1960s in Chicago taught French from the first grade on! As I grew older, I realized what an advantage that was.) I love languages, and desperately try to keep up my French vocabulary by reading from time to time in French. I have a basic understanding of Italian--self-taught but it was somewhat easier because of my French, I think.

I am a judge now, but practiced law in Chicago before that. I love my job!

My reading tastes are pretty varied, and BookMooch and LT, both of which I joined a little over a year ago, have only added to the authors and genres I enjoy. For instance, I have found some YA authors and fantasy that I never would have read before. If I am forced to choose, however, I pick history and historical biography and mystery and historical fiction.

I also usually read three or four books at once--leaving them in various places in the house and one in the briefcase. The books are always different genres.

I am not much of a "poster", but enjoy lurking. I will start a thread here after I finish the current reads. I joined the 75 book challenge this year not because I needed a challenge, but because I wanted to keep track of what I am reading. I have found it overwhelming to keep up with the threads there, and find the discussions here more in depth. So, I am going to focus on this group when I have time to read LT threads.

Hobbies--besides reading--boating and travel. Both of those allow me time to read, too!

WOW! This place gets more and more interesting! Welcome all new members, nice meeting you.
:-))

Welcome, Lisa. We enjoy having lurkers around! And we'll enjoy seeing what you read!

I'm Michaela, a 37 year old book-lover from the UK.

I love reading most types of books, and will try reading practically anything.

I'm obsessed with books and since joining LT have probably doubled my collection! It will probably take me a lifetime to read the books I currently have on my TBR pile!

Hi, I'm Andrew and I am currently a music student. I thoroughly enjoy reading any interesting books but I particularly like music-related ones because I can count them as work! I have only recently got into reading in a big way and so have a particularly large list of books I would like to read. I am rather slow at finishing books due to my tendency to read several at the same time!

Apart from reading, I really enjoy music (hence the studying of it!) of all kinds. :)

Ooh yes and despite being part of the supposedly technology-savvy younger generation; I am slightly disadvantaged in this area, leading to my accidental deletion of my previous post! Just thought I should warn you!

Andrew, welcome. There is a music thread and a jazz thread in this group that you might enjoy, if you haven't found them already!

Hi Andiwoo,

I share your name and love of books and music. If you have not read Vikram Seth's An Equal Music there is a treat awaiting you. Wonderful story in which music plays a key role.

Welcome.

Read Rose Tremain's Music and Silence first. Seth's book is good. Tremain's is better. Sorry p :-)

I like the student conductor by Robert Ford a lot more than an equal music. Haven't read the Tremain book but i'll look out for it, now.

I am a big fan of Vikram Seth but I couldn't get into An Equal Music. I admire him greatly for trying new forms and ideas with every book, even if they don't all work.

192 -- "I thoroughly enjoy reading any interesting books but I particularly like music-related ones because I can count them as work!"

Hah! You *definitely* belong here.

And 185, that's incredible -- I just drove through there a couple months back!!

Hi to everybody else who introduced themselves lately too. :)

Thank you for your highly interesting comments! Now I am plunged into the usual dilemma of choosing which of the recommended books to look at first. It looks as if I have come to the right place for interesting music-related books!

Oh yes and thanks avaland - I will immediately go and find these groups!

Hello,

I'm a life long science fiction fan, who occasionally reads books in other genres. I'm currently working on branching out from science fiction and young adult lit by participating in a 50 books in one year challenge" as well as a Diversity Challege. More information can be found on my blog (http://multigenrefan.com).

Hi. I'm Jane. I recently found this group. I have always been interested in the challenge groups as a way to discuss books and get good recommendations, but I was intimidated by the idea of setting yet another goal which I cannot make. I hope to read most of the threads, at least at the outset, but may have to whittle them down as there seem to be a lot - is this what most people do?

I am 26, an architect and interior designer, living in New York. I spent all of my life through college in south Louisiana. I moved to New York over 3 years ago to go to school for my Masters degree. I have been married for a couple years now to another architect who I am slowly convincing to read more. I am planning on starting a PhD in the next few years so I am spending some time researching programs.

I love cooking so I am always trying new recipes and on the lookout for ideas. We love to travel but that has been difficult as of late. I am a big sports fan and am trying to read more about that.

I usually read a few books at once typically from these categories: literature - classics, the prizes, various 'best of'; nonfiction - nature, essays, I would like to start more biographies; architecture/art - history, theory; and sci-fi/fantasy which I like for a little escape.

>201 janemarieprice: we will look forward to watching your reading, janepriceestrada! To answer your question about reading all the threads, I imagine everyone gets settled a bit differently. Many people here have a list of their 2009 reading to date in the first post of their personal thread. This should be helpful for you in determining whether to read further, imo. This introduction thread might also give you hints of whose reading might interest you. Good luck and happy hunting!

#202: that's a good idea, avaland. I've just made one of those lists at the top of my thread.

>202 avaland: I'm sure it wasn't my idea originally, but I've found it immensely helpful in connecting with similar readers; however, I sometimes find great pleasure in reading comments on the threads of dissimilar readers!

Hello,

I'm a library science grad student, mom, wife, and reader working a full-time job on the side. Sometimes I eat and sleep. These long Alaska winters lend themselves strong coffee, warm blankets, and good books.

I thought I'd be a thoughtful and responsible forum member and read everyone's threads before I posted anything, but since I can't seem to keep myself from commenting I think it might be best to just introduce myself. Also, reading everything first is pretty self defeating. I estimate I would only be able to start my own thread near the end of September, and only if you all stop typing!

I have lived in Britain, Canada, France, Germany and the United States, currently in South Carolina. Having finally settled, I'm pleased to be able to wantonly offer a home to both books and pets without having to worry about moving same. I'm also a little surprised to find that I enjoy growing things and redecorating rooms. I'm all domestic these days. I have both a husband and children to go with the books and pets; they are tolerant enough of my style of decorating, which seems to involve putting up more bookshelves and engaging in creative shelving techniques.

I like literary fiction, although I'm a little picky and have learned to spot a book by someone with an MFA at ten pages. I usually like much of the Booker, Edgar and Orange shortlists. I have a tremendous weakness for melancholy Scandinavian crime novels and grim novels set in dreary European countries during the last century. My secret vice is chick lit, but only in very small doses as I dislike both shopping and indecisiveness.

I don't like SF/Fantasy (although some of my all time favorites would fall under that description) or anything labeled paranormal. Basically, if it features elves, superheroes or vampires, don't buy me a copy.

Hola RidgewayGirl

Welcome! I went to college by where you live (Clemson). Neat to see a fellow transplant South Carolinian here.

>206 RidgewayGirl:, "I dislike both shopping and indecisiveness." Hahah, that's awesome.

Hi, I am Brian, a 21 year old Biology major. I joined LT very recently and am currently a member of just this group and the 50 book challenge group. I stumbled upon LT after having made a new-years resolution to read a book a week this year, and thought this would be a good place to get encouragement/recommendations. My love of books is a very recent development, so I am not very well read, but I am already starting to find genres/authors that I love.

Can't think of anything particularly interesting about myself to share other than the fact that I spent 2 years as an engineering major before transferring to a new school for a new major, which basically makes me a 21 year old freshman.

Hope to get to know some of you better in your own threads.

Hello! I'm Betty, age 37, and I live in New Mexico, where I'm a radio telescope operator for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. (Which is a much less exciting job than it sounds like, really, but which at least leaves me plenty of time to read.)

I just joined this group about two seconds ago... I've been on LT for a couple of years, but have never really been active in Talk, except for filing a couple of bug reports. I do like to lurk occasionally, though, and every time I stop by the talk pages, I find myself gravitating to this group and perusing people's fascinating reading lists... which inevitably leads to me adding a gazillion new books to my already ridiculously long wish list, so, hey, thanks for that. :) Anyway, I've finally decided that it would be fun to actually participate, so here I am!

I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, and a lot of non-fiction on various topics, and a lot of... Actually, you know what? Mostly, I just read a lot.

So, anyway, yeah, hi!

#210, bragan: Welcome, Betty. Your job may be a lot less interesting than it sounds, but I'd love to hear more about it all the same!

Hello to all. I am a bit behind these days.

Thanks for the welcome, guys!

As for my job, well, I work on the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) project. We operate ten radio telescopes all over North America (including Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands). Basically, most of my job involves monitoring their status on a computer screen while they're observing, and waiting for things to break. At which point I call people up, often in the middle of the night, and get them to go and fix it. Ah, the glamor of doing science! Or, more accurately, of helping other people do science...

Welcome, Brian and Betty. :)

I was told there would be vodka and pickled herrings . . .
. . . well, maybe they'll be around again. Meanwhile . . .

Oh, yes, books--and me. Name's Wilf, by the way. Well, my technical school training set up a pattern of not reading except for periodic escape to the worlds of Frodo, George Smiley, Kim Kinnison, and Richard Seaton. My day job in this, my third career since school days, is taming the wild beast of computer data, currently genome data and the laboratory processes that create it.

A few years back I remarked to myself and others that a particular software requirements document was taking on the scope of War and Peace. I then realized that I had never read War and Peace and many others which are in the cannon. That blasted me out of my escapist mode of reading. A few years later, I started reading critically, and blogging about what I discovered (most exhaustively, Moby-Dick, most recently, The Trial). My blog is centered on a quest, validation of the assertion in Bulgakov's words, that all men are good. The truth of that requires a lemma on what is truth. My colleagues up the river may know Veritas when they drink it, but I hope to find the answer in literature.

Since I found LT my blog has lain quiescent--to to be reinvigorated as the LT weave and the blog thread now recombine with Dostoevsky.

. . . oh, there he is . . . Russkii Standart please! a double, neat.

Ah, another Dostoevsky fan (or Dodo as a small group of his aficionados refer to him). Welcome!

Welcome, Wilf.

I am of that group of Dodo aficianados, and also proposed some time ago that Kafka is a Comic Genius, which provoked quite a discussion, and much hilarity. You mention The Trial above; I would also highly recommend The Metamorphosis.

And the assertion "that all men are good". DO let me know of the progress of THAT. I would love to subscribe to the assertion, once it has been demonstrated to be true :-)

HA! I wish I could believe "that all men are good".

#218

Paola, my friend,

I thought that is what Dante demonstrated, didn't he?

Once we get past Purgatorio, we are all good, all the time.

Thanks for your greetings!

The Trial is a hoot. The dance on the way to the quarry has to be seen to be believed. Kafka reportedly laughed out loud when he read selections to his friends.

As to the assertion of good, this is a different kind of dance, very dainty, careful where you plant your feet. I'm just at the opening bow/courtesy and I have yet to be convinced.

Yes, Andrew, but we MUST get past the Purgatorio first.......;-)

Looking back I just realized that although I have been on this thread since the very beginning, I never actually introduced myself. And since there are many new members, I will take the opportunity to do that now.

I am in my early 50s, though I like to claim I am just 21, with a 21-year old daughter. Originally from Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, I speak both Slovak and Czech fluently. I love to read all serious literature, currently reading the Russians, primarily Dostoevsky, the French, especially Balzac, and classical Greeks, Aeschylus and Euripides. My secret (or not so secret) vice is the thriller genre. I love mythology and fairy tales as well as exploring other cultures. I am in the process of writing short stories and translating. Do visit The Esenin Translation thread. Any comments on my thread are always appreciated.

Welcome Wilf, great to see you here! Vodka and PICKLED HERRINGS over on my thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=59939

Paola and P: All men are not good, but all cats are.

So does the syllogism work something like this?

Plato is a cat.
All cats are good.
Ergo, Plato is good.

The logic works except for one flaw. My friend's cat Plato recently shredded the silk damask on her lovely antique sofa. Shredding lovely silk damask is bad. Ergo, Plato is a baaad cat. I think Plato should have been put in the outgoing kitty litter file. Silk damask is sacred.

I'm a writer/artist, work as a computer programmer in Portland, OR.

My interests in reading are
1. all sorts of fiction. Books I've recently loved include The Known World by Edward P. Jones, Gilead and Home by Marilynne Robinson, The Giants House by Ellen Kitteredge, The Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, the Road by Cormac McCarthy, Stealing Horses by Pers Peterson. I read a fair amount of fantasy/science fiction including some considered children's literature - including Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, E.Nesbit, Tove Jansen's Moomintroll series, the Animal Family by Randall Jarrell. I also enjoy mysteries, favorites being PD James, Marsha Grimes, Kjell Eriksson, Josephine Tay. The only spy genre writer I've ever gotten into is John Le'Carre. My favorite authors, in addition to writers of the books above, include James Baldwin, Doris Lessing, Virginia Woolf, Doestoevsky, Faulkner, Victor Hugo..

2. Historical type books or books about other parts of the world. Some good ones I've read recently are: Slavery by another name by Douglas Blackman, The Comache Empire, the series by Thomas Cahill. I highly reccomend Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. I like to read fiction and oral history or autobiographical writing from other cultures. I've been reading a lot about the Middle East recently but nothing stands out as especially good.

3. Sometimes books about science, some good ones, the Life of a Cell by Lewis, Earth an Intimate History.

4. Books of Art - favorite artists include Kathe Kollwitz, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Alice Neel, Van Gogh, Leanard Baskin, Maurice Sendak, Soutine, Paul Klee, many others.

5. Poetry - recent favorite poets, Linda Gregg, Jack Gilbert, Mahmoud Darwish, poems in the anthology, Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness by Carolyn Forte, Jane Kenyon. Old favorites Lorca, Rilke, Dickenson, Seamus Heaney.

6. I used to read a lot of books about psychology. Probably my favorite are books by Karen Horney, and the Varieties of Religious Experience by William James. Also books about education and teaching. I've taught a bit in free schools, a computer clubhouse, and two years in Teach for America.

I read numerous books outloud to my daughter between the time she was about 2 until she was 9 and became too impatient to read at the rate of about half an hour a night. A lot of the books we read are among my favorites.

Welcome solla! pop over to the Poetry memorization thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/61871

I worship Kollwitz and use many of her images to accompany my Dostoevsky meditations on my blog. Have you read Europe Central? Kollwitz features heavily in the book, and gets a very sympathetic and moving portrayal.

Urania, it depends on your perspective. To a cat, silk damask is an opportunity to exercises the muscles of the claws, and we adore the flash of light it gives off, like shining from shook foil, and the noise it makes as it rips........*delicious shudder*...

>225 solla: Welcome solla. I am also a fan of Kollwitz, ever since I did a research paper on her work for an Art History class. And love Kenyon, Dickinson, Heaney, some of Rilke.

>225 solla: Hi solla, welcome. I also instruct computers, liken ideal code to the structure of a sonnet, for the edification of others like me. I was introduced to Lorca just yesterday. Death imagery in City That Does Not Sleep seems very Latin American, want to know more about Lorca's connection an ocean away.

Be careful! / The men who still have marks of the claw . . . Murr, I would guess this refers to some breed of cat who exercised her muscles to the detriment of man. Quite all right, everything is as it should be, unreconciled man must come to the wall to understand. Perhaps a scratch pole would help.

Wilf, you are so right! I have been provided with a lovely pole, and I do love scratching it!

Oh Murrushka you slay me. Do you perchance have a picture of the aforementioned pole?

Hugs,
Urania

P.S. Despite your lovely allusion to Gerard Manley Hopkins (on my top ten list of poets), I remain unconvinced. I fear that Plato, notwithstanding his name, has no appreciation for beauty either in its particular and mutable manifestations or in its ideal form. He is a bad cat who should be dispatched in the outgoing kitty litter file. Perhaps I should send him to you. He could scratch your pole;-)

he would be most welcome!! I often have the neighbourhood cats round to admire it. we all scratch together! it is most agreeable.

I could teach him a thing or two about pole scratching, and perhaps reform him. Send the miscreant to me!

Thanks for all the welcomes. 226 - I just put Europe Central on hold at the library. 227 - I think it is hard to list poets, because often it is a single poem that really overwhelms me. For instance Hymn by A.R. Ammons is an amazing poem. I memorized that for a poetry writing class, and I want to refix it in my brain. 228 - my favorite by Lorca is Gacela of the Dark Death - which starts
I want to sllep the dream of the apples,
to withdraw from the tumult of cemeteries,
I want to sleep the dream of that child
who wanted to cut his heart on the high seas.

Greetings. My name is Jerry and I'm a booklover from the Tampa Bay area. I have one of the largest Books About Books Collections on LT, and, yes, I have read most of them. I believe I have the largest Samuel Johnson Collection on LT, but there's more than a handful of books that I haven't yet read. I will read them when I'm old and gray.

One of my collecting offshoots is acquiring catalogs of the libraries of my favorite authors. I want to know which books they read. Since most of my favorite authors are dead, it is fitting that I am associated with the LT Group, I See Dead People's Books. Here, we catalog
the libraries of some very famous people, from presidents to authors. I've helped catalog the libraries of Samuel Johnson and Charles Lamb. Currently, I am helping to catalog James Boswell's library.

Anyway, that is my thing: cataloging and reading about the books my favorite authors read.

Hi Jerry! Welcome to the madness. I lurk all the time on I See Dead Peoples' Books -- you all are doing a marvelous feat! I live in Sarasota, so we're neighbors of a sort.

I think it's time to introduce myself and join Club Read, after lurking over here for a couple of weeks, trying to decide whether to move on over from the 75 Books Challenge. I've decided that the challenge isn't for me right now. Although I always thought I was a fast reader, I'm a piker compared to many in that group who read two or three or four at a time and tally eight or nine or more in a week. Besides, it really is not a competition, and I was somehow making it one.

Anyhow, I'm a book lover from way, way back. I was a voracious reader as a child, although pretty much without any real guidance. I always had access to the library and would spend entire summers reading my way through entire sections indiscriminately. This was in the days when you had to get permission from the librarian to move up to a section above your age level and I can remember being terribly frustrated when I was ready to move up to YA at a pretty tender age and was not allowed.

Nowadays, my interests are pretty evenly divided between fiction and nonfiction. I enjoy contemporary and literary fiction, autobiographies, memoirs, histories, mysteries, and some children's literature like Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, The Secret Garden, and Harry Potter. I especially enjoy helping to introduce my three very young granddaughters to books and reading, beginnning with cloth and board books and moving right on up.

Personally, I am one or two years away from retiring from my job as the executive director of a small nonprofit organization. I am married and have three grown children and three granddaughters, as mentioned. Between working full-time, spending time with my (already retired) husband, travelling to spend time with my children and grandchildren, and pursuing other hobbies, I lead a full, full life and can't imagine burying my head in books for hours every day in order to meet a self-imposed challenge. So I am casting off the 75-book challenge for good and what I read is what I read. *sigh* I feel so much better already!

jbleil -- the major aim of reading should be pleasure! Enjoy yourself here.

janeajones -- Thanks! My thinking exactly.

Welcome all newcomers.

>231 tomcatMurr: Murr,

Plato is in a kitty crate winding his way to you even as we speak. I hope your pole can withstand his claws.

>236 jbleil: Think of the reading ahead of you during retirement! It sounds like you will deserve days filled with wonderful books when the time comes.

Urania, might I suggest Soft Claws for Plato? I would not be able to cohabit with Sakai without them.

>241 chrine: I think you mean to address urania1 in 239? Since I have no idea what their kitty references are all about...

I do, Avaland. My bad. Yours was just the last post on the page so I typed your name. I don't know where my brain was earlier.

Welcome jbleil. I envy you being just a few years from retirement. I still have nine years. My job has an hour bus ride to and from which has resulted in an increase in my reading since the last job when I walked to work. I agree I would not like to put pressure on myself to read a certain number.

Thank you, solla. Being close to retirement is actually a little scary, but I'm lucky enough to watch my husband successfully navigate the financial and emotional waters first. I go back and forth between being nervous that I'll sit around reading and sleeping and putting on even more unwanted pounds, and being excited about starting a new chapter in my life.

An hour bus ride can't be much fun, but you are putting it to good use. I have a 12 minute drive on a slow day.

I'm a 49 year old computer programmer from the Netherlands, working in Medical Imaging. My interests vary widely, so I'll just mention some highlights:

classics
science
history
russia
folklore
music

The latter three tend to converge, since I'm a member of a Russian folk music group.

Hello to everyone, I joined the Group a few weeks ago and have been reading the postings but haven't posted anything at all myself until now.

I'm a 47 year old mother of a nine year old boy based in the UK, a (currently unemployed) accountant. I usually read literary fiction, some classics, with a dose of Georgette Heyer if I'm feeling very stressed. My favourite type of book is probably a mainstream novel with elements of science-fiction, something like The Brief History of the Dead Kevin Brockmeier. I also read a fair bit of non-fiction, usually either science or history.

I feel I'm in a bit of a rut with my reading and would like to branch out with something more varied, and the posts have already provided me with a lot of ideas as to what to read next. I don't think I read anything like as much as some of the people here but not being at work at the moment is giving me more opportunity.

Hi ReeC, welcome to the group. Have you read any of Doris Lessings books that are science fiction or verge on it. There is the whole Canopus on Argo series - not sure if I got that quite right - and Memoirs of a Surviver, the Fifth Child, and the last book of the Martha Quest series, the Four Gated City. The last three are king of a mixture of mainstream with science fiction elements.

Welcome, ReeC. I haven't been here too long myself, but I've gotten an amazing number of ideas just by reading the posts. You will be branching out in all kinds of directions before you know it!

I've read The Fifth Child but nothing else by Doris Lessing. I don't really remember much about it apart from feeling uncomfortable that a relative's recently arrived fifth child was also called Ben - I may not even have finished it for that reason.

ReeC, have you read any Graham Joyce? I think you might like his work. The Limits of Enchantment or The Facts of Life are two of his more recent novels and they have that play between reality and something else:-)

246, PimPhilipse - sounds like we share quite a bit in common - our age, and several of the interets - I'm also interested in science , history, Russia and music, but I haven't put them together quite as elegantly as you have!

247, ReeC - maybe it's worth thinking about stepping across the genre boundary and reading some science fiction and fantasy authors who are at the more literary end of the genre, such as Ursula Le Guin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Gene Wolfe and Carol Emshwiller. I recommend all of those authors to someone who likes a mix of sf and literary fiction.

Avaland, TimJones, Many thanks for the recommendations. I hadn't come across Graham Joyce, Gene Wolfe or Carol Emshwiller at all before. I've read Ursula Le Guin The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed and the Earthsea books were among my favourite as a child. I must admit before looking on LT I hadn't realised that she's written so much.

Hi! I'm 23 years old and live in the southeast U.S. I just graduated from college this month after five years there. My majors were in languages. I'm still trying to plan my future. I've thought about seminary, grad school, law school, and med school. Since Latin was one of my majors, I have an interest in ancient times.

I enjoy reading classics, Christian fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, and some nonfiction. I think that biographies are also very interesting.

I'm doing the 999 challenge, and two of my categories are Russian literature/nonfiction and Oriental (Asian) literature/nonfiction. I'm enjoying Anna Karenina and a book on Korea right now.

I'm also relatively new to this site.

Welcome and congratulations on your graduation! I think you'll find some others in this group to commune with.

#254: Congratulations! I'd be happy to talk to you about med school (and pediatrics), if you'd like.

#254 Congratulations. It took me a little longer than usual to get my B.A. I haven't read Anna Karenina but I did read War and Peace and really enjoyed it. I have put Anna Karenina on my tbr list but it's having a hard time getting to the top.
When I finished college with a major in history I did a year of graduate school and decided I didn't want to be an academic. I went to law school and the choice worked out well for me. Law school is completely unfun and I can't say that I met lots of nice people. The major advantage is the versatility of what you can do with a law degree. I have been a solo practitioner for a long time and the other possibilities are quite varied. Drop me a line if you have any questions.

Hi, Wildbill

Welcome to the group! What kind of law do you practice? Your screen name leads me to imagine you working out of a saloon and defending cowboys and rustlers.

Welcome all. I've been on vacation from the dacha and have only recently returned.

A belated hello, particularly to all you hospitable Club Read members who promptly welcomed me when I signed up in January. Yes, it has taken me 6 months to introduce myself, but for the record, I did appreciate your greetings. I've been corralled into LT by my dear friend Lois, aka Avaland, who sings its praises without ceasing. So here goes. I'm a medical editor who would like to stop being one and begin a new career as a professional reader. (Alas, I must make a living.) My biggest event last January, apart from joining LT, was turning 60, which I resented deeply but am now trying to accept graciously. I live in Amherst, New Hampshire, with my teacher/photographer husband and four lap cats. I have two adult daughters and 8-month-old twin grandchildren. I'm a wildly undisciplined reader and therefore can't seem to stick with a bookclub: I want to read what I want to read, and right now! I meet up with Lois every few weeks for dinner and conversation, and I'm most enthusiastic about her new venture. I'm really looking forward to reading everyone's reviews. Cheers to you all.

Welcome booklover! You seem to fit right in after only 3 days, and I'm sure you'll be as addicted as the rest of us in no time.

Hi all, I discovered this group late, already deep into my 999 Challenge. Still, I come here sometimes just to enjoy the atmosphere, it feels like escaping from the busy airport terminals into the respite of a private lounge.

My question: are you planning a Club Read 2010? (I hope, I hope)

>263 detailmuse:. Most of us haven't thought that far ahead yet, but I will probably create one and see who wishes to continue. Generally, as a group, we don't focus on any challenges, though individuals might.

Hello !
I discovered this group at the main discussion board, and thought it would be a good idea to join to keep track of my reading. I have a blog, but it's not in English, and only include books I loved (or hated), so I would like a journal to keep track of ALL my reading.
OK, I'll not include Harper's Bazaar or Vogue :)

Moreover, I've found many interesting reading journals here, and my wish-list keeps asking for more, so I'll hang around. Thankfully my public library is up to it !

As for my background, I'm a reluctant scientist (so I'll not dwell on it), and my reading interests are broad so it'll be easier to talk about my "ininterests" : I don't care for poetry, overly literary works (it makes me feel stupid), horror or anything graphic, nor for economics, politics or modern history. Other than that, I'm game.

One last thing : as you may have noted, English is not my mothertongue, so please excuse me for the many mistakes I make and the crooked sentences ... (and feel free to correct me).

Welcome!

>265 rft: Look forward to reading your contributions and I love the expression "crooked sentences"! I've indulged in quite a few of those myself and English is the only language I speak/write, unfortunately :-)

I live in the Atlanta area with my wife Maritta. We moved here for me to go to law school and decided to stay. I am a sole practitioner with a general practice. I have enjoyed reading history since I can remember and usually study a specific topic for a number of years and then go on to another one. I have been reading about the Civil War for the last four or five years and now I have gotten interested in the American Revolution and the early republic.
I became a member of LT in December of 2006 after reading about the site in the New York Times. For the last two years I have had a thread on the 50 book challenge. I joined Club Read to do a more flexible book journal.

Welcome Wildbill. I joined Club Read for exactly the same reason. My thread here is exactly what I want it to be--a record of my "just-enough" (for me) reading. You're gonna like it here.

Welcome from another Atlanta transplant, wildbill.

>265 rft: and 267

I love "crooked sentences" too! Lovely expression.

Hi everyone,

Just finished most of translated Francis Carco, French novelist
poet. He fits in with all the other wild and crazy French writers.
His main subjects are prostitutes, criminals, drug users, etc.
Cheerful and uplifting! ;-) Highly recommended if you're over 18!
Other interests are 19th and early 20th C. gothic, hard boiled/
noir thrillers, east euro. esp. Czech (Klima, Skvorecky, Kundera, etc., Russian (Andreyev. Leskov, Bulgakov, etc), islamic novelists (Pamuk, Kadare, etc.), latin (Marquez, Borges, Fuentes, etc).
Tros

Welcome, tros. You may have come to the right place!

Hey all
An Aussie dad of two girls under 5 here. By day a teacher librarian in a primary (elementary for our North American friends) school, by night an owl who reads into the wee hours (only chance I get really when family sleeps). I am currently halfway through my masters of arts -children's literature and loving it. Just complete Young Adult Literature and read Twilight of course, Thirsty and Peeps and wrote about teenage sexuality and vampirism. I've just started 104pgs into The Hunger Games. Totally Hooked!!! My reading varies, read many Oprah's picks, an avid reader, who cut his teeth on A big ball of string and The Witches by Roald Dahl, graduating to Stephen King his early work Salem's Lot, The Shining, Misery, Needful Things, then progressed or regressed (depends on your view) to Jackie Collins. High School English was major part of studies and then went to Uni and studied to be French/Japanese Language Teacher..after 10+ yrs in the classroom (High School and Primary) retrained and in current Library position for past four years. LOVE IT!!! surrounded by books and get to share and hoepfully encourage children to read for pleasure. Book Shelf over flowing with books to be read, might try and finish Twilight series only books 3 +4 to go??? if not might re read Wicked and start the sequel Son of a Witch. Anyone know of a book club I could join???