Member: LizzieD

I agree re downsizing but I have often lived in small apartments so have had no choice! I had the Poldark books also at one point but they too are history, sadly.
I liked A Civil Contract, but it has a very different feel from most of the books - not so funny. But good, and an interesting twist on the general themes.
I don't know what it is about O'Brian, exactly, that I find so captivating. I love the style, and the language, and the sensibility, and over the course of 21 books I grew to love the characters. The plotting is often not the strongest point, and towards the end of the series the books seem to be a single seamless narrative, which in this case anyway I also found utterly engaging. I loved the jokes. Jack has about two jokes, and he loves to tell them and laughs so hard everytime. Stephen tends not to laugh, of course.
Anyway, I would like you to love them!

posted by kokipy at 10:44 am (EST) on Nov 6, 2009

Now I have read some Cornwall, maybe 18 years ago - I remember clearly the person who recommended them - and I do remember liking them, but not so well as O'Brian, who, for me, occupies a special and lofty place equaled by few if any. I think that I had to get rid of the Cornwall in one downsizing or another, but since you commend them so highly I will see if I can find them again, perhaps at PBS!

posted by kokipy at 9:13 am (EST) on Nov 6, 2009

Peggy,

This reply may seem scatterbrained since while I type this your message doesn't seem to be available for reference. I haven't gotten used to LT's peculiarities yet, especially with regard to sending messages, and the help files seem a little superficial. I can't figure out how to underline words, as I notice that you have done. Also, the convention seems to be that messages are sent publicly- am I wrong? And to see what I have written to you I have to look at your profile, no copy being retained elsewhere. correct?

I enjoyed your last rambling note, proof that a lot of information is bubbling up from somewhere. I am in awe of your Latin profession, recalling the poor soul who tried to teach it to me in high school. Little did I know then that something actually was absorbed, so that the grammatical structure of other languages, especially German, made more sense. I even embarked on a Quixotic study of Greek when a college senior, with two semesters so I could at least say I had studied it. As to history, I read a lot of non-fiction with no particular concentration, and some fiction, such as Patrick O'Brian and Bernard Cornwell. I see that you like science fiction, which opens up a great topic for conversation. There's some rambling for you.

Kermit

posted by scribulous at 9:57 pm (EST) on Nov 5, 2009

Actually, I am a terrible curmudgeon.
I wonder if the other context you may have for Singapore Grip is the original one, which would certainly show you to be a worldly person. Farrell was being a little bold in choosing the title, though he may have thought that those who could be offended would never have heard the term.
Thanks for the Feicht journal reference. It has already made me want to follow in his path, and I could kick myself for not going to Regensburg when I had the chance....but perhaps I'll correct that ommission soon. Roman history has always been of great interest to me. Have you read Mary Beard's book on Pompeii? I have always wondered when and where the last toga was worn, though am I right to think there had been a substantial change of dress long before Augustulus was deposed? I'll spare you more loosely connected thoughts for now.

Kermit

posted by scribulous at 3:30 pm (EST) on Nov 5, 2009

I'll poke my nose into Almack's. Thanks for the tip.

E

PS. Book on its way to you

posted by Liz1564 at 11:20 am (EST) on Nov 5, 2009

and it will, when received, bring us up to 870! Isn't this fun.

posted by kokipy at 11:19 am (EST) on Nov 5, 2009

It's on its way, m'dear.

posted by kokipy at 11:18 am (EST) on Nov 5, 2009

Good. I can't find your address, though - can you give it again? I have the book at work and can send it today!

posted by kokipy at 10:12 am (EST) on Nov 5, 2009

I see you dont have a copy of Learning the World, by Ken Macleod. I liked it pretty well and I have an extra copy - would you enjoy it?

posted by kokipy at 9:41 am (EST) on Nov 5, 2009

Well, I joined Almacks and commented on most of the threads. Will I see you there?

posted by kokipy at 9:05 pm (EST) on Nov 4, 2009

Pamela-Flamela- it doesn't matter- we know her by her wanton ways. I have enough trouble sometimes recalling whether I have read a particular book, never mind the characters' names, and I end up with duplicates for that reason. There are a few books on my shelves that I frequently examine with a gimlet eye: I want to read them, but fear that I have already done so.

I'll move the Raj Quartet forward in the to-read queue on your recommendation. The Booker-winning Siege of Krishnapur (I'm sorry italics don't seem to be available here) was followed by The Singapore Grip, then The Troubles, thus comprising the Empire Trilogy. Farrell met an early end by drowning, despite having been born with a caul, like David Copperfield.

Charles lamb finally gave up on loaning book; he would only give them away. So you are in good company.

I've signed up at "History at 30,000 Feet," expecting great edification.

posted by scribulous at 8:10 pm (EST) on Nov 4, 2009

Now what's Almacks? I am sure this relates to Heyer - is it a group here?
AS to what I am up to, I am actually a little bit busy at work but unfortunately my attention span is about 5 minutes so I rush off here or there and entertain myself quite often while nominally productively employed. I am trying to read SERIOUS BOOKS now, having delighted in Heyer for months. I am in the middle of Before the Dawn, a recommendation from 30,000 feet, and also a Jonathan Spence re China. I find I can't read SERIOUS BOOKS straight through, I have to have several going at once. My attention span, you know.
I just echoed your advice to Garp re Atwood by the way. It is fun to join in conversations uninvited!

posted by kokipy at 5:25 pm (EST) on Nov 4, 2009

I'll mail Newspaper of Claremont Street off before Friday!

You taught English too!

The Liz in my name is part of my pen name. Alas, it has nothing to do with Elizabeth Bennett, although I used to tell my students that if I could have written just one novel, it would be P & P. And this was before the current Austen craze.

Are you a Heyer fan? I find her novels about as close as can be to Austen, given the 100 year gap. The modern pastiches just don't compare. I think my favorites are Venetia and Frederica, with maybe Devil's Cub and Bath Tangle and, oh, never mind!

Let's see. What else? I am determined to read Illyrian Spring in the next twelve months. It is on every wish list I can stick it on. I don't care what edition.

I should start posting my books, at least the fiction and history and feminist stuff. And Newspaper is really a one sitting read.

Signing off now...

E

posted by Liz1564 at 11:53 am (EST) on Nov 4, 2009

Widmerpooling, indeed!
I regret having to admit that I haven't read the Raj Quartet, though I am familiar with it through the TV adaptation; for some reason I have just put it off for future delectation. Could the Flavia you mention for Merrick possibly be Pamela Flitton? My recollection of the DTTMOT characters is so dim that there are few I can actually name besides Nick Jenkins, Kenneth Widmerpool, Pamela, Stringham, and maybe a few others. Anyway, the idea of people crossing from one work of fiction to another is amusing.
Have you read J.G. Farrell's Empire Trilogy? If not, I can highly recommend it.
"When I was lending books" makes me think you must have learned a hard lesson. I don't like to lend them ,but don't know how to refuse, so when I lend a volume I never expect to see it again.

Kermit (aka scribulous)

posted by scribulous at 11:45 am (EST) on Nov 4, 2009

I haven't posted yet at any of the groups. My activity on Vowel Shift and the others has simply been as a lurker since I signed up with Library Thing in September. I looked in at the Latin group tonight, but dared not post because of my "little Latin and less Greek."

Powell is a favorite of mine. Have you read his four volumes of memoirs: Infants of the Spring, et al.? I've been wanting to get my hands on the Lees-Milne diaries, which are supposed to be a delicious read.

posted by scribulous at 11:34 pm (EST) on Nov 3, 2009

ah you reminded me that I want to read "The Penelopiad" -- perhaps while re-reading the Odyssey

posted by Garp83 at 7:05 pm (EST) on Nov 3, 2009

I read "Handmaid's Tale" years ago -- great book. Been meaning to find other titles by her -- any suggestions?

posted by Garp83 at 5:20 pm (EST) on Nov 2, 2009

I am so sorry about the continuing ill- health saga! I do hope she feels better soon. this is worrisome, isn't it.
We are all doing fine, getting ready for Halloween. I've got a lot of pumpkins to carve tomorrow!
How are you liking the Morgaine books, I see you are now reading? I like them but they are not my favorite Cherryhs.
I am consummed with finding and then reading all of Heyer. I have about 41 now so unfortunately don't have too many more to go. The good news is that my memory is so poor I can reread them with gusto, as if never read before, once I get through them the first time.
I recommended Heyer to another good friend from that other place who recently reported that he read Cotillion, then read it again and is now on his third back to back to back read. He is another avid convert! This reminds me of when my sister first gave me a Dorothy Dunnett, of whom I had never heard -o brave new world! - and it gives me hope that there are a lot of other wonderful authors out there who have written lots and lots that I've never read and never heard of but will soon do both! what joy.

posted by kokipy at 4:38 pm (EST) on Oct 30, 2009

Thanks for the kind words about the post. There does seem to be a bit of an echo chamber effect going on in that thread, but the subject matter is so good overall, I guess I won't give up on it. Leaving aside any political arguments, how can you expect a child (or later an adult) to know the lessons of history if they don't have a clue what actually happened? It is good to hear a teacher acknowledge this.

By the way, I am very impressed with your nearly 5k of books! The vast majority of mine are not on yet, but hope springs eternal.

posted by almalena at 11:46 am (EST) on Oct 30, 2009

Hi Peggy,
Not to worry, real life takes precedence. I hope your aunt will be feeling better soon. Are you reading to her? Thirkell's August Folly or Wild Strawberries might be an idea -- I always think of them as cheer up novels, and they're not too long, either.
Hugs across the ocean,
Susan in Berlin

posted by littlegreycloud at 12:22 pm (EST) on Oct 29, 2009

Peggy - dahling!

The Matriarch arrived today. Thank you SO much. It goes on the pile but you say it is good? So perhaps a little higher up...

Thank you for thinking of me and sending me such a lovely copy. I am thrilled!!!!

posted by romain at 6:32 pm (EST) on Oct 28, 2009

Hi friend,

Was about to ask you what it does.:) Angela Thirkell indeed! I have almost all of her Barsetshire novels. (But then, I listen to The Archers, too...)
I haven't read The Gates of Ivory. I see it's the last of a trilogy, so I suppose one ought to start with The Radiant Way? The last Drabble I read was The Peppered Moth, and I still have The Seven Sisters in one of my many book boxes from the move... can't wait for my new shelves!
We took Isla to the vet today and her eye (or rather, the place where it was) is healing well. I can tell you're an animal person by your comment that it was wonderful *for us* that she is with us now -- lots of people keep telling me how lucky *she* is and seem somewhat puzzled when I say that it's us who are lucky to have her around. Btw, tortoise shell cats are also referred to as Glückskatzen ("luck cats") in German and are said to ward off fires and other misfortunes -- let's hope that's true!
Susan in Berlin

posted by littlegreycloud at 5:18 pm (EST) on Oct 27, 2009

Dear Peggy,

Sounds like you're living in a wonderful household, full of animals and books. (When I met my significant other, I made it clear to him that three things were non-negotiable -- my cat, my plants and my books. He does complain occasionally about my "jungle" and my "fibre-based media" but he adored Wölkchen, even if it took her a long time to agree to share me with him.:)
We're thinking of adding a couple of more cats and maybe a dog to the household once Isla's health issues are sorted out (she came to us with an eye missing and needing surgery -- not that that has stopped her any, mind you).
Due to my heavy workload, I haven't made much headway with the Taylor bio but I do recommend the Drabble -- it's an odd creature of a book, partly a history of jigsaw puzzles and games in general, partly a personal memoir about doing puzzles with a favourite aunt, playing cards as a child etc., containing odd anecdotes such as that about a man who collects jigsaw puzzle pieces that he finds on the street (and only those!) as well as reflections about her life as a writer. She wrote it to take her mind off things while her husband was severely ill. It's ideal for dipping in now and then, just reading a page or two, so I expect it's going to sit in my "current reads" list for quite a while yet.
Hugs to all the furry household memebers,
Susan in Berlin

posted by littlegreycloud at 7:02 am (EST) on Oct 27, 2009

Peggy!!! I don't have it and would love to receive it!!! Boy needs the computer so must rush away. Have a great week.

Barbara

posted by romain at 7:08 pm (EST) on Oct 25, 2009

Dear Peggy,

Apologies for disapeearing like that -- what must you think of me! For most of the past five weeks, my life has been nothing but work, and I had barely time to sleep, let alone read or add books to my library -- and the last few days i've spent recuperating and staying away from the computer...
The little grey cat was my Wölkchen ("little cloud"), who passed away this spring. I rescued her in 2000 from an animal shelter in Greece. She was about ten then and she had a heart defect, so I suppose I should be grateful that we were given as long as 8.5 years together but I still miss her terribly.
We recently got a new little feline from an animal shelter in Spain because a house without a cat is not quite a home... Isla likes to curl up in bed with me when I read, which suits me just fine -- we're planning a cosy winter together. Like your Chibby, she is a tortoiseshell, and she's got more personality in each of her multicoloured paws than some people have altogether. (Needless to say, she's already ruling this household.)
I do want to hear all about May the Dog of the House (can't imagine why you think I wouldn't:) and if you have had any luck in getting your feline visitors to move in and what Chibby had to say about that.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Susan in Berlin

posted by littlegreycloud at 4:50 pm (EST) on Oct 25, 2009

I just glanced at your Dickens collection and I saw Martin Chuzzlewit. I think I bought that one at a college booksale but am not sure. I am at work so I can't check right now. I added it on librarything.

posted by ElizabethPotter at 5:34 pm (EST) on Oct 24, 2009

I am not all that surpised. My library in not nearly as big as yours. We would only have 300 in common if every item in my library was also in yours. As I add books we might get more in common. I have added all the books that I own at this point so it will only grow slowly as I buy more books or fall in love with books at the library. I see you have Anne Brontë books but none by Charlotte. That would also add some more in common. I also didn't look at how extensive your Dickens collection is but I only have four of his novels in my library. If I added those that might bump our common books up. 4800 books, that is impressive by the way. Where do you keep them all?

posted by ElizabethPotter at 12:57 pm (EST) on Oct 23, 2009

Thank you so much. It's is a little after 11pm. Bedtime for me soon too. Good night

posted by callmejacx at 11:48 pm (EST) on Oct 16, 2009

Like you, I am busy-busy-busy but wouldn't have it any other way! I read your "how-desperately-I-wanted-to-learn-to-re... story on callmejax's page & was struck my how much it resembled my own. (My story is now posted there).

LT is amazing!

posted by MtnSk8tr at 11:33 pm (EST) on Oct 16, 2009

This is the best place to meet folks who enjoy books. Glad that I met you and Sharon

posted by callmejacx at 11:18 pm (EST) on Oct 16, 2009

I have just been chatting with a fellow LT member who says that you are their good friend. I am sure you have heard of MtnSk8tr. What a nice person! Asked her how she had found my profile and she told me it was probably through a post of yours. Thought I would just drop in and say hello.

posted by callmejacx at 10:54 pm (EST) on Oct 16, 2009

I would LOVE the Mary Lavalle, thank you kindly! I will pm you my address.
I have read those Ferrels Sams books, my own father recommended them to me as very true to his own upgrowing in Georgia during the 20s-30s. I dont remember if I still have them, though.
Stellar and I were visiting, amongst our respective families, a week or so ago and were bemoaning your physical distance. We would so enjoy sitting down with you around the dinner table and talking books! and everything else as well, of course.

posted by kokipy at 2:55 pm (EST) on Oct 13, 2009

did you notice? we're up to 863. And Happy Happy Birthday!

Are these books you are adding new or are you still working through the collection?

posted by kokipy at 2:39 pm (EST) on Oct 13, 2009

The Ovid novel is still on my wishlist, Peggy, but it does sound intriguing -- I wish I had it in hand as I'm teaching The Metamorphoses next week to my World Lit class.

posted by janeajones at 12:04 pm (EST) on Oct 10, 2009

Peggy

Sent off a parcel to you this morning using your packaging. It contains the Talbot and a beat up non-Virago copy of a book you don't have on your list.

Barbara

posted by romain at 11:39 am (EST) on Oct 10, 2009

Hi Lizzie ... do you ever come across Ponderable Dickens on the other site? The guys on Aravis' forum periodically voice their regret that they have lost contact with him. He was a nice man and I feel sad that I have also lost contact with him. I could go back there - I do every so often but feel like a stranger when I do and don't feel very comfortable. I gather that the others have been banned for some heinous crime or other and are no longer welcome.

posted by pinkozcat at 10:48 am (EST) on Oct 10, 2009

Peggy -- Troy Chimneys arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon -- thanks so much! I look forward to reading it, but it may have to wait awhile. Grading papers beckon, I'm afraid.

posted by janeajones at 10:45 am (EST) on Oct 10, 2009

Sorry you dislike your name! It would be great if we could choose our own names!

posted by englishrose60 at 3:57 am (EST) on Oct 9, 2009

There is not an especially large Czech community here -- Carolyn's publisher simply gave her the books and she didn't know what else to do with them after the library turned them down.

Re: climbing in shorts. Using your knees is considered bad form although all of us will confess to being forced to do so on occasion, lol! The pic was taken on the summit of Isosceles peak in King's Canyon National Park, in California's Sierra Nevada -- we had just put up a new route. It was a great day!

posted by MtnSk8tr at 12:16 am (EST) on Oct 5, 2009

Hoping the medical front is improving...

Glad you're liking the KSR. I don't imagine after the first two you'll forgo Sixty Days and Counting?

posted by stellarexplorer at 10:48 pm (EST) on Oct 4, 2009

House is sort of clean and we went out to Applebys for dinner - first time in months we've actually gone out to eat. First of the month so I went on Abe this time and ordered 8 Viragos at $1 each. I got them all from Better World Books that give all their profits to world literacy. I paid $3.98 for p&p on the first and $1.98 for all the others. So about $25 for 8, which isn't bad. Cheaper than buying them direct from their site where they charge $3.98 minimum for each book but free postage. I still can't find anything I want to read - I may be going into one of my very occasional fallow periods where I read nothing but magazines for a few weeks.

posted by romain at 10:24 pm (EST) on Oct 3, 2009

Funny you should mention. I read a bit in the Roeder, and found the language to be entirely lovely. Dated scholarship and perhaps censorship limitations aside.

Example--Just after the executions, here is the final paragraph of the Savonarola chapter, which precedes the Machiavelli section:

"Four weeks later, no memory remained in the piazza; it was full of the hurrying feet of the future; and Machiavelli crossed it to take up his work in the Palace." Perfect.

I can't read the other now without thinking of this book, thanks to your vast reservoir of literate experience! Off to read your review!

posted by stellarexplorer at 5:38 pm (EST) on Sep 30, 2009

I just added 9 more Heyers, so if you have them we'll exceed 850 already. I found all nine on paperbackswap, in the possession of one wonderful person who oddly enough could bear to part with them!

posted by kokipy at 12:28 pm (EST) on Sep 26, 2009

I like Stross, but Accelerando was not my favorite. I think Halting States is a good one to start with. I was sceptical in the very beginning but eventually I relaxed into it and enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the Atrocity Archives and the Jennifer Morgue - they were a bit silly and light, and quite fun. He is not deeply serious as a writer, but there is certainly a place on my shelves for his entertainment value. He also shows up from time to time at CJC's blog, which is fun, with no fanfare and no pomp and circumstance - if one did not recognize his name one would not know he was a fellow riter.
I hope all those health things settle down soon - they must be very distracting. Sending good wishes your way.

posted by kokipy at 7:35 am (EST) on Sep 24, 2009

PSS was $0.00 on Kindle. So that was a deal! when I have time I think I'll load up on free Kindle classics, just in case something happens to the collection. I am still in the middle of some Heyer and other things, so PSS remains a pleasure ahead. I live by pleasures - immediate gratifications, intermediate fun and long range anticipation. One must have something to look forward to!
Not having received my Amazon copy of the f O'C bio, I went to look at it in the local Borders at lunch today, and I have to admit i was not able to pick my mother out of the crowd, but my aunt says she is the third from the right in the picture of the year book staff, so I'll go by her word, since she knew her when.

posted by kokipy at 9:13 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2009

I am so excited! my cousin just told me that in a new biography of Flannery O'Connor, whom I don't like much, there is a picture of my mother! they were classmates at George State College for Women in Milledgeville, Ga, where they were both on the staff of the year book, and in the biography is a picture of the year book staff. Even though i don't much care for O'Connor, for many good and sufficient reasons, i will certainly have to obtain this book immediately! and what a lovely tag I can have for it.
On another note, I've just ordered Perdido Street Station for my kindle. I am foreseeing a future in which we don't have room for the books, and am trying to downsize by moving things to electronic media now. EG, I just obtained the complete collected novels of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen for about $1.50. All of my Dickens, which is in paperback, is falling apart anyway so the time is ripe. Ithink I'll see if I can do the same with my Faulkner.

posted by kokipy at 7:49 pm (EST) on Sep 22, 2009

Hi Peggy,

Actually, I suspect we'll have hundreds of books in common rather than just 26 once I'm done listing mine. (I'm guesstimating I've got around 4.000 so that's going to take a while, especially since most of them are still in boxes from my recent move. How long did it take you to list your library? I find it very slow going since for some reason, I get sidetracked a lot into looking up other books whenever I'm on LT.:)

Thanks for the tip on the Virago Modern Classics group -- will certainly check it out. I keep hoping I'll win the lottery so I can do nothing but reading books and reading about books one day -- that would certainly help with my TBR stacks, too...

Susan in Berlin

posted by littlegreycloud at 4:20 pm (EST) on Sep 22, 2009

Thank you, Peggy - I think I'm beginning to get the Latin tense thing! Having looked at the examples I copied out from the exercises in my textbook, it would certainly seem that the perfect is used more frequently than imperfect. When in doubt, I'll use the perfect tense :-)

It's a long time since I published any poetry, so I don't really feel much like a poet these days. This year my main OU course is in creative writing, which I'm hoping will restart some of my creative juices, which seem to have gone into hibernation.

Thanks for mentioning Steven Saylor. My husband's uncle enjoys Lindsey Davis, so I was considering giving her books a go, but I shall try Saylor instead.

Helen

posted by scarletslippers at 8:25 am (EST) on Sep 22, 2009

I don't think I ever responded to your Anne Perry note. I did have a few at one time but stopped and I believe I have gotten rid of them all.
For some reason I am not reading much these days, apart from Heyer, whom I am devouring with such pleasure. I found 9 more I didn't have on paperbackswap.com and am so looking forward to them. I started Maps of Time last night but it quickly finished off what a nice dinner and a little wine began, and I think I will need to read it when I am not in a recumbant position! it sounds fascinating but not bedtime reading.

posted by kokipy at 5:34 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2009

Peggy,

There's so much to love about Latin. I enjoy seeing where many English words originally came from, and Roman history is, as you say, fascinating. (I'm sure much of my desire to learn Latin stems from my love of 'I Claudius'. Recently I've been reading more about Roman history, seeing where Graves stuck to known(ish) facts and where he deviated wildly :-)

When it comes to the past, I think my problem is decided whether 'He walked to the station' is a completed action or an ongoing one (completed? assuming he reached his destination). And a sentence such as, 'She didn't like the teacher' - is that ongoing (I presume so, unless she suddenly started to like the teacher!)?

I started with Bill Linney's 'Getting Started with Latin', which I found the perfect introductory text for the beginner, introducing some key concepts, but without frightening away the student with too much information). I'm now using Nicholas Oulton's 'So you really want to learn Latin'. I'm still on book one, although book two is waiting on my bookshelf :-) It's a nicely-done textbook, with a good balance between introducing new material, consolidating information already (hopefully!) learnt, and exercises (many are one-sentence translations, but there are a few whole-paragraph translations).

I think 'Frost in May' was the first VMC I read. I rather regret the passing of the old-style green covers. The new ones aren't quite as thrilling :-)

Helen

posted by scarletslippers at 12:00 pm (EST) on Sep 21, 2009

Hi Peggy,

I'm always very excited when I find fellow Virago fans! I'm glad if my reviews have been of some use to you. You have an enviable library of books :-)

I (briefly) studied Latin at school. I have no natural gift for languages, but Latin is the only language that has really engaged my attention and made me determined to learn it. One thing I'm struggling with is the lack of simple past in Latin. My textbook tells me to use past imperfect for 'ongoing' actions and perfect tense for 'completed' actions, but I often struggle to work out what the difference is between an ongoing and a completed action.

Helen

posted by scarletslippers at 6:40 am (EST) on Sep 21, 2009

Ordered WH paperback from the BookDepository. Should be here in a week. We might be reading it at the same time.
T.

posted by tiffin at 6:57 pm (EST) on Sep 17, 2009

Regarding the little girl with the curl - it would appear that my mother was making bricks without straw again.

She had a bad habit of embroidering things,something I discovered when I started researching my family and found that all the wonderful stories she told me about my forebears were more fiction than fact. In fact, there was very little truth in any of it.

The poem was one which she used to quote at my sister who was somewhat defiant and refused to eat everything on her plate, to the detriment of the starving Armenians.

posted by pinkozcat at 9:28 am (EST) on Sep 16, 2009

Hi LizzieD,

I see pinkozcat has warned you that I might be stopping by to say Hello. I remember you well from the book discussion group site.
wordswordswords (Joan)

posted by wordswordswords at 12:47 am (EST) on Sep 16, 2009

I mentioned, on Aravis' site, that I had met up with you here and wordswordswords is anxious to get in touch with you. She said that she misses the emails and PMs.

I suggested that she come here and look amongst the pedants.

posted by pinkozcat at 11:09 pm (EST) on Sep 15, 2009

Hi - I was just doing some catching up and here is that elusive second verse about the little girl with the curl.

"She kicked and she screamed in her little trundle bed
The noise she made was quite emphatic.
Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys
Playing in the empty attic."

posted by pinkozcat at 10:14 am (EST) on Sep 15, 2009

Hi, Lizzie... thanks for stopping by. My footprints have been very light. I've been popping in from time to time, here and at TRP, but I haven't had the time to get involved. I'm back at school and busy formatting the lectures, creating obnoxious homework assignments, etc., etc. Every year I think will be the last one, but then I just keep going... by the end of the summer, the pain is forgotten.

I've managed to read and lightly review some books I snagged from Early Reviewers, but that's all, folks! Altho', I did read several of Cherryh's books to try to make better sense of Cyteen and, at some point, I want to talk about them with you and/or stellarexplorer. At present, I'm reading Glasshouse by Charles Stross. Didn't care for it at the beginning, but now I'm involved and curious to see where it goes.

I hope you're good and enjoying life! I'm trying to get organized, so I can too... :)

posted by Nulla at 8:37 am (EST) on Sep 13, 2009

So glad about 50 degrees!!

posted by stellarexplorer at 2:01 am (EST) on Sep 13, 2009

Thanks Lizzie.

Man of Renaissance: Ralph Roeder?

The memorial responsibility is for the same friend -- long-delayed due to logistical issues.

I am so sorry to hear of the medical issues in your family. Dementia is such a painful and exhausting problem for all concerned.

Oral surgery? Sounds like a good excuse for ice cream!

posted by stellarexplorer at 9:54 pm (EST) on Sep 12, 2009

Oh, so sorry to hear of the sickness -- hope everyone will soon be well!

My difficulty is that the book isn't really what I want to be reading right now, and I so dislike reading out of obligation. Said Samuel Johnson: "A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads
as a task will do him little good."

May I ask you a question? I am making reminiscences tomorrow for my friend who died, and I am planning to use the quote from Martial that I shared with you. What is the correct Latin pronunciation of "Martial"?

posted by stellarexplorer at 4:41 pm (EST) on Sep 12, 2009

Whoa! Peggy, I'm impressed at the number of books you've read this year. I've read a few more than are on my LT Profile -- I keep forgetting to update the list. But -WOW! Your list is amazing!

posted by MtnSk8tr at 11:42 am (EST) on Sep 12, 2009

Lovely to catch up with you again. I visit Aravisarwen's site, Viewpoints, which you appear to be a member of but never activated your account. There are only four of us who post regularly - Robert Graves, Wyndham, Tenarke and myself. Aravis herself rarely posts these days.

It has become an interesting place with two Australians, a Canadian and an American and is mostly political rather than about books these day.

My online literary involvement is bookcrossing, librarything and *sigh* amazon.

Do keep in touch ...

posted by pinkozcat at 9:31 pm (EST) on Sep 11, 2009

Hey there LizzieD;
The read will be on the 50 book challenge.
And we will get more info out as the time
draws near. Right now, we are just trying
to nail down a title.
Thank you so much for your response.
I so appreciate it.
hugs,
belva

posted by nannybebette at 1:34 pm (EST) on Sep 10, 2009

I hope you had a lovely reunion! I quite enjoyed His Majesty's Dragon. The books are well written and combine very nicely the Napoleonic era with dragons. As a Patrick O'Brian afficianado, there was much that was familiar here, with the odd twist of the wildlife. I think you'll like them.
I came upon your note in the copy of April Lady you sent me last spring - I am slowly working my way through the Heyer books, and enjoying them so very much.
We recently moved from the city to the suburbs to get the children into the good public schools, and we are finally reasonably well settled in, boxes unpacked, most of the paintings hung. Whew! now maybe I can get back to do some reading.
I own no Virago editions, but - as you know! - I own many Virago authors. everytime I think of one that I think should be a Virago author she is. So I am looking forward to enjoying the group. Clearly a collection of like minded individuals.

posted by kokipy at 9:41 am (EST) on Sep 9, 2009

No, no, my dear girl. When I said "phycho" I meant on the same mental plane as I regarding "Code of the Woosters". Sorry I confused you. So yes, technically I meant phychic; just more fun to say psycho.
"Shibumi" is the book he wrote about a dude born of Russian and German parents in the WWI era who goes on to become an assassin. But the story underneath that was what I found fascinating, thusly causing me to hang on to the book for nearly 30 years. It combines the spy/thriller genre with philosophy/self knowledge seeking and the sport of spelunking. And Nicholai Hel drives a battered Volvo. I found it to be quite comedic for the genre. Rather like Ludlum's works going up against his "Gandalfo", which is funnier than hell. Perhaps it is the one with the computer work.?.?.?. I just don't recall that.
Your hubby sounds like my hubby used to be. Sometimes they can grow out of that. I used to be the social one and he wouldn't join in. And now we have rather reversed the syndrome although I am not as bad as he used to be. He wouldn't even go to his own parent's at Christmas time for years so the kids and I went alone. Now he does. I guess we mellow with age.
Well, have fun on your weekend away. Relax and enjoy it. Hopefully you will return all refreshed and rarin' to go.
hugs,
belva

posted by nannybebette at 10:24 am (EST) on Aug 28, 2009

Hey LizzieD;
How are you? I hope you have been reading some great books.
And how very psycho are you?????????? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm??????????
I did pick up "Code of the Woosters" and I loved the humor, the story, the characters, and the writing, just all of it. I did a review on it and quoted the last bit. It was so very different than the book that it took my breath away. I loved it!~! I do plan to read more of Wodehouse this winter.
Thank you so much for taking the time to come by and check with me and give me a rec, even if I have already read it. All LTers should be so fortunate as to have friends like you. How very sweet.
Thank you again.
hugs,
belva
P.S. As I am writing this post, I am reading what you have added recently and I caught your Trevanian. Have you read his "Shibumi"? I absolutely loved it!~! Have wanted a Volvo ever since!~! And I just got Fitzgerald's "The Blue Flower" and "The Bookshop" as well. You know what they say: "Birds of a feather" and all that.
Good night my dear.

posted by nannybebette at 12:11 am (EST) on Aug 28, 2009

Hi Peggy!

What a lovely comment to wake up to. North Carolina and books - two great things in my life. Yours too. Thanks for visiting.

It seems you love mysteries too. I've been reading them since about 5th grade. I started with Nancy Drew and was reading Perry Mason by 6th grade. For some strange reason I seem to have acquired a literary bug this year and am reading many more non-mystery and non-romance books than usual. But because I have a 999 challenge category for new mystery authors, I have "found" several new mystery authors this year - Colin Dexter and Peter Robinson come to mind.

I checked out your library briefly and am highly gratified that you also use location tags. Frankly I don't understand how anybody with more than a thousand books or so doesn't use them.

Elaine Pagels is one of my favorite authors and I have read Thomas and Judas.

Well, off to add a new thrift shop acquisition (The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco) then to the library to read my current book A Cafe on the Nile by Bartle Bull.

karenmarie

posted by karenmarie at 7:12 am (EST) on Aug 22, 2009

Hello, and thanks for your explanations over on the Pedant's Corner thread. It's totally befuddling how easy it can be to use language properly, without being able to explain how and why it works the way it does, and even without noticing one's inability to do so. That's been a very educational thread for me.

posted by polutropon at 3:46 pm (EST) on Aug 21, 2009

A quote that has always seemed a comfort as well as an imperative:

"Take kindly the council of the years,

Gracefully surrendering the things of youth."

posted by stellarexplorer at 10:22 pm (EST) on Aug 15, 2009

How I wish I'd been in your class!

posted by stellarexplorer at 2:08 pm (EST) on Aug 15, 2009

I dont think I know Margaret Laurence - i will have to look for her. and I'll also check out Virago. You are full of good ideas! I wish I could retire but since we have small children at our advanced ages I expect I'll die in my traces, some decades from now, always providing I can find employment!

posted by kokipy at 1:24 pm (EST) on Aug 15, 2009

I agree entirely on play. Very important. Games. Fun. I want the ball!

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:57 pm (EST) on Aug 15, 2009

I guess it's better than no copy, but it smells like a bit of a bait-and-switch to me. I'll benefit from the read, but I feel like I am also performing a service.

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:49 pm (EST) on Aug 15, 2009

I Capture the Castle has been sitting on my libraries shelf for 10 years without being checked out so I thought I'd read it before I discarded it I loved it,I'm now recommending it to everyone!Yes Diana Gabldon is the closest to romance I get I felt those books were so much more than romance though.

posted by susiesharp at 6:18 pm (EST) on Aug 12, 2009

Yes I've heard of her and have read the book.When I google myself her stuff comes up lol.

posted by susiesharp at 2:12 pm (EST) on Aug 12, 2009

Probably my favourite Tepper (so far!) is "Gate to Women's Country". I think that was the one that got me hunting for her stuff. Unfortunately, in an excess of zeal, I gave away my copy and haven't found a replacement since. I have a copy of "Grass" somewhere but I haven't read it yet. After your recommendation, I'll have to go hunt it out! I think I'll check the library for some of the mysteries.

If you decide to try Helen Forrester, my favourite is "Lemon Tree"; her four autobiographical books are quite good too. She generally writes strong female characters who know their own mind.

posted by sqdancer at 11:17 am (EST) on Aug 12, 2009

Hi Peggy,

Actually, I think your version of the title is better (good spoof on Star Wars). Have you read any of McCrumb's other books?

I don't have all my SF&F catalogued yet, and I know there is more Tepper to enter. Which is your favourite?

I've only read one of her mysteries (they are a bit hard to find around here). It was one of the Shirley McClintock series, but I'm drawing a blank on the title.

Bernadette

posted by sqdancer at 9:14 pm (EST) on Aug 8, 2009

Hi! Thanks so much for your comments on the Gargantua and Pantagruel review.

Well, I remember trying to read Gravity's Rainbow back in the 80's, got the sense of being up against something monumental, and haven't gone back yet. I want to get that book again. Best of luck. There are a several mountains like that I want to scale, but I guess my personal Everest is Proust! Ha, but I may have to retire first in order to read Remembrance of Things Past in the long great gulp that would really make it sing.

Thanks again
- later

posted by CosmicBullet at 7:27 pm (EST) on Aug 5, 2009

Your recommendations for Grass and Fresco will be remembered when I go to pick up my first Tepper. I'd been scouting the reviews and it seems that people either seem to really love her or think that she is too strong in her commentary about men and feminist issues. This seems to be teh same thing you picked up on in your online group.I'm pretty sure I will like her.
Hope you are well and staying cool. I think it's going to be another hot one today

posted by noodlejet22 at 7:31 am (EST) on Aug 5, 2009

Hello Peggy, Storm Jameson's autobiography arrived safe and sound this morning. Thank you so much for your generosity. I shall of course let you know when I start reading it, it's quite a tome, and then we can compare notes perhaps. It won't be any time soon as I am committed to other things which are taking up my time just now. Maybe next year. Once again, many thanks for the book.
Best wishes,
Valerie

posted by englishrose60 at 6:15 am (EST) on Aug 4, 2009

Peggy;
You are so more than welcome.
Your kind words melt my heart.
Thank you.
hugs,
belva

posted by nannybebette at 10:53 pm (EST) on Jul 31, 2009

Peggy, I look forward to getting book. I hope your piano practicing is going well. I love to listen to all sorts of music from pop to classical. I sing off key and do not play any musical instruments. As regards names, I didn't like mine very much when I was younger and used to fantasise that I was called Marguerita which I thought was very exotic.

The town where I live is in between Northampton and Kettering. They may be on your map.

Happy reading,
Valerie

posted by englishrose60 at 12:10 pm (EST) on Jul 29, 2009

You're not bothering me. ;-)

Yes, you're right, that $50,- price tag is hefty. That's why I'm not so sure. I've found some copies on ebay that are slightly cheaper, but I'll probably wait for the publisher's remainder to hit the market.

Now I'll leave you alone.

posted by BarkingMatt at 12:00 pm (EST) on Jul 29, 2009

You're very welcome.

somehow I couldn't see the "combine" place

The link to get there is on any author page, on the right, just above the list of works by that author. Like so often, it's easy if you know how to get there ;-)

I also see that I won't be buying Indo-European Sacred Space anytime soon.

Okay. Frankly it's on my wishlist as a reminder. I'm interested in architecture and a book about concepts of sacred space might be interesting from that perspective. But I'm not sure either.

posted by BarkingMatt at 6:32 am (EST) on Jul 29, 2009

Hi Peggy
Thanks for your message. Your entry on *THL&BB* gave me such a good laugh. Whatever made me decide to make that public in my library ;-)
Oh well, too late now. LOL.

We DO have some wonderful books in common. I am keeping my eyes pealed for a copy of Music and Silence. I try to only buy secondhand copies of novels these days. Prices for new books are crazy high in Australia. I really enjoyed The Road Home and I sent it on a "Bookring" journey through Bookcrossing.com and everyone else seems to also be enjoying it. The link is here: http://bookcrossing.com/journal/6817995. I'm "FreePages" there and I wonder what you would think about what I said about Lev? I enjoyed "The Road Home" more than "The Colour" only because I got a bit anal (not a theme I'm trying to develop) about some colloquialisms she seemed to confuse between NZ & Aus. Though, it is a very good story. The books you mention do sound very good, they are either on my Mount TBR or my wishlist. I'll get to them one day.
Most definitely Well-met,

Cheers
kim
:-)

posted by KimB at 12:32 am (EST) on Jul 29, 2009

I'd be glad to send you DD if you'd like. It's an ARC and I'm always glad to share with fellow booklovers. I'm over my book limit too (cheap grin).
I actually just discovred UKLG a few months ago. I've only read 2 of her books, left hand and a newer book called voices. Both of them I enjoyed. It took some brain stretching to get into left hand but it was worth it. Being the fanatic that I am I've been trying to find everything I can that she has written.
It is tough to find VMCs here, when I do it's like I hit the jackpot. I've been seeing some of the persephone classics in the B&N here and I finally broke down and ordered my first grey from London. When it arrived I was thrilled. I enjoyed your review of The Rising Tide,i think I will start it tonight :)
Danielle

posted by noodlejet22 at 11:41 am (EST) on Jul 23, 2009

Hi LizzieD!
Thanks so much for stopping by to leave me kind notes. It is indeed nice to see other NC women here. And I have to tell you that I absolutely love Edward McKays (I think I am developing a habit). I've only recently discovered Nice Price but I do love it. There is something so great about small bookshops in college towns. Anyhow, I hope you found my review of Deliverance Dane helpful but hopefully not discouraging, I'd heard so much about the book and then as I read it started to feel disappointed. I think from now on I will not listen to the hype and happily plow away. It is great to meet you and hope to see you around.
Danielle

posted by noodlejet22 at 11:12 pm (EST) on Jul 21, 2009

Hi, Peggy -- I'm so glad you enjoyed That Lady. I think that it's not terribly historically accurate -- I think that O'Brien saw a dramatic opportunity to write about things that interested her, like private versus public lives, the complexity of religion, politics, and feelings, and maybe even dramatising a personal story touched by fascism (as in, the King was "God" and the Law and a man at the same time, but being "God" and the Law could allow him to get rid of people). I've read other stories of the Princess of Eboli, from reading about Teresa of Avila, that portray her as pretty money/power hungry, and crazy to boot. But perhaps the real story lies somewhere between the two -- I found Ana to be a very sympathetic character in That Lady.

Anyway, it's my great pleasure that you have enjoyed the book so much, and that you are now providing it such a loving home! And that you find O'Brien's writing of interest -- nice to have some company!

posted by outrageoussocks at 11:30 pm (EST) on Jul 19, 2009

>From the book game I see that you read *G, E, Bach* in the 80's. I'm impressed whether you were or not!

well, let's say i made sorties into [G, E, Bach] and was able to understand bits and pieces. i liked the idea so much i kept trying until visual circumstances made it impossible. for me, it was sort of like trying to follow Bucky fuller who consistently outran me. I'm just not bright enough. i manage but i often get left in the dust, sad to say. i like the snippets i glean, though.

my word. we *do* have a lot of books in common. and you're another martha grimes fan--well, reader anyhoo. i like her earlier ones best, i think. the [anodyne necklace] in which wherein we meet jenny kennington and her inevitable sweaters is one of my favorites. and i love [the old silent] and listen to it often and often. wiggins takes off in that one.

you've reminded me of two books i've listened to but not included: [hotel du lac] and [stone angel]. i need to revisit [stone angel], i believe. i was quite mesmerized by the beginning and still have such clear images.

well met, well met indeed. thanks for dropping in.

posted by mirrordrum at 12:57 pm (EST) on Jul 16, 2009

Hi Peggy, thanks for dropping by. I did enjoy Tigana very much. I have had it on my shelves for some time but was saving it as it was the last of Guy Gavriel Kay's that I hadn't yet read. I think my favorite one of his is still The Lions of Al-Rassan, but he is definitely one of those authors that never disappoint!

I had a quick scan of your library and hope it's ok if I add it as an 'interesting library'. I would like to come back and browse sometime.

I tend to read two books at a time, usually 1 from the library and 1 from my TBR shelves. Even so, the TBR shelves are growing by leaps and bounds! So many books I want to read and so little time!
Have a great day. Judy

posted by DeltaQueen50 at 3:59 pm (EST) on Jul 15, 2009

Thanks for the note,
I'm enjoying meandering through your titles and finding new authors to hunt for when visiting the library!

posted by bellawether at 12:20 pm (EST) on Jul 13, 2009

> Latin among the pedants!!! Be still, my heart!

Only Latin that is so well known as to be nearly English, I'm afraid, but one does what one can.

posted by jimroberts at 4:16 pm (EST) on Jul 9, 2009

Dear Peggy, Saki arrived today! so fast! thanks so very much. I can't wait to revisit him.

posted by kokipy at 8:27 pm (EST) on Jul 2, 2009

Hi! Thanks for your comment - I didn't know that about Ellen Foster (and no I haven't read that yet). I'll let you know when I've read it. I've just come home from a 3 day holiday in Sydney and bought even more Viragos (and other books).

I bought the Niccolo book without realising it's the 5th in the series. I own the first volume of the Lymond Chronicles but haven't read them yet. A really good friend of mine loved them and I've seen lots of good comments on here, but I need to be in the mood. I take it from your comment that you loved them!!

Right, better go and read 4 days of LT posts and collect my wee boy from school :)

posted by cmt at 10:31 pm (EST) on Jul 1, 2009

Thank you for your kind words. It's always fun to expand the box on the right to get an overview of shared books (we share some good ones). As to the statistical part of it, I'm clueless.

I feel bad for having recently archived (or deleted) most of my comments. Aside from the books, they are a feature of LT that really give a nice portrait of the person. There are some really wonderful and erudite people on LT. My friend benwaugh has one of the most fascinating profile pages around (don't let the picture scare you).

Truth is, I've kind of been in the process of mothballing my profile and participation. I have two small sons who are home for the summer, and we are getting ready for a month in the UK. I'll still enter books and those little reviews, but I imagine I will be cutting down on "talk" participation in the future. You can get to the point where you feel you are making the same comments/arguments over and over. It's good to step aside and let others talk for a while.

Thank you again for your note. Happy Reading!!

-Maki

posted by Makifat at 10:51 am (EST) on Jun 29, 2009

She's going to SUNY Binghamton--which is about an hour away. It's on the list of Public Ivies so you need excellent grades to get in. She's going in the liberal arts direction but isn't quite sure what exactly-yet.

My reading is a bit slow right now. I'm finishing up Nadine Gordimer's 'The pickup'--also working on Christopher Petit's 'The psalmer killer'--a noirish novel set in the 70's and 80's in Northern Ireland tracking a serial killer associated with the loyalist paramilitaries. It's got excellent tone but we're meandering a bit now. Also reading about 10 pages or so a day of Naomi Klein's 'No logo'.

posted by lriley at 11:37 pm (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

Mine, for some reason, still shows only 715. Still we know better!

posted by kokipy at 9:44 pm (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

That would have worked, but no.

You said:
"'I'm visiting.' ??? Is that a clue? "

To which the answer was yes. If that doesn't do the trick, I will end your misery and disclose all. :-/

posted by stellarexplorer at 8:46 pm (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

The answer to your last direct inquiry was "Yes".

posted by stellarexplorer at 7:10 pm (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

I suspect it might! Let me know --

posted by stellarexplorer at 2:55 pm (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

I will happily tell you if it will alleviate any distress. This is meant to be fun, after all!

Hint: The explanation is in the original dazzling post itself.

posted by stellarexplorer at 2:46 pm (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

wink :)

Isn't magic better enjoyed if explanation is left to the imagination? (And, I wonder, am I authorized to explain? There is the professional code, after all....)

posted by stellarexplorer at 2:40 pm (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

Peggy--the Stone Angels was pretty good. Busy day yesterday. Tara's high school graduation. My parents went and then we went over to their house for a couple hours. Pretty much went 30 hours with 2 hours sleep so I was whipped. A good time though.

posted by lriley at 6:14 am (EST) on Jun 28, 2009

Wow! Thanks! I'm a learner more than anything, so there's never such a thing as "more than I wanted to know". :) I would love to hear your story-- because I am essentially clueless--and because I know my 8th graders could also benefit from your knowledge. They don't learn about the Lumbee at all in social studies! I'm going to add ALL of those books to my wishlist right now. Thank you!!

posted by MissTeacher at 11:12 pm (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

Yes, I borrowed her identity, but only temporarily. It was fun. I remember reading The Mephisto Waltz in 9th grade. Ever read that? A creepy story about how the protagonist occupies a new body as the old one dies -- I don't remember the details, but it made an impression.

Well, be assured nothing like that happened today. :)

posted by stellarexplorer at 11:02 pm (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

Thanks! I'm in Durham, and have been wanting to learn more about Lumbee history. I'll have to check it out.
Thanks again!

posted by MissTeacher at 10:24 pm (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

I know it looks like I'm Kokipy, but I'm not. Can you guess? I'm sure you can. Hint: ad astra per aspera

(LOL! I'm visiting!)

Your appreciative fan and friend,

SE

posted by kokipy at 6:15 pm (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

> why my 1961 copy of Augustine's Confessions is not combining with everybody else's?

Fixed. We have the same edition, Penguin 1961 Pine-Coffin translation. Editions so old don't have ISBNs, so LT doesn't so readily automatically combine them. Normally for such problems, the best thing to do is post to the Combiners! group, there are people there who know more combining tricks than I do.

> Journal of a Soul

Fixed too.

I see you've joined Richard's Isaiah group. I lurk there.

posted by jimroberts at 5:55 pm (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

I prefer the older Interpreter's to the new edition. Seems more meaty in content, at least to me. I will be posting more in Isaiah this week. The group is an addition for me to a Sunday School summer class I am leading (not teaching) on the first 12 chapters. We took a couple weeks off in the class, but I must be ready this coming week.

And thanks for "friending" me.

posted by richardbsmith at 11:51 am (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

I love Greek. It is a self taught and self study venture of mine. As is Hebrew. But I am better with Greek. Part of the reason for studying of Isaiah was to improve my Hebrew. Better to read text than to study grammars.

I have several lexicons, but the one I most use is probably not yet in my LT library. Actually, I must confess most of the books catalogued so far are my boxed up garage books.

When I discovered LT, I was immediately excited to be able to catalogue the boxed up books. For so long they have been inaccessible simply because I did not know what I had or where to find them. I know where to find the books, and what books I have, on my shelves, hence the early focus on the boxed up books.

LT has been a great resource to correct that. And I have moved some books from boxes to my shelves when I find them.

Yes we can become friends. I am honored. Have not done anything with the connection tools on LT. You will be my first.

BTW, Abraham Heschel's book is on my shelves, not in a box. :)

Richard

posted by richardbsmith at 10:52 am (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

Good morning Peggy.

I actually think given the size of your library that there should have been more books in common.

I will confess that my primary focus in Christian studies is not in theology, but in the texts themselves - historical and source criticism and in the Greek and Hebrew language.

But I would love for the Christian group to develop threads with more a study focus. Have tried to start a couple discussions.

I have started an Isaiah discussion group - again with my focus the text and the historical contex. Not much going on over there.

Anyway,thanks for the notice and the contact. I guess a gracious nod from a quality member like Garp earns me some attention from other quality members, like you.

Look forward to exchanging more thoughts and info with you.

Richard

posted by richardbsmith at 9:00 am (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

Hey Peggy -- We were in Greenville. My son is going to ECU in the fall & we attended his orientation. Is that near you?

posted by Garp83 at 8:42 am (EST) on Jun 27, 2009

Peggy--John--my Canadian LT friend keeps me very informed on Canadian fiction. Alistair MacLeod is great as well and I must plug Jane Urquhart's book 'The stone carver'. On Conversation in the Cathedral it's a big book and it may take 50 or so pages before it starts coming together. It might also be a good idea to write the character's names as you go to keep an idea on who is who. The narrator actually goes by two names--his christian one and also a nickname. It's a look at one of the more tolerable Latin American dictators and his government--one who left power anyway without a big struggle or a huge bloodbath--though his regime was repressive.

posted by lriley at 6:05 pm (EST) on Jun 26, 2009

Truly wistful? I hope no real sadness, for we are always within an easy shout! Very nice to hear from you. Sorry if I inadvertently put you in any difficulties, on the spot, or anything of the sort. You were very good about the whole thing! I think it came across to observers as if I were cross-examining you! :)

I dissociated my fiction from my connections. I now have a whole new set of associated libraries based on my non-fiction alone. It is a fascinating diversion!

TTYS!

posted by stellarexplorer at 11:44 pm (EST) on Jun 25, 2009

Greetings fellow North Carolinian! Durham, NC checking in!

posted by MissTeacher at 5:24 pm (EST) on Jun 25, 2009

Thank you for participating in my new thread

posted by callmejacx at 11:56 am (EST) on Jun 25, 2009

OK, topic started in Taggers!.

posted by jimroberts at 11:22 am (EST) on Jun 25, 2009

Irony/satire: I thought maybe your teaching had involved explaining the difference and your tagging might be related to that. I vaguely think that I recognise them when I see them, though I wouldn't like to have to explain how. I think I'll start a topic on this in some group later, maybe Taggers! would be an appropriate place.

"I'm puffed up with pride"
Is that an example of irony, or are you really an adherent of the school of thought that flattery should be laid on with a trowel? :)

posted by jimroberts at 6:57 am (EST) on Jun 25, 2009

Aren't the Angela Thirkell books satire rather than irony?

posted by jimroberts at 12:42 pm (EST) on Jun 24, 2009

Thanks, you are very kind.

"If you ever get into my library, I'll be grateful for suggestions."
You seem to be doing very well without interference, and so quickly! One thing I'll mention though: I'm a big fan of sorting by author, so I would be happier with your library if you had Dante as Dante Alighieri in all cases (your books by Dante), and I'd put "Translated by Dorothy Sayers" in parentheses in the title rather than have it as part of the author. But it's your library, not mine. Oops, two things: you have minor variants on C. S. Lewis, but they sort OK.

Jim

posted by jimroberts at 11:58 am (EST) on Jun 24, 2009

My sister gave me Shantaram for my birthday this year. She loved it. We share many reading tastes [she recommended Dunnett, for example], and so there is a high probability that I'll like it, but I think I'm going to read all the HHs first, so it will be a while before I get to it. The subject matter doesn't appeal, but I could very well be very wrong about that. And I loved Ian MacDonald's River of Gods, and Paul Scott's Raj Quartet books, so I am probably quite wrong about that.

posted by kokipy at 10:48 am (EST) on Jun 22, 2009

I believe I have read all of Agatha Christie's books, but I think maybe I read them when I was still at home and they were my sister's copies, which would be why I don't own them.
The other way we'll get to 800 is by buying things we suggest to each other. CJCherryh's written over 50 books, e.g.

posted by kokipy at 7:26 am (EST) on Jun 22, 2009

On your page its 776 we share now! Mine still seems not to be fixed.

posted by kokipy at 8:18 am (EST) on Jun 21, 2009

Hi Peggy, - I haven't read any Robert Barnard books yet. In fact I mooched them cos' of the recommendation of a friend who also loves the Persephone books. I have 2 Barnards so I guess I'll start with School for Murder. Hope it's a good as you say. Strange that I never heard of this writer before.

posted by tuppy_glossop at 8:21 pm (EST) on Jun 13, 2009

Peggy -- The House on Clewe Street arrived safe and sound yesterday. Thanks so much for sending it to me -- I look forward to reading it! Sarasota is still lovely, but it has changed a lot even since 1984 when we moved -- lots of suburban sprawl and some high rises looming. But it's still a very livable and loveable area -- full of arts, good restaurants and gorgeous sunsets.

posted by janeajones at 8:26 am (EST) on Jun 11, 2009

my eyes were just caught in your random books over on the right by the Mervyn Peake biography - should I investigate it? I read Gormenghast back in those days when I was looking for the LOTR sources, and still have it - may have read it a couple of times, but not lately. I bet he was an interesting person....

posted by kokipy at 9:02 pm (EST) on Jun 10, 2009

That's quite amazing and wonderful! but it still isn't showing up on my numbers. I'm stuck at 715. But I see the Paretsky have contributed to the total!
I haven't read any of her recent ones - somehow lost interest. I'll have to give that some thought.

I see Stellar's observations re Chanur below. He is always a close and careful reader and his points are always sound, but I disagree with him re Chanur. That is one of those gustibus issues.

posted by kokipy at 3:02 pm (EST) on Jun 10, 2009

Sorry to butt in, but I do agree with everything K says about Card in her May 31st comment. I find Ender's Game troubling; I have to admit some greater appreciation for Speaker for the Dead. But not at the top of the List.

In re Chanur, my problem was that I read them under time pressure all in a row. I was Chanured out by the third book. Though I did enjoy the climactic Chanur's Homecoming very much, I questioned the need for such a long road to get there. The response from aficionados was that reading them without pressure, as they were published, the timing was more felicitous and perhaps my circumstances did not afford the most favorable experience. (I must tell you in confidence that though she is on my list of favorite writers, there are many of hers I do not love. But you should know now, before this goes any further, that I love reading but strongly rue that there are so many good books but so few great ones. And despite that, I manage to have something critical to say about so many of the good ones anyway.)

Never read Weber: how strong is your recommendation, and if very high, where to start?

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:34 am (EST) on Jun 10, 2009

James Branch Cabell was a very early fantasy writer, from the 20s and 30s. He was a Virginian, and one of his books was banned in Boston because it was fairly suggestive without actually being pornographic. They tend to be ironically humorous. Back when LOTR first came out, Lin Carter, I think it was, published a book on Tolkein's roots and sources, at least so far as he knew. I was about 13 at the time, but was so passionately interested in the books that i tried to track down as many of the sources as I could. Cabell was one of them-Lord Dunsany was another, Hope Mirlees - I dont know if they are really sources, so much as more in the same vein that predated LOTR. Ballantine Books brought out new editions of many of them, and my parents indulged my interest. But not all of them were republished and I vividly remember getting to college and for the first time fining the rest of the Cabell. I have tried rereading them lately and found them not quite so entrancing, but I have kept them for their historical interest and some day may work my way through them again.
I haven't rated many of my books. In general, If I've kept a book it means I liked it. I get rid of books i dont like, space being at a premium. So if it is in my list, I liked it at least well enough to keep it and had the idea that I would want perhaps to reread it some day. when I get a chance I should probably go through and identify the ones I've reread many many times, as they would merit a 5 star rating from me.
I am reverting to Heyer while waiting for the next HH, and dip into GG&S every so often. It is so good to have such a lot of things to read!

posted by kokipy at 8:02 am (EST) on Jun 8, 2009

I have finished the first two Honors and have ordered the next three from paperbackswap.com
i am certainly a convert! Maybe a tad too much detail on the tech, but it is easy enough to skip if you dont want to read it, and then if you find you should have, to get a plot point, easy enough to reread.
YOu know, it is interesting we have so many books in common, but there are so many more that are not in common..... So what one should do is spend hours looking at what we dont have in common to see what we should have been reading all these years. Obvious, but it does take me a while.
Did I note that you have not yet entered your Nero wolfe? that will up the commonality quite a bit....

posted by kokipy at 8:19 pm (EST) on Jun 7, 2009

Hey LizzieD;
I would have been excited too. Man, you must have been dancing in your shoes!~!
And we don't worry about the small stuff and most of it is just that-----small stuff. Right? You know that each and every one of us has a ton of books sitting right here in our own homes waiting to be read, so it is not like we're gonna sit in the corner and whine. I am very happy for you and hope that you enjoy every word.
(I'm putting a hex upon you even as we speak) hee hee
You have a good one LizzieD.
belva

posted by nannybebette at 11:44 am (EST) on Jun 6, 2009

Paggy -- we do seem to have lots of books in common, as well as a number of favorite authors: Margaret Atwood, Margaret Drabble, Henry James, William Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf -- and I'm very fond of many of your other favorites too. And we seem to share our decades (aren't the 60s fun? -- in both senses). I see you've just added Erdrich's The Last Report, etc. to your library -- it may be my favorite of her books -- have you read it yet? BTW -- what is the significance of "LizzieD" ? -- Jane

posted by janeajones at 7:59 pm (EST) on Jun 5, 2009

I'll have to put that one on my list. I am in the middle of Basilisk Station and enjoying it a lot. It does remind me pleasantly of E. Moon. I find it so very SATISFYING when a character enters a situation and picks it up by its heels, gives it a shake and facilitates it all working well together.

posted by kokipy at 7:03 am (EST) on Jun 4, 2009

Thank you for those very very kind words! My wish for my children is that they find reading the lifelong pleasure and solace that it has been for me, and I have been so gratified that they have enjoyed it so much already. I can't get my oldest child to read books I recommend - she is more guided by peer pressure, but some of her peers are reading very advanced books and she is heading down some lovely paths.
I could strike these teachers!
You must have been able to share your love of reading with your students - it must have been particularly gratifying when you did.
I can't wait to see what you have to say about Chanur. Stellar found the first one or two a bit slow, but agreed they pick up towards the end of the series in a great rush.

posted by kokipy at 5:11 pm (EST) on Jun 2, 2009

I have not yet received Basilisk Station - the second one in the series arrived before the first one. I have a lot of Card's books, but have some doubts about him. Ender's Game is probably the best, but all the others seem to run on fumes. And Ender's Game is problematic. I'd be interested to hear what you think of it. I would not recommend any of the others unless you were wild about it. His religion lurks not too far under the surface in all of his books, and that is a bit troubling to me, as i dont share his views. I tend to be curious about the later lives of the characters so keep buying them, but they are a large part of what then impels me to buy things like Guns, Germs and Steel, which I started last night after finishing the Brookmyre I had in hand - do you have him? Scottish murder mysteries, very contemporary and brash, very funny? some are much better than others - I am finding him a bit uneven, but entertaining.
Despite what I said below, I do agree that Sayers is better than Allingham, but the later Allinghams get less frivolous I think. Tiger in the Smoke I still remember as chilling, and I liked the Beckoning Lady quite a lot.

posted by kokipy at 9:35 am (EST) on May 31, 2009

I am gratified to see your Upfield. You need to either add your James McCure or else go buy him. He wrote South African police procedurals, with an Africaans lieutenant and a Bantu sergeant, who have a relationship that rivals that of Holmes and Watson.

posted by kokipy at 9:50 pm (EST) on May 30, 2009

Okay, I see you have some Allingham, but you need more. I love albert Campion. In many ways he's the equal of Peter Wimsey, heresy though that be. If you have more you must catalogue them because that will get us to about 750 right there. And Delano Ames is a must. Jane and Dagobert Brown, impecunious, witty, and always finding themselves in the midst of murder.

posted by kokipy at 9:47 pm (EST) on May 30, 2009

I like the Peabodys better than the ones under the Barbara Michaels nom de plume. A lot of the Michaels are kind of spooky mysteries, whereas the Peabodys are Victorian/Edwardian comedy/murder mysteries, not unlike in their way Heyer. One might say.
At one point I had all the Brother Cadfael books, but I fear I may have purged them a decade or so ago when I lost a lot of shelf space. I have for the past 30 years lived mostly in city apartments, and have had no place to store books I wasn't likely to reread many times. I don't keep books these days if I am not likely to reread in my dotage. I may have to put some of them into my catalogue in a read but not still owned category, just so we can keep our numbers rising! do you have Allingham and Delano Ames? I must check....

posted by kokipy at 9:43 pm (EST) on May 30, 2009

did you work your way to the end of the Egyptian EPs? Some of them are better than others, but many of the ones when Ramses grows up are quite enjoyable, and I liked the modern ones with Vicky and John pretty well also. I do feel strongly you should add them in here so our numbers will continue to rise.
I dont know what's wrong with the totals- I think there are sometimes gremlins.

posted by kokipy at 9:33 am (EST) on May 30, 2009

Oh my, I just noticed you don't have ANY Elizabeth Peters. You need to rectify this. I am quite confident you will love her. Or have you just not yet gotten to her in your cataloguing?

posted by kokipy at 2:19 pm (EST) on May 29, 2009

You are going to make me late for work. Don't be surprised if I stop this message in the middle and dash out of the house!

That argument is absurd to me. Every one who writes has his own observations of the world to offer or to rework, etc. All are human beings, with the capacity to do this. I love the Roman poets as a group. I especially love the preservation of a world no longer extant, the sensibilities, the mores, the ethos, the human feeling. How fantastic it is to be able to lose oneself in the thoughts of a keen observer of two thousand years ago. We should all have the experience of putting our little local lives in that kind of perspec----------------

posted by stellarexplorer at 11:53 am (EST) on May 28, 2009

"Laudant illa sed ista legunt"

Now that is funny, and who knew it was as true then as now!

I offered you the other quote to say that while his voice is often one of irony or critique, he possesses more broadly the eye of a penetrating observer.

posted by stellarexplorer at 11:19 pm (EST) on May 27, 2009

Most if not all of my poetry dates from my college years, but I have held on to it all fiercely. I do love Hughes, whom I think I pursued chiefly because of my prior interest in and love of Plath. Wodwo is one of my favorites.

posted by kokipy at 9:19 pm (EST) on May 27, 2009

"Contemplative and bookish men must of necessity be more quarrelsome than others, because they contend not about matter of fact, nor can determine their controversies by any certain witnesses, nor judges. But as long as they go towards peace, that is Truth, it is no matter which way." --Donne

I also added another author newer to me, who is mart of your collection:

Epigrams: Bks.I-VII v. 1 (Loeb Classical Library) by Martial

Epigrams: Bks.VIII-XIV v. 2 (Loeb Classical Library) by Martial

posted by stellarexplorer at 11:27 pm (EST) on May 26, 2009

You and Kokipy must be long lost siblings: Southern origins and each at the top of the other's "Members with...Books" list

posted by stellarexplorer at 9:42 pm (EST) on May 26, 2009

Hi, Lizzie... did you have a nice Memorial Day weekend?... we had some rain for two days, but yesterday was beautiful.

I'm off on The Great Cherryh Adventure - filling the cracks in my sci-fi lit list! Stellarexplorer has advised starting with Downbelow Station next, so I shall. Unless, of course, I get sidetracked... I have David Weber's latest in the Honorverse, Storm from the Shadows, sitting next to an anthology of short stories, both of which are calling to me. I have no discipline!!!

Cheerio!!

posted by Nulla at 10:56 am (EST) on May 26, 2009

By the way, sk8er confirms you're admitted to that other site. I dont know if you get an email or not so thought I'd let you know here.

posted by kokipy at 10:05 am (EST) on May 24, 2009

I wasn't aware of that PBS program--I'll have to keep my eye out for it. I go through periods where I buy a lot and then periods where I don't. Next month I'll probably have another order for B & N when the newest nobelist Le Clezio's first translated book in about 4 or 5 years comes out. Anyway I did sell a book today--good for about $13 so that takes a bit of the edge off the other bill and I've been good so far today.

posted by lriley at 11:11 am (EST) on May 20, 2009

by the way, I see our shared book total is rising as you enter more and more of your books. this gives me a sense of great satisfaction!

posted by kokipy at 9:49 pm (EST) on May 19, 2009

Peggy--have read quite a lot of crime fiction this year particularly Scandinavians. Henning Mankell and Johan Theorin so far are the best. Also liked Arnaldur Indridason (though he's a little dry) and Jo Nesbo. Anyway here is a pretty good site if you're interested:

http://internationalnoir.blogspot.com/

On Andrew Vaachs--I've hear of him but haven't read him. Always open to recommendation though I've been on a shopping spree today--once at half.com and three times at B & N--once in person and twice on line. It won't surprise me if my wife complains about all that activity but I can be very impulsive.

posted by lriley at 5:20 pm (EST) on May 19, 2009

Peggy--another poster here (papalaz) brought Derek Raymond to my attention. He's a huge fan. My favorite noir writer however is a Frenchman--Jean-Patrick Manchette--unfortunately only two of his novels have been translated--3 to kill and The prone gunman. Both I think are terrific but especially the first. Very spare tension packed writing--they certainly qualify as thrillers. There is an Irish writer Eoin McNamee who is pretty close in style to Manchette--a lot of his work revolves around events during the troubles--Resurrection Man and The Ultras particularly. The Blue Tango is set in Northern Ireland as well but in the 50's. He's also written a treatment which I recently added here on the death of Diana in Paris in 1997. And one last book the Argentine Ricardo Piglia's noirish fictionalized treatment of a real bank robbery gone bad (based on an event I think in the early 60's) Money to burn.

As for God of small things it builds slowly and it wasn't really until maybe the last 60-70 pages that I started thinking it was really great. Too bad she doesn't write more fiction.

posted by lriley at 1:48 pm (EST) on May 18, 2009

Ah--the Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia: 4th edition. That's a really good reference work Peggy. My favorite is Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature and there's also another really good one--The Oxford guide to Contemporary Writing.

posted by lriley at 11:33 pm (EST) on May 17, 2009

Hi Lizzie
See you are adding Elswyth Thane to your library. Is this a re-read, or is she someone you just haven't read yet? I enjoyed her seried about a family who settled in Virginia, had members fight in the revolution, & then divided itself during the Civil war. Don't remember the plots too well, but she was a good writeer & my mother & I both enjoyed them. I also see you read the Mammoth Cheese. That is sitting in my "To be read" section & it is a really big book (mammoth, you might say) Did you like it? Or will I be wasting my time reading it. Just finished Rumer Goddens "In this House of Brede." She was also a very good writer who did a lot of research. I had started that book many years ago when I had read her other books, but I didn't get very far in it, but promised to finish one day. Well, that day came about a week ago & I got a lot more from it now than I would have 10 or so years ago.
My grand-daughter & her family live in durham, but the place her husband works is closing down (it's one of those big internationals) & they have decided to move back here in northern OH. I enjoyed seeing NC when i visited them.
Marian

posted by MarianV at 8:29 pm (EST) on May 16, 2009

Peggy, sorry it's gone! But I'll keep my eyes open. VMCs seem to turn up much more often in New Zealand than in your neck of the woods. I love finding doubles!

I love the VMC group on here too. My LT time has almost vanished in the last few weeks and it's the only group I've been keeping up with.

I didn't realise you taught Latin - I haven't read any since school but still love it, and keep buying Latin textbooks. They sit loved but unread on the shelves...

DAughter is grabbing the keyboard... and insists that we push "2". So here are some 2s for you:
222

posted by cmt at 4:19 pm (EST) on May 16, 2009

I am glad you liked my review! I wondered if it was a bit simple for this crowd, but it was exactly how I found the book. I was so surprised at how little I knew of the events of the year. I am going to enjoy reading yours at my leisure.
On your recommendation I'll try Banks again. CP really put me off. I usually feel a need to like one or more of the characters in a book and there was no one in that book for whom I had any sympathy or liking. I started Excession but it didn't grab me and I dont think I finished it. I also started The alchemist but I dont think I got very far there either. Maybe just the wrong time.

posted by kokipy at 11:40 am (EST) on May 15, 2009

Glad the fly survived! I just started MNiR & I have never read anything by him before so we'll see. Just finished "Eleven Minutes: by Coelho, a fine book and another author that was new to me but well known to others in my literary circles.

I don't think you're really that boring Peggy ....

Ciao!

posted by Garp83 at 6:26 pm (EST) on May 14, 2009

"You may ask, "Why aren't you posting this on the "What I'm reading now" thread? I'll tell you. I don't know. I commend and appreciate your patience."

No, I wasn't going to ask that at all. I was pleased to receive your update. I just completed my termination of Steven Hunt's Court of the Air due to insufficiency. I just finished and reviewed my Early Reviewer's Book Full Meridian of Glory: Perilous Adventures in the Competition to Measure the Earth by Paul Murdin. It was very well done, but decidedly not for the general reader. I am attempting to get through Maps of Time so I can go on to one of the several hundred other books in my TBR list. While I see it as full of fascinating information, I have major questions about the Big History enterprise, despite myself being extremely interested in the component disciplines of which it appears to be comprised. I will certainly raise these issues in the relevant thread, but not until I have completed it. Nothing destroys one's credibility as rendering an opinion on a book one has not read. I lost much respect for the learned Harold Bloom when he decried Harry potter as "not high quality children's literature", and then allowed as he hadn't read it.

posted by stellarexplorer at 11:30 pm (EST) on May 11, 2009

I do try to counter that tempting belief that there is all the time in the world. Now that I am no longer immortal, I need to be selective in what I read!

posted by stellarexplorer at 9:00 pm (EST) on May 9, 2009

Yes, Forty Signs of Rain is the first of that trilogy. I really liked those three books.

As a child, I always thought I'd be spending my adult years in space, exploring other planets. At 15, realizing no space academy had yet been established, I understood my idea had to be radically revised. This precipitated a painful existential crisis.

posted by stellarexplorer at 1:51 pm (EST) on May 9, 2009

I hadn't noticed your KSR favorite. I like all his stuff. Have you read the recent trilogy?

Remnant pop: I like strong female characters. I just think this one is overrated, and its chief strength is that it has a woman protagonist. Sorry, for me it lacked more than that, and there are so many good First Contact stories.

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:24 am (EST) on May 9, 2009

Hi LD! -- No, the only Reynolds I've read was Century Rain, which I enjoyed. The others are on my list. I have friends who love him, and others who are so-so on him. But I would like to read more.

Morgan, on the other hand, I've liked a lot, if you don't mind the violence. I thought Thirteen AKA Black Man was his best, better than the Altered Carbon/Kovacs series.

I am probably better read in older stuff. I'd like to read more E Moon; didn't love Remnant Population, but it was OK.

My favorite current SF writer other than Cherryh is probably Kim Stanley Robinson, especially his recent climate change trilogy starting with Forty Signs of Rain.

posted by stellarexplorer at 8:26 pm (EST) on May 8, 2009

I imagine FL and C could have taken out Denys in advance should Ari have wished it, but until his attack on her, she had not intended this. After the attack she acted in self-defense. Beforehand, she was content to continue her own development prior to assuming her adult leadership role in Reseune. At least, that's my take.

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:27 am (EST) on May 8, 2009

I was wondering about Bleak House. I'm in the middle of reading [The Suspicions of Mr Whicher] and it mentions that Mr Bucket in BH is based on one of Jonathan Whicher's contemporaries in the newly formed detective rank of the Metropolitan Police. Sounds like it would be a natural next step for me! (although the TBR pile keeps getting longer......) I think you'd probably like Mr Whicher, as a CD fan.

High school experiences of books are so odd - we also read To Kill a Mockingbird and My Family and Other Animals alongside Great Expectations, and whereas the other two are firm favourites of mine, I've never got in to CD since. Not too late to start I suppose!

posted by LizzieG at 9:54 am (EST) on May 7, 2009

Hi LizzieD! I am an Elizabeth is real life, but usually only when I'm in trouble (amazing how often that can still be, when you hit your thirties...) I have to admit that I've not read Our Mutual Friend - a bad English Lit teacher at school turned me off Dickens unfortunately and I've never quite managed to persuade myself to try him again. Shocking! Where would you point me as a good re-introduction?
Lizzie

posted by LizzieG at 12:16 pm (EST) on May 6, 2009

I was very interested in Justin and Grant; one thing CJC does especially well is to depict characters in the throes of emotional breakdown: lost, confused, not knowing whom to trust, paranoid even. But Ari 2 was such a great character that Justin and Grant couldn't compete. I fell in love with her, and my affection for J and G remained, albeit in partial eclipse.

What else struck you? What are you thinking about? Is Nulla reading it currently?

posted by stellarexplorer at 11:57 pm (EST) on May 4, 2009

Thanks for the immediate notification! Groggy --will comment when not in the middle of the night. I had set my computer to wake me day or night whenever you announced your completion of the book. Unfortunately, the clock setting was wrong, and the alarm went off at 3 AM!

TTYL!

posted by stellarexplorer at 3:21 am (EST) on May 4, 2009

Right. The hardcover was always in one volume as intended by the author. The largish paperback of recent years is also the full text. That's probably what you have. The 3-volume paperback set was from the late eighties and is generally not held in high repute by fans, as it is seen as standing in violation of the spirit of the book.

posted by stellarexplorer at 5:09 pm (EST) on May 2, 2009

Oh - I misinterpreted "I need to finish Anathem which I put down to read Cyteen when it arrived. (And what is that Touchstone, Cyteen III for goodness sake? I can't get it to show me the "others.") I have really enjoyed both of them for different reasons. Meanwhile, I read a little of Guns, Germs and Steel every day and will pick up speed when I actually finish one of the others."

The numbers I, II, and III are misleading. They refer to a misguided venture by the publisher, who pulled the book apart and sold it in three paperback pieces back in the late '80s. Does not refer to sequels!

Yes, there are those who dislike the book because of the sense of repugnance around azi. CJC has a way of writing from the POV of each character or group in a way that is more fair and favorable to that group or character than as seen from outside. In her other foundational work in this universe, Downbelow Station, Union looks much more ghastly and monstrous, partly because of the azi. But without them, they couldn't possibly sustain the population necessary to have a viable society. CJC has acknowledged that we are intended to have deeply ambivalent feelings about the azi concept and the CIT-azi relationship.

posted by stellarexplorer at 1:54 pm (EST) on May 2, 2009

Rumor has it that you have finished Cyteen. I'm waiting with bated breath!

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:12 pm (EST) on May 2, 2009

Peggy, I just haven't gotten around to entering the Dickens. One of these days ...

posted by featherbear at 11:56 am (EST) on May 2, 2009

Hi Peggy--You have absolutely no reason to apologize. I'm glad you got it started--I am one of the world's biggest procrastinators.

It does look like we share a lot of books. I don't read a lot of science fiction, but there are a few authors I like, and I see we share a few sci-fi books too. I also like British mysteries like those of Ruth Rendell and P.D. James.

I envy you being retired. That won't happen for me until I can get my last two kids through college.

Happy reading!

Deborah

posted by arubabookwoman at 7:04 pm (EST) on Apr 29, 2009

Hi Peggy

Thanks for your message. I have actually read Norweigan Wood but it wasn't out of my permanent collection so I didn't review it on here. If you're interested in seeing my reviews, they are all posted on my live journal account http://lyzzybee.livejournal.com - not trying to spam you to look at my LJ, just thought you might be interested...

Best wishes

Liz / LyzzyBee

posted by LyzzyBee at 1:57 pm (EST) on Apr 29, 2009

Hi Peggy, nice to read your note. I am somewhat buried reading 1. Earth Abides for a book group started locally by a small group of Librarything members; 2. Larry's Kidney for the Early Reviewers group; and 3. Why God is Laughing because one of the book group members and I decided we would read it on the side of the group reads and meet separately to have our own little group. Silly of me to get so over committed because of course I have real life stuff going on too.

Yes, 1944 is my birth year: November 11. We are close to the very same age. Cutting edge of the baby boomers, huh?

Well, I spend most of my time in LibraryThing reading Green Dragon threads; trying to keep up with my 75 Book Challenge peers; and reading a few other odds and ends. I am happy to chat any time.

- Karen

posted by maggie1944 at 9:48 pm (EST) on Apr 26, 2009

Oh-- LEGIONS OF HELL. I now get it. Thx!

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:17 am (EST) on Apr 25, 2009

I understand. I have 173 tagged "TBR". Say no more. What Roman history fictional series?

posted by stellarexplorer at 9:58 pm (EST) on Apr 23, 2009

Finally a break in the old grind! I'd ordered Cyteen thru ILL and it arrived yesterday, so I'll be starting soon. I've seen your comments at TRP, so I expect to like it.

In the meantime, I had started Risk of Darkness and, wouldn't you know it, I've read it! I think they hype the paperbacks as brand new! I had read the hardback which came thru ILL and that is why it doesn't show up in my library. If you don't mind, I'll donate it to our local library. They're on a small budget and can use the support.

I hope I can get back in here soon... only two more weeks of school!!

Best,

Ruta

posted by Nulla at 3:40 pm (EST) on Apr 23, 2009

Nero Wolfe saw me through some difficult years with humor and aplomb. How can one not be grateful? My mother asked me yesterday if I was leaving our shared copies. I regret the answer is yes - with few exceptions. My fiancee has them all, as well!

posted by Eurydice at 2:30 am (EST) on Apr 23, 2009

Peggy, thank you for so kind a note, and defense of my favorite indulgence. It's hard to do without genre fiction. There is always a little mental pile I may resort to, if not one in the current rotation - which is more common. Even when I have tagged them all properly, your collection will dwarf mine. In others, I can admire that. I look forward to delving - and, indeed, seeing you, here, again!

The year has certainly been begun well, here. Again - thank you!

Julie

posted by Eurydice at 2:23 am (EST) on Apr 23, 2009

Thanks for noting my starriness; it is a big part of me :-D

I am not about to give up on you! You sound like you are doing quite well with the book; that feeling you describe is so familiar -- I have felt that way during so many of my best reading experiences: wanting to absorb a wonderful story ravenously, and not wanting to depart the book-world when it is over. The joy of reading mixed with the pain of separation!

I so wish I had known earlier :( I had an extra copy of the sequel, and I just promised it to someone else who hadn't read it. I enjoyed it, but it would be hard to write a sequel that would meet the high expectations raised by the first. Worth reading though, and I don't say that about everything.

Thanks for keeping me posted!!

posted by stellarexplorer at 1:13 am (EST) on Apr 23, 2009

Thanks Peggy! :)

posted by KrazySkaterChick at 9:58 am (EST) on Apr 20, 2009

Hey Peggy -- the UMASS text is Athenaze. I have managed on my own to learn the script, but that's as far as I got. Maybe one day ...

Stan

posted by Garp83 at 4:37 pm (EST) on Apr 19, 2009

Thanks for your kind words. Fortunately, it looks like the surgery is "somewhat" routine and I don't have to stay overnight, although the recovery period promises to be a bit painful from what I'm told. I have my family and my books on hand, so I should manage to struggle through, I suppose. I do admire your library. I should say that if I did not show proper restraint on my budget for books I would equal or exceed your numbers far too soon (the confessions of a book addict!)

I have contemplated ancient Greek courses because my attempt on my own has come to naught (although I have not entirely given up -- I bought the texts!) I had planned to audit an intensive course at UMASS but it met daily and I could not fit that into my schedule.

Ciao!

Stan

posted by Garp83 at 9:05 am (EST) on Apr 19, 2009

I love her writing. IMHO, Tipping the Velvet is the best. Good luck finding it! I had to special order it from Borders! Or maybe it was Barns & Noble. I don't remember... :(

posted by KrazySkaterChick at 4:54 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

I saw that I won! Thanks so much! I read so many, that I'm always looking for the next.

Not a problem on not mailing it till next week, not a big deal (as it's already Friday!) :) That is pretty entertaining that Secret Garden is listed above Silence of the Lambs!

Oh! And if you liked Night Watch, you should def read Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith and Affinity by Sarah Waters also! I loved them! The classic language she uses and the sudilty(sp) of the sex scenes. Great!

posted by KrazySkaterChick at 4:46 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

No she's not an author I would have hunted out for some reason but since I saw it there I had to get it. It's always interesting to find a new author so I'm glad you're enjoying it. Let me know what you think when you've finished because I never heard anything about her/or her books before. I don't know when I'll get around to reading it!

posted by charlottestar at 12:02 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

You may not know how many are awaiting updates on your Cyteen progress. People are very passionate about the book!

posted by stellarexplorer at 1:07 am (EST) on Apr 16, 2009

It's been a while since I've read anything by West. I have read several though. His prose can be very difficult some times. Probably the one I liked best after Stauffenberg--was Love's mansion--which I believe somewhat on his upbringing--the main characters I believe again are based on his parents--his father a wounded WWI vet--some blindness--some mental stuff.

Anyway Tara's made two college revisits this week. I went on one of them--the other I was working. She has another visit tomorrow and one on Saturday--I'm working both days but my wife is off. Anyway then she'll have to figure which one she wants-so we will know pretty soon.

posted by lriley at 11:39 pm (EST) on Apr 15, 2009

Hi Peggy,
nice to hear from you. Retirement means you don't have to get your act together. If swimming feels good, do it, and read tomorrow.
I just started taking piano lessons. I should have known you 18 years ago. Its frustrating, but i'm having a good time.
I'm glad you noticed my Book of Hours, it is the high spot of my collection. I enjoy letting visitors look at it, and hold a piece of beauty and history in their hands.
Stay well, Carmelo

posted by cbellia at 1:57 pm (EST) on Apr 13, 2009

Happy joyous Easter, Peggy! I just wanted you to know that Risk of Darkness arrived yesterday. I know I'll enjoy reading it in spite of Simon and I'll belabor you with my opinions when done. Regards, Ruta

posted by Nulla at 8:22 am (EST) on Apr 12, 2009

Hi Peggy, I too, just retired from teaching. I taught high school history and economics as an adjunct at the local university. It was an extremely rewarding career, but after 35 years, I Threw in the towel.
Now I don't have time to read. I don't know how I ever had time to work. Going through my library has been a great trip. I seem to know all the books I own even if I haven't read them. Its revisiting friends from long ago. I left over a thousand books in my offic at school. When I went back for a visit, I found that they had thrown them away!!!??? I guess I'm more committed to books than, even, the school? Enjoy retirement. Carmelo

posted by cbellia at 7:44 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2009

Peggy--hope everything is going well in North Carolina as well. Things have been mostly quiet--we're waiting for the weather to break a little better. It's been in the 40's sometimes peeking over 50. Other than that Tara our oldest has got about 3 weeks to make up her mind what college she wants to go to. We have three return visits planned for next week--although I'm probably only going to be on one of them.

Reading wise Rawi Hage's Impac winning book De Niro's game is the best thing I've finished lately. Assia Djebar's Fantasia was really good as well. At the moment I'm making my way very slowly through William H. Gass's very long 'The tunnel', also working on Nicanor Parra's 'After-dinner declarations' and the LT early reviewers copy of Nicolas Dickner's 'Nikolski'--the last one I may finish today.

posted by lriley at 3:52 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2009

Hello,
nice meeting you on LT!
A long time ago I used to teach Latin too.

Paola :-))

posted by aluvalibri at 8:10 pm (EST) on Apr 10, 2009

You are in the most difficult part, where it is not yet clear why many hold the book in such high regard. That will likely change in the next 100 pages. There will be developments, I promise!

posted by stellarexplorer at 7:45 pm (EST) on Apr 10, 2009

Cyteen is a book that unfolds. How far along are you? It is a book about development, among other things. It develops as you go along. Don't give up or despair!

posted by stellarexplorer at 10:43 am (EST) on Apr 10, 2009

Hi Peggy
The bookplate is from me yes. I'm glad you liked it and the book too! I hope you enjoy reading it! I'm glad it's found a lovely home.
Charlotte x

posted by charlottestar at 4:42 pm (EST) on Apr 9, 2009

Peggy -- If you enjoy reading it, it can't be trash! And you have almost 3000 books --I am not worthy!

I love the contributions of so many people -- including you -- on these LT threads. I learn a great deal and it gives me an opportunity to attempt to speak articulately about subjects I love with others who might feel the same way. Though I have wonderful friends, real life does not offer the same audience for these topics.

Ciao!

Stan

posted by Garp83 at 9:14 pm (EST) on Apr 6, 2009

Cyteen and Downbelow Station are a rung above her usual good standard. Which Cherryh are you reading?

posted by stellarexplorer at 9:54 am (EST) on Apr 6, 2009

My goodness, I just checked and she is among only a handful of people on whose weighted list of "Members with my books" my library appears!

And she lives in CT, just down the street from the party! This is fate!

posted by stellarexplorer at 9:38 am (EST) on Apr 6, 2009

hello Peggy
I don't even know how I got here, but my absence from your "member's with" list is a matter of percentages. Hit "raw" and I show up - but there is waaaay too much trash in my house to make the high percentage overlap. Nice library; I'll poke about and see if I can find things I need to read. At the moment I'm trying to update some illustrated volumes in concert with the Golden Age illustrators group - and trying to kick Poetry Fool into a little more sharing. Things are slow. I miss bookstores - at least being on the selling end - that's a real "service" job. cheers, scott

posted by bookstopshere at 1:05 pm (EST) on Apr 4, 2009

Hail to a fellow bookseller!

Nice to meet you here. I miss(most)of my life in bookselling, and still find myself straightening books when I go shopping.

Ann_Louise

posted by Ann_Louise at 8:38 pm (EST) on Apr 2, 2009

Glad to know another Henry James fan. I will probably discuss the book on Snobs.

posted by kswolff at 8:57 am (EST) on Apr 2, 2009

Medieval European history is my first love, but religious studies, particularly theology, are my passion these days. Which is convenient as theology overlaps medieval Europe nicely.

posted by MisfitKotLD at 12:52 pm (EST) on Mar 30, 2009

Thanks, LizzieD, but I've always not quite fit in. And I've probably driven through or near your neck of the woods, I spent a few years at Camp Lejeune.

posted by MisfitKotLD at 10:33 am (EST) on Mar 30, 2009

CJC - she writes mostly Science Fiction, but does also do Fantasy and some very much crossover works. On her website she claims not to acknowledge any particular division between the two genres. But Mtnsk8tr will be best able to point you towards particularly good places to start with her work. Cyteen is certainly one I'd recommend.

Very cute cat/fox video. Thanks.

posted by reading_fox at 10:13 am (EST) on Mar 30, 2009

Hi
the only HTML I've ever learnt has been in order to get LT to work as I want it to. Seems odd that a website that is so advanced and captivating in so amny ways, still requires users to actually enter code. I can offer such advice as I've learnt to date but I warn you now, I'm way far from havingany kind of skill with it.
You at least seem to have managed to get the Random links working anyway.

At the moment we seem to share more crime/ mystery works than SF / F but I'll brouse your library looking for new authors.

posted by reading_fox at 6:11 pm (EST) on Mar 28, 2009

Thanks for your comment. Teaching is one of the most rewarding of activities, but students do seem to want to drive you to drink. I'd love to see a Roman chariot race in the Gluteus Maximus (or, at any rate, a student attempting to arrange one).

A love of Wallace Stevens is certainly something we have in common.

posted by Fledgist at 2:58 pm (EST) on Mar 26, 2009

Hi Peggy! I've found a spare copy of the Rector's Daughter (a green vmc) (which I'd be happy to part with I need more space and I seem to have 3 copies for some mystifying reason!) so if you'd like to have it you could leave me a private comment with your address and I'll post it off to you. Hope you're having a good day. Moving is halfway there! x

posted by charlottestar at 11:57 am (EST) on Mar 26, 2009

I might have a spare copy of the Rector's Daughter going. I'll let you know in a few days. I'm moving house and things are a bit up in the air but I think I've got more than one copy so I'd be happy to send you it when it turns up. I'll get back to you anyway. x

posted by charlottestar at 10:59 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2009

Hi Peggy!
Don't get me wrong about the Squire's Daughter it is enjoyable it's just you said it it's kind of scattered. That's a good way of describing it. I'm not sure why since her other 2 are brilliant it's a bit of a shame. Compared to them it doesn't shine but on it's own terms I think it's enjoyable and that's what matters! I recommend The Rector's Daughter. That's brilliant :) x

posted by charlottestar at 10:48 am (EST) on Mar 25, 2009

OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG & GAY:

I LOVED this book & read it in Jr. High ~1967. I need to find my copy: bet it is somewhere at my parent's home! Thanks for "reminding" me about it.

~Sharon

posted by MtnSk8tr at 3:49 pm (EST) on Mar 14, 2009

Oh, I don't have any problem (well, in fact, I have lots of problems, but none with being among your "interesting libraries"...)
I'll have a look at your Latin books when you enter them.
Keep in touch.

posted by Romanus at 8:01 pm (EST) on Mar 13, 2009

...I can't identify with bones in the washer, that doesn't freak me.....

Nuts. I'll have to think of something else then, or my reputation will be ruined.

posted by setnahkt at 7:40 pm (EST) on Mar 13, 2009

...Your tattoo comes as close to freaking me out as anything I've seen in a while...

Don't worry about; one of the major reasons for the tattoo is to draw people's eyes away from the rest of me, which is even more likely to freak them out.

-br

posted by setnahkt at 6:39 pm (EST) on Mar 13, 2009

Hi Peggy, nice to hear from you. You are obviously a real reader. I think that you will enjoy Library Thing. Also, the experience of being retired and suddenly having more time for books is very exciting.
It is a real challenge to have such a large library, keep track of it, make space for it. Once I got mine all entered it became very easy. I can check if we have a book and also I can get rid of books in an organized way. As new books keep flowing into our house I have to do something to make room for them.
Funny you should mention sci fi, because that is an area I have cleaned up by giving them away and taking the rest to secondhand book stores. My son read a lot of sci fi in highschool and his early university years and we had mountains of them. He did not want them and it is much better that someone else gets to read them.
I am looking forward to exploring your library and reviews.

Barb

posted by bhowell at 10:55 am (EST) on Mar 5, 2009

Well. Anathem...
Crytonomicon is one of my all-time favs, and I feel guilty that I'm still stalled half-way through his Baroque Trilogy...and so Anathem is necessarily stacked up waiting for me to return to NS's The System of the World.

I would have jumped the queue and dived right in with Anathem, except that I bounced off the made-up terminology that NS uses.

There's a long tradition in SF of mocking faked exoticism: as James Blish defined it 50 years ago or more : "calling a rabbit a `smeerp.' " Just that sort of gimmick is not enough to make it a science-fictional world.

I've read so much bad SF that I have a nearly allergic reaction to this sort of simple substitution of terms, so I had a hard time enjoying what NS was doing with it.

I'll get to it eventually.

posted by AsYouKnow_Bob at 9:02 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2009

Ah, that may have been Gene Wolfe's windy "The book of the new sun"!

posted by LolaWalser at 8:35 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2009

Hello, Peggy, thanks for the interest!

I'm not sure what titles that Bob and I discussed recently--perhaps in one of the groups?--qualify as fantasy--Vernor Vinge's "Fire upon the deep" maybe? I mentioned Lucian of Samosata's "True story" (maybe "True history" in English) in the SF group recently. If this doesn't answer your question, please let me know.

Yes, some 15 years ago I went on a gigantic Woolf/Bloomsbury read. A lot of material overlapped--her books, letters, diaries, other people's letters, books and diaries, biographies and autobiographies... a glorious mess.

posted by LolaWalser at 3:25 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2009

An excellent review Peggy. That was the first Carpentier book I read and it was a long time ago.

Anyway I did a review of a first novel by Philipp Meyer--an early reviewer's book through this site called American Rust which I thought was great. Now I'm on Angela Carter for the first time--Fireworks and Halldor Laxness's (one of the best if not the best Nobel writers--IMO) Great weaver from Kashmir which as it happens was his first major work.

posted by lriley at 2:52 pm (EST) on Feb 26, 2009

Hi,

Sorry it's taken me so long to respond. My life and my work have both been a bit crazy.

Oh you've got to read a Door Into Ocean! It's an amazing story. I've actually read it about 3 times, which is something I almost never do. I rarely re-read books because there are so many books I want to read. But I've read Door a few times and Watership Down probably 5 or 6 times--an absolute record for me. And I don't read real crime stuff either. It tends to give me nightmares. :o) Your idea that Dean Koontz is a closet Christian is interesting. Perhaps so, given that all of his books seem to have a message about morality in some way--that's why I like them. And he has a unique way of humanizing even the bad guys, which isn't easy considering how bad his bad guys are. My step brother actually knows Dean fairly well, so maybe I'll have to ask him about this, although I don't get to talk to him very often. And it's not true that I don't like his earlier work. In fact, if you look at my library, that's mostly what I own--his earlier books. The first book I ever read of his was Watchers, which aside from the nauseating violence I found to be absolutely fascinating and very memorable. I also loved Lightning which had me on the edge of my seat. I actually have read very few of his newer books in the last 6 or 7 years or so. I like the stories, but not the graphip violence so much so I only read him when I'm in a really good mood and the brutality doesn't bother me so much. :o)

I know of the Kellermans, and I think I've read at least one of his and maybe some of hers as well, but it's been a long time. I will have to check her out more.

So how did the church thing go? Did you get everything done?

I know what you mean about wishing you could go back and forth between messages on here. What I do is open two windows so I can have my page up in one window and my reply to you in the other. That way I can go back and read what you wrote and then respond to it. It's a bit cumbersome, but it does work.

Well anyway, take care, and I hope your week is going well.

MK

posted by drsyko at 11:38 pm (EST) on Feb 24, 2009

Peggy--thank you very much. So far not much happening which is just the way I like it.

posted by lriley at 9:07 am (EST) on Feb 24, 2009

sure - absolutely no problem - what exit off of 95?
cheers,
bob

posted by bobmcconnaughey at 1:34 pm (EST) on Feb 23, 2009

Well, thanks for stopping by! It looks like our reading tastes are very similar across a number of genres.

posted by kokipy at 8:45 am (EST) on Feb 22, 2009

Thanks for writing! Can't wait to discover some new favorites in your collection.

posted by ajourneyroundmyskull at 5:37 pm (EST) on Feb 21, 2009

Hello Peggy,
Nice to hear from you and I'm glad to hear that my map is accurate in your case.
I am sorry to say that I don't live in either of the two places that you mention albeit I ofter travel through Kibworth on the way to Leicester,and I can report that is is a rather nice little place.As you will see if you again consult your AA Guide my home town is Northampton,which is said to be the largest Town (rather than City)in the country.Although not so pretty as the places that you mention,it is extremely historic.
I see that you are interested in 'mysteries',as am I,so you might like to check out my library under the tags - British and American (and other) Crime Fiction.At the same time I will have a browse through your list of books on the hunt for new authors which might well appeal to me.
All the best from the UK and do keep in touch.
Peter

posted by devenish at 3:47 pm (EST) on Feb 21, 2009

Unfortunately I work weekends now--I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off which are great on Tuesday and Wednesday but not so hot on Saturday and Sunday. I do get paid extra for working Sunday which is the main reason I made the switch. Another reason is my wife's days off changed as well. They went from Saturday, Sunday to Sunday, Wednesday.

Back to Paul West for a moment. Most of his work that I've read is good to very good but that one I thought was outstanding. He's an Englishman who lives in upstate New York--in nearby Ithaca. Anyway enjoy your weekend as well but I'm holding out for tuesday, wednesday.

posted by lriley at 11:11 pm (EST) on Feb 20, 2009

Peggy--noted your addition of Paul West's--The very rich hours of Count von Stauffenberg--that's a great book but a hard sometimes very trautmatic text to read. To me--it's well worth it for that--but be prepared.

posted by lriley at 4:47 pm (EST) on Feb 19, 2009

Happy poking! I see a lot of our more unusual overlap is the result of excessive hoarding of Ngaio Marsh: most of ours were acquired by Mrs Bookworm and I haven't many of read them yet.

PS If you want italics in a review, use < i > and < / i > tags.

posted by MyopicBookworm at 11:08 am (EST) on Feb 16, 2009

Yes, I know what you mean about certain types of nerds . . . I'm actually not all that nerdy. I think I'm just more bookish. :o) I'm not very prototypically a college professor--I'm so not sophisticated enough for that! I'm just a blue collar girl who happens to have a PhD. Anyway, I have to say that I'm curious as to how it is that a woman named Peggy has the user name LizzieD, and also what it is that you liked about The Blind Assassin. :o) Also, may I add you to my friends list on LT?

I hope you had a great day . . . and I agree that it's nice to speak and actually have someone reply.

MK

posted by drsyko at 10:34 pm (EST) on Feb 12, 2009

Hi,

Yes, it is good to be queen, even if it is only of the nerds! :o) Thanks for visiting my page and actually reading my reviews. Someone actually reading them . . . what a concept! I read through yours as well. You read some very interesting things.

Anyway, thanks so much for writing me a note. It's always nice to know I'm not writing reviews that no one on the planet is reading. :o)

MK

posted by drsyko at 11:51 pm (EST) on Feb 11, 2009

Peggy--reading is the best way I've found to cope with all the kinds of things that tend to stress me out. I guess in that respect I have a lot of coping to do.

I'm not sure exactly what amp is but I do a lot of buying and some selling at Half.com which is run by ebay. It's basically just for books, videos and music--it's kind of like a huge garage sale--but very extensive. Prices and postage are set when a seller puts a book etc. up for sale. There's no bidding involved. He or she is competing against other sellers of the same item and a buyer can choose by best price or by the condition of the item--runs from brand new, like new, very good, good, acceptable. It requires credit card information for a buyer and a checking account for a seller. For me it's easier and a lot more hassle free than ebay itself.

I've read Carpentier several times. My favorite is probably Kingdom of this world. The lost steps was very good though. His 'Explosion in a cathedral' was the only one I didn't really care for.

posted by lriley at 1:52 pm (EST) on Feb 10, 2009

Peggy--it's been warming a bit lately. In the 40's 3 of the last 4 days.

Anyway here's a few links I started here--the first two on Latin American fiction and the last on modern and post modern Russian.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/10980

http://www.librarything.com/topic/15212

http://www.librarything.com/topic/10641

It's been a while since I've done stuff like this. I really need to find or make the time though. I did something on the Spanish Civil War as well--and was thinking of doing something on Oulipo--which is a French literary group started by Raymond Queneau and most famous for a couple works by Georges Perec--Life: A user's manual--and A void a literary whodunnit (around 300 pages) which Perec wrote without using a single letter 'e'.

posted by lriley at 10:52 am (EST) on Feb 10, 2009

Actually I'm in upstate New York. On the hours I work--it comes with the program. I can keep myself motivated. We tend to help each other out--part of the us against them thing. Kind of agree with your ideas about retirement. Grow lots of tomatoes--stock up on pasta when it goes on sale. The bread machine will be important as well.

On Vargas Llosa and Garcia Marquez--The war of the end of the world is a fascinating book. I don't know if you've read MVL's Conversation in the Cathedral--but for me that is his real masterpiece. It is a long one however. I did a rundown it seems like a year ago on South American fiction. I'll look it up and give you the link. As a writer I tend to prefer him to Garcia Marquez as well. Both of them are very political in their own way--in that respect I'm more in line with GGM.

My daughter Tara has put in for 6 schools--3 privates--Hobart, Ithaca College and Keuka College--all have excellent reputations. She's been accepted at all of them but Hobart looks out of the picture now as I don't think we'll be able to manage it without quite a bit of financial help. Three are SUNY schools--Binghamton, Geneseo which are two of the three best New York State financed schools--the other is far away on Long Island--Oswego is the third--it's kind of a fallback and would be the cheapest option. I tend to think though sometimes you get what you pay for. Haven't heard back from them yet but from what I hear that's normal--they tend to be later. It's been interesting making all these college trips and it will be kind of exciting for everybody--to see how it all turns out.

posted by lriley at 10:10 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2009

Retirement sounds great but I have 6 or 7 more years still and it's getting harder--a lot of downsizing--a lot of manipulating of work schedules. I'm going in a half hour after midnight and getting out at 9 am. I expect it's going to be that way for a while if not until I do retire. I never went to college--though both my kids are about at the point. They both are mid 90's students. One is a senior this year and the other is a junior. I'm figuring when they're done with that (or at least 4 years) then I can go.

I have a lot of curiosity when it comes to literature and I do float around a lot--one benefit of no degree may be the freedom to go without guilt whereever you choose. French writers were my first love (Celine, Queneau, Zola--even this years Nobel writer Le Clezio I've been a huge fan of for years). I was mainly in Europe and North America though until about 7-8 years ago--a local college professor (romance languages) and her husband opened up a book store out of their home and she especially got me much more focused on Latin American writers.

posted by lriley at 2:23 pm (EST) on Feb 9, 2009

Peggy--I have to admit I'm a little weak on Asians and Africans and I've only read Murakami once. It was a short story collection and I did like it. I can see myself reading more of his work. I really like Kenzaburo Oe--a Nobel winner. Oe seems influenced more by modernist writers than the norm for Japanese writers. That is what I got from my one foray with Murakami. After that I like Shusaku Endo as well. Again more of a western influence.

I'm a huge fan of Bolano. A great writer. I'll be reviewing his 2666 in the next day or two.

Mention of Powers musical novel brings to mind Thomas Bernhard's 'The loser' also Elfriede Jelinek's 'The piano teacher'.

posted by lriley at 12:08 am (EST) on Feb 9, 2009

It was a great book Peggy. It was also the first time I'd read Powers. Since then I've read Gain--which is very good but not quite as excellent as The Echo-makers. I'm sure I'll be back to him sometime this year though I have to come up with something else of his. Any recommendations?

Anyway sharing 62 books isn't bad at all.

posted by lriley at 11:47 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009

Just stopping by to say hi & note how busy you have been cataloging! Very good!

posted by MtnSk8tr at 7:57 pm (EST) on Feb 5, 2009

Hey Lizzie, how are ya?... I don't think I own any of your Pelicans... they look great, tho'. The great majority of my art books is concerned with contemporary art. I mostly teach studio art and some theory, and only occasionally art history, so I tend to skimp on those. Alas, "After Long Silence" is still on Mt. Bookpile, but I did just finish "Spin State" and loved it... enough to order the sequel, "Spin Control," from ILL. I am determined to reduce the proliferation of books around here... they breed like flies!!!!... we'll see how that goes... if you've looked at my "added" list, you'll notice that it keeps growing... hah!

posted by Nulla at 9:29 am (EST) on Feb 2, 2009

Hi Peggy --

CJ Cherryh majored in Latin / Classics as an undergrad, and then earned a master's in Ancient History. Her thesis focused not on art or literature, but on Roman politics.

LEGIONS OF HELL & KINGS IN HELL, in the HEROES OF HELL shared world series, speculated about Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Brutus, Caligua, and the gang. Hence, my "Latin" tag...

This link should save you time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legions_of_...

LT will comsume all of your time from here on out. You may even need to give up reading, lol! Welcome again!

~Sharon

posted by MtnSk8tr at 9:15 pm (EST) on Jan 31, 2009

Hi Peggy --

I enjoyed poking around your library & look forward to seeing more as you get it catalogued. Your reviews are also very enjoyable. LT is one of the best sites on the web -- endlessly fascinating!!

I wandered over here after reading the exchanged comments between you & stellarexplorer. One can personally attest to the exquisite quality of his library, as well as the loving care taken of it.

posted by MtnSk8tr at 7:16 pm (EST) on Jan 31, 2009

I did it the other way. The tagging is crucial to me in organizing my books and my thinking about the books, so I tagged thoroughly with each book entered. I am regularly looking for books in my library that might fall into one category or another. I can't tell you how useful it has been to be able to search under a tag for all the books I have under that designation.

Example: Discussing cross-cultural contacts recently, I could recommend books using that tag, but also pull up all that show up under "migrations" or "prehistory" or "pre-Columbian Americas", etc.

When I look at my tag cloud, I feel like I am looking at a new 21st century way of seeing myself and my interests -- one that complements traditional means of self-definition.

posted by stellarexplorer at 8:19 pm (EST) on Jan 28, 2009

Well, thanks for looking around! I often enjoy just walking around looking at titles in my library. There is a quote I love (though this is too gloomy a sentiment for me to endorse fully!)from Saul Bellow's first novel Dangling Man: "My books stand as guarantors of an extended life, a life far more interesting and worthwhile than the one I am forced to lead daily."

Thanks for the review of ReVisions: Seeing Torah Through a Feminist Lens… by Elyse Goldstein -- Haven't read it, but I can imagine the difficulty with gender notions as applied to god.

posted by stellarexplorer at 9:59 pm (EST) on Jan 27, 2009

Hi Peggy, thank you for stopping by and saying hello. The Dorothy Whipple book would have been Someone At A Distance. It's nice to meet a fellow 'reads everything-er." I've heard that all my life, because if a book wasn't available I would read the cereal packet at breakfast or the shampoo bottle in the bath from as soon as I learned to read.

Thank you also for the thoughts and prayers. Babyreadseverything is happily kicking away at the moment and every day we get closer to our due date means BRE has an even better chance of arriving safely.

Your retirement doesn't sound very relaxing but it does sound like a lot of fun. The piano playing especially sounds lovely.

posted by Jodyreadseverything at 1:47 pm (EST) on Jan 24, 2009

Well, you're in for a treat if you want to find out about Betsy and Tacy (two girls). Betsy is the main character in a series of classic children's books by Maud Hart Lovelace. The 10 books, which were written from 1940 to the mid-1950s, take Betsy and her best friend Tacy (joined later by Tib)through childhood to Betsy's wedding. The books are set in Minnesota around the turn of the century. My nickname is Betsy, so I was thrilled to find the books on a library shelf when I was a kid as I didn't know any other Betsys. They're well-beloved by many and definitely worth tracking down.

posted by betsytacy at 7:55 pm (EST) on Jan 20, 2009

It's snowing in North Carolina!? Goodness!

Yes, I love Angela Thirkell. My fiance gave me a nice stack of second-hand Thirkells for Christmas, but I haven't started on any of them yet. So many books, so little time!

posted by miss_read at 4:41 pm (EST) on Jan 20, 2009

Salvete magister!! Just come over from our Virago group to give you a warm welcome to all matters bookish. Pull up a chair and make yourself at home. Valete Julie

posted by juliette07 at 11:18 am (EST) on Jan 20, 2009

Welcome to LT, Peggy!
It is so nice to see new faces around. I used to reach Latin too, many centuries ago.
:-))

posted by aluvalibri at 7:21 am (EST) on Jan 20, 2009

Welcome to LibraryThing, LizzieD! I'm eager to see the rest of your collection, so hurry up and start entering! :)

- Helen

posted by miss_read at 4:05 am (EST) on Jan 20, 2009

Lizzie

I found Sanctity on Paperbackswap and ordered it. I'll let you know what I think when I finally read it...!

Barbara

posted by romain at 3:40 pm (EST) on Jan 16, 2009

Thanks for writing. I will definitely look for Sanctity under one or both names. I read a book by Catherine Aird many moons ago about a murder in a convent but it was disappointing. My favorite nun books - as I am always telling people - are the ones by Rumer Godden, in particular In This House of Brede. But I loved Land of Spices.

A quick perusal of your books shows many I have read - particularly murder mysteries. Such a shame none of us live closer. We could meet for tea. I'll let you know if I find Sanctity. It sounds like something I would really enjoy.

Barbara

posted by romain at 3:13 pm (EST) on Jan 16, 2009

Thank you so much for information. I found it very interesting. Fascinating stuff.

Good luck with your cataloguing. I see you are in the Virago Group so I hope I shall see you there.

Thanks again.
Valerie

posted by englishrose60 at 3:52 pm (EST) on Jan 14, 2009

Hello Peggy,

Thanks for your comments. I read this book a few months ago, and yes if you have the time, I would like to know more about Rhoda. Thank you. You have a lot of work ahead of you cataloguing all your books, but so much fun too!

Regards
Valerie

posted by englishrose60 at 11:29 am (EST) on Jan 14, 2009

When I said "Excellent Women" I meant "Devoted Ladies"!

posted by FleurFisher at 5:43 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2009

I have loved and followed the Orange Prize since the very beginning. I remember it being heavily criticised in some quarters, but I was thrilled when Helen Dunmore won. I had discovered her some time earlier courtesy of a magazine giveaway of “Burning Bright” and she had quickly become one of my favourite authors.

But, while I have discovered many wonderful books from Orange shortlists and longlists, like you, I
find some of them too dark and serious. Though I recently read "Monster Love" which was very dark and was stunned by it.

"The Rising Tide" was the first Molly Keane I read for years. I both loved and admired the book, but I can only read her in small doses. I picked up "Excellent Women" a while ago but I couldn't get on with it at all and have pushed it to one side for now.

As to "The Gargoyle - I have never read Stephanie Meyer and I have no plans to - but from what I read of her books I wouldn't put them in the same bracket as "The Gargoyle" - maybe they are bought together as "hot books of the moment". I would describe "The Gargoyle" as brash modern writing and not the sort of book I often read, but the UK hardback edition was beautiful and I had to pick it up in the library. It looked like the kind of book I would either love or hate and it turned out to be love.

I hope you continue to enjoy LibraryThing but, be warned, it is highly addictive!

Jane

posted by FleurFisher at 4:24 pm (EST) on Jan 11, 2009

Hello, and welcome to LibraryThing!

Yes, "The Road Home" is wonderful, but I very nearly didn't pick it up. I used to work in the restaurant industry and I now work for a charity that, among other things, supports migrant workers, so I thought it might be too close to home or I might be disturbed by inaccuaracies. Rose Tremain got it right and I was swept away by the story.

I love what I see of your library and I will be coming back to see what else you add.

Jane

posted by FleurFisher at 4:32 pm (EST) on Jan 10, 2009

absolutely you may make me a friend but I'm not sure what it accomplishes.

posted by almigwin at 5:28 pm (EST) on Jan 9, 2009

Coals to Newcastle, I see... you've already been here... welcome! soooo glad to see you!!

posted by Nulla at 11:16 pm (EST) on Jan 7, 2009

Join me for book discussions at www.thereadersplace.com

posted by LizzieD at 4:45 pm (EST) on Jan 7, 2009