Yes indeed. If you are so inclined the story I mentioned is very very striking, especially because it purports to be true.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 11:05 pm (EST) Aug 4, 2008

I came across this book while cataloging: http://www.librarything.com/work/139490/...

AKA The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices by Xinran Xue.

I wonder if you have read it? It is a series of portraits of Chinese women, often depicting moving and very disturbing traumas. I have been haunted for years now by the chapter "The Girl Who Kept a Fly as a Pet".

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 5:01 am (EST) Aug 1, 2008

Indeed! One is most pleased and excited. Be aware that these new ones are among the very last books PA wrote after a half-century of work. It is probably no accident that they feature means of radical life-extension!

Some might prefer his earlier work, though I thoroughly enjoyed the Boat of a Million years, which I think you read recently (Please remind me!) That book and Harvest of Stars should be read before The Stars Are Also Fire,
Harvest the Fire, and The Fleet of Stars.

I liked Harvest of Stars quite a bit, but I'm a little hazy on the subsequent ones.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 12:15 pm (EST) Jul 19, 2008

Exciting to see the new nonfiction entrries!

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 11:17 am (EST) Jul 18, 2008

Unless I decide to add the children's books....

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 2:39 am (EST) Jul 18, 2008

Perhaps the 6000 or so books in our combined libraries is most important, as we can each borrow any desired volume from the other!

I only have another 200-400 to go (hard to tell exactly).

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 11:47 pm (EST) Jul 17, 2008

I have the book too but haven't read it - just haven't gotten around to it. Should I look for the Berlin book as well?

inlägg gjort av kokipy vid 10:13 am (EST) Jul 15, 2008

Missing those Russians is one of the more foolish things I've done (in my adult life). I have the texts, and the Isaiah Berlin book that helped inspire that work.

I guess, as regrets go, it could be worse.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 10:20 pm (EST) Jul 14, 2008

I just noticed you list tom stoppard as one of your three named favorites. I don't know why this comes as a surprise to me. Not the fact of it, the not knowing. He is one of my very favorites too!

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 12:57 am (EST) Jul 13, 2008

Ah, but you all introduced me to Patrick O'Brian .... and G G Kay and Scalzi and...

and as I said that's just the collection as it has survived all these years. The mysteries, regencies and historical and romances were consumed in like quantity but not kept. *sigh*

inlägg gjort av Aelith vid 11:41 pm (EST) Jun 30, 2008

I completely agree with both comments on Asimov. But I still think I should do a reread check for you, rather than send you to a recommendation I will not feel comfortable standing behind. Cooper was one of my favorite authors, but that was when I was 15.

To send you to him now would be like defrosting something from the freezer wrapped in foil when I invited you for dinner, without being sure exactly what was inside. You deserve a recommendation delivered with more care and intention.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 11:26 am (EST) Jun 25, 2008

No, I seriously think you will find him the kind of old-style offensive sexist SF that drives you away from that era in general. I felt that even then, but overlooked it for the adventure-escapism of his books. But I don't think I could do it now, and I have doubts about whether such a trade-off would be a good exchange for you.

I reread one of the less macho-dominated last year, and I didn't love it the way I once had. I may reread the one that I suspect has the best ratio of pleasure-to-offense and see how it shakes out. Then I'll let you know.

But that'll be after our cape cod trip next week.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 10:56 am (EST) Jun 25, 2008

A lot of new entries. Have you read Gilead yet?

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 12:26 am (EST) Jun 25, 2008

At the very bottom of the "your profile" page, there is a scetion called "RSS Feeds". If you go to the page of anyone whose entries interest you, click on the orange "XML" box next to "Recently-added books". You can also do this for your own library, enabling you to review your own recent entries at a later date. To view the feeds, there is usually a "feeds" option associated with your "favorites" or bookmarked sites. This should give you the option to view recent activity on any of thre feeds to which you subscribe. It can also be used to subscribe to certain blogs, columns, or other information sources that are periodically updated.

Too bad about TGWTJGE. Not surprised really; the one I liked best was TLSFE.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 11:51 pm (EST) Jun 11, 2008

And you got The Girl with the Jade Green Eyes too.

Do you know how to subscribe to the feeds which will show all the latest books entered by persons of interest? I subscribe to your feed.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 9:51 pm (EST) Jun 10, 2008

Oh my god! You got A Boat of a MILLION YEARS! Did I influence that? Yay! ANd the Unveiling of Timbuctoo! Too.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 10:08 pm (EST) May 30, 2008

No hurry, I'm still imputing. :)

inlägg gjort av Aelith vid 1:56 pm (EST) Apr 20, 2008

Kokipy Hi. I just past 200 books 81 of which we share. Is it just me or do you prefere female authors too.

inlägg gjort av Aelith vid 7:44 pm (EST) Apr 18, 2008

I think your copy of Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving comes up with only two members having it because it is entered funny, er ... funnily.

Who plays volleyball in your tribe?

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 11:13 am (EST) Apr 7, 2008

Hi Kokipy Please disreguard the aelithtourblanc account I'm back in my original one now.

inlägg gjort av Aelith vid 3:30 pm (EST) Mar 26, 2008

Greetings Kolipy ji.

inlägg gjort av Aelith vid 11:30 pm (EST) Mar 10, 2008

Oh, too bad. I found it in my collection as I was LTing, and remembered someone had given it to me, having liked it.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 11:04 am (EST) Mar 10, 2008

I see you have A Conspiracy of Paper.

Did you like it?

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 9:52 pm (EST) Mar 9, 2008

Well met again! :)

inlägg gjort av Vetch vid 1:13 pm (EST) Mar 8, 2008

oh Kokipy-ji, thank you very much. I regard your opinion most highly. I too would love to sit around the kitchen table and discuss our books; maybe in the future I can aim for a gathering of the Eastern association :D

inlägg gjort av moiraji vid 10:30 pm (EST) Feb 22, 2008

is it working now? I think it's working now. the site has been running a bit slowly for me; I agree that it must have quite a bit of traffic.

if it is not working now for you, then I shall edit About My Library under my profile and add as the first remark: Kokipy is wonderful and she is my friend. ;)

inlägg gjort av moiraji vid 10:47 pm (EST) Feb 20, 2008

kokipy-ji, my account shows you as friend, and when I click to add or accept invitation just to check, it says I am already your friend.

must be gremlins. gremlins who savor the irony of the person responsible for me being here not showing up as friended.

well, I hereby overrride them. cast them out. begone, gremlins!

inlägg gjort av moiraji vid 4:54 pm (EST) Feb 20, 2008

Yay, I'm finally here! XD

Thank you so much for your encouragement; I'm sure I'll thoroughly enjoy this.

inlägg gjort av moiraji vid 3:37 pm (EST) Feb 19, 2008

Or fang (216/2339) at the top of your weighted list.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 12:25 pm (EST) Feb 18, 2008

It's only the weighted numbers that befuddle me. The raw are clear. It's libraries that are listed high under "weighted" when our ratio is greater. A good example is chilperic (226/3014) toward the bottom of your weighted list under "see more" when my number with respect to you would be 228/1720.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 12:24 pm (EST) Feb 18, 2008

I am interested in the "Members with your books" feature. You are high up on the list of members with my books, but I have just barely winked on and off the tail end of your list. I'm not currently on your list at all. This despite the ratio of our books in common to my total books owned being higher than that of many on your list. I imagine it must have to do with this "weighting" thing -- others must have more uncommon books in common with you. Or something. Or else there are fewer people who own my books than own yours? I'd like to understand this.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 4:04 pm (EST) Feb 17, 2008

I'd love to see the precious volume sometime.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 12:26 pm (EST) Feb 13, 2008

Our Shakespeare won't register as mutually owned as your appears to be in a large (one-volume?) collection and mine is in 50 or so individual books (not yet entered mostly)

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 11:03 pm (EST) Feb 12, 2008

Congratulations on all the hard work, BTW! I hope you will feel it has been worth all the effort.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 12:10 am (EST) Feb 11, 2008

I loved In Search of Reagan's Brain! You just reminded me that I am not sure where my copy is. It may be in a room of bookcases that is full of kid's playstuffs making access very difficult.

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 6:53 pm (EST) Feb 10, 2008

You've been busy, I see. We are developing a large number of books in common, which will likely increase as I enter more fiction. Wasn't it you (or was it Surtac?) who was recommending the last Scalzi book as perhaps more worthwhile than the others? I see you gave it one star only. I note neither of us is in love with Robert Sawyer.

What does one star mean in your system?

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 12:28 am (EST) Feb 10, 2008

Thanks! I'm sure by now you've figured out how to rate them, by clicking on the little dots in the "Rating" column on the "Your Library" page. I'm certainly not rushing you to rate before the proper time, just eventually. I believe that you and I have very similar tastes in books and I am shopping around for new authors, not that I think I'm going to have the chance to do much reading for about two years, to be honest.

inlägg gjort av CyanDag vid 10:07 am (EST) Jan 31, 2008

Thanks. Now I have to get those ABCDE thingies to work properly -- they are not cooperating!

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 12:46 am (EST) Jan 31, 2008

Hmmm. You're another one who's not rating their books. How am I to know what's good? Unless, of course, they're ALL good! ;-)

inlägg gjort av CyanDag vid 2:01 pm (EST) Jan 30, 2008

Hearing you describe your method to sk8er, I fell over in a dead faint!

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 7:34 pm (EST) Jan 27, 2008

I do have an extra copy of "Miss Bianca in the Orient" that's looking for a good home...

As far as "Lilith" goes I have read it, about three years ago. I really enjoyed it - it's probably one of my favorite MacDonald books. I wouldn't recommend MacDonald to everyone because sometimes you have to take a long, strange and barely comprehensible journey to get to the goal. It reminds me of the long contemplative journey on foot that you take to get to certain Buddhist temples. Along the way you might see things that illuminate or confuse you or just plain bore you to death. He's a pretty alien writer to me in many ways. One of the best things about my copy was the brief biography of him that was in the foreward. I found his story fascinating.

I would say that "Lilith" is the most adult of MacDonald's books that I've read. Whereas "The Princess and Curdie" or "The Wise Woman" or "The Light Princess" could be read to children because children are the protagonists and they are couched as fairy tales I do not think that "Lilith" can be. The main character is an adult. It reads more like a myth or an epic. In fact, it does remind me of reading "The Iliad".

inlägg gjort av CyanDag vid 11:57 am (EST) Jan 25, 2008

Kokipy-ji,

One is astounded at the number of books you have catalogued in such a short time!!

I LOVE being able to browse each other's libraries!

inlägg gjort av MtnSk8tr vid 4:35 pm (EST) Jan 22, 2008

You have really managed to get a lot of books in quickly. And judging from my experience, it isn't due to the CueCat!

inlägg gjort av stellarexplorer vid 2:58 am (EST) Jan 21, 2008

You are very positive and supportive, I truly thank you. I'm pretty serene about the whole thing. I've been in flux for some time now - it's totally felt like birth pangs (not that I would know - LOL). I feel like that recurring sentiment in "2010" - "Something wonderful is going to happen". It makes my toes curl with happiness and I often start singing in the bathroom.

One word of caution about my reading habits, I do enjoy the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books by Laurell Hamilton. Especially the earlier ones. They've pretty much devolved but I keep plugging along because I want to see what happens to the characters. Even if they annoy the stuffing out of me sometimes.

inlägg gjort av CyanDag vid 4:14 pm (EST) Jan 15, 2008

As am I (looking forward to getting reading ideas by snooping through your library)! This seems like an incredibly cool resource. Of course, the big problem for me is that I find myself not reading just now. Almost nothing. There's something going on under the surface of my personality.

inlägg gjort av CyanDag vid 2:19 pm (EST) Jan 15, 2008

Kokipy! I'm charmed to see how many books we have in common when I've managed to enter so few. This should be a very entertaining and enlightening experience!

Peace,
Suzdal

inlägg gjort av CyanDag vid 1:48 pm (EST) Jan 15, 2008

Hello! :-)
I see you do some progress with the Cuecat?!
I saw we share more than a few works by Neal Stephenson; that's unusual! A lot of people seems to be disappointed in his Baroque Cycle, and I really enjoyed those books.

inlägg gjort av Busifer vid 4:35 am (EST) Jan 12, 2008