Tilfældige bøger fra bhowells bibliotek

Om mig I am an avid reader and collector, having been reading since the age of 4 and I am now 54. I am a litigation lawyer and I have practised full time for about 30 years. I wish I had more time for my books but my husband and I have two children, both in University and so I am not quite ready to retire. I started collecting 1st editions about 20 years ago and it has become a dominant interest. I would be interested in hearing from other members who are collectors as well as readers. I must also admit that I have become a bit of a LibraryThing junkie. I visit the site frequently and I am endlessly interested in what other members say about books. It has broadened my knowledge of books and authors. I also find that members' ratings and comments are pretty astute with respect to the readability of books. If a book is boring you will read that here. You can also read reviews that are so literate and knowledgeable that you wonder what these people do in their real life.

Om mit bibliotek My library is large but it is a family library so not all areas reflect my interest. There are 4 of us and we are all great readers. Our son is doing graduate work in history and our daughter is an undergraduate in English. The political science, economics and philosophy books are mainly purchased and read by my husband and son. My interest is mainly modern fiction and history though I read some science books (biology) as well. I also have some favourite mystery writers(mostly British) and I indulge myself in that area and historical fiction. I am a Trollope nut and for awhile was a member of the Trollope Society which published his books through the Folio Society. So far as I know I have read every book by him, about 65 of them. When I started out it was difficult to get all of his titles but thanks to Dover reprints and the Folio Society I think I have them all.

I love the Early Reviewers program as it introduces me to new authors and widdens my horizon. I have been trying to keep track of my ongoing reading and what I thought about each book by writing a few lines of a review for every book I now read. I also like kiwidoc's profile where she lists her goal for 2008 and the books she intends to read. I have listed the books I have already read in 2008 and made a list of the other books I want to read. So here goes.

Books read in 2008:

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
Saving the World by Julia Alvarez
Losing It by Jane Asher
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Claire's Head by Catherine Bush
Death comes for Peter Pan by Joan Brady
The Cranberry Queen by Kathleen DeMarco
City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
The Translator by Daoud Hari (Early Reviewers)
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman
Memoirs: Laughing and Dancing Our Way to the Precipe by Felice Harcourt
Fault Lines by Nancy Huston
Imperium by Robert Harris
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossein
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
When we were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro
Dark Angels by Katherine Koen
Germ by Robert Liparlo
The Last Breath by Denise Mina
Things I want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble(early reviewers)
Laura by Hilary Norman
Uncensored: Views & Reviews by Joyce Carol Oates
Alphabet by Kathy Page
The Foreigners by Caryl Phillips (early reviewers)
Saraminda by Jose Sarney (Early reviewers)
The Finishing School by Muriel Spark
The Lost Garden by Mary Stanley
Olive Kitteredge by Elizabeth Strout (early reviewers)
Farewell My Queen by Chantal Thomas
Uncle Jack by Tony Williams
The Lover by Laura Wilson
A Little Death by Laura Wilson
Hello Bunny Alice by Laura Wilson
Nowhere's Child by Francesca Weisman
Every Past Thing by Pamela Thompson (early reviewers)
Revenge by Marry Morris
Ideas of Heaven by Joan Silber
Hunger by Elise Blackwell
Enchantress of Florence by Salmon Rushdie (early reviewers)
Call the Dying by Andrew Taylor
The Ghost Writer by John Harwood
The Successor by Ismail Kadare
America, America by Ethan Canin (early reviewers)
Missing Mom by Joyce Carol Oates
Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley
A Changed Man by Francine Prose
Mister Sandman by Barbara Gowdy(early reviewers)
The Custom of the Sea by Neil Hanson
Alice in Exile by Piers Paul Read
The Small Hours of the Morning by Margaret Yorke
Sophia Regent of Russia 1657-1704 by Lindsey Hughes
The Scroll of Seduction by Gioconda Bell
The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby
The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith
A Week in October by Elizabeth Subercaseaux (early reviewers)
I, Elizabeth by Rosalind Miles
The Fat Woman's Joke by Fay Weldon
Whitehall Palace by Cecil Whitaker-Wilson
Suspect by Michael Robotham
One Under by Graham Hurley

Books to Be read in 2008:

How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent by Julia Alvarez
In the Name of Salome by Julia Alverez
Hunger's Brides by Paul Anderson
Giving Up America by Pearl Abraham
Anthills of the Savannah by Chinua Achebe
Passion of Reverend Nash by Rachel Basch
Sweet William by Beryl Bainbridge
No Birds Sang by Jo Bannister
Judas Heart by Ingrid Black
March by Geraldine Brooks
The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt
Cat's Pilgramage by Marilyn Bowring
Rock Riven by T C Boyle
The 6th Lamentation by William Broderick
Mackeral Sky by Natelee Caple
Sapphira & The Slave Girl by Willa Cather
Childrens War by Veronica Chambers
An audience of Chairs by Joan Clark
The Graft and Two Women by Martina Cole
Nicholas Cooke by Stephanie Cowell
1906: A Novel by James Dalessandro
The Pangs of Love and Crusoe's Daughter by Jane Gardam
Sight Unseen by Kate Gibbons
The Thief Taker by Janet Gleeson
The Climax of Rome by Michael Grant
Late Nights On Air by Elizabeth Hay
All Night Awake by Sarah Hoyt
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
Italian Fever by Valerie Martin
Prince Edward by Dennis McFarland
Dangerous Love by Ben Okri
Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar and Rasputin: The Last Word by Edward Radzinsky
The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell
The Darkness Inside by John Rickards
A Strange Affair by Peter Robinson
Hungry Hills by George Ryga
The Black City by George Sand
Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks
Tomorrow by Graham Swift
Felony: The Private History of the Aspern Papers by Emma Tennant
Blinding Light by Paul Theroux
Graven Images by Audrey Thomas
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
Big Women by Fay Weldon
The River by Tricia Wastvedt

Medlemskab LibraryThing Early Reviewers

StedEdmonton, Alberta, Canada

E-mailbhowellbarrpicard.com

Kontotypeoffentlig, livstid

ForbindelserForbindelser

URLer http://www.librarything.com/profile/bhowell (profil)
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/bhowell (bibliotek)

Medlem sidenSep 28, 2006

Skriv besked

Re Death comes to Peter Pan, I too have a copy. Joan Brady lives locally, I heard her speak at a local literary festival, about the time the book was published. We sort of expected the issue of the care homes in the States to become as issue, do you know if it did? We saw nothing in the press here in the UK. Sadly I read in one of our national papers recently that Joan Brady has been quite ill , and is currently unable to write any more.

Best wishes

skrevet af CommonReeda kl. 10:45 am (EST) den Jul 24, 2008

we share almost 500 books and some of the same fave authors! feel free to come by my page with recommendations if you ever read anything great!

skrevet af amanaceerdh kl. 8:43 am (EST) den Jul 8, 2008

Wonderful library! Nice to meet a literate lawyer -- I suppose there are many, but I rarely get to the point of asking or finding out. And I deliberately elevate my briefs to the 11-13 year old level, so most of my peers at the bar are perfectly justified in assuming I have the imagination of a small filing cabinet. I really appreciate your reviews -- very helpful. I've thumbed them up.

skrevet af keylawk kl. 12:13 am (EST) den Jun 28, 2008

Unfortunately, it's too late to pick a new reviewer for the book. But feel free to pass it along to a friend after you're done with it!

Abby

skrevet af ablachly kl. 7:07 pm (EST) den May 28, 2008

I have the Basbanes book, have perused it – but it remains one of many I have yet to read (a subset of my hoarding mania is “books about books and book collecting” – as if madness were anything but being caught up in a circuit. My favorite is a slim little volume called “A Brief Outline of the History of Libraries”, by Justus Lipsius, which is full of odd facts about collectors and collections in antiquity (e.g.: many wealthy Romans had private libraries, and these often were in their baths). My wife is tolerant, bless her soul, and my daughter is still at the age where she finds my great stacks awe inspiring (rather than the topical blemish of a profound disorder). My biblio-library is confined to one room at present (which has that odor, or bouquet, rather, of an old bookstore or university reading-room) – and my music library is downstairs. It is my hope that by driving a 1988 Volvo for the next 20 years I can divert those funds toward an addition on the house that will merge the lps and books into a single library. The forebearance of reality is anticipated.

I am going to order The Well of Loneliness and the Egan satire The Sink of Solitude. It is my understanding that Egan meant mainly to ridicule the prudes who had had the book banned in the UK. He included among his illustrations a picture of Hall nailed to a cross – which offended her religious sensibilities - prompting her to validate the moral “acumen” of her persecutors by publishing a religious themed novel. That loss of faith (in herself, in her own moral authority), to me, is a devastation.

What a marvelous time in life – college years, whole vast days to spend reading, discovering a world we can only pretend to be jaded about. I was an English/French major as well (though long past are the days when I could effortlessly read a novel in French… a sad fact I am just now taking steps to correct). Have you read anything by Julien Gracq? His language is voluptuous, yet elegant – after the manner of the symbolist poets – and this in English translation (I have tasked a friend in Tunis to find me French originals). He died a few days prior to this past Christmas.

But here i will curb my vice andd thank you for your interesting reply. I hope your daughter inherits your gentle madness!

Regards,

Malcolm

skrevet af benwaugh kl. 11:15 am (EST) den May 14, 2008

Hello from Oakville, Ontario. We appear to share many books, but it's all relative. In my case, 81 appears to be "many". You've been reading at a rate of 10 books/month so far this year...when on earth do you find the time to litigate??? I'm a fan.

skrevet af veronicarichmond kl. 7:31 pm (EST) den Apr 26, 2008

Nice to hear from you, bhowell. I appreciate your thoughts on recommending a few titles. I think each chapters has a slightly different selection as the Alvarez book was no where to be found on the North Shore. I have the book about Frank Lloyd Wright and the Brooks book waiting to be read. Case histories - that I read a while ago, but I still think Kate Atkinson's first book was the best so far.

At the moment reading the latest Rose Tremain book, which is really good so far - 'The Road Home'. I really like her writing style and you may be familiar with her book called 'Restoration' - made into a movie.

Also read the Pen Faulkner winner, 'The Great Man' but not a great fan (review is on my profile. Also The Carhullan Army' by Sarah Hall, and 'The Gathering' by Enright which won the latest Booker, non of which I can recommend completely wholeheartedly.

Hope you are keeping well. Happy reading.

Cheers, Karen

skrevet af kiwidoc kl. 1:12 am (EST) den Apr 4, 2008

Nice to hear from you, Bhowell.

Very nice to meet you. Cyberspace has been a great enjoyment for me with like-minded people. I have enjoyed taking a less science based view and reading more classics and the like.

I must admit that in the last 5-10 years I have been more selective in buying first edition copies - often in discount bins as you say. I also have an ongoing subscription to a small outfit (an author actually), who sells signed first editions as they are published, so I generally get two per month. He has an excellent eye for literature.

The difficult thing is arranging the acquisitions in a pleasing and accessible way - I would adore a dedicated room as a library with a big comfie chair. However my kids are teenagers so our bookshelves splatter various walls.

(I am 49 and 3/4!! (yikes, tettering on the 50 mark), and work as a GP, with 2 kids, a dog, two cats and an ER physician (not to put him last in any other way!!!)

My 16 year old daughter has a great interest in the law so I think she will pursue that avenue someday, breaking away from the sciences that surround her.

Nice to connect.

Take care,

Karen

skrevet af kiwidoc kl. 4:17 pm (EST) den Feb 9, 2008

Hello from Vancouver.

I thought I would introduce myself as you are third highest on my 'shared' list and we share 766 books. I also would like to collect first editions of books I love, but finances are a constraint. So I am rather swimming in paperbacks and other less sturdy versions at present.

I also have an interest in science books, although as my medical career has immersed me in this genre, I have attempted to educate myself in other fields - in a very haphazard fashion thus far!

Cheers,

Karen

skrevet af kiwidoc kl. 2:40 pm (EST) den Feb 5, 2008

Thanks for alerting me to your review of The Queen's Fool. This novel and The Other Boleyn Girl are the two novels by Philippa Gregory that I have read. I read OBG first, and thought the new perspective on Anne Boleyn, usually portrayed in fiction as a helpless victim, was refreshing and probably closer to the truth in many ways. After reading The Queen's Fool, I started feeling troubled by an undercurrent of anti-feminism in Gregory's perspective.

While I don't feel every novel needs to champion its female characters as paragons of virtue whose only flaws to be overcome are passivity in the face of male brutality, I don't think we've come so far that I feel comfortable with a series of novels whose message is that women in general will be happier if they avoid exercising political power and focus exclusively on cultivating a romantic relationship with a man. OBG was refreshing to me largely because I enjoyed reading about a female character - Anne Boleyn - who was both credible as a women (unlike the recent crop of movie heroines who are supposedly wonderful feminist role models because they enjoy wielding machine guns and blowing things up as much as the classic male movie heroes do) and as a villain.

QF seemed like a feminist novel on the surface, with its plucky heroine dressed up in boy's clothing, but the overall thrust of the novel seems to advocate female subservience. It doesn't especially bother me to read an unorthodox portrayal of Queen Elizabeth, who undoubtedly had her less appealing side (although QF went to an extreme I don't feel was historically justified). But it does bother me that a woman writer of Gregory's talent seems to be reverting to a 1950s view of woman's proper role. The negative portrayal of Elizabeth seemed to be part and parcel of this reactionary view.

skrevet af margad kl. 3:16 pm (EST) den Nov 4, 2007

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