Recent Book Activity

[Note: I usually respond to PM's within a day or two; if you've sent me a message requiring a response and have not heard back, it's possible that there was a glitch somewhere in the world of email, so please try again!]

[See my in-progress bookrings/rays here.]
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I am (among other things) a bibliovore, an Anglophile, an ailurophile, a role-playing-gamer, a bit of a thanatophile, an out-of-work software engineer, and an aunt. And a seriously addicted BookCrosser.

I enjoy many types of books: history, forensic archaeology and taphonomy, true crime, how-to's, horror, fantasy, SF, mysteries, and more. Favorite authors include Jane Austen, Edward Gorey, Dorothy Sayers, Ethan Mordden, Patricia Highsmith, Rudyard Kipling, M. R. James, E. F. Benson, Joseph Hansen, Manly Wade Wellman - uh, well, there are lots and lots. Since discovering BookCrossing, my goal has been to register the most unique, quirky, and/or weird books I can bear to part with (and a few that I can't).

If you see an available-status book on my bookshelf that you're interested in, or if you just want to talk books, feel free to PM me. [NOTE on my use of status codes: I'm using the "available" status to indicate all of the following: books that I'm willing to consider for trades, books available via bookrings, and books I plan to wild-release. Please read the journal entries to see which is which. Also, please note who set the "available" status - if it wasn't me, then I don't have the book! I wild-release often, and new books become available as I read them, so the list will change frequently. I used to use the "TBR" status exclusively for books that I intended to read and hadn't finished yet, but since I'm so far behind in writing up journal entries on the books I have read, about two-thirds of my "TBR"s are really "to be reviewed"!]

Current wild releases caught: 710 (most recent/colorful catches here and here). My catch rate is hovering just over 14%. The shortest gap between release and journal entry - about half an hour (or less: this one was about 20 minutes!); the longest, almost six years...

Current/recent reads [updated Feb. 2012]:

Comfy-chair: Steampunk Prime, Fox Walked Alone

Audiobook: In progress: Tale of Two Cities [via Audible.com download]

Bedside: Mammoth Book of Egyptian Whodunnits

Carrying-around book: The Nasty Bits

Hammock: too cold for hammock time...

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[The "favorite books" section is WAY overdue for an update, but maybe you'll find the oldies-but-goodies of interest!]

Favorite books of 2006:

Sleep Demons

Favorite books of 2005: [to be listed as soon as I can catch up on journaling - I'm backed up from last April so it may be a while!]

2004 Book Challenge: my goal for the challenge was to read 100 books in 2004 (not counting re-reads); I hit 192 by year end - and then took all of January to catch up journaling books I'd read as far back as August! Here are some of the books I most enjoyed in 2004:

1. Banvard's Folly, by Paul S. Collins
100. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, by David Sedaris
102. City of Night, by John Rechy
119. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon
123. Some Men are Lookers, by Ethan Mordden
139. Island of the Sequined Love Nun, by Christopher Moore [thanks, !]
140. Outermost House, by Henry Beston
148. How to Go to the Movies, by Quentin Crisp [got this one due to BCer mojosmom's review - and, I just realized, at least two of the books on the list came from her as well!]
150. Food for Life... and Other Dish, by various authors
154. Sunday Best, by Edward O. Phillips
170. I'm Not Scared, by Niccolo Ammaniti
171. The Martian Child, by David Gerrold
179. Pomosexuals: Challenging Assumptions about Gender and Sexuality, ed. Carol Queen, Lawrence Schimel
181. A Smile in His Lifetime, by Joseph Hansen [I was saddened to learn that he died at about the time I was reading this book...]

My current bookrays/rings (current hop/total hops): What's Your Poo Telling You? (18/20, replacement copy, on its way to littlebooklover), Pimp My Cubicle (10/13 - waiting on BusyAngel), Women Who Run With the Werewolves (12/14), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (6/11), Gritty Grace (3/9) [last with hereticcoy, no replies to PMs], Bodies in a Bookshop (6/19), The Anatomist (2/8); Field Guide to the Apocalypse (4/8); Grandmother and the Priests (4/5); Bending the Willow (5/7); Lammas Night (2/7); Death on the Ice (4/8); The 27th Day (new); Ophelia Joins the Group of Maidens Who Don't Float; Motel of the Mysteries

Bookrays/rings that seem to be stalled/lost: The Cemetery Book [last with Mom-of-one], What NOT to Name the Baby [last with Mom-of-one], Dead and Gone [last with m7c57], Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death [last with BelleMorte], Ask Henry [last with jjlanes]

Bookrays/rings that made it to the end [thanks, everyone!]: The Cook, The Last Hero, Mr. Death and the Redheaded Woman, More Items from Our Catalog, The Healing Hand, Studies in Murder, Escape from Fire Island, The Anything Box, Mr. Cat, Heave Ho, Living with Dickens, Nanny Ogg's Cookbook, No Hidden Meanings, More Cats in the Belfry [audio], Bodies In Motion And At Rest, Catkin, The Iron Tonic, Doomsday Book, Queer Books, The Highwayman, Flight of the Phoenix, My Five Tigers, Murder By Design, The Mice Will Play, Screening Party (1 copy stalled, replaced), Blood Games, Story Hour, The Man Who Folded Himself, Curious Sofa [tag-team bookring], Food for Life... and Other Dish, The Catswold Portal, Lord John and the Private Matter, Cats in May, Century of Women Cartoonists, Love of Seven Dolls, Last Days of Summer, Two by Two, The Burglar in the Library, Creatures of the Night, The Ghost of Silver Cliff, Stormy Night, Air Disaster, We'll Always Have Parrots, The Best Ghost Stories of H. Russell Wakefield, As We Were: A Victorian Peep-Show, The Popsicle Tree, (Raffles) The Amateur Cracksman, Shadows over Baker Street, Sunday's Child, Bimbos of the Death Sun, Sleep Demons, Never Hit a Jellyfish with a Spade, Love Junkie, Riddle of the Traveling Skull, Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan, The Unstrung Harp, The Case of the Transposed Legs, The Importance of Being Earnest (graphic novel), Andrée's Story, Me and Mickie James, Send Bygraves

My most frequent release locations: New Hampshire, Massachusetts

My Wishlist: Since the wishlist functions have been added to BookCrossing, Cliff1976 will be phasing out his wonderful wishlist site; see his message here. You can see my wishes on my BC wishlist.

Thanks for all the wishes, Cliff!

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[Credits: my profile picture is a Wallace Tripp illustration from a mug and greeting card I own; I like it 'cause it's entirely too much like me. And if you've caught any of my books, you may have noticed some cat stamps on the inside covers; "Cats. Books. Life is good." or "So many books, so little time." Stamp source: www.goreydetails.net , a wonderful site for items by and about artist/author Edward Gorey (no relation!).]