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VariC

From Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin Germany
Age 48
Joined Friday, May 25, 2007
Recent Book Activity
Statistics
4 weeks all time
books registered 0 295
released in the wild 0 100
controlled releases 0 60
releases caught 0 32
controlled releases caught 0 58
books found 0 96
tell-a-friend referrals 0 33
new member referrals 0 3
forum posts 0 1,177
Extended Profile
(I'm not very active anymore and haven't updated the information below in a few years, so it's probably pretty out of date.)

Catch rate of wild releases: 26/93 (28%)
Wild books found: 6

Countries I've released books in: Czech Republic (0/1), Finland (20/73), France (1/2), Germany (2/8), Spain (1/2), USA (2/7)

Finnish provinces I've released books in: Itä-Uusimaa, Kainuu, Pirkanmaa, Pohjois-Savo, Uusimaa

Countries I've sent books to: Argentina, Australia, Finland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA

Countries I've received books from: Argentina, Finland, France, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, USA

I like to see the books travel, so I'm always open to trading anything in my Available list, and I'm usually able to send anywhere in the world. I may also lend out books from my Permanent Collection, but they are ones I eventually want back, so they're pretty much available only to people I know. And don't just ask for a book without offering a trade in return unless you know me well enough to know I wouldn't mind.

If you receive a book through me, either by finding one I've released or by me giving it to you, you are free to do with it anything you want; I don't consider books I've let go to be my property in any way (of course, this doesn't apply to bookrings or similar things). Still, I would appreciate it if you kept the book circulating. So if you want to keep such a book in your PC, it's fine with me, but please consider at least occasionally lending it out, ringing it, and so forth.

I have also donated some books to the 1001-library shelf. The above two paragraphs naturally don't apply to them; go see the 1001-library shelf for the rules on those.

I try to rate the books that I read, but don't rely too much on the ratings or even my comments. Sometimes they just reflect how the book matched my expectations and not be any sort of absolute measure, so I might pan a good book that wasn't as good as I expected or vice versa. I always try to give some information that helps people decide whether to read the book, but I might not succeed as well as I'd hope.

Wild Books Caught and Found

Caught books with release locations:
  1. Ken Follett: The Eye of the Needle (Book recycling shelf)
  2. Douglas Coupland: Microserfs (University CS department)
  3. Isaac Asimov: The Stars like Dust (Bus)
  4. Piers Anthony: Total Recall (Movie theater)
  5. Isaac Asimov: Forward the Foundation (University CS department)
  6. Bill Bryson: A Short History of Nearly Everything (University CS department)
  7. Diana Wynne Jones: The Dark Lord of Derkholm (Research institute)
  8. Wendy Northcutt: Darwinin palkinnot 2 (Book recycling shelf)
  9. Robert Forward: Dragon's Egg (Space museum)
  10. Donald E. Westlake: The Ax (Metro station)
  11. Walter M. Miller, Jr.: A Canticle for Leibowitz (Park)
  12. Jari Tervo: Tuulikaappimaa (Bus)
  13. Ingrid Noll: Rakkaat vainajat (Railway station)
  14. Robert A. Heinlein: The Man Who Sold the Moon (City square)
  15. Lloyd Alexander: Kolmen kertomus (Book recycling shelf)
  16. Isaac Asimov: Pebble in the Sky (University)
  17. Edgar Allan Poe: Rue Morguen murhat ja muita kertomuksia (Shopping mall)
  18. Mary Higgins Clark: Lottovoittaja (Gas station café)
  19. Cory Doctorow: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (University CS department)
  20. Agatha Christie: Murder in Mesopotamia (City square)
  21. Donald E. Westlake: Älkää ampuko baarimikkoa (Café)
  22. Umberto Eco: Foucault's Pendulum (University library)
  23. Mel Odom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Unnatural Selection (Subway station)
  24. Robert A. Heinlein: The Menace from Earth (Monument)
  25. Arthur C. Clarke: Profiles of the Future (University CS department)
  26. George Lucas: Star Wars (Book recycling shelf)
Found books with locations:
  1. Jussi Siirilä: Ison auton tuntu (Book recycling shelf)
  2. Bill Hayes, William Hoffer: Keskiyön pikajuna (Book recycling shelf)
  3. Anita Shreve: The Last Time They Met: A Novel (Book recycling shelf)
  4. Nick Duerden: Sidewalking (Library)
  5. Sheri S. Tepper: The Bones (Book recycling shelf)
  6. Eeva Nikoskelainen: Heta Hörkkö ja kaksoiskierteen lumo (Book recycling shelf)

Rings and Rays

Incoming rings and rays:
  1. George Eliot: Middlemarch (JonAsp)
  2. Letter Game (cat02886)
  3. Surprise Bookring (cat02886)
  4. Jessica Valenti: Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters (CandyDarling)
  5. Spelling Bookcrossing (cat02886)
  6. Kuplamuovi (Rakuna)
  7. Riitta Vartti: Tulikärpänen (CandyDarling)
Rings and rays currently with me:
  1. Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway (Sobergirl)
  2. Ursula Le Guin: The Telling (oofiri)
  3. Karel Čapek: Salamanterisota (Chania)
  4. Isaac Asimov Science Fiction valikoima 2 (MiuM)
Rings and rays I've passed on:
  1. Eero Holmila, Lauri Kovanen, Jouni Saarenpää: Troolattua saimaannorppaa ja 124 muuta: teekkarijäynien historiaa (Niora)
  2. Banana Yoshimoto: NP (Aspen72)
  3. Tinni Ernsjöö Rappe, Jennie Sjögren: Liian tunnollinen (CandyDarling)
  4. Helvi ja Ensio Ängeslevä: Satuhyrrä (Tarna)
  5. Kate Atkinson: Museon kulisseissa (chirel)
  6. Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen: Lumikko ja yhdeksän muuta (chirel)
  7. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (davemurray101)
  8. Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (halonhakkaaja)
  9. Ken Saro-Wiwa: Vankilapäiväkirja (Ahava)
  10. Banana Yoshimoto: Kitchen (Liinuskainen)
  11. Michael Bond: A Bear Called Paddington (Rakuna)
  12. Uusi suuri sikasäkki (Piiku)
  13. Françoise Xenakis: Hitto, rouva unohtui (dotdot)
  14. Melissa P: Sata harjanvetoa ennen nukkumaanmenoa (LaPitchoune)
  15. Arvoitusarkku V (lottuli)
  16. Hanne Ørstavik: Rakkaus (Alejanda)
  17. Liza Marklund, Lotta Snickare: Helvetissä on erityinen paikka naisille, jotka eivät auta toisiaan (CandyDarling)
  18. Hanne Ørstavik: Yhtä totta kuin olen todellinen (Niksu)
  19. Allyson Beatrice: Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? (True Adventures in Cult Fandom) (Guinneth)
  20. Hanne Ørstavik: Pappi (lukutuoli)
  21. Amélie Nothomb: Vaitelias naapuri (Margih)
  22. Risto Isomäki: 34 tapaa estää maapallon ylikuumeneminen (Ametisti)
  23. Anna Kontula: Tästä äiti varoitti (CandyDarling)
  24. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Neitsythäkki (Perdue)
  25. ABC Bookray (cat02886)
  26. Linda Skugge, Belinda Olsson, Brita Zilg: Pilluparvi (Piparjuuri)
  27. John Grisham: The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (UbSiA)
  28. Juhani Laulajainen: Äärettömän hyvä nainen (ruzena)
  29. Margaret Atwood: Moral Disorder and Other Stories (oofiri)
  30. Yevgeny Zamyatin: We (davemurray101)
  31. Henrik Lange: 90 kirjaklassikkoa kiireisille (Jennynen)
Rings and rays started by me:
  1. Nick Hornby: Triple Platinum: Fever Pitch / High Fidelity / About a Boy
  2. Richard Dawkins: The Blind Watchmaker
  3. Carrie Vaughn: Kitty Norville series (spiral)

Challenges

Participating in:
  1. TBR-vuoren louhintahaaste (30.4.2008) (Failed, read 3 out of 5 and most of the other 2)
  2. VUH - Varttivuosisadan Uusi Haaste (30.9.2008) (Failed, gave up keeping track, do not read enough Finnish books)
  3. Kesäkirjoja pikkupaikkakunnille (30.9.2008) (Completed, released in 3 towns)
  4. Laskuhaaste (30.11.2008) (Completed 4 batches)
  5. Ei kysyvä tieltä eksy (25.12.2008) (Made 2 releases)
  6. Lukemisen aakkoset 2008 (31.12.2008) (Completed on 7.12.2008)
  7. Pappi, lukkari, talonpoika (24.5.2009) (Completed on 17.7.2008)
  8. TBR-vuoren louhintahaaste (30.9.2009) (Completed 2 batches)
  9. Afrikan tähti (1.12.2010)
  10. PRKL (31.7.2010)
Set by me:
  1. Tieteenedistämishaaste (26.1.2008)
  2. Kapinoi! (1.5.2008)
  3. Monopoli-vapautuspeli (31.8.2009)
  4. Luki-haaste (6.4.2010)

Reading Lists

I'm collecting here some book lists that I think would be interesting to read as a whole. In the list, the symbols mean
UR=unread, I do not own it
IC=incoming, I'm in a bookring or ray for it
TBR=to be read, I own it but have not read yet
WNR=will not read, I tried it but disliked it so much I will not finish
R=read, I have read it
Any Bookcrossing books are linked by title.

F/SF Award Winners

I read a lot of science fiction, so a couple of obvious lists are the Hugo and Nebula winning novels. I also include novels that have won the Tiptree Award, since expanding one's horizons is always worthwhile.

Year Hugo Nebula Tiptree
2009 (UR) The Graveyard Book
2008 (R) The Yiddish Policemen's Union (UR) Powers (UR) The Knife of Never Letting Go
(UR) Filter House
2007 (TBR) Rainbows End (R) The Yiddish Policemen's Union (R) The Carhullan Army
2006 (UR) Spin (UR) Seeker (UR) The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden
(UR) Half Life
2005 (R) Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (R) Camouflage (UR) Air
2004 (R) Paladin of Souls (R) Paladin of Souls (R) Camouflage
(R) Not Before Sundown
2003 (UR) Hominids (UR) The Speed of Dark (UR) Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
2002 (R) American Gods (R) American Gods (UR) Light
2001 (R) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (UR) The Quantum Rose (UR) The Kappa Child
2000 (R) A Deepness in the Sky (UR) Darwin's Radio (UR) Wild Life
1999 (UR) To Say Nothing of the Dog (UR) Parable of the Talents (UR) The Conqueror's Child
1998 (UR) Forever Peace (UR) Forever Peace
1997 (UR) Blue Mars (UR) The Moon and the Sun (UR) Black Wine
1996 (UR) The Diamond Age (UR) Slow River (TBR) The Sparrow
1995 (UR) Mirror Dance (UR) The Terminal Experiment (UR) Waking the Moon
(UR) The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein
1994 (TBR) Green Mars (UR) Moving Mars (UR) Larque on the Wing
1993 (R) A Fire Upon the Deep
(R) Doomsday Book
(TBR) Red Mars (UR) Ammonite
1992 (UR) Barrayar (R) Doomsday Book (UR) China Mountain Zhang
1991 (TBR) The Vor Game (UR) Stations of the Tide (UR) A Woman of the Iron People
(UR) White Queen
1990 (R) Hyperion (R) Tehanu
1989 (TBR) Cyteen (UR) The Healer's War
1988 (UR) The Uplift War (UR) Falling Free
1987 (R) Speaker for the Dead (UR) The Falling Woman
1986 (R) Ender's Game (R) Speaker for the Dead
1985 (TBR) Neuromancer (R) Ender's Game
1984 (UR) Startide Rising (TBR) Neuromancer
1983 (R) Foundation's Edge (UR) Startide Rising
1982 (UR) Downbelow Station (UR) No Enemy But Time
1981 (UR) The Snow Queen (UR) The Claw of the Conciliator
1980 (UR) The Fountains of Paradise (UR) Timescape
1979 (UR) Dreamsnake (UR) The Fountains of Paradise
1978 (TBR) Gateway (UR) Dreamsnake (UR) Motherlines
1977 (TBR) Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (TBR) Gateway
1976 (R) The Forever War (UR) Man Plus
1975 (TBR) The Dispossessed (R) The Forever War (R) The Female Man
1974 (TBR) Rendezvous with Rama (TBR) The Dispossessed (UR) Walk to the End of the World
1973 (R) The Gods Themselves (TBR) Rendezvous with Rama
1972 (R) To Your Scattered Bodies Go (R) The Gods Themselves
1971 (R) Ringworld (UR) A Time of Changes
1970 (R) The Left Hand of Darkness (R) Ringworld
1969 (UR) Stand on Zanzibar (R) The Left Hand of Darkness (R) The Left Hand of Darkness
1968 (TBR) Lord of Light (UR) Rite of Passage
1967 (R) The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (UR) The Einstein Intersection
1966 (R) Dune
(UR) This Immortal
(TBR) Babel-17
(R) Flowers for Algernon
1965 (UR) The Wanderer (R) Dune
1964 (UR) Here Gather the Stars
1963 (R) The Man in the High Castle
1962 (R) Stranger in a Strange Land
1961 (R) A Canticle for Leibowitz
1960 (R) Starship Troopers
1959 (UR) A Case of Conscience
1958 (UR) The Big Time
1956 (R) Double Star
1955 (UR) They'd Rather Be Right
1953 (TBR) The Demolished Man
Total Read 24(+11)/57 14(+6)/45 5(+1)/26

The Country Challenge

The challenge here is to read a book from every country of the world. As I take it, either the book has to be set (mostly) in that country or the author has to be from there for it to qualify. As the country list, I'm using the list of sovereign states from Wikipedia. I will probably feel free to add any book that I have ever read to this list, not just books I've read since beginning to keep track.

Country Author Book
Afghanistan Khaled Hosseini Tuhat loistavaa aurinkoa
Argentina Jorge Luis Borges The Aleph
Canada Margaret Atwood Oryx ja Crake
China Jung Chang Villijoutsenet
Czech Republic Milan Kundera Pila
Denmark Vita Andersen Suu kiinni ja ole kaunis
Finland Mika Waltari Tähdet kertovat, komisario Palmu!
France Amélie Nothomb Vaitelias naapuri
Germany Hermann Hesse Arosusi
Greece Apostolos Doxiadis Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture
India Arundhati Roy Joutavuuksien jumala
Iran Marjane Satrapi Persepolis
Ireland Roddy Doyle Nimeni on Henry Smart
Italy Marcello Fois Sumu
Japan Banana Yoshimoto NP
Korea, Democratic People's Republic Kim Hyun Hee Sieluni kyyneleet
Lebanon Hanan al-Shaikh Kaukana Lontoossa
Namibia André Brink Hiljaisuuden tuolla puolen
Nigeria Ken Saro-Wiwa Vankilapäiväkirja
Norway Hanne Ørstavik Pappi
Poland Stanisław Lem The Futurological Congress
Russia Anatoli Tomilin Kuinka ihminen keksi että maapallo on pyöreä
Somalia Ayaan Hirsi Ali Neitsythäkki
South Africa Dick Francis Smokescreen
Sweden Stieg Larsson Miehet jotka vihaavat naisia
Turkey Bill Hayes, William Hoffer Keskiyön pikajuna
United Kingdom Ben Elton The First Casualty
United States Abbie Hoffman Varasta tämä kirja

1001 Books

The 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list seems to be popular with Bookcrossers, and I also participate in the 1001-library so I thought it might be interesting to track them. I don't consider this to be a very serious effort in that I won't be especially hunting for books in this list; it's just something fun to do. Since the list is so big, I'm listing here only the non-UR books.

Current totals:
Read + Will Not Read: 68
To Be Read and Incoming: 44

  1. (TBR) Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
  2. (R) The Plot Against America – Philip Roth
  3. (R) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
  4. (TBR) Dead Air – Iain Banks
  5. (TBR) Fury – Salman Rushdie
  6. (R) The Human Stain – Philip Roth
  7. (TBR) Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
  8. (R) The Hours – Michael Cunningham
  9. (R) The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
  10. (TBR) American Pastoral – Philip Roth
  11. (TBR) Complicity – Iain Banks
  12. (R) The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
  13. (TBR) The Crow Road – Iain Banks
  14. (TBR) American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis
  15. (R) Wild Swans – Jung Chang
  16. (TBR) Time's Arrow – Martin Amis
  17. (TBR) Like Water for Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
  18. (TBR) A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
  19. (R) Foucault's Pendulum – Umberto Eco
  20. (R) The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks
  21. (R) Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
  22. (R) Contact – Carl Sagan
  23. (R) The Handmaid's Tale – Margaret Atwood
  24. (R) The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
  25. (TBR) The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
  26. (TBR) Neuromancer – William Gibson
  27. (TBR) The Life and Times of Michael K – J.M. Coetzee
  28. (R) The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
  29. (R) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
  30. (R) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
  31. (R) Slaughterhouse-five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
  32. (TBR) A Void/Avoid – Georges Perec
  33. (R) 2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
  34. (R) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
  35. (TBR) One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
  36. (R) The Joke – Milan Kundera
  37. (R) God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater – Kurt Vonnegut
  38. (TBR) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn
  39. (R) A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
  40. (R) Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
  41. (TBR) Solaris – Stanislaw Lem
  42. (R) Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
  43. (R) To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
  44. (IC) Rabbit, Run – John Updike
  45. (TBR) The Once and Future King – T.H. White
  46. (R) The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
  47. (R) Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
  48. (R) The Story of O – Pauline Réage
  49. (R) Lord of the Flies – William Golding
  50. (R) Casino Royale – Ian Fleming
  51. (R) The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
  52. (R) Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
  53. (R) Foundation – Isaac Asimov
  54. (R) I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
  55. (R) Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
  56. (R) Animal Farm – George Orwell
  57. (R) Ficciones – Jorge Luis Borges
  58. (R) The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  59. (TBR) Finnegans Wake – James Joyce
  60. (R) The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
  61. (R) Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell
  62. (R) At the Mountains of Madness – H.P. Lovecraft
  63. (WNR) Tropic of Cancer – Henry Miller
  64. (WNR) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein
  65. (R) Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
  66. (R) Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham
  67. (R) All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque
  68. (TBR) Berlin Alexanderplatz – Alfred Döblin
  69. (R) Steppenwolf – Herman Hesse
  70. (R) The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie
  71. (WNR) Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
  72. (TBR) The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
  73. (R) The Trial – Franz Kafka
  74. (R) We – Yevgeny Zamyatin
  75. (TBR) Ulysses – James Joyce
  76. (TBR) A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
  77. (TBR) Of Human Bondage – William Somerset Maugham
  78. (R) Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
  79. (TBR) Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
  80. (R) The Hound of the Baskervilles – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  81. (TBR) The Turn of the Screw – Henry James
  82. (R) The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
  83. (TBR) Dracula – Bram Stoker
  84. (R) The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
  85. (R) The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  86. (R) The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
  87. (TBR) The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
  88. (R) Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
  89. (TBR) Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
  90. (IC) Middlemarch – George Eliot
  91. (R) Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
  92. (TBR) The Idiot – Fyodor Dostoevsky
  93. (R) Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
  94. (R) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
  95. (TBR) Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
  96. (TBR) Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe
  97. (TBR) Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
  98. (TBR) David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
  99. (R) The Count of Monte-Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
  100. (R) The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
  101. (R) The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe
  102. (R) The Pit and the Pendulum – Edgar Allan Poe
  103. (R) A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
  104. (R) The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
  105. (TBR) Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  106. (TBR) Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
  107. (TBR) Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
  108. (TBR) The 120 Days of Sodom – Marquis de Sade
  109. (TBR) Candide – Voltaire
  110. (TBR) Fanny Hill – John Cleland
  111. (R) Gulliver's Travels – Jonathan Swift
  112. (TBR) Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

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