Recent Book Activity

**PLEASE DO NOT REQUEST BOOKS FROM ME UNLESS YOU INTEND TO RELEASE OR RETURN THEM AFTER YOU HAVE FINISHED READING THEM. IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SET THEM FREE, THEN I WILL FIND SOMEONE ELSE WITH WHOM SHARE THEM.**

I have lived in Seattle, Washington for 17 years now, after growing up in Olympia (WA), going to school at Whitman College in Walla Walla (WA) and spending a chunk of time overseas (in the south of France and Morocco mainly). I spent almost 7 years working in the translation & interpretation industry but now spend my days at the University of Washington School of Medicine as well as working a couple shifts a week at a local pub for a bit of extra spending money--it's a friendly place, and I used to run the pub quiz they had there, so I would get to fill my brain with all kinds of interesting, arcane and sometimes silly stuff for pay--now I just do it for my own amusement. I'm totally psyched about Bookcrossing because the notion of turning the whole wide world into a sort of free-for-all library is incredibly appealing and worthwhile. The idea of turning books loose into the wild in hopes that some unsuspecting person will find a book they would never have otherwise read is so cool....please be aware, though, that if I have not yet read a book that you are interested in, chances are I will only mail/release on loan, though this is not set in stone. I have noted books that are not for available for a full-on permanent trade, either in the titles or in the reviews. However, as with the "to be read" stack, I am generally willing to loan out books that are otherwise not for trade (these are mostly NFT due to sentimental value). Please contact me if you have a specific title in mind and we can discuss it. Also, at risk of sounding crabby, PLEASE remember to check out a book's history before PMing for trades; I get a lot of emails inquiring after books that were released into the wild weeks or even months ago. At risk of sounding even crabbier and somewhat cynical, please do not ask me for a book unless you are actually going to either set it free or give it back to me after you have read it. If you do not intend to release/return it, go to the library or buy your own copy (preferably at an independent bookseller). This is BookCrossing, not the Santa Claus wish site. My understanding is that what we're doing here is engaging in an adventure to see what random, serendipitous paths the books can take, so if you simply want a book to put on your shelves and not share with the next person down the line, please just don't even ask. Sorry about the tirade....

I tend toward the eclectic with my reading choices, enjoying everything from Nabokov to Feynman to McCaffrey. According to my dad, I taught myself to read at the age of 3, and soon turned into one of those kids who took a flashlight to bed with her to keep reading under the covers past bedtime, which caused my parents no end of both frustration and satsifaction (I may have been a tired kid, but at least I was well-read for all the fatigue). I love learning new things, and am just as likely to be found reading a text on particle physics or a horror novel as a book about polar exploration or a volume of poetry. I've also been reading quite a few magazines lately--work at the pub has been busy so they're a bit easier to deal with than books. Nevertheless I am presently working on some books as well:
*'Inverted World' - Christopher Priest
*'La Disparition' - Georges Perec
*'The Little Stranger'- Sarah Waters
*'Harry Potter et le Prince de Sang-Mele" - JK Rowling

After these I'm not sure, as there are several hundred books on Mount To-Be-Read (quite a number of which haven't yet been registered).

So far in 2010 I have read:
*'There is a Tide' - Agatha Christie
*'About Translation' - Peter Newmark
*'Salt' - Mark Kurlansky
*'On Translation' - Paul Ricoeur
*'Kraken' - China Mieville
*'Harry Potter et l'Ordre du Phenix' - JK Rowling
*'Harry Potter et la Coupe de Feu' - JK Rowling
*'Harry Potter et le Prisonnier d'Azkaban' -JK Rowling
*'Hickory Dickory Death' - Agatha Christie
*'Harry Potter et la Chambre des Secrets' - JK Rowling
*'Harry Potter A L'Ecole des Sorciers' - JK Rowling
*'Paris in the Twentieth Century' - Jules Verne
*'Dragondrums' - Anne McCaffrey
*'Down and Out in Paris and London' - George Orwell
*'The Twenty-One Balloons' - William Pène du Bois
*'Third Girl' - Agatha Christie
*'Une Mort Sucree' - Claude Tardat (again)
*'Remembered Death' - Agatha Christie
'*Moominvalley in November' - Tove Jansson
*'Moominland Midwinter' - Tove Jansson
*'Zeitoun' - David Eggers
*'Finn Family Moomintroll' - Tove Jansson
*'Comet in Moominland' - Tove Jansson
*'Moominsummer Madness' - Tove Jansson
*'The Yiddish Policemen's Union' - Michael Chabon
*'Magic For Beginners' - Kelly Link
*'Un Lun Dun' - China Mieville
*'Shuteye for the Timebroker' - Paul diFilippo
*My annual reading of "The Last Battle" by CS Lewis
*'Locations' - Jan Morris
*Dragonsinger' - Anne McCaffrey
*My annual reading of 'The Magician's Nephew' by CS Lewis
*'Dragonsong' - Anne McCaffrey
*My annual reading of 'The Horse and His Boy' by CS Lewis
*'Shining at the Bottom of the Sea' - Stephen Marche
*My annual reading of CS Lewis's 'The Silver Chair'
*'The Matter of Wales' - Jan Morris
*'Novels in Three Lines' - Felix Feneon
*'Metropole' - Ferenc Karinthy
*My annual reading of CS Lewis's 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'
*My annual reading of CS Lewis's 'Prince Caspian'
*'Food Court Druids, Cherohonkees and Other Creatures Unique to the Republic' - Robert Lanham
*My annual reading of CS Lewis's 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'
*'The Door Into Summer' - Robert A. Heinlein
*'Une Mort Sucree' - Claude Tardat

Aside from reading, I adore food (cooking, eating and, well, yes, reading about), soccer, learning new languages (I am fluent in French and can get by in Spanish & Italian but have also studied Japanese, Irish Gaelic & Hebrew, and dabbled a little in Turkish & Romanian--plus, I can sound out the Cyrillic alphabet though I only know about 5 words in any language that uses it), traveling (when I have the time and money), astronomy, watching the Seattle Mariners (even when they suck), yoga/NIA, art (both experiencing and occasionally making), doing crosswords, playing whirlyball and occasionally going out for a bike ride on my decrepit old 1953 Dunelt three-speed. I walk pretty much everywhere, I love rice pudding (sans raisins) and I think giant squids are the coolest animal on earth.

Oh, and the pear was the first of my tattoos.