Tuesday Thingers: Early Reviewers

Today's question: Early Reviewers- do you participate? How many books (approximately) have you received through the program? Have you liked them generally? What's your favorite ER book? Do you participate in the discussion group on LT?

Yes, I do participate in Early Reviewers. I joined the program in January, and since then I have received six books. Here's a list (click on the titles to read my full reviews)

• Bulls Island by Dorothea Benton Frank - In February, I received Bulls Island from LTER, and though I was thrilled just to get my first book, I was a little disappointed in the book itself.
• The Last Oracle by James Rollins - I was selected to receive The Last Oracle in March, and it was considerably more enjoyable than my February selection.
• The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton - In April, I got my third book in a row, The Wednesday Sisters. So far this has been my favorite of all the ER books I've received.
• The Richest Season by Maryann Mcfadden - For the fourth month in a row, I got a book from ER. May's book was The Richest Season, which wasn't particularly memorable.
• Forsaken by James David Jordan - After four straight months, I was passed over in June, but I got a Forsaken in July. This one was not bad in the beginning, but it lost me somewhere during the last half.
• The Charlemagne Pursut by Steve Berry - Again I was passed over in August (really 5 books in 6 months is a pretty solid record, so I wasn't surprised). I was surprised, though, when The Charlemagne Pursuit showed up at my house announcing that I'd gotten it through ER - apparently they had extra copies, and after the ER lottery was determined, an extra set were chosen, and I was a lucky recipient. I haven't read this one, but it's up pretty high on my list, and I'll be reviewing it soon.

I used to be pretty active in the LT ER group. Lately, though, I find myself much more likely to 'chat' in the ARC Junkies group, and I'm also more choosy about the books I request from the ER program. At the beginning I just thought the idea of getting a book in the mail (a free book in the mail!) was so cool that it hardly mattered what it was. Now, I'm far more selective. Of this month's pretty considerable batch, I think I requested 3 books. And, if I don't get one, I'm far less disappointed than I used to be. I know there are plenty of authors, publishers, and publicists out there who are in need of reviews.

Tuesday Thingers: Banned Books

This week's Tuesday Thinger's topic is banned books. This is the list of the most challenged books of the 1990's listed on the ALA's website. I've listed the ones I've read in blue, and the ones I own but haven't read in green.

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth's Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Tuesday Thingers: Favorite Authors

Today's Question: Favorite Authors. Who do you have named in your LT account as favorite authors? Why did you choose them? How many people share your choices? Can you share a picture of one of them?

I actually have 21 favorite authors. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Peter Abrahams (including me, he has 5 fans - the fewest of all my favorites)
• Jane Austen (has 1103 fans - the most of all my favorites)
• Dan Brown (I know, I know - don't throw anything!! He's got 130 fans, so I'm not the only one, okay!?!)
• Michael Buckley (author of the Sister's Grimm books, in case you're scratching your head on this one - has 7 fans)
• Lauren Child (creator of the wonderful Charlie and Lola books - has 12 fans)
• Eoin Colfer (has 67 fans)
• Michael Crichton (has 153 fans)
• Clive Cussler (has 53 fans)
• Kate Dicamillo (has only 13 fans - I'm actually surprised this one is so low.)
• Fannie Flagg (has 38 fans)
• Cornelia Funke (has 48 fans)
• John Grisham (has 126 fans - he's a sentimental favorite. I haven't read anything of his lately that I was crazy over, but The Pelican Brief will always be one of my favorite novels.)
• Jan Karon (has 34 fans)
• Janette Oke (has 15 fans)
• Rosamunde Pilcher (has 22 fans)
• Terry Pratchett (has 893 fan)
• Philip Pullman (has 746 fans)
• Nora Roberts (has 211 fans)
• J.K. Rowling (has 1,081 fans)
• William Shakespeare (has 532 fans)
• Nicholas Sparks (has 82 fans)

I only favorited an author if I absolutely loved more than one of their books. If I had to narrow it down to just five, I would pick Funke, Rowling, Pilcher, Crichton, and Pratchett. I share 7 favorite authors with one other user, 6 with three other users, and from there it goes up quite a bit.

If I'm forced to pick an absolute favorite author, it would be Cornelia Funke because of one book - Inkheart. Here is a photo of Mrs. Funke.

So, what about you? Who are your favorite authors, and why?

Tuesday Thingers: Awards

Today's question: Awards. Do you follow any particular book awards? Do you ever choose books based on awards? What award-winning books do you have? (Off the top of your head only- no need to look this up- it would take all day!) What's your favorite award-winning book?

I follow the Newberry Medal to some extent. I used to follow the DCF Awards when I lived in Vermont, which is how I was introduced to such wonderful books as Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams, Second Sight by Gary Blackwood, and the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins, all of which I loved immensely.

Don't forget to enter my contest to win The Time Paradox and a $10 gift card!!

Tuesday Thingers: LT and RL

Today's question: LT and RL (real life)- do you have friends in real life that you met through LibraryThing? Have you attended any LT meet-ups in your area? Would you be open to attending meet-ups or is LT strictly an online thing for you?

I've met some great LTers online, but no, I've never met up with any in real life. Library Thing is unique for me, because typically I'm not very social online. While I haven't been overly outgoing even on LT, I'm certainly more so that in any other online venue. As for whether I would consider getting together with other LTers in real life, I would say yes. Again, this is fairly unique to LT. Although, in general I would think it could be risky to meet people you 'meet' online, I feel like most of the people on Library Thing are like me - crazy, but crazy about the same thing: books. Which makes them my kind of crazy, and I would feel totally comfortable meeting them in real life. So, if there happened to be an LT (more specifically, the arc-loving bloggers) meet-up in the future in or around the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, I'd definitely be interested in attending.

Tuesday Thingers: Recommendations

Today's topic: Recommendations. Do you use LT's recommendations feature? Have you found any good books by using it? Do you use the anti-recommendations, or the "special sauce" recommendations? How do you find out about books you want to read?

Do you use LT's recommendations feature?
Yep. I love it.

Have you found any good books by using it?
A few - Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo, Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, and The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer were recommended, and all were pretty good fits. I've got way more on my to be read and wish list that I've yet to read, including Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind by Ann B. Ross, The Wish List by Eoin Colfer, and The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman.

Do you use the anti-recommendations, or the "special sauce" recommendations?
I've looked at the unsuggester for kicks, though I think it's fairly useless as an actual tool. I mean, I'm supposed to look to it to what? See what not to read, right? But the thing is the titles are either completely obvious like A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature or The Voluptuous Vegan: More Than 200 Sinfully Delicious Recipes for Meatless, Eggless, and Dairy-Free Meals (really??) or are totally inaccurate like quite a few Neil Gaiman's that I would totally read and The English Patient which is actually in my library.
On the other hand, I think the member recommendations are pretty helpful.

How do you find out about books you want to read?
Recommendations from places like LibraryThing and Amazon, for sure. I think LT is probably more accurate because Amazon takes into account things I've purchased for myself as well as my husband and my kids. LT's recommendations are based solely on my books. Another thing I like on LT is being able to see what other people have in their libraries, and if I find someone whose taste seems pretty well in line with my own, I'll peruse their choices for suggestions. I also read reviews on the blogs I read. And, if someone I know suggests a book, I'll pick it up sometimes, but that doesn't happen too often.

Oh, and I'm always open to recommendations from you all!

Tuesday Thingers: Popularity Continued...

This week's Tuesday Thinger's entry:

Since some of us in America may be busy or traveling this holiday week, I thought I would keep things simple for Tuesday Thingers.

Here is the Top 100 Most Popular Books on LibraryThing. Bold what you own, italicize what you've read. Star(*) what you liked. Star multiple times(***)what you loved! I hope all the American participants have a great Fourth of July weekend!

1. Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone by J.K. Rowling (32,484)*******
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling (29,939)*******
3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J.K. Rowling (28,728)********
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) by J.K. Rowling (27,926)******
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) by J.K. Rowling (27,643)*******
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) by J.K. Rowling (27,641)*******
7. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (23,266)***
8. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (21,325)
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) by J.K. Rowling (20,485)********
10. 1984 by George Orwell (19,735)
11. Pride and Prejudice (Bantam Classics) by Jane Austen (19,583) *******
12. The catcher in the rye by J.D. Salinger (19,082)
13. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (17,586)****
14. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (16,210)***
15. The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (15,483)
16. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (14,566)
17. Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics) by Charlotte Bronte (14,449)
18. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (13,946)*
19. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (13,272)
20. Animal Farm by George Orwell (13,091)
21. Angels & demons by Dan Brown (13,089)****
22. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (13,005)
23. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (12,777)
24. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Oprah's Book Club) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (12,634)
25. The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Part 1) by J.R.R. Tolkien (12,276)
26. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (12,147)
27. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (11,976)*
28. The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2) by J.R.R. Tolkien (11,512)
29. The Odyssey by Homer (11,483)30. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (11,392)
31. Slaughterhouse-five by Kurt Vonnegut (11,360)
32. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (11,257)
33. The return of the king : being the third part of The lord of the rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (11,082)
34. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (10,979)
35. American Gods: A Novel by Neil Gaiman (10,823)
36. The chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (10,603) *
37. The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams (10,537)
38. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (10,435)
39. The lovely bones : a novel by Alice Sebold (10,125)
40. Ender's Game (Ender, Book 1) by Orson Scott Card (10,092)
41. The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) by Philip Pullman (9,827)***
42. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman (9,745)
43. Dune by Frank Herbert (9,671)
44. Emma by Jane Austen (9,610)*******(Named my daughter Emma because of dear Jane)
45. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (9,598)
46. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Bantam Classics) by Mark Twain (9,593)
47. Anna Karenina (Oprah's Book Club) by Leo Tolstoy (9,433)
48. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (9,413)
49. Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides (9,343)
50. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (9,336)
51. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (9,274)
52. The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (9,246)
53. The Iliad by Homer (9,153)
54. The Stranger by Albert Camus (9,084)
55. Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen (9,080)
56. Great Expectations (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens (9,027)
57. The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel by Margaret Atwood (8,960)
58. On the Road by Jack Kerouac (8,904)
59. Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt (8,813)
60. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery - (8,764)
61. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (8,421) *
62. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (8,417)
63. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (8,368)**
64. The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition) by John Steinbeck (8,255)
65. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (8,214)*
66. The Name of the Rose: including Postscript to the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (8,191)
67. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (8,169)
68. Moby Dick by Herman Melville (8,129)
69. The complete works by William Shakespeare (8,096)*****
70. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (7,843)
71. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (7,834)
72. The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Barbara Kingsolver (7,829)
73. Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library) by William Shakespeare (7,808)****
74. Of Mice and Men (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century) by John Steinbeck (7,807)*
75. A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics) by Charles Dickens (7,793)
76. The Alchemist (Plus) by Paulo Coelho (7,710)
77. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (7,648)
78. The Picture of Dorian Gray (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics) by Oscar Wilde (7,598)
79. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk (7,569)
80. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (7,557)
81. The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials, Book 2) by Philip Pullman (7,534)***
82. Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan (7,530)
83. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (7,512)
84. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (7,436)
85. Dracula by Bram Stoker (7,238)
86. Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions) by Joseph Conrad (7,153)
87. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (7,055)
88. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (7,052)*
89. The amber spyglass by Philip Pullman (7,043)**
90. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Penguin Classics) by James Joyce (6,933)
91. The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel (Perennial Classics) by Milan Kundera (6,901)
92. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (6,899)*
93. Neuromancer by William Gibson (6,890)
94. The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics) by Geoffrey Chaucer (6,868)*
95. Persuasion (Penguin Classics) by Jane Austen (6,862)
96. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (6,841)
97. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (6,794)*
98. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt (6,715)
99. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (6,708)
100. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli (6,697)

What does this tell us? I haven't a clue.

Tuesday Thingers: Popularity

Today's topic is popularity.




What's the most popular book in your library?

The most popular book in my LT library is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. You're shocked, right??

Have you read it?

Yep, about a dozen times.

What did you think?

Oh, I adore Harry. While I think the first is the weakest book in the series (though still a work of genius), it sets the stage, and is a good starting point for younger readers. As I said, I've read it numerous times, and I never get tired of it.

How many users have it?

32,511 (with 438,221 members, I'm surprised it's that low - although, I do have two accounts, with one being for wishlist books only, so if you figure that in, it sort of warps any statistics).

What's the most popular book you don't have?

Well, the most popular book I don't have a copy of is The Catcher in the Rye, but I have read it. The most popular book I've not read and do not own would be Brave New World (with 13,005 owners). Of the top 25 most popular LT books, there are only 2 I don't own and haven't read. One being BNW, and the other is One Hundred Years of Solitude. Not sure what that says about me, but there you go.

How does a book's popularity figure into your decisions about what to read?

Aside from the fact that I'm more likely to have heard of a book if it's more popular, it doesn't really. Well, I say that, but really if a book is getting lots of great press, I probably would be more inclined to look it up. I recently bought The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which I'm sure I wouldn't have had I not heard such glowing things about it (I haven't read it, yet, so I don't know if it was a good decision or not). I do suppose that popularity affects my reading insofar as good reviews affect my purchases to a certain extent. It's not for the sake of reading what everyone else is reading, but because I figure if so many people like something I'm more likely to like it, too.

Tuesday Thingers: Tagging

Today's questions are about tags.

Do you tag?

Absolutely. I find it is essential in keeping me organized (my library, that is - outside of that I'm a complete and utter mess organizationally speaking).

How do you tag?

I don't have a set-in-stone system. I basically do it on a book by book basis. If I've not read it, I rarely tag it as anything other than TBR (that's To Be Read - in case you were scratching your head in wonder). After I've read a book, I'll tag based on genre, geography, content, whether I own it or it's a loaner, and whatever else strikes me at the moment. I try to be as thourough as possible because I figure it'll help me when I'm searching later on.

How do you feel about tagging- do you think it would be better to have standardized tags, like libraries have standardized subject headings, or do you like the individualized nature of tagging?

I am absolutely opposed to standardized subject headings. Say I want to tag the first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone my husband bought me for Christmas one year. Ok, so perhaps you might find 'first edition' as a standard tag, and it's likely that 'gift' would probably be on the list, but I seriously doubt that 'Stan' is going to be among a list of standard tags or 'Read Aloud to Brandon' or 'Emma's Favorite'. I like being able to personalize my tags, and I'd hate for that option to be taken away. (Ok, so it's silly to be so sentimental about tagging, but I don't think I'd like LibraryThing nearly as much if that aspect was changed).

What are your top 5 tags and what do they say about your collection or your reading habits?

Of my catalogued library of 409 books, my top tags are as follows:

1. TBR - 200
2. Kid Lit - 70
3. 888 - 63
4. 2008 - 40
5. Mystery - 39

What does that say about my reading habits? Well, that I will have to quit my job if I want to make a dent in my TBR pile for sure, that I adore children's liturature, that I'm progressing quite nicely on my 888 challenge, I've read 40 books in 2008 so far (back to the quitting of the job issue), and I have far more mysteries in my collection than I'd have thought.

So how do you feel about tagging??