I don't like pseudonyms.../Intro Thread

Hi, my name is Dustin. I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Who are you, and where do you come from? Feel free to throw in a "How I Came Upon This Group" as well.

Hi, I'm Kell and I have a serious book addiction - I devour anything between two and five a week and have to scour bargain book shops to feed my habit. My hubby is a supportive non-reader who occasionally tries to impose on me a book embargo in order to have me whittle down my massive mountain of unread books before getting more.

I originally come from Ashington, Northumberland in the NE of England (yup, I'm a Geordie lass!), but now live in the Frozen North (aka Aberdeen, Scotland). I'm never without a book close to hand and am on the admin team of a busy book forum (http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/).

I love a challenge - I'm currently taking part in the Chunk Challenge (books over 500 pages), the Classics Challenge (books written before 1900), and the Olympic Challenge (books by at least one author from each of the countries represented in the Olympic Games) - all in order to ensure I expand my reading horizons, rather than staying in my "comfort zone".

I happened upon this group while browsing the new books and was instantly grabbed by the name and description - I thought the pseudo-pretension might force me to read more "literary" books, rather than pulp fiction - LOL!

Not quite related to the topic at hand, but I'd just like to mention that I think you, Kell_Smurthwaite, are one of the most avid readers I have "encountered". I applaud your efforts with the Classics Challenge in particular because I know I had GREAT difficulty attempting books written in that time frame... curse you Count of Monte Cristo. How is Scotland by the way, I've always wanted to go, I'm from a remote portion of Canada by the way.

-Billy

#3 billyfan - Thank you! I do try to vary my reading (otherwise I get stuck in a rut and end up with Readers' block, which is a terrible thing for a bibliophile to suffer - I once couldn't get onto any books for almost 2 weeks - it drove me nuts!).

Scotland is incredibly bonny - we're getting stunning weather at the moment and Spring has well and truly sprung.

As for my Classics Challenge - I set it up precisely because I knew I'd had difficulty with Classics in the past and it had been putting me off trying them again. I just needed a different approach, i think.

I have some friends in Canada - I'd love to go there one day too!

My name is Erica and I'm from New York City. I learned about this group through a MySpace book group.

I'm loving it so far. I have two books on here that no one else has and I feel a bit special lol.

MySpace, eh? Didn't really expect to hear that one. What's the name of the book group you found us through?

the MySpace Book Club

Hi, my name is Julie and i currently live in Arizona...Next year I will be moving to Anchorage, Alaska. Yes, desert to tundra in one giant step (or actually what? 8 days? in a Suburban with 3 kids, 2 dogs -- extra large size, 2 guinea pigs, and the husband...)

And perhaps a thousand books, because how else are we going to get through that much time in a small and quite potentially smelly space?

Welcome to The Literati! What inspired your upcoming drastic change of scenery?

My husband the Army guy...We have been in Arizona for 3 years, so it's time to move on. (we have lived several places -- Minnesota, Oklahoma, West Germany which changed to Germany while we were living there), Virginia, Washington state, Illinois, Minnesota -- me,while my husband was in Egypt --, back to Washington state, The Netherlands, Arizona. Whew.

actually we were thinking of retiring here for a while, but then took a cruise to Alaska and remembered that we both had always wanted to be stationed there, my husband found an Army job there, and away we go, again.

Hello all :-)

I'm from Berlin, Germany. I came to this group through the 19th century literature thread, because I like classics of that period and I'm up to read the british, french and german canon (in the original language), especially of woman writers. I'm on Dickens' Bleak House in the moment and other classics will came tomorrow by Amazon - so far I'm going on with my plan and enjoy myself. ;-)

Hey folks! Mind adding a dot to the map? Somewhere in Northern Indiana would be just fine.

The dots are on hold right now as I recently got a new laptop and am still moving everything over, so as of right now I do not have a sufficient program to put dot to map. That and I kinda want to re-do the whole dot-map thing anyway, so hopefully in the next day or two my backlog of dots will be dealt with.

Hello, I've posted a couple comments, shyly skirting around joining a group... I'm really not a group person. But I like the vibe of this one... I have to admit, the name caught my eye. I don't really have any of the most common books as everyone else, but I hope you'll have me anyway. Put a dot on the map near Minneapolis, MN for me!

Welcome, glad we ended up as the chosen one!

Hullo!

I'm Sara Hope (I apparently also dislike pseudonyms). I live in NYC.

I joined this group on impulse and am otherwise unable to explain why -- perhaps I was intrigued by the 19th-century thread.

I also think Kell's classics challenge sounds like a fine idea, so I am going to take it up starting in September . . . as a newly graduated English major, I'm beginning to miss those classics.

Welcome to The Literati, Sarah and WRWF! I've gotta admit, I like the vibe here too. And I'm glad my Classics Challenge caught your eye, Sarah - I'm having a lot of fun with the classics this year - if I'd known I'd enjoy them this much, I'd have done it years ago!

I'm excited about the Classics Challenge! but I think I might be a bit more liberal about the 'before 1900' requirement, as some authors I want to read might spill over into the 20th century.

pardon my ignorance, but what is WRWF? I am mystified :D

Hi, Sara... WRWF seems to be my "handle" shorthand--WellReadWellFed... I have to say that I do enjoy psuedonyms as my actual name is rather unique...
I think that you might enjoy a challenge I have seemingly undertaken. It occured to me the other day when I was brushing up on those books I should have read by finally reading Siddhartha and I realized that Hesse is a Nobel Prize winner. I was thinking about the other laureates I have read and lately I have been making my way through them without intending to. Maybe this could be a challenge?

(I, too, have more interest in 20th century lit.)

#19, WRWF (I like that handle so much, it makes me think of reading books with lots of delicious cooking and eating), I like pseudonyms, too, because I also have an unusual name. I've never met another and I doubt I ever will. Sometimes I wish my name was something like Cindy, or Jen, or Ellen, something that could be anyone, but no, I was blessed(cursed?) with a unique identifying mark.

Your challenge sounds interesting, but daunting. Tell me, what are some of the titles on this list? (I'm terrible at resisting temptation.)

Aha WRWF, I comprendo now about your handle!

Nobel prize winners would be a good challenge. For myself I might include all sorts of literary prizes though, i.e. the most prestigious genre awards, etc.

I'm actually probably more interested in 18th and 19th century lit than 20th, but I was thinking I'd still want to count 20th century works by Henry James, and I also want to read the Forsyte Saga and count that, which is why I'm willing to bend the classics rule.

For a list of the literature winners go to: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/

I think the first author I read that I was aware was a winner was Marquez, years ago. Then when I read Pamuk's New Yorker piece last year, I read My Name is Red and loved it. So I checked out the site to see who else had received the award... I was surprised to see that I had read quite a few of the writers, and I've found some really good books from authors I wasn't aware of previously.

Hi there,
Is there a dot on Chicago yet?

I just happened upon LibraryThing the other day and I was instantly addicted. Like others have noted, I was sucked into the group by the 19th century lit thread (probably my favorite period).

I was a Lit major in college, so (obviously) I'm a computer programmer now. The IT field leads to lots of discussions about Tolkien and Piers Anthony, but it will definitely be good to get the literary juices flowing again.

Dots! We now have dots! I think I got everyone, but if I missed you or misplaced your dot, let me know!

Hello everyone. Like others, I'm not sure why I've joined this group, but here I am, in Vancouver, Canada.

I've always liked talking about books, but I've only started reading in a big way in the last 12 months. Now I think of all the books I could have read in the last 10 years, and think "damn". Oh well, I'm still young.

YES! Finally another Canuck!:P

Hi, yarb. Now that you've decided to be a big-time reader, you're going to have to get comfortable with a certain concept: even if we read every waking hour until the day we die, none of us will have read enough books, ever. The books grow exponentially (using the term loosely). What happens is that when you read you discover entire areas of the universe that you knew nothing about previously and want to know more about, so you go find more books, and so on. LT only makes it worse. And think of how many new books are published every year. I've read multiple books simultaneously since I was three. That was 30 years ago. I still don't feel that I'm all that well-read. Maybe in another 30 years. But life's too short for regrets, ay? (My husband's Canadian, so I can say that.)

Cheers guys. I'm not exactly a fully paid-up Canuck; I was brung up in England and although I like hockey, I can imagine a world without it.

citygirl, I'm interested in this simltaneous reading trick of yours. I imagine you with three or four volumes spread out on the table, eyeballs whirling independently, like a chess grandmaster taking on 40 club players at once...

yarb, LOL. I love it! And for an encore I'll read upside down in a mirror (which I actually can do, but it gives me a headache). I have a pretty severe case of adult ADD, so your image isn't that far from what actually happens at times. Like right now, I'm drafting a memo, posting on LT, and making phone calls to try and untangle the red tape my health insurance provider has stuck everywhere. It's not pretty, it's not elegant, but it works, mostly. Unless a book is a real page-turner, I have difficulty sticking with one book at a time (I'm a literary adultress ;-), so I stray....

An aside, my Canucky husband professes to be a hockey fan, but in nearly five years I have yet to see him actually watch a game or even put on ESPN voluntarily, so maybe you can be a real Canadian after all.

I hope anyone can join because I just signed up sans invitation. I'm Jen and I live in North Carolina (originall from Boston though). I am a huge bibliophile stranded in a life of non-bibliophiles -- so I love LT and have been a member for over a year. This group caught my eye because I am mainly interested in literary fiction.

I have been lately trying to become "well read" -- whatever that means and have been reading alot of classics and books from lists of "bests" such as 1001 books to read before you Die, prize winners etc.

Unlike city girl, I am definately not a literary adultress! I am strictly a one book at a time gal. ;)

Hi everyone - I'm Amber. I live in Ohio. I joined The Literati because I'm usually reading some 'classic' or other in my attempt to get through my list of "Books I Should Be Embarrassed That I Haven't Read Since I Teach at a Fairly Hoity Toity Liberal Arts College". Long name for a list, I know. Also, I feel the need to carry around important-looking books on campus, to impress the student masses, of course.

Hi, ladies. Like you, scaifea, I have a not-quite-well-read-enough complex, ergo the reading messes I frequently find myself in (which I wouldn't if I weren't such a slut, jhowell, so congrats on your virtue ;-). Ah, I should not complain about such delightful problems. But I am considering tagging some of my TBRs as "I Cannot Consider Myself Literate until I Have Read...'" No, too unwieldy. Or, if I may borrow?, "Hoity-Toities." "Earned Book Snobbery"

Oh, it's completely ridiculous. :-/ I'm completely ridiculous. *slumps over desk*

jhowell - I'm trying to "better my reading habits" too. I'm also reading books from 1001 books to read before you Die. So far so good! I also challenged myself to read a minimum of one classic and one modern classic every month this year and I've managed to keep to that and, most monhts, read more than one, which has made me VERY pleased with myself!

scaifea - I'm an equal opportunities book-lover - I will read pretty much anything. But like you (and some other folks here), I get embarrassed that I haven't read very many of the "greats" that others seem to assume everyone has read. And they always seem surprised to hear that I haven't - I seem to have gained a reputation for begin well-read, when really I'm just a total book-slut and pick up any old thing to flick through!

citygirl - You're not riddiculous. Either that, or I'm ridiculous too. Maybe we're BOTHridiculous. Hmmm.... Now I@m worried for us both!

Oh! Let's just be ridiculous and not worry about it. :D