You Can Never Have Too Many Books
At one point, I fancied a life as a librarian, but finally had to admit that my categorization techniques would make Dewey cry out in frustration. Indeed, I tend to use the LIFO approach to bookshelf management, which keeps the life phases in a somewhat findable state.
What's Here?
- On the Bookshelf RIGHT NOW
- Do You Read Incessantly?
- Ok, Since You Asked... Here's What I'm Reading NOW
- Katherine
- Without Pity
- A Respectable Trade
- Something Compels Me to Read
- The Good Earth
- My Grandmother's Bookshelf
- The Sampling and Spitting-Out
- Love of Reading Starts Early
- Nancy Drew
- I'd read ANYTHING By: Carolyn Keene
- What Do You Read MOST OFTEN?
- True Life Crime Detective... Ann Rule
- Horror and Outrage
- Holocaust
- On the Holocaust
- Parental and Adult Influence
- Beyond the Atmosphere - Real and Imagined
- Isaac Asimov
- To The Stars and Beyond with Asimov
- The World Unfolds at my Feet
- World Book Encyclopedia
- Incredible Weighty Tomes Packed with Knowledge
- Scholastic Reading
- Then Life Went Hollywood
- Bogie!
- Starstruck - Biographies of the Big Screen
- When Do You Read the Most?
- The Sanity of Career Takes Effect
- Peter Drucker, Corporate Hero
- Peter F. Drucker, Management Guru
- What is Your Reading Media?
- Computers Ate My Life!
- C Programming Language
- Coding, Programming, Other Magical Terms
- Kicked to the Curb
- Game Design
- Game Module Design & Other Mental Illnesses
- Medieval Worlds of Joseph & Francis Gies
- Medieval History, as told by... Philippa Gregory
- Medieval History as told by... Anya Seton
- Who's YOUR Favorite
- Scribble Something and Let Me Know
On the Bookshelf RIGHT NOW
Here's what I'm reading today
Just started two days ago and already halfway through this good-sized hardback. Told in fictional narrative using the voices of several historical women, set in the time of Henry VIII - and fascinating how she is portraying the individual personalities as they build through the tale of Anne of Cleves and her marriage to the unstable King of England.
Finished and now looking at Wideacre ...
The Boleyn Inheritance
Amazon Price: $12.48 (as of 07/13/2009) 
Green Darkness
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 07/13/2009)
Salem Falls
Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 07/13/2009)
My Sister's Keeper: A Novel
Amazon Price: $10.19 (as of 07/13/2009)
Plain Truth
Amazon Price: $12.48 (as of 07/13/2009)
Do You Read Incessantly?
Are you a readaholic, too?
I don't believe for a moment that I'm alone in this club. Surely there are more readaholics and I just haven't met them yet? Are you one?
Ok, Since You Asked... Here's What I'm Reading NOW
The Skystone - Jack Whyte
Killing Floor - Lee Child
Running Blind - Lee Child
Prayers for the Assassin - Robert Ferrigno
The Last Templar - Raymond Khoury
The Kite Runner - Khalel Hosseini
Katherine
Anya Seton
UPDATE: Finished.. loved it.. five stars :)
Katherine
This classic romance novel tells the true story of the love affair that changed history-that of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the ancestors of most of the British royal family
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 07/13/2009)
Without Pity
Ann Rule
I was determined to focus on books that supported my current project instead of indulging in 'whimsical reads' (oh, gad, don't let Ann Rule hear me call her craftsmanship 'whimsical!') .. but a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law of her latest book hooked me solidly once again.
So back I am, with a large shelf sagging with over a dozen of the books of hers I've missed over the years, including this one... and loving every minute and word of it.
Without Pity: Ann Rule's Most Dangerous Killers
By Writer Girl of Writer-Girl.Org "WG, Writer-Gi... (United States) - See all my reviews
"Without Pity" is a collection of short true crime stories by Ann Rule. Ann Rule is the premier true crime author and treats the stories she writes about with careful sensitivity, not sensationalism. The majority of the cases collected in this volume were older crimes from the late 1960s/early 1970s.
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
A Respectable Trade
Philippa Gregory
UPDATE - finished it - loved it - I give it 7 readaholic points.
A Respectable Trade
This moral spellbinder, set in Bristol, England, in the slave-trading 1780s, is being freshly issued a decade after publication Although the sentences are not as fine as in Gregory's current work (The Other Boleyn Girl etc.), and the plot takes some awkward leaps, the book brilliantly shocks the conscience with its intimate and unsparing portrait of slavery.
Amazon Price: $12.48 (as of 07/13/2009)
Something Compels Me to Read
I'm not sure how I learned to read, as I don't recall a time in my life that I did not or could not read. Books were as available to me as air, and I consumed both with equal passionate appetite.When I was a young child, time at my grandparents' house was magical and absorbing, for a thousand reasons. There were the expected toddler-level books to be read to me, intermingled with heavy well-bound collections of Shakespeare and Winston Churchill. Teetering stacks of Readers Digest were crammed into shelves at the bottom of the basement stairs, and a large flat stone step near the furnace room became yet another reading perch. Not once was I told by a family member that I should not be reading something. The agreement was, more, if I could lift it, balance it on my lap, turn the pages, I could read it. And I did.
Patterns emerged. I attempted the heavy sciences too early and the math texts were beyond my ken, so they got set aside in favor of great literature like The Good Earth by Pearl Buck.
The Good Earth
The Good Earth (Enriched Classics)
A poignant tale about the life and labors of a Chinese farmer during the sweeping reign of the country¹s last emperor. One of my first exposures to a life not my own, and an enduring memory and learning experience.
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $6.99
My Grandmother's Bookshelf
I'd read whatever I could lift
Most of these refer to current editions if the original is out of print or unlisted. In some cases, I can't recall which book I read on a topic, so I have picked another, even if it is too new to have been on her bookshelves in 1954.
The Sampling and Spitting-Out
The Readaholic Turns Sleuth
I was in grade school when I discovered I had tastes of my own when it came to reading categories. It didn't take long for me to be completely put off by the See Dick Run nonsense put forth as high literature under the guise of a smooth educational ramp. I read them - don't get me wrong - it was required reading.Nobody had forced me to read something before. I didn't like it at all. This dislike followed me through the balance of my mandatory public education.
But I'd read their vapid elementary texts. Then I'd then turn to meatier mental meals as soon as I could escape the monosyllabic marvels. As I recall, at that point I'd discovered a textbook on abnormal psychology and was taking it down one hefty chapter at a time.
For lightweight amusement, I read Nancy Drew. I think I was in third grade at the time, scoring off the charts on reading comprehension exams. It was most embarrassing, and I became the target of much peer ridicule. Children can be amazingly cruel.
Around that time, I also learned not to carry my favored reading material with me, but that Nancy Drew was an acceptable diversionary tactic. At this point in life, I decided I'd become a detective.
Love of Reading Starts Early
I've heard that a childhood love of reading lasts into adulthood as a very strong influence on life. What do you think?
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew Starter Set: The Secret of the Old Clock/The Hidden Staircase/The Bungalow Mystery/The Mystery at Lilac Inn/The Secret of Shadow Ranch/The Secret of Red Gate Farm (Nancy Drew, Book 1-6)
Nancy started solving mysteries back in 1929 when she was 16. Within a few years, she had turned 18, the age at which she would remain for the duration of the series. But Nancy was a mature 18, very smart, self-possessed, shrewd, and unafraid.
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
I'd read ANYTHING By: Carolyn Keene
What Do You Read MOST OFTEN?
True Life Crime Detective... Ann Rule
an author I will read any chance I get is..
Too Late to Say Goodbye: A True Story of Murder and Betrayal
Amazon Price: $21.58 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Stranger Beside Me (Revised and Updated): 20th Anniversary
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
No Regrets (Ann Rule's Crime Files, Vol. 11)
(ALL of her Crime Files collections are excellent - this is just one of many)
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
Possession
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
Green River, Running Red: The Real Story of the Green River Killer--America's Deadliest Serial Murderer
Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 07/13/2009)
Horror and Outrage
The Readaholic Turns Social Outrage Magnet
On one of my trips to the local library, I discovered a shelf of personal reminiscences of Holocaust and gulag survivors. I picked up first one then the next, reading a few pages of each, and was completely and utterly shocked. The next month was reading everything I could find on this monstrosity - Bergen Belsen, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, Westerbork - horror upon horror that sickened me to my soul. What seemed to me to be in an ancient past was, in reality, only a few years older than I. At the time, most of the century was 'ancient past' for an eight-year-old.At that point in life, I decided I'd become a crusader for human rights and hunt down the monsters who had slaughtered millions of innocents.
Holocaust
Exodus
Exodus is an international publishing phenomenon--the towering novel of the twentieth century's most dramatic geopolitical event. Leon Uris magnificently portrays the birth of a new nation in the midst of enemies--the beginning of an earthshaking struggle for power. (Read the readers' reviews for a clearer picture.)
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
On the Holocaust
Lest we forget
Night (Oprah's Book Club)
Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 07/13/2009)
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
Man's Search for Meaning
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million
Amazon Price: $21.24 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness (Newly Expanded Paperback Edition)
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 07/13/2009)
Parental and Adult Influence
Beyond the Atmosphere - Real and Imagined
The Readaholic Turns Astronaut
Science fact and fiction hove into view in the form of hundreds of flights of fancy and completely believable context (for a 10-year-old). A dusty box in the basement, competely filled with Fantasy & Science Fiction magazines occupied my time and senses for months. When those ran out, it was back to the local library, trusty card in hand.By then, I'd received dispensation to check out more than the daily limit of five books and was regularly hauling out as many as I could carry in my arms, returning them and exchanging them for more every other afternoon.
Oh yes, and reading them. The great and the awful alike. I had no particular concept of what comprised bad writing, so I read anything, from left to right on a shelf, until I exhausted a category. Dewey was becoming a friend.
Asimov, Heinlein, all lined up to entertain and educate me and I accepted the fellowship gratefully. At this point in life, I decided to become an Astronaut (or a science fiction writer).
Isaac Asimov
Provider of great words by the ton
Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series
5 volume LEATHER BOUND set accented in 22kt gold! Titles include: Prelude to Foundation; Forward to Foundation; The Original Foundation Trilogy; Foundation's Edge; Foundation and Earth
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts
Isaac Asimov was unquestionably one of America's greatest scientific writers--from his mind came the awe-inspiring Foundation trilogy and the classic I, Robot. It hardly comes as a surprise then, that the brain of Asimov was overflowing with facts, statistics, and millions of trivial tidbits. His Book of Facts comprises 3,000 of these little information snippets.
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
To The Stars and Beyond with Asimov
I'd read almost anything in outer space..
The World Unfolds at my Feet
The Readaholic Goes on an Alphabetical Journey
Back in the day of rich, book-filled shelves, and well predating CDs and DVDs, the World Book Encyclopedia was a treasure of riches and exploratory possibilities. I don't recall exactly when World Book entered our lives, but it was probably while I was in grade school or shortly thereafter.I believe there were twenty volumes, plus several annual supplements, each in its hallowed spot on the long low shelves. I would 'check out' one volume at time, read it from cover to cover, and then race to the next. Each leatherlike-bound tome bore promise of yet more to read and learn, and I inhaled gratefully, one after another. Sadly, over the years, the collection was fragmented and volumes lost. But it's a memory I cherish to this day.
At this point in life, I was determined to be, yet again, a librarian, so I too could be the protector of precious information.
World Book Encyclopedia
The World Book Encyclopedia
The first edition of The World Book Encyclopedia, issued in 1917, set a new direction for encyclopedia publishing. "As a rule," wrote Editor in Chief Michael Vincent O'Shea in the preface to that first edition, "encyclopedias are apt to be quite formal and technical. A faithful effort has been made in The World Book Encyclopedia to avoid this common defect." Since World Book first appeared, in addition to ensuring its accuracy and up-to-dateness, its editors have worked to make information come alive with clear, interesting writing and informative, inviting illustrations.
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
Incredible Weighty Tomes Packed with Knowledge
aka Encyclopediae
Scholastic Reading
Then Life Went Hollywood
The Readaholic Turns South and Heads for Sunset Blvd.
The days of reading for fun came to a screeching halt in about 1970. The next decade was spent in learning mode, and the contents of my library shifted to focused topics, in a rainbow of patterns defined by my current employment.Working in the film industry, the shelves gathered books on movie distribution, studio histories, industry economics, biographies of studio heads and movie moguls, starlets and looming superstars.. I discovered I had a taste for the niche history, and spent my off-hours reading stories of a Hollywood that my young age prevented me from ever having known.
My great aspiration was to break into the world of film and movies, with a semester as a Radio/TV major under my belt. Well, I broke in. It took a few years to figure out how to break back out.
Bogie!
Bogie: A Celebration of the Life and Films of Humphrey Bogart
In this appreciation of Bogart 50 years after his death, American film critic Richard Schickel observes that of his cohort of male stars, which includes Astaire, Cagney, Tracy, Gable, Cooper, Grant, and Wayne, Bogart now glows the brightest
Amazon Price: $24.26 (as of 07/13/2009)
Starstruck - Biographies of the Big Screen
Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl: America's First Movie Star by Kelly R. Brown
Florence Lawrence's film career began just as the more...0 points
When Do You Read the Most?
Many of us read only during certain times of the day. What's your reading pattern?
The Sanity of Career Takes Effect
The Readaholic Goes Management
The decade that followed was one of growth and substance, and I found myself at the foot of a rather tall career ladder, with people beckoning at each step for me to take one more leap of faith. So I did, educating myself as rapidly as possible.Books on management and economics commanded the shelves at home and in my new office, old and new tomes on international trade, corporate law and contract law, as well as stacks of minicomputer operating manuals that I read on blind faith and with zero comprehension. I keep every one of the management books nearby, even to this day, although the odds are high that I won't read them again.
Books like The One Minute Manager, The Effective Executive, Managing For Results, The Executive Problem-Solver took over every spare moment I might have had to read for entertainment.
I discovered I have a talent for cutting through layers of BS and bafflespeak, discovering patterns and trends, and visualizing solutions to problems. Apparently I'm good at that, since my job evolved into something akin to a trouble-shooter.
At this point in my life, I didn't have a focal point or a desire to be 'something' when I grew up. I'd grown up, and was studying as fast as I could to stay up with the crowd. I was still skating by on the semester of Radio/TV majoring and two-odd decades of street smarts.
Peter Drucker, Corporate Hero
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done (Harperbusiness Essentials)
Peter Drucker begins this book by pointing out that there is no science of how to improve executive effectiveness, nor any naturally-occurring effective executives. The redeeming point of this problem is that he argues that executive effectiveness can be learned.
Amazon Price: $11.55 (as of 07/13/2009)
Peter F. Drucker, Management Guru
What is Your Reading Media?
Paper or plastic: How do you choose to read?
Computers Ate My Life!
The Readaholic Morphs into Tech Support
To this day I'm not sure why, but one day I woke up and found out that I was considered a personal computer expert and technical support advisory geek.It all started, I am sure, the day one of my bosses at TRW called me into his office and glared at me. A wonderful man, Dr. Matt Shapiro - he was my most staunch supporter, most persistent mentor, and most vocal critic.
I'd recently found and helped resolve a problem in a long-range plannng software module. I don't know how to code, don't particularly understand code, and don't enjoy reading code. But I'm good with patterns. I found the glitch and proposed a solution that worked.
'Ok, You're now a software analyst,' he declared. When I asked him how the heck I was one of those, he pointed out, 'well, you analyzed the planning software, and you figured out why it didn't work, right?'
Boom. A new career was launched that would occupy my days and many a sleepless night from that moment until the mid-1990s. When the division I was transferred decided they wanted this new thing called Personal Computers on everyone's desk, yours truly was the one they sent out to decide which ones to get, the one to bring back dozens of big boxes, uncrate and assemble, install and make to run. So I ended up learning about PCs literally from the inside out.
I became That Girl You Call when the computer didn't do what was expected of it. I became That Girl You Phone when someone new joined the group and needed a system. This was all well and good, as long as I could stay one wave ahead of the learning tsunami, and I did so by reading everything in sight, whether it applied to the new PC industry directly or not.
I was also involved in the long-range strategic planning, acquisitions and divestitures analysis, mergers and the like. It was glory, and I admit it was energizing. TRW decided that was enough of this skating along on a high school diploma and semester of Radio/TV majoring, and sent me to USC for an MBA program. I learned how to spell Valedictorian... by becoming one. I tried to tell them that I just love to read...
Again, though, I had no idea what I wanted to do for a living. Astronaut was clearly out by this point, and I'd managed to escape the film industry with sanity intact.
C Programming Language
Love it or hate it, it's here to stay
C Programming Language (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall Software)
Just about every C programmer I respect learned C from this book. Unlike many of the 1,000 page doorstops stuffed with CD-ROMs that have become popular, this volume is concise and powerful (if somewhat dangerous) -- like C itself. And it was written by Kernighan himself. Need we say more?
Amazon Price: $43.18 (as of 07/13/2009)
Coding, Programming, Other Magical Terms
MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exams 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, 70-294): Microsoft® Windows Server(TM) 2003 Core Requirements, Second Edition
Amazon Price: $132.64 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $199.99
Art of Computer Programming, The, Volumes 1-3 Boxed Set (2nd Edition) (The Art of Computer Programming Series) (Vol 1-3)
Amazon Price: $159.99 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $199.99
Operating System Concepts (7th Edition)
Amazon Price: $119.00 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price:
Concepts of Programming Languages (7th Edition)
Amazon Price: $109.40 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $109.40
Programming PHP
Amazon Price: $26.39 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $39.99
Kicked to the Curb
The Readaholic With Too Much Time On Her Hands
Suddenly I had all the time in the world to read, as doctor after doctor plunged needle upon needle into my spine, slapped electrodes around the injury to test response, and shook their heads in confusion. To this day, 16 years later, I still don't have a single diagnosis that makes sense, and I still can't stand up for more than a few minutes without wanting to scream.
BUT I have nearly unlimited time to read - and to write.
Writing took the form of game design, and the bookshelves rapidly became packed with books on game design, medieval history, medieval life, roleplaying and realism, game development, and the like.
MUDs are all text. No graphics. A perfect environment or a readaholic, trust me! An addictive, all-encompassing, flexible book one walks around in and experiences as it changes before your eyes.
The Readaholic is in heaven. No astronaut (although I fly over large continents at will), no librarian (although I do have a rapidly evolving library), no crusader (although as game admin I protect the people within the game - sometimes from each other), no detective (although much of my day is spent being a detective and solving game problems when they arise), not exactly a science fiction writer (although every area that I write and build has a heavy element of the fantastic).
I guess you could say that I have the combination of all my dreams and imaginations.
Game Design
Designing Virtual Worlds (New Riders Games)
Designing Virtual Worlds is the most comprehensive treatment of virtual world design to-date from one of the true pioneers and most sought-after design consultants. It's a tour de force of VW design, stunning in intellectual scope, spanning the literary,economic, sociological, psychological, physical, technological, and ethical underpinnings of design, while providing the reader with a deep, well-grounded understanding of VW design principles. It covers everything from MUDs to MOOs to MMORPGs, from text-based to graphical VWs.
Amazon Price: $31.49 (as of 07/13/2009)
Game Module Design & Other Mental Illnesses
Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design
Amazon Price: $37.79 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $59.99
Theory of Fun for Game Design
Amazon Price: $15.63 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $22.99
The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners (Technology in Action)
Amazon Price: $26.39 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $39.99
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
Amazon Price: $43.20 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $54.00
AI Game Programming Wisdom (with CD-ROM) (Game Development Series)
Amazon Price: $48.97 (as of 07/13/2009)
List Price: $69.95
Medieval Worlds of Joseph & Francis Gies
References and novels that give good references
Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages
Amazon Price: $15.95 (as of 07/13/2009)
Life in a Medieval Castle
Amazon Price: $11.66 (as of 07/13/2009)
Women in the Middle Ages
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
Life in a Medieval City
Amazon Price: $12.59 (as of 07/13/2009)
Life in a Medieval Village
Amazon Price: $11.66 (as of 07/13/2009)
Medieval History, as told by... Philippa Gregory
The Boleyn Inheritance
Amazon Price: $19.72 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Other Boleyn Girl
Amazon Price: $12.48 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Constant Princess (Boleyn)
Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 07/13/2009)
Earthly Joys: A Novel
Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Queen's Fool: A Novel (Boleyn)
Amazon Price: $12.48 (as of 07/13/2009)
Medieval History as told by... Anya Seton
Katherine
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Winthrop Woman: A Novel
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 07/13/2009)
Avalon: A Novel
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Mistletoe and Sword, A Story of Roman Britain
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
Devil Water
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 07/13/2009)
Who's YOUR Favorite
Not here? Add him or her into the list!
These are a few of my favorite authors, living and otherwise. Add your favorites as well, please, give a few words on why, and vote 'em up!
Scribble Something and Let Me Know
You were here! So leave a little note so I know that as well. *grin*
homecarediva wrote...
Now that is cool! This lens is invited to join The Cool Lens Group - where EACH lens gets VOTES from the admin and gets FAVORITED too. Hooray, one of the coolest and busiest groups is reopened.
Posted April 09, 2009
Silent_Note wrote...
This is a great lens! You've put together a wonderful collection of books of all types. When you get the chance, I'd love for you to stop by The Silent Note and say hello.
Posted February 12, 2009
Jason_Wright wrote...
Great lens! You've got a great collection of books and information here. I'd love for you to visit my lens and say hello when you have the chance.
Posted November 21, 2008
SudokuNut wrote...
I must have around 200 books sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. It's not that I never read, because I go through at least two books a week, it's just that I can't seem to stop picking up more!
Posted October 27, 2008
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Hi there. My name is Caseyfern and I am a Readaholic. Hopefully it is not a curable condition, and as far as I know there is n... (more)
