SantaThingSantaThing Entry #206

LibraryThing member library_mistress

Book tastes

I love language dictionaries, books with librarian/bookseller/bookbinder/archivist characters, books with LGTBQ* characters, science fiction, forest-related books, and cozy mysteries - especially in combinations such as in "Queer lumberjack-turned-librarian goes to space and solves a crime by learning alien languages" ;-)

Don't get this!

Fantasy is not very high on my list, but if it has one of the aspects I mentioned above it's fine :-)

Other notes

If it's hard to find something: I like to expand my horizon, so I am also happy if you surprise me! Is there a book among your favourites you think I must read?
As I chose an Irish bookshop, maybe you find some contemporary Irish literature or Irish dictionary for me! A special interest this year is history of physics (think for example Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project).

Secret Santa

library_mistress's Secret Santa was PersephonesLibrary!

Purchasing Details

Store: Kenny's Bookshop (https://www.kennys.ie)

Gift Amount: $50 (USD)

If bookstore prices are listed in with non-USD amounts, use the currency converter below.

Comments/suggestions

Join LibraryThing to leave comments and suggestions here.

ablachly: ordered! (dec 5, 2023, 11:04am)
Capybara_99: Here's a few suggestions:

"The Book of the Most Precious Substance " -- Sara Gran (rare book dealer turns detective searching for an old book of magic);

"Babel-17"-- Samuel R. Delany (Linguist in space and the effects the form of a language has in shaping the world);

"Embassytown" -- China Mielville (about language in space, translators and alien contact).

"Embassytown" (

(nov 30, 2023, 3:26am)
EerierIdyllMeme: I don't have a great suggestion, but was amused by your ideal book! I think either you or your secret Santa will have to write that yourself. (That would be a secret Santa present to put us all to shame.) (nov 29, 2023, 8:04pm)
nicoleinthelibrary: A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers! It is Sci-Fi but really cozy and accessible. It has queer representation and the world building/ alien language is top notch <3 xoxo (nov 23, 2023, 12:06pm)
bell7: The Professor and the Madman and The Meaning of Everything are both fascinating nonfiction about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang is a collection of science fiction short stories, and the title story plays with the idea of language (and was made into the movie The Arrival) (nov 20, 2023, 6:54pm)