324 ratings (4.03 avg)
3 reviews

A.J.

Add friend

https://www.last.fm/user/mudtoy

https://www.goodreads.com/mudtoy

A.J.’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (733)
currently-reading‎ (8)

read‎ (424)
books-i-ve-read-to-the-kids‎ (47)

unfinished‎ (16)
favorites‎ (14)

my-library‎ (7)
dnf‎ (0)

Stats | More…

A.J. is Currently Reading

A.J. is currently reading

The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)

by Liu Cixin (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

progress:

(page 70 of 416)
— 2 hours, 44 min ago

Jan 01, 2026 12:53AM

A.J. is currently reading

How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading

by Mortimer J. Adler

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Jan 01, 2026 12:52AM

A.J. is currently reading

Nobodaddy's Children (Collected Early Fiction 1949-1964, Volume 2)

by Arno Schmidt

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

progress:

(page 95 of 236)
— Jun 17, 2025 01:50PM

Jun 10, 2025 02:48PM

See all 8 books that A.J. is reading…

A.J.’s Quotes

“A ghost terrorizing my children is one thing; ...it's another thing entirely when he starts playing my Theremin”
― Homer Simpson

1 likes

“them were the days i sat in the hot cupboard throwing jesuits out of the skylight”
― Samuel Beckett, Whoroscope

0 likes

“He wasn’t a religious man but a vision of what Paradise might be came to him, a windowed room afloat on an endless sea, walls packed floor to ceiling with all the books ever written or dreamed of. It was nearly enough to make giving up the world bearable.”
― Michael Crummey, Galore

12 likes

“Spend the years of learning squandering
Courage for the years of wandering
Through a world politely turning
From the loutishness of learning.”
― Samuel Beckett, Collected Poems in English and French

54 likes

“Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger.”
― James Joyce, Dubliners

127 likes

More of A.J.’s quotes…

recent posts
A.J.’s Groups

Erasable Book Club — 22 members — last activity Jun 13, 2020 11:53AM
An extension of the Erasable Pencil Facebook group

James Joyce Reading Group — 323 members — last activity May 10, 2024 05:52AM
A discussion group dedicated to the writings of James Joyce.

Shakespeare Fans — 2316 members — last activity Jul 26, 2025 02:10PM
Anyone who likes Shakespeare and wants to discuss anything about his plays can join!

¡ POETRY ! — 22583 members — last activity Dec 24, 2025 01:37PM
No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read No pretensions: just poetry. Stop by, recommend books, offer up poems (excerpted), tempt us, taunt us, tell us what to read and where to go (to read it!) Goodreads honors wordsmiths: poets and poetry promoted and prompted here. ~~~ "Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits." -- Carl Sandburg “God has a brown voice, as soft and full as beer.” —Anne Sexton On Clouds – “…what primitive tastes the ancients must have had if their poets were inspired by those absurd, untidy clumps of mist, idiotically jostling one another about…” —Yevgeny Zamyatin “If the poet wants to be a poet, the poet must force the poet to revise. If the poet doesn’t wish to revise, let the poet abandon poetry and take up stamp-collecting or real estate.” —Donald Hall “Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation’s tears in shoulder blades.” —Boris Pasternak “Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.” —Charles Simic “Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.” —Gustave Flaubert “Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.” —Allen Ginsberg. ~~~~~ Amy King, Moderator Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the WNBA Award (Women’s National Book Association). Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She serves on the executive board of VIDA: Women in Literary Arts and is co-editing with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology, Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She is also co-editing the anthology, Bettering American Poetry 2015, and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at SUNY Nassau Community College. ...more

Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge — 26831 members — last activity 7 minutes ago
An annual reading challenge to to help you stretch your reading limits and explore new voices, worlds, and genres! The challenge begins in January, bu ...more

More of A.J.’s groups…