ROOTing out the year

I hope it's not too late to join this. I really need to read my own tomes. Amazon is my kryptonite. I can't seem to stop clicking "Buy now with 1-click".

I´m going to try to read 20 of my own books before the year ends.

Books Read: September 1-December 31, 2016
1. xxxHolic Omnibus 7
2. Princess Jellyfish Omnibus Vol 1
3. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
4. Reading in the Wild
5. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
6. Princess Jellyfish Omnibus Vol 2 by Akiko Higashimura
7. Mafalda Cuando Sea Grande
8. Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Vol. 1
9. Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It
10. Perros Salvajes a la Hora de la Cena
11. Tsubasa Omnibus 1
12. The Righteous (Righteous Series)
13. Hallowe'en Party
14. McNally's Secret
15. The Crucible
16. The Sixth Commandment
17. The Nanny's Little Matchmakers
18. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Vol. 14
19. Escaping Salem
20. Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet
21. A Stroke of Genius
22. Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Vol. 2
23. Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Vol. 3
24. Shadowshaper
25. Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Volume 4
26. Climbing Jacob's Ladder
27. Death Note, Vol 9: Contact
28. The Heiress and the Chauffeur
29. Toriko, Vol. 1: Gourmet Hunter Toriko!
30. The Witch of Blackbird Pond
31. Happy Café Vol. 1
32. Happy Café, Vol. 2
33. Happy Café, Vol. 3
34. Happy Café, Vol. 4
35. Happy Café, Vol. 5
36. Happy Café, Vol. 6

Welcome aboard! For me, the dangerous one-click option is the one that allows me to immediately place library holds with pickup at my preferred branch. I think one time I ended up with 13 items coming my way at once. Embarrassing!

Good luck!

>3 rabbitprincess: HAHAHA! I do that too!! I've got three library books in my TBR pile next to my bed! I'm really tempted to count library books since for me the goal is really to stop spending money, but I'm also running out of room so I need to read some of the books in my house so I can clear shelf space.

Good luck with your rooting!

>5 Tess_W: Thanks!

Welcome to the group, and happy reading!

>3 rabbitprincess: and >4 Sace: I'm glad I'm not the only one here with this problem.

>7 Amberfly: nope. Books and reading make me giddy. I get overwhelmed with joy and I end up going overboard.

Good luck with your ROOTing, Sace ! I've found this group so helpful to keep me accountable.

One thing that I've found helpful is to click on 'add to wishlist' rather than 'buy in 1 click'. It means that my wishlist has mushroomed scarily, but every so often I go back and look at it and with the benefit of a bit of time I can be more realistic about the temptation. Occasionally I think "what was I thinking?" and delete it from the wishlist, more often than not I leave it, but at least they're not on the shelves (yet) and I have a chance to read what's already there.

Although that makes me sound really virtuous. I've still managed to acquire twice as many books as I've read so far this year, but last year my ratio was 3:1 so I like to think I'm improving.

Anyway, whatever. Welcome to the group, and happy reading!

>9 Jackie_K:
"...to keep me accountable" Yup. I need this. Even if it's just to myself.

I'm trying to get better about clicking "wishlist" over "Buy now" and I'm also trying to check the library. I'm probably not clicking "wishlist" enough, though.

It would probably help me tremendously if I did NOT get daily e-mails from BookRiot and LitHub. But I like reading about the latest book news...which leads to looking at the book on amazon....

Oh and kindle is evil. Talk about instant gratification...

Confession:

I just placed a rather large order at amazon. I swear it's the last one until at least December!

Welcome and enjoy your ROOTing! Are you building up reserves for next year's rooting already?

>12 MissWatson: LOL! I guess I am.

Today I decided to just keep adding things to my wishlist for the rest of the year. Maybe I'll just try to make 4 large orders in 2017. Once a quarter? I'll need to set a spending limit of course. Other than those four occasions, I won't buy books.

I could change my mind though :)

Oh, and seriously...why do I think having a subscription to Booklist is a good idea if I want to avoid buying books?! Torture with every issue!

Hi Sace! I joined in late with this group, as well.

Having a subscription to Booklist or even receiving daily updates for Kindle deals definitely can lead to more book buying temptations!! Beware!! ;) I made a new rule this year that even if a book is on sale, I will only buy a book if my library doesn't have it available (or if the waitlist is unreasonably long). Occasionally I ignore my own rule but I have definitely bought far fewer books during 2016.

I need to make that rule too! I don't know if it's me or my library, but finding books I want to read at my library is tricky. Especially newer titles.

I'm starting to plan a little bit...

September is traditionally when school begins and I have some ROOTs about reading and books that I'd like to get to:

Proust and the Squid
The Lifetime Reading Plan
The Book Whisperer
The Gutenberg Elegies
A History of Reading
How to Read and Why
How to Read a Book

I'll poke around my ROOT shelves and kindle and see what else I have.

October just begs for a Halloween theme

The Halloween Tree
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
A Delusion of Satan
The Crucible
A Discovery of Witches
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
The Witches: Salem 1692
Hallowe'en Party

I should be embarrassed by the number of books I have for October. This is a list off the top of my head. Once I start *snort* rooting around on my shelves I'll probably find more.

Nice list, Sace! And welcome to the ROOTers.

Thanks!

Well, I've had to adjust my September books since I went ahead and read one of them (And I've started the sequel.) I added two more for my transgression. hee hee.

I confess I am placing How to Read and Why and How to Read a Book on my TBR pile reluctantly. They are ROOTS (I've had them on my shelf since 2000.) I wonder if they will feel dated or stodgy in their advice. In the current literary climate old, white males are not the most popular (Poor Adler falls into the dead category as well.)

I wish September would hurry up and get here.

September ROOTs I Read About Reading

Current Non-ROOT Reads
Reading in the Wild
Princess Jellyfish Omnibus Vol 2
Readicide
Mafalda-Cuando sea grande
Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Vol. 1

Current ROOT
How to Read a Book

HTR (Hoping To Read, because TBR feels too much like a commitment)
Proust and the Squid
The Lifetime Reading Plan
The Gutenberg Elegies
A History of Reading
How to Read and Why
Fahrenheit 451

Completed ROOTs (Which may or may not fit the theme for September)
1. xxxHolic Omnibus 7
2. Princess Jellyfish Omnibus Vol 1
3. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
4. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

>21 Sace: Love that! It looks real cosy.

>22 connie53: thanks! I was inspired by LisaAnn's thread. I loved her September picture. I felt pretty lucky to find a picture that announced my September theme so well.

>21 Sace: love that pic!
Oh and hello... welcome to the group!

>24 avanders: Thank you for the welcome! I've been dipping my toes in here and there. I'm more of a lurker and all the conversations can be overwhelming at times. I hope to become more active little by little.

>25 Sace: You will get used to all the conversations going on. Once you get to 'know' the ROOTers it gets easier.

>26 connie53: I'm trying to be better about checking my groups/starred conversations at least once a day (I try to limit my online time) so I'm hoping that with that habit things will feel less awkward. Sometimes I feel like the new kid at school trying to find a table to sit at in the cafeteria. Thank heaven LT is a friendly place!

>27 Sace: I have found this to be a particularly friendly group. It also helps that it isn't as 'busy' as some other groups - I am in the Category Challenge group this year, and I hate having to restrict whose threads I look at or not, but there's just no way I can read them all as there are so many, and within lots of the threads the conversations seem to grow arms and legs so quickly! I can pretty much manage every thread in this group, as it's not so frenetic. So I feel better about that, less guilty!

You're really welcome to sit at the ROOT table :)

>28 Jackie_K: Awww! Thank you! I was in the Category Challenge group for a while as well. Everyone seems very friendly there, but it was way too overwhelming for me and hard to keep up with. And I don't think the category challenge fit my reading style (I don't even know what it is...I'm still trying to figure it out!)

Good morning! It's here! September is here!! And there's a long weekend! I'm looking forward to staying in pajamas and a reading marathon!

Have a great day, everyone!

Yay, long weekend! I am taking a train trip and will bring along a nice big ROOT to while away the time. PJs and staying in bed also sounds like an excellent plan. Enjoy!

A train trip! That sounds like fun! What's the destination?

>32 rabbitprincess: Toronto. Visiting family for the long weekend. Always fun. I took tomorrow off so I can go down then and come back Monday.

Safe travels and have fun!

Happy Friday!!

I finally decided on my ROOT- How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren. Since it is a "classic" it's kind of quaint to hear the author speak of the new technology-radio, television and cassette tapes. It gave me a giggle.

Oh, I would be interested to know how my fellow ROOTers define a ROOT.

Train trips are the best. I don't get many opportunities but it's my favorite way to travel.

What's a Root and what's not is going to vary for everyone here. That flexibility is one of the great things about the challenge--you can tailor it to work however you like. For me, if I owned it before January 1 of the current year, it's a Root. If it's a re-read, it doesn't count. If it meets the other criteria but I decide to give it away without reading it (doesn't happen often), it doesn't count. I also use a somewhat complicated point system but don't think there are many here who do that.

I define a ROOT as any book in my or my BF's library. I also include books that are residing at my parents' place; until we get a bigger place I am limited in the number of bookcases I can use, so creative shuttling of books is required. I count rereads too because they are part of my library. But yes, every challenge is different!

>25 Sace: they totally can be overwhelming at times... little by little sounds like a good method :)

>26 connie53: yep, agreed!

>27 Sace: lol new kid at school ;) Well, just remember we were all new kids at school at one time or another, here :)

>28 Jackie_K: ... wow. I can't imagine a group that is much busier than this -- that this is considered not as busy! Though I suppose that's how some people decompress.. with internet time. Not me, so much, I participate because I like participating w/ you all ... not because I'm looking to kill time. ;)

>32 rabbitprincess: >34 rabbitprincess: fun! I love train trips :)

>36 Sace: >37 Amberfly: >38 rabbitprincess: What they said about ROOT-definition variety.
As for me, this year (I've defined it differently in different years), if it was added to my book collection in the prior month, it's a ROOT. I've tried to be easy on myself this year ;) I've still managed to read twice as many NON-ROOTs as ROOTs this year... I'm working on ignoring the lure of the library and ERs and shiny-brand-new-books... ;)

>39 avanders: said "if it was added to my book collection in the prior month, it's a ROOT. "



Yes!! I'm happy to hear this. I kind of wanted to include a book that I acquired in August, but wasn't sure it was still in the spirit of things so I'm relieved that it is.

>37 Amberfly: >38 rabbitprincess: Thank you for your answers as well. I like picking people's brains. It's a shame I can't make a decision without conferring with others.

One of my reading goals is to stop feeling like I have to apologize for my reading choices. I really wonder where that came from...

I'm another one that includes the new-and-shiny as a ROOT too. I used to say it was books bought prior to the January of that year, but then I felt really guilty if I wanted to read something newer, and so this year I thought that guilt in my life was something I could do without - reading is meant to be pleasurable! - so I included the new books too. As I'm using the Jar of Fate system, the chances are I won't pull out a new one, but they've got as much chance as the old ones, and I'm occasionally allowing myself a free choice if I really really want to read something new. That's helped with the guilt!

I have noticed a lot of us justify ourselves in these threads! For me, it's mainly justifying why I'm buying EVEN MORE BOOKS!

>41 Jackie_K:

I have noticed a lot of us justify ourselves in these threads! For me, it's mainly justifying why I'm buying EVEN MORE BOOKS!

It does feel nice to see all the justifying though. I like to know I'm not alone in this. I have found no satisfactory justification for buying more books beyond "I just wants them. My precioussss." Which is a justification I guess. It'a a purely selfish justification, but I agree I don't need the negativity of guilt in my life so I might as well get over my urge to purge. :-)

>42 Sace: It is nice to see, isn't it? It's nice to know that there are people here who Just Get It. :)

All books I haven't read and that are on my shelf/Kindle are roots--because with over 400 I know they will take root before I ever get to them!

>44 Tess_W: That's a wonderful way of putting it! "I know they will take root..."

>43 Jackie_K: Yes. Being around people who Just Get It is something I am really enjoying about LT.

Finished a ROOT today, but not one for the September theme: xxxHolic Omnibus 7

And am I crazy? Has my home page changed? I used to have links to the LT blog and latest news and whatnot on the right. It's gone now.

Make that two ROOTs for today: Princess Jellyfish Omnibus, Omnibus 1

For me a ROOT is a real book that has been on my shelves for 6 months. I read about 60/70 books a year and my ROOT goal is 36 books, the rest of the books can be new and shiny ones.

You are absolutely free to set your own rules! Just make sure reading is FUN!

>49 connie53: I just started thinking about that today. Do I count e-books or not? I think I'm going to count them because the "cloud" is yet another place I've cluttered up with "books", albeit electronic ones.

I'm really good at cluttering things up...and not just with books. :-)

Ugh. So my planned Labor Day Weekend Read-a-palooza was not as successful as I had hoped. I only finished 2 books...and they were manga. :-/

But it's a new week, right?

I'm really getting into How To Read a Book, but I find myself reading it a little more slowly. Normally I don't read with pencil in hand, but I've been inspired to underline/take notes while I read this one :-)

Two Roots are still two Roots, regardless of the type of content. That's my attitude, anyway =)
How is Princess Jellyfish? I'm looking for a new manga series and that one looks interesting.

Oh I am loving Princess Jellyfish. It's really funny. I also recommend listening to the Oh, Comics! Podcast #84. They talk a lot about it. They do go over the plot quite a bit, but it didn't feel spoilery.

The art is very distinctive and the quirky humor and characters make it really fun to read.

>50 Sace: I definitely include ebooks as well - they're as much tomes waiting to be read as the paper books are.

It's interesting to think how we view ebooks compared to paper books - I have a friend who is an author who gets really cross when people refer to paper books as 'proper books', as she says the same work went into both versions and the ebook is just as much a 'proper book' as the paper one. I agreed with her, but then remember having a dilemma recently when I got a book for my eReader as to whether I would count it as a TBR or not. It was only when I thought that if it was a paper book then I wouldn't count it (it was a book of games and activities for kids on long journeys, and somebody here - Connie I think - compared it to a recipe book, which I'd never think to add as a TBR) - but it took me 'translating' it into the other format to get my head round how I viewed it.

>54 Jackie_K:

"...as she says the same work went into both versions and the ebook is just as much a 'proper book' as the paper one"

I love this! It's so true.

Because of willful downsizing on my part, I only buy ebooks unless a book isn't in that form. I've cleaned out 2 entire bookcases in the 3 years that I've belonged her by reading paper and giving them away (for the most part).

>53 Sace: Listened to the podcast and I'm ordering Princess Jellyfish from the library. Thanks for pointing me to that site! It looks like it'll be a helpful resource while I'm looking for new series.

>56 Tess_W: That's my next project-letting go. It is very hard for me to get rid of a book, even after I've read it. Well, maybe not hard. Once I find the right person, I gladly give a book away. I'm sad to say that there aren't a lot of readers in my life. The two main ones, my husband and daughter, to not share my reading tastes. I really need to just pack up all the books I've read this year and donate them to the Friends of the Library!

>57 Amberfly: Yay! Glad I could help. I think Panels is going away and is getting rolled into Book Riot, but they will still be around. I hope you enjoy Princess Jellyfish as much as I am.

It's Friday!! I hope I get a lot of reading in this weekend.

I think I need to somehow streamline things. I've got too many lists going--ROOTs about reading, general ROOTs, Non-ROOTS....I'm confusing myself.

Maybe if I just read one book at a time....NAH!

>60 Jackie_K: I go in phases with reading one or more books - at the moment I'm just wanting one at a time to be finished and then start on the next one, but earlier in the year I had several on the go at once. Ah well, as long as I'm reading something then I'm making progress :)

Hope you make lots more progress on the weekend, Jackie.

Well I have managed to finish American Gods. I'm going to get back to reading momentarily.

>60 Jackie_K: I think it might be time for me to consider a monogamous relationship with a book.

One of my issues is my competition with myself. Since 2013 I've tried to "outdo" myself every year (either reading more books than the previous year or more pages.) I think that took my focus away from simply reading and enjoying. I was choosing books for expediency. I still enjoyed reading, but I wasn't savoring what I was reading. I was still guilty of this throughout this year. So I have decided that starting today I am just going to look at my OVERALL number of books and pages from now until eternity. Making it year by year put me in a frame of mind that was more about being "ahead" or "behind" compared to previous years and it wasn't working for me anymore. I'm not even sure if I will set a goal for number of books next year.

I do think I still need to define "ROOT" for myself and focus more on reading those than acquiring more. But as >44 Tess_W: said, eventually whatever I have will take ROOT!

>62 Sace: I think I went through that stage about the first 1-2 years after I joined this group; always thinking what book can I pick next that I can sail through? However, after I cleared a couple of shelves I then settled down and now read for pure enjoyment and pleasure, no pressure. That is why I usually set my root goal low, because I don't want any pressure. That is also why I dropped out of several other groups that I dearly loved (category read, reading through time) because I felt a pressure to read the book of the month. I like rooting because I make my own rules and read what/when/where I choose!

>62 Sace: Good idea to consider "eternal" reading statistics rather than competing with yourself each year. And like Tess, I deliberately set my goal low so that it can be achieved with little effort and I can make room for the bigger books. (It also helps that I classify each book in an omnibus as a separate ROOT, muahaha.)

>63 Tess_W: Last year I had some stress about reading the books of the month for the Category Challenge, so when we set up some of the group reads and challenges for this year's group, I decided to read the appropriate books whenever I felt like it instead of in the specific month of the challenge. I also decided to do only the challenges for which I already had suitable books, rather than going to the library and hunting down books to fit. And picking books for these challenges ended up being the foundation of my ROOT Pool, which has been a lot of fun to explore. I may do it again next year.

>63 Tess_W: >64 rabbitprincess: It's only September, but I am starting to think ahead to next year. I am a member of other groups as well, but it's easier for me to keep up with one or two rather than a lot. I do like that ROOT has more a "make your own rules" feel. Then again, I also like challenges. But like rabbitprincess I tend to do them on my own time.

This week I could tell I was sort of stressing about reading all the books I listed for my self-designed September theme. I took a step back and realized that even if I only manage one book in the theme, it's ok.

I think I'm going to be distracted. My pre-order of "What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains and Ourelves" (hmmm. No touchstone yet) was delivered to my kindle this morning.

And no sooner did I say in >60 Jackie_K: that I'm only reading one book at a time, now I have 3 on the go!

>67 Jackie_K: It's magic! ;)

I'm 'only' in two groups, ROOTs and 75ers! And I think I will drop out of the 75ers, next year. I need the time I spend there to actually read books and to do RL things. When I see threads on the 75ers with 285 posts to read I get into a panic attack and I don't need that. But I love the ROOTers and follow everyone here.

>69 connie53: I haven't ever dared join the 75ers! Partly because of the goal (I'm having my best ever reading year, but still can't imagine getting much beyond 40), but partly because of what people say about how fast the threads grow and move! I just couldn't handle that at all.

>70 Jackie_K: They do move very fast. So no more 75-ers for me next year.

>40 Sace: lol glad I could help ;)
That's a great reading goal -- I had a super snobby book friend in college, and I learned back then to stop apologizing because, seriously, I really enjoyed Stephen King, regardless of how "plebeian" she thought that was, and it didn't mean I didn't also enjoy the "high literature" books as well. And whatever, read what you want. It's your brain!!

>41 Jackie_K: yeah! :)
lol yes, justifying why I'm purchasing MORE books... well, that's harder to explain away ;)

>42 Sace: lol yep - I think that about covers it: "I just wants them. My precioussss."

>47 Sace: ugh, I noticed that too.... I had to change some things back and the rest, I just gave up on it. :P Hopefully it was just a glitch?

>50 Sace: I do, s'long as they fit w/in my rule :)

>54 Jackie_K: oh interesting... I think of ebooks as "real" books, just ones that I'm not as inclined to read.... ;) (I really do prefer the paper format)

>58 Sace: that I don't have so much of a problem with ... In fact, the only books I do own are books I haven't read (nearly 1000 of them) and a handful (really, just a handful) of books that are part of my "permanent collection" -- i.e., my favorites that I want to have so I can lend them out :) (or re-read as "necessary"). This doesn't, of course, count reference books, cookbooks, etc.

>62 Sace: lol! Yes, competition w/ myself. that's an issue w/ me too! This year I tried to scale back, but then I found myself doing the opposite again. Stupid me! Well, there's always next year.....

>69 connie53: 285 posts to read. Sounds nighmarish. :-o

>67 Jackie_K: I've got several going at once as well. And I can't seem to decide on just one! I'm not convinced I have reading slumps...I just have long periods where I can't decided what to read so I make very little progress on anything.

>69 connie53: THIS!!! I'm discovering that ROOT is about the only group I really participate in. I can keep up with it. I don't like the idea of just skimming a thread. I like to be able to respond to everyone. It's hard to do that when things move so quickly.

>70 Jackie_K: Even though I've met the 75 this year (and other years) having such a high goal is what makes me choose expediency over savoring a book. I'm soooo going to scale back my goals next year.

>72 avanders: Your response is inspiring :-)

Ok. It's the last week of September and How to Read a Book is becoming a slog. I will not be able to finish it by month's end. I feel like the September theme was an epic fail. Meh. I've got to get over it, right?

There's been a reading slow down in fact. I'm trying not to panic or berate myself for choosing easier books to read.

Scary ROOTs For October
Hallowe'en Party
The Crucible

Current Non-ROOT Reads

Current ROOT
How to Read a Book

HTR (Hoping To Read, because TBR feels too much like a commitment)

Completed ROOTs (Which may or may not fit the theme for October)
Hallowe'en Party
The Crucible

Hi Sace! My first visit and what's not to like? Romance books, cats, and lots of good reading.

I'm like you in that as soon as I accept a challenge it puts me off, but I'm proud that I'll finish Great Expectations in September for the group read and finish the American Authors Challenge John Irving for the September challenge. Unusual for me and I'll drop out of the challenge biz for a while.

Recreational reading is supposed to be fun, not homework. Nobody in the 75ers group would criticize you for not reading 75 if you just couldn't get there one year (like I did last year) ..... they'd be glad to have a new person to talk with. And you can choose to participate in the threads or not. The only problem I have with the 75er group is that there are so many good book recommendations that I've been buying more books in the last several years than I used to! It's definitely not a contest, though.

>76 karenmarie: I understand what you are saying. I just do better when I keep things small. It's very hard to spend any amount of time on LT and NOT find something I want to read/buy.

Hi again. Since I retired in January, I have spent more time on LT, more time on my cell phone reading news and playing a few match-three games I like, lots of time getting my book catalog under control, and, of course reading.

Knowing what works best for you is valuable information indeed.

>78 karenmarie: Ah! Sounds like fun. I tend to do more book organizing during the summer and winter breaks when I'm not teaching.

Im trying to be a little more mindful so I do a better job of knowing what's working.

Sometimes I wonder if I have trouble letting go of the idea of "good" books versus "trash" books because I work in a high school and there's an English teacher across the hall from me. (Who did indeed make a snide remark about my reading choices.)

Omigosh! I feel so behind the times! I just discovered that when you get audible narration with a book, you can read the book and it will pick up where you left off reading when you go to audible. Productivity for the win!

I finished a ROOT yesterday. It has nothing at all to do with my September theme. :-/



I think I might like xxx-Holic a little better. I'm just having trouble getting into the premise of this one. I like the idea of travel between alternate worlds and dimensions. It probably didn't help that I didn't read this in longer time spurts. I just picked it up now and again. That's probably why the story felt so disjointed to me.

I also finished another quick ROOT this weekend.



It's juvenile, but I love reading the Magic Treehouse books in Spanish. :-)

Finished a Root for October: The Crucible. I finished Hallowe'en Party earlier. Sooo...2 ROOTS. It's better than nothing.

I remember reading and loving The Crucible in high school. Fits the season, too!

>82 Sace: Love The Crucible.

>83 Amberfly: and >84 Tess_W: I really enjoyed it. I hate to admit how little I remembered from my high school reading of the play.

It's inspired the reading of my current ROOTS: Escaping Salem and The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

>86 Tess_W: When I taught English I used to make students read The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Haven't read it for about 20 years!

>86 Tess_W: According to the back cover of my copy it's for ages 12 and up...but it seems pretty sophisticated to me. But I haven't talked to many 12 year-olds lately. :-)

>87 Sace: I think I first read it at 11 or 12 and loved it, but I don't know that I was a typical preteen. Then 3-4 years later my English teacher assigned it to the class, and I got to read it again, for points this time. So either I was ahead of the curve, or the schools were behind it.

>88 Amberfly: Maybe it's just because I've been reading so much manga that my brain equates lots of words with sophisticated. :-)

I was thinking that the writing was quite sophisticated for 11-12 years olds, but that's compared to similarly leveled books currently on the market that I've seen recently. I would assume that the subject matter of The Witch of Blackbird Pond and current books is probably similar.

>88 Amberfly: I've seen The Witch of Blackbird Pond used at all different level. My sons read it in the 5th grade purely for literature. Then my grandsons have read in the 8th grade to coincide with early America history. I read it first as an adult and I liked it!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for October - ooh! what a good idea! Of course, I already read that one, but I have recently acquired two or three other books that are retellings or spinoffs or something for my Kindle. Maybe one of them would be good to read for October!

Hi Sace!

>82 Sace: - >85 Sace: The Chapel Hill Playmakers Repertory Company is putting The Crucible on right now, and my friend Louise and I are going to see it on it's last matinee date, Nov 6th! I read it in high school and don't remember very much at all and am really looking forward to seeing it.

>92 karenmarie: That sounds like fun!!

NOVEMBER BOOK DIET

Ah, November. My only goal for you is to not buy any books.




I think it's time that I give up and realize that I am too lazy to really keep up with things in a thread. I'm willing to keep track of my books, but I don't like keeping up in multiple places.

I'm already starting to plan for 2017.

1. I will create a ROOT tag for myself. (ETA: Why wait? I decided to go ahead and create the tag and use it from here on out.)
2. I will not join any challenges beyond "read books."
3. I will read ROOTS.
4. I will stay away from Amazon.

NOVEMBER ROOTS



The Treasury of Victorian Murder Compendium II
This *is* different from the first one, but the ISBN always pulls up the first one. Frustrating.

Belle Prater's Boy
Loved this. I'm glad the library has the sequel so I don't have to break my book diet!

The Treasury of Victorian Murder Compendium
Macabre and entertaining.

The Complete Chi's Sweet Home 1
A very cute manga. The author definitely understands cats.

His Girl Monday to Friday
Cute, fluffy read.

Fashion Victims
Absolutely fascinating book. Beautiful (and scary!) illustrations.

Happy Café, Vol. 4, Happy Café, Vol. 5, Happy Café, Vol. 6
The series did start picking up, but it's still not interesting enough to continue. I only read the last three because I had them. It's cute. Not riveting.

Happy Café, Vol. 3
I liked this one much more than the other two volumes.

Happy Café, Vol. 2
I guess I'm still trying to get into this series. At this point I'm sort of wondering if I want to read all six.

Happy Café, Vol. 1
It's a first volume. I have the first 6, so I'll keep reading. This one appealed to me more than Heiress and Toriko.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond
I loved this! It's going on my list of books I love to read over and over.

The Heiress and the Chauffeur, Death Note, Vol 9 and Toriko
I have honestly lost all interest in Death Note. It started out so good. Now it just feels too convoluted and complicated for me. I don't like trying to keep up with all the logic of not getting caught. Because I started feeling this way with Vol. 7 or 8, I decided to never again to buy an entire manga series all at once. It's a good thing, too. The Heiress and Toriko didn't strike my fancy that much. I'm glad I don't have a lot of them taking up space on my kindle now. Toriko is the only one that I thought of maybe continuing. Volume 2 is on my Amazon wishlist.

Climbing Jacob's Ladder
I gave this 2 1/2 stars. It started out really good, but either the author or the reader fizzled at the end.

Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Volume 4
Great ending. Now that I've read this series, I think I won't feel so lost in Tsubasa. The stories aren't really all that connected, but I like having that background.

Shadowshaper
So this got a lot of really good reviews. I guess I'm just too old? I really enjoyed the audible performance, but I never really got into the story. It was good enough that I would like to give the author another try. I understand he has some adult urban fantasy as well. Maybe I will like that better?

Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Volume 3
This really is turning into one of my favorite mangas.

Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus vol. 2
It took me a while to believe I could like this series, but I'm over it now. It's very entertaining and I love the art.

Stroke of Genius
Just a cute little romance with a nerd as the hero. I'm a sucker for nerds.

Apollo's Angels by Jennifer Holmans
This almost got tagged as a DNF, but Audible saved the day.

Escaping Salem by Richard Godbeer (which started out as an October ROOT)
As far as history books go, it was well done. Not quite narrative, but not that dry either. My reading mojo is so out of kilter right now that I don't think I can write a competent or fair review (Not that I'm any better at it when my reading mojo is functioning properly.) I can't seem to get into any of the books I've been reading.

Hello just dropping by to say hi :)

>94 Sace: sounds like a good set of goals!
It does get overwhelming sometimes keeping track of multiple things....

>95 avanders: Hello!

I think if I can just decide where to keep up with things and make a habit of sitting down and updating everything in one sitting I'd be fine, but once I sit in front of a computer I am easily distracted.

I've done some puttering on the thread. I have to admit, I do like finding monthly pictures. I'll have to do some contemplating and decide on a consistent system for keeping up with my reading.

>96 Sace: I completely understand...
I've heard that, for some people, it works to designate a specific time/date for each type of task? I.e., you could say, Sundays at 7pm I will always update LT until it's done... That wouldn't work for me (life is never that predictable ;p), but like I said, I've heard it works great for some people :) (like bloggers and authors tend to prefer having a set schedule so they aren't otherwise distracted ;))

>98 avanders: I think that's something I could do. I think I could do a morning thing. It would have to be on the weekends though. I enjoy having the thread just as a place to place random thoughts...even if just for myself. It's not like I really have to update a lot. I don't read all that much during the week. I never manage more than 1 or 2 books a week (unless it's manga) so you would think I could handle updating in just two places...but I really am that lazy.

I enjoy seeing other threads where people keep up with current reads, acquisitions, and completions but I just don't think I can manage that. I really admire that kind of fortitude. But like I said, even with just 1 to 2 books a week...it feels overwhelming. I really laugh at myself sometimes.

I finally finished Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet. Whew! I think it helped that I downloaded it as an audible title and listened on my way to work in addition to reading in the evenings.

>94 Sace: I can relate.....I thought at the beginning of 2016 I would change the 75 challenge (after all I do read 75 books per year), the Reading Through Time challenge as I teach history and I DO read different time periods, and on and on...however, I found the keeping up with the posting and the monthly challenges too much. ..too much time to post and it stifled my true reading freedom. So I just decided to stick with this group and READ when and what I wanted! Since I have over 400 books between my bookshelves and my Kindle I think that is challenging enough!

> 101 That sounds like my plan from now on-Just read. This group is the best for me though because it does help me focus on ROOTS as opposed to a particular category/theme. That way I can just read whatever takes my fancy.

This book diet has an added benefit-I'm really sticking to ROOTS.

>102 Sace: This group is an excellent motivator for staying on track with ROOTS. :) Glad to hear that it's working out for you!

I also do the Category Challenge, but I set it up so that all of the categories are something I read normally anyway. ;)

>103 rabbitprincess: It really is! Especially the group year-long goal. It's fun to feel like I am helping in that effort.

>102 Sace: >103 rabbitprincess: same here. I set up my category challenge so that all the books I read for the challenge will also be ROOTs. I have found this group a brilliant motivation.

>103 rabbitprincess: >105 Jackie_K: I think the Category Challenge is so cool, but maybe this year wasn't my year. I was actually overwhelmed by all the brilliance of members' categories. I did find them very inspiring, but I don't think it is something I can actually do :)

>106 Sace: I was overwhelmed (but also inspired) too, but I ended up not doing anything fancy at all for the Category Challenge. My 11 categories (corresponding to categories of my TBR books), no pictures, no 'theme'. And I'll be doing the same thing next year too. I get the impression from the 2017 Category Challenge group that a lot of people have decided to go a lot simpler for their 2017 challenge.

>107 Jackie_K: Wow. I didn't realize the new group was up. Thanks for saying something.

Hmmm. I have an idea for categories...but it's so lame....

sniff sniff, I typed a response but it appears to have disappeared? :(

Anyway -- long story short, re >99 Sace: to each his own! We're all different w/ different strengths & weaknesses, so do what you're comfortable with! It's all for fun anyway :)

And >109 Sace: what was your idea??

>110 avanders: I apologize on behalf of my thread for eating your response. ;-)

I'm working on embracing my disorganized, flighty way of doing things and focusing on having fun.

As for categories I'm thinking either "Colors of the rainbow" with each color being a category. I think that could give me a lot of freedom of choice. The cover could fit or the title or an aspect of the book. I could include the diversity element as well.

I've also considered pairs of opposites.

No matter what I decide, I'm not going to pre-determine a number of books or pages per category. I'm not even sure I'm going to set an overall goal for number of books next year.

One of my goals for 2017 was not to join any challenges, but I decided to go ahead and do the Category Challenge because I came up with something that I think can work for me.

Woot! I just finished 4 ROOTS! I met my goal!

The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Toriko
The Heiress and the Chauffeur
Death Note, Vol. 9

Awesome work! :)

>114 rabbitprincess: Thanks! I just finished another one too! Manga, helping me keep my goals since 2014.

>111 Sace: lol no worries ;)

Fun categories! And the freedom of choice sounds like a good idea :)

>113 Sace: Woo hoo! Congrats!

>113 Sace: Congratulations!

Congratulations from me too! I think lots of us reach for the short/thin volumes when our target is approaching :)

>116 avanders: >117 MissWatson: >118 Jackie_K: Thanks everyone!

I just need to kvetch. The tickers are annoying. There was a time I could simply reload the page and I could see the updated ticker. Now I have to either clear my browsing data or open and incognito window. Am I missing a simpler option?

I think it depends on which browser you use. In Firefox, just hitting refresh does the trick for me.

In Firefox, I find refreshing a different page with the ticker (e.g. the monthly ROOT thread) shows the updated total more effectively than refreshing the actual page where you do the updating. But that trick doesn't work in Chrome, at least not on the version I'm using. It is very strange.

>121 Jackie_K: >122 rabbitprincess: I'm using Chrome and things were fine until Sunday. All I had to do was refresh. That doesn't seem to work anymore. *shrugs* I'll just update my tickers and hope others see the updates. It's not the end of the world. I worry more about the monthly ROOT thread.

Somewhere in my house is a copy of Freakonomics. WHERE IS IT????????

I so admire all my fellow ROOTers that are organized.

>120 Sace: I know! I think it just lags sometimes... ;p

Almost at your goal!

I'm declaring another book diet for December.



DECEMBER ROOTS


Harrow County
Finished Dec. 31 More of a Halloween tale. Excellent art. I would like to read more of these stories.

Arrow to the Sun
Finished Dec. 31 Another book of beautiful illustrations. It totally deserves the Caldecott Medal. It captured my attention at the age of 6 and it still does.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Finished Dec. 31 The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous.

A Christmas Carol
Finished Dec. 27 How sad is it that I've never read this before? Dickens is not an easy read, but once I get into the flow, I love his writing.

Tested
Finished Dec. 26 I know better than to read books about school reform. I thought that by reading an older book the issues would be so outdated that I wouldn't get frustrated. I was so wrong. Despite being almost 10 years old, testing is still very much the focus in my district...despite the absence of NCLB.

Guardians of the Louvre
Finished Dec. 23 I did love the art, but this is definitely not my favorite manga. I found it rather dull.

The Sympathizer
Finished Dec. 21 The writing was really good. There were so many sentences and phrases that I just had to stop and re-read and say aloud...but it is a terribly heavy novel. I am glad I read it, but it reminds me why I read these types of books sparingly.

Christmas Baby for the Princess
Finished Dec. 19 I'm all about pure romance. This was a nice little bit of escapist fluff. (Not sure why it won't touchstone. I assume there aren't enough copies. ETA: HA!!! I found out how to force a touchstone!)

A Ghost in Monte Carlo
I really enjoyed this book. The writing isn't Georgette Heyer, but the story was just as engaging for me. Obviously there are some dated attitudes that made me cringe, but I still liked the "Perils of Pauline" aspects. I'm also a sucker for pure romance. I like a sweet love story.

Night of the Crash-Test Dummies
Gary Larson never fails to entertain me...even when I don't get the joke.

Black Sheep
How can you not like Georgette Heyer? I never find the plots "fast-paced", "gripping" or even "page-turning", but I do love her writing and the characters which are always entertaining. I absolutely love Abby and Miles.

School: The Story of American Public Education
Honestly, this book left me feeling a little hopeless. After reading it I feel like educational policy is just an endless cycle of the same and nothing ever changes.

I'm still pondering goals intentions for 2017.

1. I will read 72 books total.
2. I will read 54 ROOTS.
3. I will stay away from Amazon.
4. I will maintain two threads only: My 2017 Category thread and my ROOTS 2017 Thread (keeping my fingers crossed that there is enough interest in a 2017 ROOTS challenge.)
5. I will maintain Books, ROOTS and Book Diet tickers only. (Book Diet on a month by month basis.)
6. I will accept my readerly self for who I am. I like fluff and I don't read quickly.

>127 Sace: book diet... no new books in?

And I'm sure there will be enough interest in a 2017 ROOTs challenge ;)

>128 avanders: Exactly. No new books. I've just been putting interesting books on my Amazon wish list. I might go on a "spree" for my birthday, but I want to make a dent in my ROOTS.

>127 Sace: There's always interest in a ROOTS challenge! :)

>129 Sace: Wow. @tess_schoolmarm did a really long book diet which lasted over a year, IIRC. The closest I've managed to get is this year only buying twice as many books as I read (as opposed to 3 times as many last year). I have wishlisted at least as many books again. I'm not sure I could quite bring myself to not buy *anything*. You're a stronger person than I am!

>131 Jackie_K: I'm only taking it month by month. Earlier this year I thought I'd try to go a whole year without buying books. That lasted until February. Right now I'm going to focus on ROOTS...hopefully through December, January and February. We'll see if I follow through. I may have to ask @tess_schoolmarm for some tips.

LOL if I could only food diet as well I did book diet!

Hi!

I haven't visited your thread in way too long - I think the title not including your name made me think it was a group title. Anyway, sorry for the long delay between visits.

I always admire people who set up plans. I also always find that when I do so, I immediately want to break them. Even the ROOT challenge this year - I picked specific books to read but only read one of those books but have so far read 34 or so other ROOTs. Next year's ROOT plan will be simply a number of books acquired before a specific month of 2016, haven't decided which month yet.

Good luck staying away from Amazon!!! I would probably break that one on January 2nd. :)

Good luck with the book diet! Staying away from amazon is an excellent goal. My family always gets me amazon cards for the holidays, so the temptation is far too strong.

>134 karenmarie: I am in the same boat. Plans are things that work for other people.

>134 karenmarie: Thanks for the tip! I will include my name next year for sure. I really should have noticed that everyone else was doing that. LOL.

I am actually very similar when it come to plans. The minute I make a plan or say "I'm going to read ___ book" I also want to rebel against my plans. So for next year I'm just telling myself that they aren't plans but "ideas" for what I want to read. The biggest thing I want to do is read more ROOTS. Going into 2017 I am just going to consider anything purchased in 2016 or before is a root. Since I haven't purchased a book since October, I think I can feel comfortable with that.

>135 Amberfly: Amazon is just so convenient. The only brick and mortar store in town is a Books a Million. And these days it seems to have more toys/games/other merchandise than books. With Amazon I can see just books...and I don't have to leave the house.

>134 karenmarie: and >136 Sace:
I am definitely the same way. Just as soon as I have a plan and especially if I set it out somewhere, I completely lose interest and want nothing to do with it - whether reading or otherwise. Dealing with having to set objectives (whether for school assignments or now as part of a performance review at work) is REALLY challenging for that reason...

>136 Sace: We have a Books A Million in a nearby town. A cousin gave my daughter a gift card years and years ago and when I went to use it after daughter said I could have it, I was turned off completely by its value reducing monthly if you didn't use it right away. Out of a $25 gift card, there was only about $18 left. Total Rip Off. I've boycotted them ever since.

Since we live in what I lovingly call "the middle of nowhere", I've come to rely more and more on Amazon over the years - 17 years now - and buy much, much more than books from them.

I hate that I use amazon so much (I don't know about in the US, but in the UK they are well known for not paying their taxes and getting away with it), and I deliberately bought ereaders that weren't kindles so I'd have no choice but to get my ebooks from somewhere else. When I use amazon I try to use the marketplace as much as possible to minimise the money I spend there. But there are just so many things it's really hard to get anywhere else.

I've never heard of a gift card reducing in value before - that's outrageous!!

Personally, I love Amazon. I'm so over the crowds on the roads and the stores that I prefer to shop from my desk, if at all possible. About the only thing I still go to the store for is groceries and clothing--which I must try on. Everything I purchase online. I hope Amazon pays their taxes because they charge me sales tax!

Books A Million--there was one in near where we stayed in Florida over Thanksgiving. I went inside to browse and was very disappointed at the very high prices.

>138 karenmarie: WHAT??!! A gift card that loses value? That's crazy!! I don't blame you for boycotting them. We used to have a Barnes and Noble in town and that's the store I preferred.

>139 Jackie_K: Honestly, I really struggle with Amazon. My city used to have two locally owned bookstores, a bookstore in the mall, two used bookstores, two Books a Millions and a Barnes and Noble. We now only have one Books a Million. I know it's not all because of Amazon, but I don't think Amazon helped. And I know that Amazon does have the reputation for questionable practices. But it *is* so convenient and if I know I have to end up ordering the book (since most of what I want to read would have to be special ordered if I went to the local store) it seems like such a pain to have to go out twice.

>140 Tess_W: I'm so over crowds and roads and stores too. I joke with my students that if Amazon doesn't have it, I don't need it. And some of the most comfortable pants I own came from Amazon. :-)

>129 Sace: very nice! I did that one year... it was rough. ;)

>138 karenmarie: wow I've never heard of that feature -- pretty bogus!

Yeah, I'm a big Amazon fan... the prices, the shipping, the convenience... :-o
But I also love local bookstores a LOT. And I'll even buy at Barnes because I hate the thought of the physical bookstore becoming a thing of the past!

Well. Here I am 10 days in and I haven't finished any more books. I am *thisclose* on a couple kindle books, but my kindle is acting bizarre so when I turn it on, I just start obsessing about it. I've gone to forums (where others say they are having similar issues) and called customer service (where they say they've never heard of the problem). So I've just turned it off and tried to read analog books. But I've chosen The Sympathizer which is excellent but not a fast read (at least not for me.) /whining.

>143 Sace: Argh, I feel your pain! My kobo is mostly alright (once I'd sorted out the initial change of email address on my account, which bizarrely you can't do from your account profile but have to rely on their customer services, who are terrible!), but occasionally it will have the odd silly blip. Most recently, 4 books disappeared from the device, although they were still in my library both online and in the kobo app. I ended up having to download them to Adobe Digital Editions and adding them again, as they wouldn't sync from kobo at all. It was really frustrating, although as I'd read them all it wasn't the end of the world. The most annoying was when it did that with a book earlier this year that I was mid-way through reading! (same solution solved it, but I shouldn't have had to do anything!)

The joys of modern technology.

>144 Jackie_K: "The joys of modern technology."

Yes. So joyful. As you said, it is never anything earth shattering, but it is so annoying. I think technology has lulled me into thinking that everything is instant and constant, then something will happen and it sends me into panic. What's worse, I am not good at technology at all. Your explanation of how you had to solve your kobo issues made my eye twitch. I am far too dependent on the kindle working the way it should. Mine is still acting up, but I am simply taking deep breaths and moving on. I can still get to all my books, they just aren't staying put on my Home and Recent pages.

>145 Sace: Yes, exactly, it's just stupid things. The other thing my kobo did was delete all my collections - I'd sorted the books into fiction, biography, etc, which made it so much quicker to find books. But then one day they'd all gone, so I had to trawl through pages and pages of titles again. Grrr.

Adobe Digital Editions is brilliant. I don't know if it supports kindle books, as they are in such a specific format, but for epub and pdf it's really easy to open and download books to my kobo. I use it for all the ebooks I get from places other than the kobo store.

>146 Jackie_K: It wouldn't surprise me to find out that kindle is such a specific format that you can only use them on a kindle. I want to say that I looked into Adobe Digital Editions at some point and it all seemed very complicated to me (I am not tech savvy at all.)

I've decided to set Sundays aside for updating my Library Thing threads/Library, so I've got post >127 Sace: updated. December is going slowly. I haven't been reading much at all. I got caught up in a 16 episode telenovela and spent more time watching that. But my school holiday started Friday at 3:30, so hopefully I'll make up for it. I'm currently reading Christmas Baby for the Princess (which won't touchstone since I seem to be the only LTer who's reading it) and Guardians of the Louvre. I should finish them both up by tonight or tomorrow. After that, I will be focusing on Idylls of the Queen.

I haven't updated my ROOTs ticker and for the life of me I can't remember the last book I added to the total. I'm just going to put ticker updating on hold until Jan. 1.

Hope you enjoy your holiday!

Congrats on your update! :)
December is hard to read a lot in .. it's so busy otherwise!

Happy holidays!

>152 avanders: >153 Tess_W: Thank you!! I hope you are both having a wonderful holiday!

>127 Sace: Has been through the weekly update. I don't feel like I read as much as I wanted, but I doubt I will ever feel like I've had enough time to read!

I've added a little more to my 2017 "Intentions" (The cobblestones of a certain road headed you know where.)

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's! I'm already looking forward to reading with you all!

Making notes to myself in preparation for 2017.

I made a list of other "intentions" on a scrap of paper. On it I had written something along the lines of "read better books." Since I've also noted here that I no longer want to apologize for my reading I'm not sure what I mean by such contradiction. For now I'm going to tell myself that my idea is to read books with more text on a page than pictures since I do tend to focus on manga over novels. To that end I promptly sat down and read two picture books this morning. :-)

>156 Sace: I'm itching to start a new reading log and a new ROOTS thread (and a new Category Challenge, or at least filling in the thread that I started a while ago). Happy new year!

>157 rabbitprincess: Happy New year to you, too! I'm so excited to start a new reading year! I'm eagerly awaiting the new ROOTs group.

Happy New Year! See you in the new 2017 group... :)