Bragan's 2019 ROOTing

It's good to see this group carrying on for another year!

I've decided to lower my ROOT goal a little this year, after several years of keeping it at a nice, round 100 books. I think I want to concentrate just a little less on ROOTs this year (or at least pressure myself a little less to get the ROOTs read) and a little more on continuing my surprisingly successful attempt at making inroads on my huge TBR stacks. I've been using this "one book in, two books out" system for a while now, and I'm astonished by how much it's helping!

I do still want to make a point of not neglecting some of the very, very old books on my TBR shelves, though, so I am repeating my goal from last year to read at least five "deep ROOTs": books that I've had sitting around unread since before I first joined LibraryThing in 2007.

So, my tickers:

Welcome back, Brag. Good luck with your ROOTing and get those deep ROOTs out.

Good to see you again for the year! Good luck with your goals this year!

Welcome back and have a great reading year! Glad to see the 2-for-1 system is working :D

Thanks, all! A very happy year of reading to you!

Welcome back and happy ROOTing!

>6 MissWatson: Thank you, and back atcha!

All right, here I go!

1. Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke.

2. A Man of Shadows by Jeff Noon.

3. Calypso by David Sedaris.

4. There but for the by Ali Smith.

5. The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe by Steven Novella, et al.

6. Arrival by Ted Chiang.

First time visitor here, sorry I gave you a BB on my thread!

Great goals, especially the 'deep roots' goal. I have quite a bit of those, too, and actually just finished one up, The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett.

I'll follow along this year, good luck.

>14 karenmarie: It's alright, I always forgive the BBs! If I didn't, I'd probably go around resenting half the people I've met on LT. Heh. :)

And thanks!

7. Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong.

8. The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America's Coldest Cases by Deborah Halber.

9. Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson.

Right, then, it's time to sum up the first month of 2019.

January 2019

Books read: 10
Books acquired: 7
ROOT books read: 9
ROOT books YTD total: 9/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 0
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 0/5
Current TBR total: 919
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -3

Not too bad a start, I suppose!

Thumb for your review of Brown Girl in the Ring! I've had that on my to-read list for just over 9 years -- maybe I'll finally get a copy now ;)

>20 rabbitprincess: Thanks! It was a book that definitely hit the reading spot, after a couple I found vaguely disappointing.

Moving right along into February...

10. The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris.

11. The Shelf: From LEQ to LES: Adventures in Extreme Reading by Phyllis Rose

12. The Oracle Year by Charles Soule.

Congrats on -3 tbr change. (I've never thought of reporting net tbr change. I like it!)

>25 karenmarie: It's a very helpful number to keep track of!

13. The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin.

14. Stories by O. Henry by O. Henry.

15. Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink.

16. The Earth After Us: What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks? by Jan Zalasiewicz.

And that's February gone. So...

February 2019

Books read: 8
Books acquired: 6
ROOT books read: 7
ROOT books YTD total: 16/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 0
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 0/5
Current TBR total: 917
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -5

Not too much progress on the TBR this month, but it's at least still going in the right direction.

17. The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson.

18. Peeps by Scott Westerfeld.

19. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover.

>34 bragan: I'm hoping to get that finished this month too. She really is such a good writer.

>35 Jackie_K: She is. It was a very good book, but also one of the most upsetting things I've read in recent memory.

20. Time Traders by Andre Norton. This was also my first "deep ROOT" for the year. Huzzah! I genuinely have no idea how long this one had been sitting on the TBR shelves, but I do know the answer is "long enough."

>37 bragan: Funny coincidence, I have this on my ereader as my bedtime reading for my business trip to Berlin later this day.

>37 bragan: That is an odd coincidence! I can't imagine it's a super-popular book these days.

21. The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro.

22. Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward.

23. The Missy Chronicles by James Goss et al.

>42 bragan: Thanks for the review! I'll have to read at least that fifth story, the one with Twelve and Nardole (they are the BEST).

>43 rabbitprincess: They are, and that one is so much fun.

OK, guess it's time for the March sum-up.

And, man. I feel like I've been in something of a book slump lately. Not that I haven't been reading some good things, but fewer than I usually expect to. All I can do is to comfort myself that that the TBR is still going in the right direction! And that my books slumps still involve more books than most people's normal reading. :)

Anyway, March:

March 2019

Books read: 8
Books acquired: 3
ROOT books read: 7
ROOT books YTD total: 23/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 1
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 1/5
Current TBR total: 912
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -10

Whoops, finished this one a couple of days ago and forgot to update:

24. Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan.

25. Young Men in Spats by P.G. Wodehouse.

26. The Magic Misfits: The Second Story by Neil Patrick Harris.

27. The Compleat Ankh-Morpork by Terry Pratchett.

28. Zardoz by John Boorman.

29. Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky.

And now it's May! So...

April 2019

Books read: 8
Books acquired: 2
ROOT books read: 6
ROOT books YTD total: 29/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 0
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 1/5
Current TBR total: 906
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -16

Apparently eight books a month is my new reading speed, no matter what I do. Oh, well. At least the TBR is still decreasing nicely. I do have to get to some more of those "deep ROOTs" soon, though.

30. The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian.

Hi Bragan. Catching up on threads and now reading yours. Lots of ROOTs read.

Hi Connie! Always good to see you.

31. Down These Dark Spaceways, edited by Mike Resnick.

Your one book in two books out system is a really good idea. I think i'll try it!

>57 nebula21: I'm still astonished by how well it's working for me. If you decide to go for it, I hope it's equally successful for you!

>57 nebula21: I've started it this year and am amazed I've kept it up this far into the year! I do have a caveat that presents don't count (hello upcoming birthday :D ), but even with that, I'm really hopeful that I'll end the year with fewer books on the TBR than I started with.

>59 Jackie_K: Yes, presents definitely don't count! (And it is possible to use a rather -- *cough* -- broad definition of what counts as a present, too. I know I have. :))

Awesome that it's still working for you, too.

32. The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson.

33. Severance by Ling Ma.

34. Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey.

35. Nabokov's Favorite Word is Mauve by Ben Blatt.

36. The Prestige by Christopher Priest.

37. To Be or Not to Be by Ryan North.

And that's about it for May. Reading numbers are still a bit below average for me, but I'm doing OK on the ROOTs, and, more importantly, I feel like by the end of the month I finally got completely over that book-slump feeling I've been fighting since the beginning of the year. Yay!

MAY 2019

Books read: 9 (including one read but unowned book)
Books acquired: 2
ROOT books read: 8
ROOT books YTD total: 37/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 0
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 1/5
Current TBR total: 900
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -22

38. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou.

>51 bragan: How did you like Cod? The only Kurlansky I've read is his history of the Basque culture, which I mostly enjoyed a lot. There are quite a few of his books that I've been meaning to get around to.

>69 rocketjk: Cod was good, even if it didn't exactly completely suck me into the subject matter. I did a mini-review of it here.

39. Time Traders II by Andre Norton. Which also counts as one of my "deep ROOTs" for the year, meaning I finally get to move that ticker again!

>71 bragan: Yaaaay!

>72 rabbitprincess: It feels good. I've been neglecting that part of my goal too much.

40. Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer by Rob Manning and William L. Simon.

Which puts me halfway to my goal for the year!

41. The Science of Sherlock Holmes by E. J. Wagner.

42. The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh.

43. Exit West by Moshin Hamid.

Well, I guess that's it for June. Somehow. So:

JUNE 2019

Books read: 9
Books acquired: 12
ROOT books read: 6
ROOT books YTD total: 43/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 1
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 2/5
Current TBR total: 903
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -19

OK, that's the TBR going in the wrong direction for the first time in a while. It was a weird month for that. I swear, people just sort of kept randomly giving me books. Not that I'm complaining! And I'm still down a fair amount overall, for the year so far.

I also read a higher percentage of non-ROOTs this month, but I also finished one more of the "deep ROOTs" that have been sitting on my TBR shelves since approximately the dawn of time. So I'm going to call it good, I think.

44. On the Move by Oliver Sacks.

45. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller.

Hi, just visiting threads. You have been reading a lot of books. Good job done.

>81 connie53: Thanks! Although reading this month is going very slowly. I've got a vacation coming up, and I'm no sure whether that will make things better or worse. Depends on how much reading I get done on the plane, I guess!

46. No Time to Spare by Ursula K. Le Guin.

47. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell.

>82 bragan: Have a good vacation, with lots of fun and a book or two (or more)

>95 bragan: Thanks, Connie! It was fun, and I finished a couple while I was gone, at least.

Finished while I was on vacation:

48. The Waste Lands by Stephen King. (Also counts as another deep ROOT!)

And since that marks the end of July:

JULY 2019

Books read: 8 (including one re-read)
Books acquired: 5
ROOT books read: 5
ROOT books YTD total: 48/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 1
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 3/5
Current TBR total: 901
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -21

A bit of a poor showing on the ROOTs, but at least the overall TBR hasn't gone up since last month. And I did manage one more of the Deep ROOTs.

(Whoops, accidentally counted a book that didn't qualify as a ROOT, so this and the ticker have been edited by one. If anybody actually cares. :))

49. The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki.

50. Year's Best SF 6 edited by David G. Hartwell.

51. The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman.

52. The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde.

53. Run by Ann Patchett.

Wait, what happened to August? Where did it go? Well, it's over now, apparently. So:

AUGUST 2019

Books read: 7
Books acquired: 1
ROOT books read: 5
ROOT books YTD total: 53/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 0
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 3/5
Current TBR total: 895
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -27

Well. That was a slow reading month, but it was a super-slow book-buying month, so I guess it works out.

54. The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden.

>94 bragan: That was a slow reading month, but it was a super-slow book-buying month, so I guess it works out.

LOL. That's a good way to look at it.

>96 connie53: Hey, I'll take what I can get. :)

55. Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell.

56. Project Pope by Clifford D. Simak.

57. Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.

58. The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst.

And that was September, I guess. So, let's see:

SEPTEMBER 2019

Books read: 9
Books acquired: 13
ROOT books read: 5
ROOT books YTD total: 58/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 0
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 3/5
Current TBR total: 899
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -23

So, the TBR did take a turn in the wrong direction this month, thanks to an unfortunate incident with a discount book catalog and a friend who's a terrible enabler, but the results of that aren't nearly as bad as they could have been.

"...an unfortunate incident with a discount book catalog..." - I bet I'm not the only one nodding in recognition at that. We've all been there!

>103 Jackie_K: Some of us many, many times. :)

59. Looking for Group by Rory Harrison.

60. Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin.

61. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik.

62. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes.

63. A Wodehouse Bestiary by P.G. Wodehouse.

My sister sent me this picture yesterday:



"Where did you get that picture of me?" I asked her.

It seemed relevant to post here. :)

>110 bragan: Super relevant! I see myself in that picture too ;)

>111 rabbitprincess: Although I see it was also posted on the October thread for the group before I put it up here, which just goes to show you that I really ought to do a better job of keeping up with threads here. And also that great bookoholic minds think alike. :)

OCTOBER 2019

Books read: 8
Books acquired: 4
ROOT books read: 5
ROOT books YTD total: 63/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 0
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 3/5
Current TBR total: 895
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -27

So, I at least went in the right direction on the TBR this month, although I can't help feeling dissatisfied with my reading for the year as a whole so far. I thought I'd probably easily exceed my reduced ROOT goal for this year, and now I'm not sure I'll even make it at all.

Well, onward to the next two months, I guess! I'm trying to put aside more designated reading time for myself, during which I absolutely AM NOT allowed to put down the book and go see if there's anything interesting on the internet, so hopefully that will help.

64. The Witch of Lime Street: Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World by David Jaher.

65. Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. And that is also (finally!) another of the Deep Roots down.

66. The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry.

67. You Say Potato by Ben Crystal & David Crystal.

>117 bragan: That seems like it would make a good audiobook, or a podcast series.

>117 bragan: It probably would. And, man, I love podcasts about language. So I'm actually glad these guys don't have one, because I'm already subscribed to more podcasts than I can listen to.

>119 bragan: Haha, the struggle is real, isn't it? Podcasts are brilliant, but similar to books in that they proliferate faster than you can read/listen to them!

68. Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken.

You are doing great, Bragan.

I like your stats. -27 seems fine to me.

Love the image too.

>122 connie53: Thanks, Connie! I may or may not actually meet my goal for the year, although I hope I will. But even if I don't, -27 on the TBR shelves is a pretty darned good number!

69. The Devil's Cup by Stewart Lee Allen.

70. The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin.

71. The Island by Olivia Levez.

Somehow, we're nearly at the end of the year now. So...

NOVEMBER 2019

Books read: 10
Books acquired: 8
ROOT books read: 8
ROOT books YTD total: 71/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 1
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 4/5
Current TBR total: 893
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -29

The TBR total would have gone down a lot more if a friend hadn't decided to surprise me with an entire six-book series as an early Christmas present. But how can I possibly complain about a thing like that?

Yay for such friends!

>128 MissWatson: That particular friend has made great contributions to my TBR shelves. He is a great friend and a terrible enabler.

That's an awesome friend! Hope you have a great reading month in December -- looks like you're pretty close to your goal :)

>130 rabbitprincess: Close enough that I can taste it, just far enough away, given my reading speed this year, that there's a reasonable chance I won't make it.

I guess we'll find out!

72. Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins.

73. The Black Company by Glen Cook.

And that's my Deep Roots goal met, with that one!

Congratulations!

>134 MissWatson: Thanks! Now to see if I meet my overall goal for the year or not.

>133 bragan: Yay!

74. Common Sense by Thomas Paine.

75. American Housewife by Helen Ellis.

76. Nod by Adrian Barnes.

77. The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley.

I'm sure you can reach your goal, Bragan. ROOTing for you.

>141 connie53:. Thanks. Almost there!

78. Still Alice by Lisa Genova.

79. Trouble with Lichen by John Wyndham.

>144 bragan: Ouch, that one sounds like a dud. Also, terrifying cover! I hope your next read is better.

>145 rabbitprincess: Thanks! I'm sure I would have liked it better if I were reading it in 1960, but I'm very, very glad I'm not reading it in 1960!

My next one is certainly interesting. I think in a good way. It's honestly hard to tell. :)

80. Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder by Lawrence Weschler.

And with that, I HAVE DONE IT! Hooray!

>147 bragan: Yay, with a couple of days to spare! Congratulations! :D

>148 rabbitprincess: Thank you, thank you! I'm glad I made it after all. :)

Hooray, well done!

Congrats, Bragan!

Thanks, all! I really didn't expect to cut it this close to the end of the year, having lowered my goal this time, but I'm glad I got there in the end.

And I'm not going to finish another book before the year ends -- a little over eleven hours from now, in my time zone -- so it's time for the final monthly accounting of the year.

DECEMBER 2019

Books read: 9
Books acquired: 11
ROOT books read: 8
ROOT books YTD total: 80/80
"Deep ROOTs" read: 1
"Deep ROOTs" YTD total: 5/5
Current TBR total: 895
TBR change from the beginning of the year: -27

So. All in all, this was a bit of a slumpy year of reading for me. I read fewer books this year than in any other year for at least the last decade, and I often found myself distracted from my reading. But I still met my (somewhat lowered) ROOT goals, exactly on the nose, and I did read some good stuff. And even with fewer books in the "out" column, my one-in/two-out system is still working really well! At least, the TBR is going in the right direction. 27 books might not be a lot in comparison to the number still on the TBR shelves, but it's still basically one whole shelf of books I've whittled it down by!

And I'm feeling nice and optimistic about next year and all the lovely reading ahead of me.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading to all!

Congrats on reaching your goal, Bragan.

Happy new year! :D

>154 connie53: Thank you! Feels good to have managed it after not being sure for a while.

>155 rabbitprincess: And to you! Hope it's a great one full of excellent books.

My new thread on the 2020 group can be found here.