Laytonwoman3rd's ROOT Challenge 2013

I've challenged myself to read 35 books that have been in my house for a while, unread. This shouldn't be hard at all. If I re-read an old favorite, I'll count that too. I would also like to get rid of approximately that many books in 2013, by donating them to the library sales, or sending them off to other readers through LT or Paperback Book Swap. A wonderful legacy of Library of America books I received in February of 2012 has my shelves and walls bulging, and they aren't going anywhere.




ETA: If I Pearl rule a book, I am going to put it on the ticker here, although I won't include it in my overall 75 Book Challenge total. I will be posting about all my reads here in 2013 and further, Here.

Welcome, Layton, good luck!

Good luck on reaching your goal!

Good Idea about the Pearl ruling....It should certainly count toward getting them off the shelves at least!.

I've finished my first ROOT book, Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym, which also satisfies the January read in the Barbara Pym Centennial monthly reading challenge going on over in the Virago Group. The link takes you to my comments for this book on my main reading thread.

This is a great idea! I really need to do this too.

Three more books go on my ROOT ticker: Think of Death and Show Red for Danger by Frances and Richard Lockridge, and Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Links take you to my comments on each book reading thread.

ETA Sticking Murder Out of Turn by the Lockridges in here. Somehow my total is correct, but this title was missing.

My sixth ROOT finished is Madame Zee by Pearl Luke

I have finished ROOTs No. 7 and 8, and posted reviews of both.

Twenty Thousand Roads by David Meyer and
Bodies of Water by Roseanne Cash.

You're doing a great job, Laytonwoman.

I finally finished another book that qualifies for this challenge, bringing my total to 11. Since post 9 above, I've read :

Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
and
The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies

I'm not making nearly as much progress as I'd like; the year will be half over soon, and I'm not 1/3 of the way to my goal. I'm not reading as much as usual, in general this year, and I can't figure out exactly why that is.

One more ROOT finished: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

>11 laytonwoman3rd::
Over the years of journaling I have found that some years are just like that. Life gets in the way at times. This summer my reads have slowed down a lot. We have just been too busy to allow for much reading to my chagrin! But what I am reading I have enjoyed so I guess we just go with the flow. I thought I would get some reading time in today but my husband just informed me that today is the day for clearing out the storage unit. Arghhhh!~! Can't tell you how much I enjoy having him retired. :-) At least I had a couple of years where my time was my own. It happens when you marry a younger man. lol!~!
Cheers,

Lost track of my own thread in this Group! I'm up to 19 ROOTS completed now. Here's the list since June, with links to my comments in my 75 Book Challenge thread:

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

The Tea House of the August Moon by Vern Schneider

The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett

Pylon by William Faulkner

The Distant Clue by Frances and Richard Lockridge

Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear

The Sweet Dove Died by Barbara Pym

No. 20 finished last night Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns

Annie Dunne by Sebastian Barry

Light in August by William Faulkner

Killer Market by Margaret Maron

Bringing my ROOT total for the year so far to 23.

Hi Linda. Just wondering how many times you have read Light in August.......
I woke this morning with a yen for some poetry and remembered I had 'the man's'
The Marble Faun and A Green Bough on my shelves. As the house is quiet, I am just getting ready to sit down with a cup of coffee and begin it. But I never think of Faulkner without thinking of you and your keen desire to help people understand his works.
I hope you are enjoying a lovely day.

Belva, I think I've read Light in August 4 times. I'll be curious what you think of his poetry, 'cause I have to tell you it isn't indicative of his genius! He considered himself a "failed poet", and I would have to agree as far as verse is concerned. He could be very poetic, just not in traditional forms!

I am enjoying it thus far Linda but I definitely understand what you are saying. It is beautiful written but I found this A.M. that I am unable to sit down with it and read the entire poem. I am going to have to take it in bits. And perhaps that is even as he wrote it. IDK, but his words are lovely.
And I am somewhat surprised with your answer. I had assumed that you had read L in A many more times than that. You know him so well. Aside from reading him and studying him as you have, I am going to assume that you somehow share an affinity with him unless you tell me otherwise.

I'm not sure how to explain it, Belva, but I truly do feel an affinity with Faulkner. I first read him in a survey course in college, but I believe I have only studied two works formally, Light in August and Absalom, Absalom!. It's hard to remember now, but once exposed to him, I just kept reading and reading about his life and work, for over 40 years. I think I view his work fairly objectively; what I love, I love, but I see his flaws, and that's OK too.

♥

I have spent my reading time today dipping into two books long on my TBR piles, and have decided that neither of them warrant my time and attention for a full read. I will therefore consign them both to the library donation box, and add 2 ROOTS to my ticker, since my rules say if I Pearl rule or otherwise discard a book without reading it, it counts for this purpose; it's OFF THE SHELF permanently, after all. Oh, yes, the books are:

1. All Aunt Hagar's Children, a collection of short fiction by Edward P. Jones; this is a disappointment, as I enjoyed his novel, The Known World. I just found the stories I sampled, including the title selection, to be lacking in Story, rambling and uninspired. I suppose I don't "get" what Jones was up to.

2. A World of Ideas II by Bill Moyers; I used to enjoy Bill Moyers's on PBS, but this collection of transcripts of interviews (or those that I sampled) left me cold. Watching them live would probably have been a better experience, like the difference between reading a play and seeing it performed.

It looks like you did it! Well done!!!

Congrats!