LoraShouse ROOTs again in 2019

So, here we are again, getting ready for another year of ROOTing. I'm going to set my goal at 20 again for this year. I finally did a little better last year, acutally exceeding the goal of 20 by a little, but as I have said elsewhere, there are a lot of really large ROOTs out there waiting for me to read them.

The definition of a ROOT will remain the same as previous years: a hard copy, physical book, or ARD that I already own as of December 31, 2018. I added fewer books in 2018 than in previous years, but not to worry - I still have plenty of ROOTs to chose from for the forseeable future.

Of course, I will still be reading books on my kindles and other devices, listening to audiobooks, and getting books from the library as well.

Ticker coming up.

I am currently reading The Science of Life by H.G. Wells and a couple of other people. Right now I am on page 234 of something like 1650 pages, so it will be a while before this one is done. I may possibly have to interrupt this one to read something shorter.

Hi Lora, Welcome back to the ROOTers.

Hi Lora. Wishing you the best reading for the year.

Welcome back and have a great reading year! I'd interrupt that 1650-page book too and read something else in between ;)

Welcome back, good luck with the epic tomes! I have a 1200-and-something page book lined up, but I'm planning on doing it in a year, around all the shorter books. If I just started at page 1 and didn't let myself read anything else till I'd reach the end, I'd just grind to a halt!

Happy ROOTing and good luck with the chunkster!

Thanks everybody, and good luck with your goals as well.

I finished The Teardrop Story Woman by Catherine Lim. Kind of a sad book, but not as bad as it might be.

Meanwhile, I am still working on The Science of Life. Up to about page 350 now. I guess it will be around for a while. I am also currently reading (a library book) America's Queen. This is a pretty good-sized one too, but not as bad as The Science of Life. All of these are also list books.

OK, I finished another ROOT - Woman in the Mists. This one was also a list book. It wasn't exactly a fun book, but was a very good read.

I am up to page 600 on Science of Life. Making progress slowly. I have also read a couple more library books. Whew. Only slightly less behind on reviews now.

I think the next ROOT I will attempt will be The Argument Culture. It may be a little dated now, but the other books I have read by Deborah Tannen were interesting, so hopefully this will be too.

Might as well post the year-to-date reading stats too, as I am not sure whether I will be back on before the end of the month.

24 of 80 Total Books
2 of 20 ROOTS
6 of 50 List Books
3 Library books
16 Kindle books
13 New Books (by request or otherwise)
4 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
0 Audiobooks on Scribd
0 e-books on Scribd
0 books reread
4 books from Kindle Unlimited

So... I read 2 ROOTs this month - The Argument Culture by Deborah Tannen and Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How The Media Distort the News by Bernard Goldberg. A couple of interesting books, even if they are older now. Wish I had somebody around to discuss them with. Still working on The Science of Life by the way. Up to about page 860.

Reading Stats as of March 28:

46 of 80 Total Books
4 of 20 ROOTS
13 of 50 List Books
4 Library books
31 Kindle books
19 New Books (by request or otherwise)
8 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
1 Audiobooks on Scribd
1 e-books on Scribd
0 books reread
6 books from Kindle Unlimited

Finished 2 more ROOTs this month - Evening by Susan Minot and The Talking Cure by Susan C. Vaughn. Each interesting in its own way.

I have made more progress on The Science of Life by the way. Up to about page 1250. Not much more than the length of an average sized book left. The end is in sight. It is possible I will be able to finish it by the end of May. Anyway, it will get done this year!

Reading stats for the year so far are:

57 of 80 Total Books
6 of 20 ROOTS
15 of 50 List Books
4 Library books
39 Kindle books
23 New Books (by request or otherwise)
9 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
1 Audiobooks on Scribd
1 e-books on Scribd
0 books reread
6 books from Kindle Unlimited

Nice stats, Lora! I really love people who can be that organized.

Thanks Connie. Somehow it doesn't feel like I am all that organized though.

Ok, so I managed to finish three more ROOTs this month, although the most recent one I will probably keep. First was Daydreaming by Diane Barth. It reminded me of The Talking Cure, only with daydreams instead of night dreams. Next was The Science of Life, which I have been working on since last year, so I am glad to finally have it finished. It was very interesting, but it was loooong. And then, kind of on the spur of the moment, I decided to read The New Human Revolution, volume 5. We have been studying The New Human Revolution in our Buddhist study meetings this year, and were up to volume 5 for May, and although I had read a lot of this book as it was serialized in the World Tribune newspaper, there seemed a lot about this particular volume I remember having seen and looked forward to reading but couldn't remember having actually read. So I figured it was time to go in for another look.

That's likely to be all I finish for this month, as next I will be working on a library book - John Adams: Volume 2 by Page Smith. This one is a list book. I read the first volume at home when I was in high school, but never got around to the second one, and it seemed to have disappeared from my parents' house by the time my sisters were getting their things fixed up to sell off. Fortunately, the local library still has a copy. The next ROOT will be Catherine of Aragon by Garrett Mattingly, which is also a list book. Both of those are pretty long, so it's unlikely I will finish both of them before the end of May.

And here are the reading stats for the year so far:

71 of 80 Total Books
9 of 20 ROOTS
18 of 50 List Books
5 Library books
46 Kindle books
27 New Books (by request or otherwise)
11 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
1 Audiobooks on Scribd
1 e-books on Scribd
1 books reread
7 books from Kindle Unlimited

WooHoo! Half done now. In fact, it looks like I am approaching the halfway point on most of my little sub-goals as well, which is only right as the year is about to be half done too. I finished Catherine of Aragon and also the library book John Adams: Volume 2 that I have been meaning to read for all these years. I was hoping to do a little better with library books this year, but guess I can't complain as the other groups are going so well.

The next ROOT will be The Good Husband by Gail Godwin (I think).

I have now finished The Good Husband. The next book will be Ancestral Passions, a sort of group biography of the Leakey family of archaeologists, or paleoanthropologists, or whatever. Looks like it will be interesting.

I see you reached the halfway point, Lora! Good job.

Thanks Connie!

So, I finished Ancestral Passions. It was very interesting, if a little long.

The next couple of books I read will be library books. After that, I am not sure what I will read for my next ROOTs. I have a couple more long ones lined up, but I am thinking it might be good to do some more short ones first to get to the goal more quickly.

Reading stats for the year so far are:

99 of 80 Total Books
12 of 20 ROOTS
31 of 50 List Books
6 Library books
63 Kindle books
33 New Books (by request or otherwise)
17 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
2 Audiobooks on Scribd
3 e-books on Scribd
1 books reread
9 books from Kindle Unlimited

Nice stats!

Reporting my first ROOT for this month - hope it won't be the last!

It was How to Buy a Home with No or Poor Credit by Thomas K. Masters. A lot about home mortgages and non-standard ways to buy a house. It was written in 1999, so I suspect that some of the stuff on the mortgage guaranteeing agencies will be out of date to some extent, but there were a lot of terms defined that should be the same, and a good section on how to clean up your credit if there are errors in it. Also good advice for how to simulate credit if you don't have any yet.

I have decided that the next two books at least should be shorter books to take a break from such long ones (this last one was shorter as well). I think the next one will be Mackerel by Moonlight by William F. Weld. This is apparently political humor from several years back. Looking forward to it, but need to get started. I have been using the space between ROOTs to finish several Kindle books that got too enticing near their ends. Hopefully I can get through this by the end of the month.

Thank you!

Success in the short run. I finished not only Mackerel by Moonlight but Flawless! by Louis A. Tartaglia M.D. (this one doesn't appear in the Touchstones). So, only 5 more to go for the year.

The next two books I am going to read will be library books, but after that I plan on reading The Millenial Project by Marshall T. Savage (no Touchstone for this one either). It's about a plan for colonizing the galaxy, first published in 1992 and the edition I have is dated 1994. Apparently, it's intended to be something like a 1000-year plan, but something they thought we could start working on now (as in 1992 - 1994). I think I read somewhere later that there was at least talk of starting to move forward with it, but haven't heard much lately. Of course, I wouldn't.

After that I will need to decide on some more shorter books to get to my goal of 20 ROOTs by the end of the year.

And here are the reading stats for the end of August:

116 of 80 Total Books
15 of 20 ROOTS
38 of 50 List Books
8 Library books
73 Kindle books
37 New Books (by request or otherwise)
17 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
3 Audiobooks on Scribd
4 e-books on Scribd
1 books reread
12 books from Kindle Unlimited
1 book did not finish

Good Job!!!

Whew! Finally managed to finish one ROOT for September - The Millennial Project. It seems I misspelled it before, so didn't find the Touchstone. I was impressed with this one. I want to move to their Aquarius ocean colony, but they probably wouldn't have me; they would want people who can perform useful work and contribute to their vision for the future, which would let me out. If I had any money I might send them some, though.

I wanted to see if they had actually started on any of the earth-based parts of this project yet (the book mentions thinking they would be ready to start building the Aquarius project around 2015), so went looking for them online. I found their new name as the Living Universe Foundation, where they are apparently still fleshing out the designs, but still working on the project. I couldn't tell if they have gotten around to starting to build anything yet though.

And here are my reading stats for as of the end of this month:

134 of 80 Total Books
16 of 20 ROOTS
42 of 50 List Books
10 Library books
85 Kindle books
40 New Books (by request or otherwise)
21 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
3 Audiobooks on Scribd
4 e-books on Scribd
1 books reread
13 books from Kindle Unlimited
1 book did not finish

Finished the first ROOT for October - Why Can't I Fall In Love by Schmuley Boteach, a self-help book mostly for people who are stuck in an endless dating cycle and can't seem to find anybody to marry. My husband saw it out on the kitchen table and wondered why I would be reading a book like that.

It does also address issues of staying in love for people who are already married though. Pretty interesting mostly, and funny.

>33 LoraShouse: Sounds like a book I should read.

I have also finished a second book for October - How to Make Luck: 7 Secrets Lucky People Use to Succeed by Marc Myers. His idea of being lucky is being able to get people to help you. A lot of the book echoes job hunting literature, as much of this luck is in finding a good job - stuff like making and keeping up with contacts. But the author has spent a good part of his career in various forms of journalism, so some of what he talks about is from the angle of things like getting introductions to people you want to interview or who can provide you with information for an article.

However, there is some good stuff on keeping up the right attitude so as not to sabotage your luck.

Right now I am working on Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. It is a long book - longer than it looked in comparison to the other books in the stack it was in, at nearly 900 pages - but it looks as if I might be able to finish it by the end of the month. I knew that one would go fast. It's a strange book, and a little gross in places, but not as disturbing as some of his other books, at least so far.

Muhaha! Finished Dreamcatcher. Now only 1 more ROOT to go to make the goal for the year!

So for this last one I am reading The Golden Bough. This is a single volume abridged version (the original is like 12 volumes; when I saw it in the Book of the Month Club years ago, I felt sort of like cheating for not reading the whole thing, but wasn't sure if I could find a complete set at the library, and anyway, this is just for me that I am reading this one, so who cares?). But even the abridged version weighs in at 900+ pages, so it's a tossup whether I will finish it before the end of next month. I hope so. I want to read a few non-list books before the end of the year too. But we'll see.

For next year I am thinking of taking both my ROOT goal and the goal for List books down a little and trying to eliminate some of the really long list books. Every time I think I have gotten all the multi-volume books out of the way one or two more turn out to be multiple volumes. *sigh*. Also, there are some massive single-volume books still on the list, like The Conquest of Mexico and Peru and History of American Life. If I finish my List Book goal for the year, there will be 500 books left on that list. So I am thinking of going for 15 ROOTs and 30 total list books next year and concentrating on the really big ones. Again, we'll see.

And here are the reading stats as of the end of October:

150 of 80 Total Books
19 of 20 ROOTS
46 of 50 List Books
10 Library books
95 Kindle books
46 New Books (by request or otherwise)
24 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
3 Audiobooks on Scribd
4 e-books on Scribd
1 books reread
14 books from Kindle Unlimited
1 book did not finish

Yay, you're getting so close! :D

Only one more to go, Lora. I hope you finished it by now!

*Fireworks and sparklers*

Finished The Golden Bough now. So that makes my list goal for this year. *More dancing and singing*

I'm hoping I will have time to read at least a couple of non-list ROOT books before the end of the year now. But first I need to finish the two library books and the Scribd book I need to finish the list book goal.

Hope everyone is doing well. And Happy Thanksgiving!

And here are the reading statistics for as of the end of November:

161 of 80 Total Books
20 of 20 ROOTS
47 of 50 List Books
10 Library books
101 Kindle books
50 New Books (by request or otherwise)
28 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
3 Audiobooks on Scribd
4 e-books on Scribd
1 books reread
15 books from Kindle Unlimited
1 book did not finish

Congratulations on reaching your ROOT goal!

Hooray, well done!

Hurray, congratulations!

Congrats and Firework and sparklers as asked for.

>42 MissWatson: >43 Jackie_K: >44 rabbitprincess: >45 connie53: Thanks guys! Hope you have a great year next year!

So, I did manage to squeak out two more ROOTs before the end of the year. Water for Elephants and Sour Puss. Loved both of them. So nice to have some respite from the more serious list books.

Here are the (almost) final totals for 2019. I may possibly finish one more audiobook and/or one more new book by request, but I'm pretty sure I won't get any more ROOTs in this year. Probably tomorrow I will start A History of American Life which should be next year's first ROOT - although it may not be the first one finished. I think that will be the last of the big books of American History on my list. Somewhere I think I have a History of Europe though (that should be a really big one) as well as several histories of particular countries or events.

Reading Stats – 2019

181 of 80 Total Books
22 of 20 ROOTS
50 of 50 List Books
12 Library books
112 Kindle books
52 New Books (by request or otherwise)
33 Audible Audiobooks
0 e-book on Nook app
3 Audiobooks on Scribd
5 e-books on Scribd
1 books reread
16 books from Kindle Unlimited
1 book did not finish