madhatter22's 2019 ROOTs: Optimism or Delusion?

My (never-met) goal is to have more books going out than coming in, so my ROOTs only count if they were owned prior to 2019 AND they leave my shelves after being read. Last year I failed spectacularly with about 120 books coming in and only 22 going out, so my goal of 60 ROOTs this year is probably ridiculous, but on January first I always feel optimistic. :)







(N)ew (R)oot (B)orrowed (g)ave away (k)ept

December
24. Middlemarch - George Eliot (R)(k)
November
23. Do You Mind If I Cancel? - Gary Janetti (N)(g)
22. What Do We Need Men For? - E. Jean Carroll (B)
21. 20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill (R)(g)

October
20. Kathy Griffin's Celebrity Run-ins - Kathy Griffin (B)
19. An Education - Lynn Barber (R)(g)
18. A Rule Against Murder - Louise Penny (N)(g)

September
17. Everything Inside - Edwidge Danticat (N)(g)

August
16. The Green Mile - Stephen King (R)(g)

July
15. The Second Mrs. Gianconda - E. L. Konigsburg (R)(g)
14. The Cruelest Month - Louise Penny - (N)(g)
13. State of the Union - Nick Hornby (N)(g)

June
May
April

March
12. A Fatal Grace - Louise Penny (N)(g)
11. Anything Is Possible - Elizabeth Strout (R)(g)

Feb.
10. Little House in the Big Woods - Laura Ingalls Wilder (R)(g)
9. We Are Never Meeting In Real Life - Samantha Irby (R)(g)

Jan.
8. Foe - Iain Reid (R)(g)
7. My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante (R)(g)
6. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (R)(g)
5. Alice I Have Been - Melanie Benjamin (R)(g)
4. The Blue Castle - L. M. Montgomery (R)(g)
3. Still Life - Louise Penny (R)(g)
2. Alice Adams - Booth Tarkington (R)(g)
1. Becoming - Michelle Obama (B)

Welcome back, Shauna. Good to see you for a new year of ROOTing.

Good luck this year! I don't use 'off the shelf once read' as a criteria, because then I'd always fail miserably. But I really really want this to be the year that I read more ROOTs than I acquire (I really really wanted last year to be that year too, but, *sigh*).

Also, this thread has the best topper ever! I love Hyperbole and a Half.

Good luck, Shauna - I'm with you, it's good to have an optimistic start!

Good luck! I am (less ambitiously) aiming to make sure I de-accession at least 10 this year, and am toying with a two-out per one-in system which others seem to have found helpful...

Welcome back and good luck with that goal! January 1 is all about ambition, so go for it! ;)

Can't forget this year's meme of last year's books:

Describe yourself: An Old-Fashioned Girl

How do you feel right now? Everything's Trash, But It's Okay

Your turn-ons include: The Vicar of Wakefield

Your turn-offs include: Calypso

Describe where you live: Countdown City

If you could go anywhere, where would you go? The Night Bookmobile

Describe your best friend: She Wants It

You and your friends are: Shrill

Your greatest fear: You Can't Touch My Hair

Your biggest secret: Our Spoons Came from Woolworths

Your best advice: Seventeen Against the Dealer

What did you dream about last night? How to Be Famous

How would you like to die? The Power

Your soul’s present condition: Otherwise Pandemonium

Thought for the day: This Will Only Hurt a Little

>7 madhatter22: Excellent answers! I LOLd at your biggest secret and your turn-on!

Good luck with your goals! I fail miserably at the read more than you buy...

I just made a new collection of all the books that were on my TBR list in January 2009 when I joined LT that I still haven't read. There are 57. New goal: trying to knock some of those oldest ROOTs out this year!

>10 madhatter22: Wow, that must have taken some time to do. Nice job, nice plan!

Just got back from my all-time favorite used bookstore, which is closing today after 40 years in business. I've seen a lot of great stores & restaurants close since I've lived in this neighborhood, but this one definitely hits the hardest. If there can be an upside, maybe I'll have less books coming in this year and can get around to reading more of the books I've bought at Aardvark over the past 25 years.

Oh no, a bookstore closing is always sad :( Is that its bookstore cat? Adorable!

>12 madhatter22: Gorgeous photo, but I agree with rabbitprincess, very sad about the shop closing. Just like you can never have too many bookshelves, you can also never have too many bookshops.

>13 rabbitprincess: Yes, that's Owen. He lived in the shop. I was in the store when his new owner came to get him and I heard her say she was going to put some piles of books on the floor to get him used to his new home. :)

I got 6 books off my shelves in January, and put 15 on. Oops!

>12 madhatter22: I really like that cat. Owen is perfect name for him. Sorry to hear about the bookstore closing.

>16 madhatter22: Yes, that's definitely 'Oops' ;-)