Moneypenny's 2021 ROOT Log

Hello there and welcome to my 2021 reading log! I'm Caity, a technology director for county government in beautiful Colorado. I'm married to a lovely man who works long, intense hours as a finance manager for Toyota. Mr. M is on the road 5-6 days a week and my job is fairly fluid with workload and hours, so I've got more reading time than most. We've got a feisty French bulldog (Bibi) and a sweet kitty boy (Poptart). If I'm not with them, I've got my nose in a book! I'll read anything and everything you hand me but am most at home in the fantasy/sci-fi realm.

I originally started tracking my reading here as a way to recover from the burnout of a particularly intense graduate program but quickly discovered that this is one of the best places on the entire internet. I've been participating in the ROOTs challenge since In 2020, I wound up blowing past my goal of 50 ROOTs with a total of 82 ROOTs read!

I'm going to set my goal a little higher for 2021 though. I'm aiming to read one classic novel each month and one entry in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, so I'm thinking I can bump it up to 80 ROOTs this year.

I'm also determined to not spend a dime on books this year. Right now, I have 240 books in my collection that need to be read, some of them languishing on my shelves for years. I made it through all of 2017 without buying a single book, so I know I can do it.

Thanks for stopping by! Drop a note so I can follow along with what you're reading!

Wheel of Time Challenge

I originally finished the WoT series in 2019. I spent most of last year thinking about the sheer complexity of this series and now with the Amazon show gearing up, I'd like another pass through to really immerse myself in this world.

0. New Spring
1. The Eye of the World
2. The Great Hunt
3. The Dragon Reborn
4. The Shadow Rising
5. The Fires of Heaven
6. Lord of Chaos
7. A Crown of Swords
8. The Path of Daggers
9. Winter's Heart
10. Crossroads of Twilight
11. Knife of Dreams
12. The Gathering Storm
13. Towers of Midnight
14. A Memory of Light

Classics Challenge

In addition to finishing Wheel of Time again, I've got a list of classics that I'd like to buckle down and finish this year.

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
2. The Wreath by Sigrid Undset
3. The Wife by Sigrid Undset
4. The Cross by Sigrid Undset
5. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
6. Middlemarch by George Eliot
7. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
8. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
10. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
11. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
12. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Hi Caity, glad to see you again. Happy ROOTing!

Welcome back and good luck with your various challenges! The Wheel of Time is a mighty challenge indeed :)

Good to see you back again, and good luck with the no-buy challenge! I feel virtuous aiming at only getting 1 for every 2 read, no-buy would be a big struggle!

The Classics are the ones that drag me down. I try to read at least 4 a year - 2020 I managed 1.
{hangs her head in shame.}

Happy 2021 Reading!

Wishing you good luck with your ROOTing goals.

>4 connie53: It's good to see you too Connie!

>5 rabbitprincess: It certainly is! I'm thinking it'll be easier to get through this time knowing the overall plot and trying to spot the foreshadowing and groundwork that Jordan places in each book. Fingers crossed anyway!

>6 Jackie_K: Thanks Jackie! Hopefully I can pull it off again!

>7 cyderry: The classics can be hard! I really miss the communal nature of an English lit class for guided discussion. I find that I miss a lot when I read these kinds of books by myself.

>8 This-n-That: Thank you!

Hi Caity, and Happy New Year.

>1 Miss_Moneypenny: I’m thrilled to hear of a kitty named Poptart.

Good luck with reading the books off your shelves – if you’ve already done it once, it should be easy-peasy.

Hi Caity, have a wonderful reading year and all the best wishes for not buying any books!

Thanks everybody! Happy New year!

January



Ah, the dawn of a new year! Hopefully 2021 will be kinder to us all than 2020 was.

1. Harleen by Stjepan Sejic
This dark and disturbing look at Harley Quinn's backstory was absolutely captivating. The art is absolutely top notch complimented Harleen's descent into madness and abuse in a really chilling way.
4 stars

2. Hey Ladies! by Michelle Markowitz
I'm a sucker for a good epistolary novel and this is one of the best I've read. I wish the illustrations had been done in a different style, but the fact that Markowitz manages to make 8 separate characters completely distinguishable through email and text makes that a minor quibble. This was a totally fun and engrossing read and a really nice palette cleanser after the darkness of Harleen.
4 stars

3. Akira volume 1 by Katsuhiro Otomo
The anime of Akira is a classic, but I was shocked to find out how much is missing from the movie after only the first volume of this classic. It's hard to overstate how much of an impact Otomo and his work had on manga; reading it in 2021 and being able to pinpoint the genesis of so many different tropes is a wild ride.
4 stars

Hi Caity! Three ROOTs down all ready! Good job.

Another week, another round of ROOT catchups!

4. Sailor Moon Eternal 7 by Naoko Takeuchi
5. Sailor Moon Eternal 8
6. Sailor Moon Eternal 9
7. Sailor Moon Eternal 10
I can't believe I finally finished it. This wraps up the last 2 arcs in Sailor Moon's story and man it was a wild ride. I absolutely loved these and am already looking forward to a long, slow reread to really pour over the beautiful artwork of each volume.
5 stars each

February



Ah, the year just keeps getting better. February so far has brought us dental surgery for the husband, pneumonia for both my parents (who live with Mr. M and I), and a wicked streak of allergies for our poor pup. All that combined meant that I've been sitting with sick people at all hours and watching temps/symptoms. The only upside of this is I've read a bunch of books and we're only 9 days into the month.

8. My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
My mother and I read this back in the 90s when it was first published. I found it when we were moving them in and rescued the whole series from the donate pile. Much to my surprise, this book really stood the test of time. Due was ahead of her time by about a decade with the vampire theme and it's appropriately scary and atmospheric. Love.
4 stars

9. Akira volume 2 by Katsuhiro Otomo
Another installment in the classic manga. Love.
5 stars

10. Real Food for Pregnancy by Lily Nichols
Mr. M and I are hoping to expand our family this year: my job has moved to 95% work from home indefinitely and I'm not getting any younger, so no time like the present! We already eat pretty low carb and I consider myself to be pretty well-versed in nutrition for a lay person, but this book surprised me with what I didn't know. Highly, highly recommended.
5 stars

11. It Starts With The Egg by Rebecca Fett
Another conception book and definitely one that's staying on my shelves. Fett discusses cutting edge research on how egg development happens and what supplementation is needed to optimize that development and your chances of conceiving/carrying to term. Absolutely fascinating stuff.
5 stars

Wow, Caity. You've had a lot on your plate in January. Are you okay? I hope you did not get sick too. Your reading has been excellent as far as I can see. I hope your plans for expanding the family will succeed. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Oh dear - that sounds like far too much for one family to have to cope with! I hope you're keeping better and managing OK. Echoing Connie, good luck with the plans for expansion of your family!

>12 Miss_Moneypenny: I’m a sucker for a good epistolary novel, too, and am now intrigued with this one. On to the wish list it goes!

>15 Miss_Moneypenny: Not a good start to the month family health-wise. I’m sorry to hear it and hope everybody’s on the road to recovery, including the pup.

I have no willpower - $3.99 on Kindle for My Soul to Keep.

How exciting about expanding your family. Keeping my fingers crossed, too.

Thanks so much for the kind words everyone! February did in fact get crazier and I pretty much dropped off the face of the earth for everything that isn't either work or someone I'm related to.

Nevertheless, the ROOTing continued in the pockets of silence I could eke out.

12. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Well this is definitely a classic for a reason! This was so engrossing and entertaining. I absolutely loved it and can see myself re-reading this regularly.
5 stars

13. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab
Oh this book! I've been on the waitlist for it for months now and I was worried it wouldn't live up to the hype. But it did a thousand times over. This is definitely going to be in the top 10 books of 2021 for me.
5 stars

14. Akira vol 3 by Katsuhiro Otomo
15. Akira vol 4 by Katsuhiro Otomo
16. Akira vol 5 by Katsuhiro Otomo
17. Akira vol 6 by Katsuhiro Otomor
What a wild, wild ride. I'm absolutely kicking myself for not reading these sooner.
5 stars

18. Grain Brain by David Perlmutter
Managing my MS while trying to become pregnant has unearthed a voracious interest in nutrition and how it affects overall health. This was an eye opening read for both my MS and my husband's wickedly bad ADHD. Highly recommended.
4 stars

>19 Miss_Moneypenny: Thanks to your post Addie LaRue was on my soon to read pile and just moved to the top of that pile!

April



Big ol' YIKES to March. I don't even have a single ROOT to report for it! Thankfully, April is starting off strong so far. Onward and upward to better things this month!

19. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
This was absolutely delightful. In an alternate history of Earth set in the 1950s, an asteroid hits off the East Coast and causes an extinction event. Man needs to get off the planet using only human computers, but can it be done? This was compelling and fascinating and I cannot wait to read the sequel.
5 stars

20. You by Caroline Kepnes
This was a reread and I had forgotten how utterly and completely creepy this book is. Highly, highly recommended if you're in the book for spooky/unsettling or unreliable narrators.
5 stars

>21 Miss_Moneypenny: I have been considering picking up The Calculating Stars - I've turned to a fair amount of hopeful sci-fi over the last year or so, and this looks great. I have read a few of Kowal's Regency fantasy titles and found them enjoyable - will have to see if the library has this one!

>21 Miss_Moneypenny: Yay! I love this series and am glad you loved this first book.

Hi Caity! Better luck with your ROOTs in April.

I loved the Addie LaRue book, so thanks to you some of my Dutch book-group have read it too.

Mid-April check in time!

21. Girls With Bright Futures by Tracy Dobmeier
This snappy but overly long book focuses on the mothers of 3 very different prep school senior girls who are all trying to get a coveted spot at Stanford. This had so much going for it: rich people behaving badly, difficult mother/daughter relationships, family secrets, and revenge served up nicely. The only downside is that it started to sag a little in the middle and never really picked up the slack. If this was 50-75 pages shorter, it would have been a 5 star read for me. As it is, this gets
4 stars

22. Crimson Shore by Preston and Child
Pendergast is back, this time with Constance in tow. They're solving a wine theft in a sleepy Massachusetts town and things quickly take a hard left turn into the occult and macabre. This was one of my favorite Pendergasts in a hot minute and I can't wait to see what happens next.
4 stars

23. Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes
This is the second in the Joe Goldberg series and he's off to LA to commit more stalking and murders. Kepnes dropped the second person narrative here and it mostly works. This one was less creepy than You but Joe is such a fascinating narrator that I didn't mind.
4 stars

24. Klara and the Sun by Kazu Ishiguro
I've loved everything I've read by Ishiguro and Klara was no exception. Focusing on an Artificial Friend and the human who buys her, this was a touching and meditative look at what makes a human human, friendship, and the price of technology. I didn't love it quite as much as I loved Never Let Me Go but it's close.
5 stars

25. You Love Me by Caroline Kepnes
The third Joe Goldberg book finds him in the Pacific Northwest with a new object of "affection." Kepnes brought back the second person narrative and I think Joe is a better character for it. His snark and frustration and overall personality shine a lot better in this form. This was another terrific showing and the ending had me dropping my jaw.
4 stars

26. Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
I think it's clear by now that I love long, involved series. I've loved everything I've read by Seanan McGuire (and Mira Grant, her pseudonym) so it was high time to start her October Daye series. This was a pretty uneven start, though: Toby isn't very likable and I didn't understand a lot of her motivation. At the beginning of the book, she disappears under a magic spell for 14 years. When she comes back, she goes out of her way to avoid everyone she ever knew (including her daughter and partner) for....reasons? I never got a good grasp on her motivations. Characters don't have to be likable for me to be interested in reading about them, but they do have to make sense. However, the world that McGuire crafts is so spectacular that I'm willing to give it a few more books to see if Toby gets better.
3 stars

>22 Caramellunacy: Oh how terrific! Did you manage to get your hands on a copy? It's definitely going on my top ten list at the end of this year.

>23 rabbitprincess: It was truly terrific and I'm only sad it took me so long to read the first one!

>24 connie53: Hi Connie! Yay! Did they like it?

>25 Miss_Moneypenny: Yes, they did like it! A lot!

Wrapping up April, a couple days late!

27. Brooklyn by Colm Tobin
This lovely little gem of a novel has been sitting on my shelves since 2011 and I finally got around to reading it. What an absolute delight! There isn't a villain, there's no melodrama, just a lovely, quiet tale of a young Irish girl finding out who she is and what she wants out of life in 1950s Brooklyn. Love, love, love.
5 stars

28. Supergods by Grant Morrison
Oh yikes. The subtitle is what got me here. "What masked vigilantes, miraculous mutants, and a sun god from Smallville can teach us about being human" is a great hook right? Except that this isn't what the book was about at all. It started with an absolutely exhausting history of the big three (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) and I kept thinking that his analysis would eventually come in. Wrong again. About halfway through the book, Morrison starts telling his autobiography. The history of comics gets lost in his hagiography and his deeply, deeply deranged thinking. I started skimming, hoping that I'd find some analysis about what exactly superheroes can teach us, but found only drivel. What a missed opportunity.
One star

29. A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire
The second in the October Daye series, this was a slight improvement in Toby herself but a large leap forward in the world building and in McGuire's assuredness in her secondary characters. I'm definitely interested to see where this goes.
3 stars

30. An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
Now this was excellent! McGuire finally has a good grasp on Toby and what makes her interesting and this had an incredible plot to back it up. Blind Michael and his wild hunt are snatching children and Toby has to journey to his lands to save them. There are real consequences here for all of our characters (I'm looking at you, Pendergast) and it was a total gut punch at the end. I absolutely loved this.
5 stars

31. The Obsidian Chamber by Preston and Child
The 16th Pendergast installment mostly left me cold. Pendergast is gone, Constance is kidnapped, and Diogenes is back. This was uneven and melodramatic and maybe my least favorite of these books.
2 stars

May



And here we are in sunny, gorgeous May! April turned out to be a lot busier than I had anticipated and it was nice to have just normal work stress instead of the "world is ending!" stress that had been our norm since 2020. Fingers crossed that May keeps staying sunny both literally and figuratively!

32. Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire
33. One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire
34. Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire
35. Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire
McGuire hit her stride in the third October Daye book and doesn't let up in the next 4. Toby has a wild mission in each (finding an old enemy, finding missing mermaids, finding a missing changeling, finding a missing princess) and while this sounds formulaic, it really isn't. Toby is growing as a character by leaps and bounds, her world is expanding rapidly and believably, and McGuire's handle on the plot and where this is all going is masterful. I can't wait to see what happens next.
4 stars each

>27 Miss_Moneypenny: I was reading this post and decided to see if I have any books by Colm Tóibín and or Seanan McGuire on my digital shelves and I do! I have Nora and Het testament van Maria (The touchstone goes to 'Een lange winter'', so maybe this book has two titles?) and Middlegame

I will put them on my reader. Thanks for the tips, Caity.

>29 connie53: I read The Testament of Mary a few years ago - it's short, but was very good.

>30 Jackie_K: Thanks, Jackie!

36. The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire
37. A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
38. Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire
39. The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire
40. Night and Silence by Seanan McGuire
41. The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire
Ok, this is officially a Seanan McGuire fan account. These books are absolutely blowing me away and have pole vaulted to being in my top 5 series of all time.
5 stars each

42. Gotham City Sirens vol 1 by Paul Dini
43. Gotham City Sirens vol 2 by Paul Dini
I originally read these when they were being released in the weekly comic form but had a much better time reading them as the combined graphic novels. Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn move in together and team up as they try to walk the straight and narrow. Good artwork, tight story, and a good time was had by all.
4 stars each

44. Desperate Measures by Katee Robert
So I recently joined TikTok for the book recommendations. This might have been ill advised as my TBR is now miles long. Somehow, the TikTok algorithm started pushing "dark romance" and this was one of the ones I kept seeing over and over. It's a reimagining of Disney's villains and this first book starts with Jafar and Jasmine. I love the concept but the plot was nonsensical. It was rushed and illogical, although my standards might be a little too high after all the Seanan McGuire I've been reading. The sex scenes were pure erotica if a little too dark for my tastes. This was interesting and I'll probably wind up reading more of the series, but I just wish Roberts had spent less time on the sex and more time on the plot.
2 stars

>29 connie53: Oh both of those sound so good! I hope you love them both!

I will let you know when I get to them.

45. A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K Hamilton
46. A Caress of Shadows by Laurell K Hamilton
47. Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K Hamilton
48. A Stroke of Midnight by Laurell K Hamilton
49. Mistral's Kiss by Laurell K Hamilton
50. A Lick of Frost by Laurell K Hamilton
51. Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K Hamilton
Back in the early 2000s, I absolutely loved the first 6 or so of Hamilton's Anita Blake series but never got into the Merry Gentry series due to the explicit and repetitive sex scenes. Well, after finding the entire series in my mother's basement, I decided to give them a try. I wound up skipping all of the sex scenes and consequently flew through the first 7 of 9 books in a weekend. To my surprise the actual story here is pretty darn great. Hamilton is definitely a weaker writer than most and needs a tighter editor but this was a very entertaining way to spend the weekend.
3 stars each

>35 Miss_Moneypenny: Yes, she tends to write a lot of sex scenes in her books. But if you are able to skip them it are very enjoyable books.

Labor Day weekend here we go! Let's see how many more ROOTs I can get knocked out before work resumes on Tuesday.

52. Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K Hamilton
53. A Shiver of Light by Laurell K Hamilton
Oh man. I was pleasantly surprised by the overall plot of the Merry Gentry series, but these last two absolutely wrecked it. Hamilton should have stopped at Swallowing Darkness.
1 star each

54. A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire
And with this, I have fully caught up on the October Daye series! What a terrific book, what a terrific series. I'm so glad I stuck with it despite the "meh" first couple books.
5 stars each.

>36 connie53: Connie, you're totally right! With the exception of the last 2 Merry books, I thought the overall plot was super interesting and worth fast-forwarding through the sex.

June



And we have officially settled into summertime here in the Western Slope! Summer isn't my favorite, but I'm anticipating a lot of laying by the pool to beat the heat and for me, that means a lot of ROOTS are on deck!

55. Furyborn by Claire Legrand
Ooh I loved this. Two queens, centuries apart, and one is prophesied to save the world while the other breaks it. This is categorized as YA but it really didn't feel like it. Legrand has two fully fleshed out worlds and I found myself absolutely whipping through this to find out what happened next.
5 stars

56. Vicious by VE Schwab
I think if I had read this before the truly excellent Hench, I would have rated this 5 stars. As it is, it's still a terrific book but I connected a lot more with Hench. This is another look at superheroes from the villain's perspective and I really loved what Schwab did with the actual birth of superpowers (which has some really horrifying in-world implications).
4 stars

57. Vita Nostra by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko
I honestly don't even know what to say about this book. It was billed to me as "Russian dark academia" and I guess it was that, but it was also so much more. It was bizarre and had some profound moments of body horror and was deeply philosophical. I definitely liked it and it threw me for such a loop that it took me almost a week to pick up another book. But I don't even know how to describe it or if I would recommend it to other readers.
4 stars

58. House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
This is a YA horror/fantasy novel that absolutely hit all my spots and was the perfect follow up to Vita Nostra. As children, Iris and her sisters were abducted and then returned a month later. A life full of strangeness and unsettling abilities follows, until 10 years later the oldest sister suddenly disappears. This was super creepy and unsettling without being scary and had some of the biggest YIKES body horror moments I've ever read. Sutherland manages to make each sister distinct and absolutely jump off the page (Grey in particular is absolutely haunting). My only quibble with this is the ending for Grey's character and I think I took exception to this because as the oldest sister, I too would cross any line for my siblings. Other than that, this was a near perfect read.
5 stars

59. Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker
Therapist recommendation and life changing.
5 stars

60. Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
Eh. I wanted to really love this but wound up being ambivalent. 2 stars

61. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Another terrific but weighty beach read from this author.
4 stars

62. Adult Children of Alcoholics by Janet Woititz
Therapist recommendation and very helpful.
4 stars

63. One Door Away From Heaven by Dean Koontz
Originally read this in 2001 and I remember loving it. On this re-read, Koontz seems to take forever to get to the meat of the plot and it's kind of anti-climatic when we get there. I do like his point about trauma and how powerfully healing the love of a dog.
4 stars, mostly for the end

64. The Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller
Therapist recommendation and very helpful.
4 stars

65. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
This was one of my favorite books in the fifth grade and if anything, I loved it more as an adult. I completely missed the subplot about Sal's mother's stillbirth and reading it as a woman who's had multiple miscarriages absolutely broke my heart for both Sal and her mother. This was terrific and absolutely deserving of the Newberry.
5 stars

July



Well, July is going to be a big month for the Moneypenny house: Mr. M got a huge promotion and started in his new job on the first, I got approved funding for an enormous work project, we have 5 family birthdays to celebrate, and my oldest nephew is moving in with us tomorrow as he waits to move into his college dorm room in August! We are absolutely bursting here (between me and the mister, my parents, and now B, we are officially out of space) and I couldn't be happier. If you had told me last year or even three months ago that this summer would be so full of good things, I wouldn't have believed you. I suppose it's true that time heals all wounds. Hooray for sunshine and pool days and vaccines!

All that to say, I'm anticipating July to be easy on the reading due to overflowing real life.

1. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
Starting off with a bang! This was a terrific read. McGuire is officially one of my favorite fantasy authors and this was a whiz-bang of a ride about the nature of the universe and sibling love. Loved and highly recommended.
5 stars

2. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
I honestly don't know how to feel about this. I almost didn't start it due to how unbearable the author biography is. It definitely felt like a Firefly rip off at times (Kizzy in particularly felt like a copy/paste version of Kaylee, to the point where I found myself absolutely rolling my eyes when she was on the page). The themes were pretty heavy handed and obvious. But despite all this, I found myself absolutely ripping through it (start to finish in three hours). But I don't know how to rate this. I definitely didn't like it enough to read the next one, which means it wasn't a 4 star read. And I honestly don't know if I'd recommend it either since a solid 85% of the book is just character studies with not a lot happening. It's been a minute since I felt this way about a book.
3 stars

Hi Caity, You have been doing some very good ROOTing. I just want those McGuire books to be translated. I really want to read them too. I only have Middlegame as an ebook. So maybe I start there.

>40 Miss_Moneypenny: That sounds like a big month indeed! Also, beautiful flowers :)

I’m glad to hear what a good summer you’re having, even if it means less time for ROOTing!

Whoops! I've been updating my ticker but not reporting my books here! I'm a little late in wrapping up July, but late is better than never!

68. These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
This was so good. Two college freshmen start an explosive relationship that ends in murder, which sounds blah but throw in a 1970s working class Pittsburgh atmosphere, a very unreliable narrator, and a deep psychological study and wham! This was super great and I can't wait to see more from Nemerever.
4 stars

69. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
When I worked at Borders bookstore in college, one of my managers was absolutely obsessed with this series. I can't believe it took me this long to try it. This is pretty par for the course these days as far as urban fantasy goes but Briggs inclusion of skin walkers and her focus on werewolves would have absolutely delighted me back in the early 2000s. This is also a solid introduction to the world and I'm interested to see what comes next.
3 stars

70. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
This is my second Colleen Hoover book (the first was the truly terrible Verity) and I won't be reading any more from her. I'm just not connecting with her writing style or her subject matter.
2 stars

71. Doc by Mary Doria Russell
Russell has been on my favorite authors list since I read the truly spectacular The Sparrow and Children of God, but Westerns aren't really my thing. I read this at the behest of my father and what do you know? I wound up reading this massive fictionalized biography of Doc Holliday in two days. Highly, highly recommended.
4 stars

72. Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell
Russell followed up with another fictionalized Western, this time focusing on the lead up to and the aftermath of the shootout at the OK Corral. This was even better than Doc. She juggles multiple points of view and a twisty timeline to produce an absolute masterpiece.
5 stars

73. The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow
Sadly, I followed up Epitaph with this. Winslow's writing leaves a LOT to be desired and I was immediately turned off by the misogyny, casual racism, and violence in this book about the war on drugs and the Mexican cartels.
One star

74. Lifting Heavy Things by Laura Khoudari
Trauma-informed yoga is a new buzzword in therapy circles, and Khoudari takes it a step further by proposing trauma-informed weightlifting. I was an Olympic powerlifter in college and now am just a regular compound lifter when my MS allows it, so I'm probably not the target audience for this. Even so, Khoudari's privilege and voice just grated on me the entire book. I would be hesitant to recommend this.
Two stars

75. Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
The terrific Seanan McGuire does it again. The Incryptid series follows a family of cryptozoologists hiding from a shadowy organization while they try to protect the "monster" community in the United States. This was a whiz-bang of a read and I laughed out loud in several places. Highly, highly recommended.
4 stars

>44 Miss_Moneypenny: I love The Sparrow too - I must get round to Doc too.

Loved Doc and Epitaph, and glad you loved them too!

>44 Miss_Moneypenny: You winged me with a BB with Doc for sure - especially since it looks like my library has it available!

>44 Miss_Moneypenny: I'm amazed at your reading and ability to read your own books. I keep finding new library books which doesn't help my ROOTing! And with your recommendations I'm now looking forward to Brooklyn, Doc, The Secret Life of Addie and Grain Brain. Time to stop reading here so I can listen while I work! Thank you for the reviews.

>44 Miss_Moneypenny: I have The Sparrow on my TBR list, but now I’m thinking I might have to add Epitaph as well.

>27 Miss_Moneypenny: thank you for this recommendation for Brooklyn. It was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Hi Caity!

I didn't realize I hadn't posted since February. Yikes.

>35 Miss_Moneypenny: I devoured most of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series even as they got more and more improbable and more and more porn-like, but could never get into the Merry Gentry series for some reason. Yay for escapist reading!

>37 Miss_Moneypenny: Too bad the series got wrecked for you. Hamilton’s abrupt change-of-course to extensive sex scenes in both series brings up the interesting question of who does an author write for? Herself or her fans? Hamilton has definitely come down on the side of herself, and if you don’t like it, just don’t read her stuff. I’ve got 2 Anita Blake books on my shelves, #s 21 and 22, as yet unread, and there are 6 more in the series I haven’t acquired. We’ll see.

>39 Miss_Moneypenny: I’m ACA, and the insights I gained from the literature and therapy in my 30s have benefited me all the way to the present.

>40 Miss_Moneypenny: Congrats on Mr. M’s promotion, your funding, and the full house.

I really liked The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, but the second in the series is staring balefully at me from a remote shelf, unread for 4 years. I started it and didn’t like it, but haven’t been able to get rid of it.

>44 Miss_Moneypenny: I just recently discovered Seanan McGuire aka A. Deborah Baker (Over the Woodward Wall) and am now reading Middlegame

August



Whew, July absolutely flew by! So much fun and sunshine and days at the lake and pool. I've got a killer tan, an ever-increasing Mount ROOT pile, and am looking forward to things slowing down a little.

76. Midnight Blue Light Special by Seanan McGuire
77. Half Off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire
78. Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire
79. Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire
80. Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire
81. Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire
82. That Ain't Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire
83. Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire
Welp, I absolutely blew through the Incryptid series. At this point, I've got one left before her newest publishes in 2022 and I'm eagerly awaiting it.
4 stars each

84. Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter
Deeply, deeply disturbing and while it was well written and really well plotted/paced, the gore in this was too much for me. I won't be continuing with the series.
3 stars

85. Eternals by Neil Gaiman
Rumor has it this will form the basis for Marvel Studios' newest movie, so I had to get this old copy out and refresh my memory.
3 stars

86. Taking Charge of Adult ADHD by Russell Barkley
My husband has wickedly bad ADHD and we're fairly certain I do as well. This was a really nice primer on how to handle it as an adult beyond taking meds.
4 stars

87. Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
I love a good fairy tale retelling, especially one that has a non-European setting and this delivered on all fronts. I wasn't expecting this to be stretched out over at least one more book though. I think if she had had a tighter editor this story could have been just one book and I was irritated enough with the cliffhanger at the end to knock off a star.
4 stars

88. Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
A mundane, kind of patronizing "thriller" from the normally excellent Lehane. Skip this.
2 stars

89. The Next Always by Nora Roberts
90. The Last Boyfriend by Nora Roberts
91. The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts
I was laid out in the middle of the month with some new MS symptoms and when I'm under the weather, I always turn to Roberts's comforting romance trilogies to get me through.
3 stars each

92. The Promised Neverland vol 1 by Kaiu Shirai
93. The Promised Neverland vol 2 by Kaiu Shirai
94. The Promised Neverland vol 3 by Kaiu Shirai
After absolutely devouring the anime and reading that season 2 isn't true to the manga at all, I figured I should get the story on these orphans who are born and bred to be food for demons right from the horse's mouth (as it were). These were terrific and fast paced plus deliciously creepy.
4 stars each

95. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
I'm torn on this. I wanted to love it but found the author to be really insufferable. I definitely don't want to criticize anyone's grief experience, but it strikes me as kind of squicky that this is the third time Zauner has mined her mother's death for profit (her Psychopomp album, the NYT essay, and now this book). Yikes, which makes this a nope from me.
2 stars

Wow, looks like you got a lot of reading done this month! Also glad you got to hang out by the pool!

Hi Caity, Nice update. I just discovered Seanan McGuire myself and a loved her book as A. Deborah Baker

And I recognize your feelings about Nora Roberts. I haven't read those books but I've have them on the digital shelves and translated.

September



Man, another month completely passed me by! My MS relapse was a rough one, so thank goodness for the ability to work from home and a very generous PTO policy. Hopefully October is kinder and slower.

96. The Meg by Steve Altern
This book is pure late 90s cheese and I absolutely love it. Creature features are my favorite movie genre when I'm feeling down or having a rough time and this book hits all my sweet spots. Don't get me wrong: it's not a good book at all. It's not even particularly well written. But it's unintentionally hilarious and is one of my favorite rereads when life gets me down.
3 stars

97. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Marillier's work has been recommended to me more times than I can count and I figured starting with her Sevenwaters series would be a good place to start. Overall, I loved it: she puts a beautiful Celtic, semi-accurate spin on the Six Swans fairy tale and it's really a lovely read until about halfway through when all of a sudden there is a graphic and deeply disturbing rape scene. Sexual violence is a hard no for me and I wish that I had thought to check trigger warnings for this. There wasn't even any point to including it! The story would have been exactly the same without that scene and didn't appreciably change the trajectory at all. Without it, this would have been a five star read, but as it stands it disturbed me enough to downgrade it to
3 stars

98. Dune by Frank Herbert
I've been re-reading this classic every couple years or so since 2002. It was an early Easter gift from my mother and reading it will always conjure up fond memories of reading it in the bitter cold and weak early spring sunshine on a windy basketball court while I watched by brother and sister play. I'm eagerly anticipating the new movie adaptation next month!
5 stars both for nostalgia and for content

99. The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
My sister convinced me to give Slaughter's standalone novel a try after a pretty visceral reaction to her first Grant County book. I'm sad to say that this was even harder to read than that first one. Too much sexual violence, and I wound up skimming the last half of this just to get it over with. No more Slaughter for me.
2 stars

100. The Promised Neverland 4 by Kaiu Shirai
101. The Promised Neverland 5 by Kaiu Shirai
102. The Promised Neverland 6 by Kaiu Shirai
103. The Promised Neverland 7 by Kaiu Shirai
104. The Promised Neverland 8 by Kaiu Shirai
By the end of volume 5, the manga has outstripped the anime in terms of content and so most of this was brand new plot for me. And what a wild ride it is! This might be one of the best manga I've read in a hot minute.
5 stars each

105. Is It You, Me, or Adult ADD?
I think I've mentioned before that my husband has a pretty bad case of adult ADHD. Reading through this was shocking though because compared to the case studies in this book, his case is mild. I'm thankful as heck for that because just reading this book makes it seem like it's impossible to be emotionally intimate with an ADHD partner. I don't think I'd recommend this to someone just coming to terms with their partner's diagnosis, although parts of it were helpful to me.
3 stars

106. When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire
This is the fifteenth installment in the excellent October Daye series, and I'm sad to say that it doesn't live up to the standard set by her previous books. This almost feels like it wasn't edited at all: there are numerous typos (an "x" in the middle of one word!), a lot of confusion in the writing (characters hug, hug again a couple pages later and exclaim that it's their first hug in years; multiple instances of dialogue that seems like a response to something that was taken out but not re-read for clarity), and a novella that takes place literally seconds after the end of the story and functions as the actual end instead. I had so much trouble getting through this. My love for the characters and the world McGuire built still stands, but man this was a disappointing entry.
2 stars

107. Dinotopia by James Gurney
The nice thing about my parents moving in with us is that they brought boxes upon boxes of books with them. Granted, we don't necessarily have the space for them as Mr. M and I are literary packrats ourselves, but being able to dig through them at my leisure and finding childhood treasures has been a true gift. Dinotopia is one of them. This stunning coffee table book for children follows the travel journal of a 19th century scientist and his son who are shipwrecked on a lost continent where dinosaurs and humans live in harmony. This was one of my favorite books as a child due to the unbelievable artwork and fun concept and finding it just as magical as an adult was a delight.
5 stars

Hoping for a gentler October for you and lots of good books!

Best wishes for a nicer October. I think I need to look at the cast for the new Dune version...

I hope that October is better than September for you, and the relapse eases. Looks like you got some good reading done though!

>56 Miss_Moneypenny: Oh wow, Dinotopia! I remember that one - it was technically my sibling's, but I remember us puzzling out the dino-tracks "code" at the bottom of the pages and the beautiful artwork... I wish we still had our copy as I bet it would be lovely to revisit.

Thanks for the well-wishes everyone! My hopes are high for October indeed!

>60 Caramellunacy: My siblings and I did too! We copied out the alphabet and wrote notes to each other, a few of which were still in the copy I unearthed last week. I definitely shed a few tears, lol!

October



October is off to a rollicking start, although in a much better direction than the last few months! I'm still blasting through my ROOTs and thank goodness for that.

108. Dinotopia: The World Beneath by James Gurney
The sequel to the original Dinotopia is even better than the first. Absolute treasures, the both of them, and I've already set the set aside for my own children.
5 stars

109. Skin Care by Caroline Hirons
Caroline Hirons is apparently a skin care guru on Instagram, according to my sister. I turned 35 this summer and have started to take a keener interest in skin care beyond the normal washing/moisturizing but have been completely overwhelmed by all the options and potions. Hirons breaks things down in a direct, friendly way and I found this really helpful.
5 stars

Every year I try and focus my reading on spooky/horror/atmospheric reads. October is absolutely my favorite month (like a true basic bitch!) and library books always seem to get in the way. Not this month!

110. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
What a book! This is the first time I've read anything by Jackson and what a doozy of a time. This was an immediate 5 stars for me and all the layers to the story ensure that this will be a definite reread.
5 stars

111. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
My sister calls this Jackson's best work and I'll agree that it's terrific but doesn't quite beat out The Haunting for my personal favorite. Merricat is probably my favorite unreliable narrator though and the atmosphere of this one can't be beat.
4 stars

112. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
I will admit to buying this back in 2020 solely for the cover and the title. I didn't even read the jacket flap synopsis before plopping it in my cart. Imagine my surprise when this turned out to be a terrifically scary and surprisingly gory/violent tale. True enough, there is a book club and they do find a vampire in their midst, but there was so much more to this. The gulf between husbands and wives, how much pressure wives/mothers are under to keep everything together for their families, and the question of exactly how much a wife and mother owes to her friends versus her family. Between this and the also excellent Final Girl Support Group, Hendrix is now on my list of "must read" authors.
5 stars

113. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
114. Anne of Avonlea by LM Montgomery
I actually didn't read the Anne novels as a child. Instead, I was absolutely obsessed with Little Women and Little House on the Prairie. Picking them up as an adult was a wild and absolutely enchanting ride. What a wonderful setting and a beautiful cast of characters. I see the appeal of The Anne Girl and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.
5 stars each

115. The Push by Audrey Audrain
Big yikes to this book. I went into it mostly blind beyond "A woman gives birth and it changes everything". What followed was a deeply graphic account of generational abuse, the violence of one mother's awful reaction to early motherhood, and a generic "bad seed" story. I don't think I would recommend this to anyone. For a better "bad seed" novel, see the truly unsettling Baby Teeth. As an aside, I would really love to see a bad seed novel from the father's perspective. Every novel that uses this trope is told from the mother's perspective and the fathers are cast as blind worshippers of their children who blame their wife for not being a "true" mother. I'd love to see the inner workings that would lead a man to view his partner as the bad guy and see that dissonance play out in real time, as it were.
2 stars

November



Wow, how on earth is it the end of November?! Lots of real-life happening here, less reading, very little downtime to play on Library Thing :( Here's my catch up regardless!

116. Anne of the Island by LM Montgomery
The highly satisfying conclusion to Anne and Gilbert's romance; I'm not ashamed to say that I got more than a little weepy at the end. Plus, has there ever been a cozier and more wonderful depiction of female college friendships?
5 stars

117. The Promised Neverland 10 by Kaiu Shirai
118. The Promised Neverland 11
119. The Promised Neverland 12
120. The Promised Neverland 13
121. The Promised Neverland 14
122. The Promised Neverland 15
123. The Promised Neverland 16
124. The Promised Neverland 17
125. The Promised Neverland 18
So, so close to being done with this manga! While it won't top Full Metal Alchemist or Sailor Moon in my favorites list, it's definitely securing the third spot. So much love for this.
5 stars each

>62 Miss_Moneypenny: hi, Caity. Just popping in to see what you have been reading. A lot I see. Very good job.

I'm currently watching Anne with an E /Anne of Green Gables on Netflix and found the Haunting of Hill House on Netflix too. I'm enjoying Anne very much.

Hi Caity.



See you in the ROOTs group next year!

Hello Caity!

Trying to catch up on threads again. I want to wish you

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everyone! I read only 8 books in December and not a one of them was a ROOT. Regardless, I definitely hit my goals: 125 ROOTs instead of the planned 80 and 205 books read overall instead of the planned 150. Not too shabby!

I hope that everyone has a safe and lovely holiday and that 2022 is kinder to us all.

>67 Miss_Moneypenny: Wow, you smashed those goals! Excellent work!

>67 Miss_Moneypenny: I wish that for everyone too. A nicer 2022 is what we all need.

Good to see you reached all you goals with those numbers, very impressive.