Kale's 2016 ROOT

Hello all,

Resident of Sydney Australia who needs to clear some shelf space as have recently downsized from a 2 bed to 1 bed flat. Decided to set an achievable target. Will list the books as I complete them here:

1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. The City & The City by China Miéville
7. The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
8. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
9. Jimmy the Hand by Raymond E. Feist & Steve Stirling
10. The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton
11. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
12. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Bonus ROOTS Part I
1. The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
2. King Solomon's Mine by H. Rider Haggard
3. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
4. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
5. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
6. Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
7. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
8. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
9. Fly Away Peter by David Malouf
10. Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
11. Nudge by Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein
12. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Bonus ROOTS Part II
1. Honoured Enemy by Raymond E. Feist & William R. Forstchen
2. Murder in LaMut by Raymond E. Feist & Joel Rosenberg
3. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. A Shadow on the Glass by Ian Irvine
5. The Tower on the Rift by Ian Irvine
6. Without Fail by Lee Child
7. Feed by Mira Grant
8. Dark is the Moon by Ian Irvine
9. The Way Between the Worlds by Ian Irvine
10. The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels by Henry James
11. Emile, or On Education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
12. A Pale View of the Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

Bonus ROOTS Part III
1. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
2. Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau

Good luck to all my fellow ROOTers.

K

Welcome to the ROOTers, Kale! Happy ROOTing.

Welcome and enjoy the ROOTing!

Welcome & Happy ROOTing! Good luck w/ your goal!

Welcome to the group. I have found it a great motivator for persevering with reading, I have read more in the last couple of years than I have in the years and years before joining!

Thanks all for the encouragement, will be great to clear some shelf space.

Welcome aboard and good luck with your challenge!

Finally managed to tear myself away from the library book pile and finish reading this novel. Honestly, I was a little disappointed with The Count of Monte Cristo. I had previously read The Three Musketeers and had really enjoyed it as a classic adventure novel. In contrast I found TCoMC to be a revenge fantasy with a barely credible lead who could apparently do little to nothing wrong. His vengeance appears to be considered justified throughout the novel and the momentary doubts he entertains last barely a chapter before being dismissed. As a criticism of French society I am not sure what to make of it other than honour and honesty are important and there are more pleasant books I have read with this message at heart.

All of this said I am pleased to have completed my first ROOT for the year and will do my best not to fill the space on my shelf (OK so technically a slightly shorter tower of books on the floor as I have run out of shelf space).

>8 brakketh: You go, Kale. First ROOT down!

>8 brakketh: I keep hearing that about The Count of Monte Cristo. I'ts on my TBR pile at the bottom and not inclined to move it up.

>10 Tess_W: Maybe move out, Tess?

>8 brakketh:, >10 Tess_W:

That's unfortunate to hear as I love The Count! In fact, it let me to reading a Dumas every year as I just love his stories.

>9 connie53: Thanks Connie, it was a disappointing book to start ROOTing with but looking forward to some more enjoyable reads.

>10 Tess_W: , >11 connie53: I always struggle with that question of whether to avoid classics that I have heard are difficult/unenjoyable reads as there are so many great books TBR. Often this struggle is resolved for me by the argument that some of these classics are cultural touchstones and work to inform your other reading. I must admit I also usually balance these out with a lot of 'brain-candy' reading.

>12 lilisin: I am glad to hear that you got more out of TCoMC than me. There is certainly a side of me that enjoys the almost complete knowledge and power the count enjoys while extracting his revenge. I am certainly not put off from reading further Dumas. I have read The Three Musketeers & The Count of Monte Cristo what would you recommend as the next Dumas I add to my list?

>13 brakketh:

I enjoyed Queen Margot quite a bit and then there's always the continuation of the Musketeers series to get to. A lot of people get dragged down by the Louise de la Valiere book (I think this is the title of the English translation - I read the books in French) but I think Dumas is at his best when he spreads out the length of the book and focuses on politics.

I'm debating myself what to read as my next Dumas as I just recently finished one of his minor, unknown titles. I read Musketeers and the end of the Musketeers but haven't read the middle part yet, so I'm considering that. Or, I'm considering his Joseph Balsamo series which sounds intriguing. Either way, I have a lot to look forward to.

Having broken the seal I have managed to read another ROOT for 2016 (one more and I will be on track for 12 this year), my second ROOT is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I read this book as part of my reading of award winning science fiction novels. This was a relatively recently acquired ROOT December 2015. A great deal of the novel's views of training, sexuality and gender I think reveal some of Orson's biases. Despite these limitations I still found the world building very impressive.

>14 lilisin: I will add Queen Margot to my TBR list. Thanks.

>15 brakketh: I loved the Ender books!

Re the Count - Like Lilisin, I also LOVE that book. It's one of my favorites! And even though I hear what Kale is saying in >8 brakketh:, the Count himself still happens to be one of my all-time favorite literary characters...
So maybe worth giving a try, Tess ;)

& Congrats Kale on your first AND second ROOTs done!
I also really enjoyed Ender's Game, which I only read last year!

I have just been through my shelves to see how many TBR I currently own. I have been attempting to read more than I acquire for a couple of years now and appear to have been successful. As at 9th April 2016 I have 151 books on my shelves that I have not read since starting on librarything.

I am feeling much more motivated and managed to go to the library today and only return finished books.

Very enjoyable 3rd ROOT for the year. I had read Pride and Prejudice about 15-20 years ago and have no idea why I waited so long to read this book again. Hugely fun comedy of manners and greatly appeals to my desire for intellectual romantic comedies.

Another enjoyable ROOT, though it was a December 2015 purchase so barely qualifies for me. I have had the Dresden Files series recommended to me by a number of friends and started acquiring the books when I saw them from second hand bookshops. Grave Peril is the third book in the series and while I am enjoying this series I am starting to feel like Jim Butcher is introducing a new supernatural species who Dresden then defeats in a formulaic fashion.

You are doing great with reading ROOTs. And hurrah for only returning books and not taking any out. Very motivated indeed.

>22 connie53: Thanks Connie, getting into the swing of this ROOTing. I have had another very enjoyable ROOT The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I read Tom Sawyer more than a decade ago and bought this book then. Finn is a great and believable character for me.

April continues to be a good month for me ROOTing through my shelves. I have had this China Miéville book The City & The City on my shelves for a number of years following a number of recommendations from friends. A great detective story told in a thoroughly weird world.

Oh I really enjoyed that book - was pleasantly surprised! It was my first Mieville and I really hadn't known what to expect.. glad you enjoyed it! :)

>25 avanders: It has certainly built my appetite for further Miéville reading.

First ROOT for May and this is a multiple category read for me. The Vor Game was a ROOT, an alphabet (novel name), and Hugo award winner (1991) all categories that I am trying to read through. This book had been on the shelf for a while as I judged it by the cover (very late 80s-90s illustration). It was an enjoyable space adventure and a quick read which was a relief as I am still making my way through Bleak House.

>27 brakketh: Keep plodding through Bleak House, it gets better!

A good start to May for me with 2 more ROOTS Bleak House & Jimmy the Hand. I feel like these two side-by-side well represent my reading habits of classic literature and speculative fiction.
I found Bleak House a challenging read though it picked up for me in the second half of the novel. It was motivating for me to read a little about the background for the novel and the changes to the English court systems around that time.
Jimmy the Hand is part of my Crydee series reading (and was also an alphabet read for me) and was pure and enjoyable brain-candy.

Ah, Jimmy the hand. Brain-candy indeed!

>29 brakketh: I thought Bleak House would pick up for you. Yes, I wondered why in the book the Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce was mentioned frequently and then never resolved....I also did some research and found out that Dickens was in court a lot concerning his copyrights. The case in Bleak House was to make people understand that only attorneys came out ahead in court cases. Dickens was very disgusted with the British legal system.

>31 Tess_W: Thank you for the encouragement to continue with the book. I guess by providing such an unsatisfying resolution to Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce we feel much the same as the characters may have.

Finished The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton. Interesting to get some historical context and to hear about other industries and insiders views of them. Found de Botton condescending in his appreciation of the aesthetics of everyday workplaces.

>29 brakketh: congrats! I want to read Bleak House some day... I'm "supposed to have" read it (bc I'm a lawyer ;p), but I haven't yet...

I enjoy speculative fiction.. what's Jimmy the Hand about??

>31 Tess_W: ... well, I mean, not always.... ;P
(but in truth, there are plenty of times where I've recommended against legal action because the likely ultimate outcome wouldn't be worth it to either party... )

>34 avanders: Not sure how edifying a read it will be as a lawyer, is certainly worth a read though.

Jimmy the Hand is a book from the Crydee canon of Raymond E. Feist's work, fantasy end of speculative fiction. Jimmy is a young, very talented thief who is temporarily exiled from his city due to some actions he takes which inconvenience the local lord. This book is about an adventure he has in the country. I am very partial to the character though there are some mary jane-ish aspects to the character (i.e. he is very intelligent, a great thief, has a strong sense of right and wrong, and is portrayed as rarely incorrect). If you have read any Feist and enjoyed it then I would recommend this book. If you haven't I would recommend the first book in the series Magician or any of the Daughter of the Empire novels (these are my current favourites of the Feist I have read).

>35 brakketh: maybe.. I love how things used to be though... or how they are in other parts of the country/world.. I enjoy the comparisons :)

I've never read Feist, so I'll start with Magician! :)

May continues to be a great month for 'gardening' another ROOT pulled, a re-read, Sense and Sensibility. Love Austen and find many moments to laugh out loud as I was reading.

May is the month for ROOTing, finished Burial Rites a heart-wrenching historical fiction novel about the last person condemned to execution in Iceland. I found this book beautifully written and really identified with the protagonist. Highly recommend.

Happy to have completed my ROOT goal for 2016. I will continue attempting to clear my shelves and add these books to make up for those that drop out.

>38 brakketh: Congratulations on meeting your goal! And thanks for the review of Burial Rites. It's on my list!

Yay, congratulations on reaching your goal. And Burial Rites is on my TBR, too, glad to hear you liked it.

Congrats on completing your goal!

Woo hoo congratulations on meeting your goal!!

Hooray, well done on reaching your goal!

First bonus ROOT completed A Tale of Two Cities, a fascinating story about the parallels between Paris and London during the French revolution particularly with respect to class differences. An eminently quotable book.

>44 brakketh: glad you liked A Tale of Two Cities. I liked it for the tale of friendship. one worth dying for.

>45 Tess_W: ooooooh. ok it moves up on the list....

>45 Tess_W: Indeed, I am a great sucker for friendships that transcend the usual. I suspect that this played a large part in my enjoyment of the novel too.

Second bonus ROOT, also one of the 1001 reading list King Solomon's Mine. Found this a very enjoyable 'lost world' adventure story with the colonial attitudes no where near as awful as I expected.

>35 brakketh: Those are my favourite books in the Feist series too!

Congrats on meeting your goal!

Third bonus ROOT, first for June. The Age of Innocence had been sitting on the shelves for a long time. Slow paced consideration of the conflict between humanity and the stilted manners of New York.

Second ROOT for June. The Time Traveler's Wife, an enjoyable romance between a woman and her time-impaired husband. Excellent charaterisation though I found the husband hard to like.

>50 brakketh:, Wharton is a snoozer for me, especially that book!
>51 brakketh: I liked that one!

>52 Tess_W: I am a big fan of Niffenegger from the two of her novels that I have read. I am a bit of a sucker for some stilted manners and the situations that they cause.

Third for June Les Misérables this one is a true ROOT as I actually started reading this novel in 2015. I enjoyed it though I suspect the French history, architecture was not really for me and I could have gotten by with an abridged edition (though that always feels like cheating to me).

Just checked and I will really need to get back to my ROOT pile as I have acquired 12 books thus far in 2016. This means that I have only opened up 5 books worth of space which isn't really enough as I am still storing books under my bed, in drawers and stacked precariously on top of the bookshelf.

I have another 30 or so library books coming in over the next month or so which will delay my ability to read these ROOTS.

New commitment: No further library book requesting until I am net positive 10 books and from this point onward a 1-to-1 for library book reading and ROOT reading.

I will see how this commitment goes as there are a number of other challenges that I am trying to complete that will not be satisfied with the books that are currently on my shelves.

Good luck with the library-book-requesting moratorium! The library is such a tempting place!

>55 rabbitprincess: Indeed, it is going to be very challenges especially as I pick up my trickle of existing requests without browsing.

2016 ROOT number 18 is a book a decided not to re-read Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. I recall really enjoying the Mars Trilogy and the consideration of the terraforming and settlement of Mars and some of the impacts this action could have on society. My recent Robinson reading Aurora has left me feeling a bit lackluster about his writing style and have decided to focus on more promising authors.

2016 ROOTS 19 - 21.

19. American Gods. One of my favourite Gaiman stories that I periodically re-read.
20. Anansi Boys. Though I prefer American Gods I really enjoy the character of Anansi (another re-read).
21. Fly Away Peter. Not sure why I retained this book didn't enjoy it the first time I read it and only re-read it because I really struggle to give up on a book. It is a great book just not a very enjoyable read let alone re-read.

Really pleased with my start to July, I now feel like I have a little breathing room to work through a couple of library books before returning to my ROOTing.

22. Slaughterhouse 5.

This one had been on the shelves for a number of years. I really enjoyed this read though it was a difficult read at times. I love a good anti-war novel.

23. Nudge.

Read this one in preparation for a job interview with a heavy behavioural insights focus. Nice summary of some of the heuristics and situations where 'nudges' in the public policy area are likely to be cost effective. Focused a bit too much on libertarian approach for my taste but not surprising from American authors.

Acquired 3 more books today which means a 2016 net acquisition of 15 so only a total of 8 books of space cleared. I have just realised that unfortunately this is an under estimate as I trade my ROOTs for second-hand books so I suspect I am currently ROOT neutral for 2016. I have been good and have not put in any new library requests though so I only have about 13 library books to read before I can get ROOTing in earnest.

24. Kafka on the Shore.

Murakami is a sometimes snack for me, I do not appreciate his work in bulk. Love the magical realism in the novel and the narrative that hints but rarely resolves anything.

You have been reading lots of good books, Kale!

>63 connie53: I have had a good run of ROOTS inspired by the 1001 Before You Die list. Have really enjoyed the Vonnegut and Murakami is always very reliable. The Gaiman were re-reads but it had been near a decade since I had read them so was a real treat. Hope you have had some highly enjoyable ROOTS of late.

>64 brakketh: I did, Kale! Some really nice ones. If you are interested you could visit my thread

http://www.librarything.nl/topic/226761. But that might give you some trouble since it's a .NL site. And don't know how people find, but they do.

>65 connie53: No trouble at all, some really interesting reads in your ROOTs and Library also.

I have just done a current owned and unread audit and I am currently looking at 145 remaining (mostly novels). There are a couple of complete trilogies in there so may prioritise clearing them off the shelves.

>66 brakketh: Good to hear you found me there.

I love it when a series is finished. The difficulty in the Netherlands is that sometimes publishers just stop translating halfway. Really annoying. I only read in Dutch since that is my native tongue. I could read in English, since joining LT my English improved a lot, but not enough to make reading in English a relaxing thing.

I'm curious to see which trilogies you are first going to read and clear off the shelves.

ROOT 25. Honoured Enemy.

A solid fantasy novel where oddly enough people from two sides of a war realise that they have more similarities than differences. It took more than a month for me to get over my case of library-itis but I only have a few books out now so should be able to clear a few more ROOTs before I fall ill again.

Congratulations on surpassing your goal!! Good luck managing your case of library-itis.

>69 This-n-That: Thanks, tried to set a very achievable goal for myself as this was my first year ROOTing.

ROOT 26. Murder in LaMut.

Finished the Legends of the Riftwar trilogy that had been sitting around for a little while. Unfortunately, sort of a middling novel as the murder mystery is not greatly written. The self-serving mercenary characters were well portrayed and quite like-able.

ROOT 27. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.

A wonderful memoir about the challenges of growing up with ubiquitous discrimination. Though at times wrenching as Maya grows she increasingly counters this oppression.

I had a similar problem as your Library-itis.... It's early-reviewer-itis ... I had to make a similar commitment to myself :)

ROOT 28. A Shadow on the Glass.

I enjoy Irvine's books and the worlds that he has built for his 3 Worlds Cycle but I starting to worry about how much he tortures his female protagonists.

ROOT 29. The Tower on the Rift.

I am not really sure why but this series is not really grabbing me. I am enjoying it well enough and the world building is solid, I think I am finding the characters challenging to 'like'. I am going to keep reading and see if I am better able to put my finger on it.

ROOT 30. Without Fail.

When I clear a ROOT off my shelves I often trade them to second-hard bookshops for store credit which I immediately spend. Without Fail was a book purchased entirely from 2016 ROOTs, so I am going to call it a sprout. Also, Lee Child is absolutely a guilty pleasure.

ROOT 31. Feed.

I had been looking forward to reading this series for a while as I am a big fan of zombie/survival horror novels. World building was a bit patchy and the politics had no nuance at all, disappointing though I will read the rest of the series.

ROOT 32. Dark is the Moon.

Still not really decided about this series. For me, the action slows a great deal in this book and it is mostly setup for the final book of the series.

ROOT 33. The Way Between the Worlds.

Mysteries are resolved but I struggled to care, not my favourite of his series.

>75 brakketh:. A sprout! Love that!

Wow you've sure been reading a lot lately.. thanks from the whole group! :) You're helping our numbers despite people like me who are struggling a little this year.... ;)

Thanks avanders, moved to a new city a year ago and while I am building my social networks I read in my down time. In addition, I have a much longer commute and catch public transport so I am probably reading an average of 4-5 hours a day over the last year.

I deliberately set my ROOT goal on the low end of what I thought I would read as I wanted encouragement not pressure to read through some of the books I already owned. I am planning a more ambitious 2017 goal so that I can get down to a single bookshelf of read and unread books.

Thanks and good luck with your reading for the remainder of the year may you find some of those hidden treasures on your shelves that surprise and delight.

>81 brakketh: WOW. Reading an average of 4-5 hours a day!! And that's OVER what you were reading last year?! That's amazing! I wish I had that kind of reading time. It happens occasionally on the weekends, but during the week.... oof, no way. ;)
Your goal-setting was well-reasoned! I'm generally the same way. Have struggled this year for other reasons, but generally I keep my goal manageable. :)
& a single bookshelf of read & unread books?! unbelievable. I can't even imagine ;)

>82 avanders: With the move to Sydney in the works I was trying to read through my unread books (also as a cost saving measure) so I am down from 2 large bookshelves to 1 smallish bookshelf and a drawer or 2 (I think only about 150 or so unread books).
Sorry 4-5 hours total a day, previous years probably averaged an hour or 2 at most. My partner has said I should watch out that I don't get used to this amount of spare time as it has resulted from a confluence of a relaxed job and less socialising, and I tend to agree with that point.

ROOT 34. The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels by Henry James.

Read The Turn of the Screw as part of the 1001 before you die: An excellent ghost/psychological disintegration story.
Was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed some of the other short novels especially The Aspern Papers and Daisy Miller.

>83 brakketh: that's great motivation :) & congrats on reducing your book"load" by so much! :)
well... as for your spare time, whatever makes you happy!

ROOT. 35. Emile, or On Education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Another 1001 read that had been sitting on my shelves for ages.

Rosseau really did think that Nature could do anything (capitalisation his not mine) up to and including showing how males and females should grow and be educated. Certainly an understandable desire considering the time he lived. The education of Sophie, Emile's wife, was only a small part of the book and I am thankful as this was my least favourite section and showed its age the most.

ROOT 36. A Pale View of the Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro.

I love the writing and quiet voice of Kazuo Ishiguro, this story (or parallel stories) of post-war Japan moves along quietly in the shadow of the death by suicide of Etsuko's eldest daughter.

This one had been on my shelves for a number of years. I really don't know why it took me so long to get around to reading this novel as I really enjoyed Remains of the Day the only other Ishiguro I read.

ROOT 37. Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

Beautiful in places and shows an appreciation of nature but as with many books like this I feel a little like the thinking is that the natural way is best whereas I feel like we should attempt to build from this.

ROOT 38. Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau

Playful and fun repeated presentation of the same scene, some of the odder styles didn't really click for me but an impressive and enjoyable read.