Kale ROOTs around in 2018

Hello again all,

2017 was a close one for me managing 41 when my goal was 40. It was a struggle at times so I am going to set my goal for 2018 as 40 again. To add some ambition to the goal I am going to try and make my way through some of the chunkier tomes I have on my shelves.




1. Talking to my Country by Stan Grant.
2. The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey.
3. Ringworld by Larry Niven.
4. To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer.
5. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving.
6. Arabian Nights by Anonymous (Richard Burton translation).
7. Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert A. Heinlein.
8. Fools by Pat Cadigan.
9. Metrophage by Richard Kadrey.
10. The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike.

11. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jnr.
12. Homeworld by Harry Harrison.
13. Players by Paul McAuley.
14. Refugee by Piers Anthony.
15. Skyfall by Harry Harrison.
16. The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks.
17. London Fields by Martin Amis.
18. Sirius by Olaf Stapledon
19. Statistics Done Wrong by Alex Reinhart
20. Synners by Pat Cadigan.

21. Cicada by Shaun Tan
22. Gateway by Frederick Pohl
23. God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
24. Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd
25. Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert
26. Halting State by Charles Stross
27. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
28. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
29.
30.

31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.

Good luck with your 2018 rooting!

Welcome back to the group, Kale and Happy ROOTing.

p.s. Don't forget to become a member of the group!

Good luck, Kale!

Welcome back and have a great reading year!

Thanks very much for the reminder had forgotten.

Good luck with your 2018 goals and those chunksters. Happy ROOTing!

Happy New Year, Kale!

Happy reading in 2018, Kale!

Thanks for the welcome and encouragement all.

Good luck

Welcome back and happy reading!

Thanks for the welcome all, first ROOT for the year done and a great read.

ROOT 1. Talking to my Country
Moving and beautifully written personal musings on the state of race politics in Australia. The impact of inter-generational trauma is incredibly tragic and thought provoking for any Australian.

ROOT 2. The Franchise Affair
Really enjoyable mystery, a great example of Victorian mysteries.

Finally got my third done, at the current rate I'm thinking about downgrading my goal to 20 or so for 2018. Will see how the next few months go.

ROOT 3. Ringworld
Classic big object science fiction. Gender relations a bit of a low point otherwise really enjoyable.

ROOT 4. To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Fascinating setting for the story with little explanation of what underlies it. Enjoyed it but feel little need to read the remainder of the series.

ROOT 5. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

Enjoyable and quite light collection of short fiction.

Hi Kale, just popping in to see what you are reading and say Hi!

Hey connie53 thanks for dropping by, as you can see working very slowly through my ROOTs this year

ROOT 6. Arabian Nights

A wide range of fantastics stories many of which I enjoyed and that very effectively took me to the setting. Amusingly Richard Burton was the translator of my edition and the protagonist in ROOT 4.

ROOT 7. Citizen of the Galaxy

Page turning read about a young slave's journey to discovering who they are. Overlaid with Heinlein's political opinions as always.

ROOT 8. Fools

Classic cyber/bio-punk where identity is shattered by technology.

ROOT 9. Metrophage

Inspiration from Gibson and Ruck openly acknowledged by Kadrey and it shows throughout the book. Still great fun and fast paced action in a dystopian setting.

ROOT 10. The Witches of Eastwick

Enjoyable Updike writing.

Huzzah for a quarter of the way to my goal!

Well done!

>23 brakketh: Excellent work!

>23 brakketh: good work, Kale!

>23 brakketh: Yeah!!

Thanks all very satisfying to hit the first of hopefully 3 more quarters.

ROOT 11. A Canticle for Leibowitz

Wonderful epic about the circularity of time and movement of belief over the generations.

ROOT 12. Homeworld

Surprisingly prescient in places and will definitely pick up the remaining books if I come across them.

ROOT 13. Players

It was fine ... nothing really memorable for characters or plotting. A good undemanding read if you like a bit of police procedure and technology.

ROOT 14. Refugee

The slow degradation and creation of a tyrant (Piers Anthony seems almost obsessed with sexual violence in this book), hasn't aged well in my opinion.

ROOT 15. Skyfall

Interesting premise of the high pressure situation in space. Gender politics very dated and hard to read in places.

ROOT 16. The Reformed Vampire Support Group

Not as enjoyable as the Evil Genius series for me. A maudlin take on vampirism as a disease and a coming of age story arc. Enjoyed the Sydney references.

ROOT 17. London Fields

A frightful glimpse into the lower and criminalised middle class of London.

Good job, Kale!

ROOT 18. Sirius

Felt very dated (as it should) but still a fascinating thought experiment about a super intelligent dog an its experience in the world.

>36 brakketh: You might enjoy Fifteen Dogs: a novel by Andre Alexis, which is a similar premise but set in modern-day Toronto. I thought it was excellent.

(touchstones not working for me this morning).

>37 Jackie_K: Thanks Jackie, I'll add it to my list.

ROOT 19. Statistics Done Wrong

An enjoyable and relatively accessible run through of common statistics mistakes made in the social and medical sciences. Informative and helps you to think about your design and analysis in more detail.

ROOT 20. Synners

Long hard slog for this one despite really enjoying the read. Half way there, going to need to really step things up if my shelves have any hope of being cleared.

Amazing world-building and a fascinating consideration of impacts of human-machine interfaces. Lots of fun too.

ROOT 21. Cicada

Tragic and beautiful.

ROOT 22. Gateway

Despite certain sections showing their age this story of the excitement and terror of space exploration was very enjoyable.

ROOT 23. God Emperor of Dune

Enjoyable philosophical musings and a wonderful further development of the Dune world.

>42 brakketh: Just passing and finding out what you are up to, Kale. Dune brings back memories.

ROOT 24. Hawksmoor

Dyer, Hawksmoor, Dyer circling throughout the novel. Great fun and confusing with beautiful turns of phrase.

ROOT 25. Heretics of Dune

Such amazing world building in the Dune series. Characters slightly better stepped out for me than in the first of the trilogy.

ROOT 26. Halting State
Near future story about the potential for disruption as the internet becomes truly ubiquitous.

ROOT 27. The Plot Against America
Fascinating alternate history for World War II if American antisemitism was slightly more potent.

ROOT 28. Doomsday Book
Real page turner of the Oxford history project where they send historians back in time.

28 of 40 for the year, a pity not to reach the goal this year. I'm still very pleased to have freed up some more shelf space and look forward to continuing in 2019. See you all again next year.

>47 brakketh: see you there!

>47 brakketh: And as long as you're enjoying what you are reading, that's what's important. See you in the new year!