Elizabeth's 2020 ROOTS

This is place to hold myself accountable for reading what I have on my shelves already! I chose 32 as a number based on last year's reading. I completed 81 books, but 49 of them were text and the rest were audiobooks. To correspond with my goal to read 2 books of my own for every 1 I read from the library, it turns into about 32 books for 2020. Looking forward to updating my ticker!

Wishing you a fun year of ROOTing.

Welcome aboard and good luck with your challenge!

Welcome to the ROOTers, Elizabeth. Good luck and a Happy Reading Year.

Welcome to the group, good luck with your reading!

Welcome and good luck with your ROOTing!

Hoping you are as successful as you dream to be!

#1) Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi. I really did not enjoy this book. I loved Oyeyemi's prose, but the plot was so convoluted it felt like I was reading a different book every time I went back to it. I read What is Not Yours is Not Yours and liked it a lot, but Gingerbread missed the mark for me.

#2) Pachinko by Minn Jin Lee. What a stunner of a book. The saga of Korean immigrants in Japan and how they find their way (or don't) through their lives. Lee's writing is incredible, the plot was engaging, and I really liked the omniscient narrator choice. Wow.

>10 readergirliz: I love it when you read a book like that.

Yes! And even though these books can sometimes be far and few between, the "oh, wow!" feeling is so worth it!

#3) Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. Definitely a time commitment, and I will never reread it, but I wanted more information after seeing the musical! It was fascinating to see what Lin Manuel Miranda took from the life of Alexander Hamilton to incorporate into the musical.

#4) Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. I love me a good romance and this one ticked all the boxes- funny, sweet, awkward, adorable, sexy, and a delightful happy ending!

>14 readergirliz: I love those books too.

#5) We Have Everything Before Us by Esther Yin-Ling Spodek. I received this as a part of LT Early Reviewers, but it was lukewarm for me.

#6) Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee. Really loved this one. The writing was beautiful and the story was compelling.

#7) A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. Devastating and beautiful.

#80 Mananaland by Pam Munoz Ryan. I just loved this! It was a middle grade, adventure story about a boy who thinks all he wants is a little freedom from his overprotective father and to be goalie in his town's soccer team...and of course he goes through a mental transformation in the process of the story! 4.5 stars.

#9) Limitless Mind by Jo Boaler. I read this for professional development for my job as a teacher. The main message is that oftentimes the limits we perceive are usually in our minds, and once we can push through those obstacles, we are capable of learning anything. A little "rah-rah" for me, but a good message and I'm definitely game to try her suggestions!

#10) Music Heard so Deeply by Betsey King. Dr. King was one of my favorite college professors. She is a wonderful storyteller and writer. This book was a lovely pick-me-up, even though I knew most of the music therapy information in it already. 4.5 stars, as the proofreader needed one more pass through.

Hi Elizabeth, just popping in to see what you have been reading. Are you doing fine and is everything al right?

Hi Connie, thank you so much for checking in! I just finished reading a romance novel, and now I'm about to start in on a book I got through LT Early Reviewers about coping with anxiety! Things are okay; some days feel a lot easier than others. I'm home with my husband and he has been wonderful, but I miss the rest of my family! How are you?

#11) Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey. This was basically a romantic comedy in book form- a rom-com obsessed girl falls in love with an actor in town shooting a movie. Predictable? Yes. Light and fluffy? Yes. Exactly what I needed? Yes.

We are fine over here. My husband and I stay home as much as possible. Just going out for groceries and medical stuff. My husband had a small stroke 2 weeks ago but has recovered completely. But he had to get some things checked of course. We are slowly going out of lock-down in the Netherlands. Restaurants, cafe's, libraries and museums are open again, but with a limited number of people and keeping the 1,5 meter distance.

And we can see our granddaughters again. Not seeing them was what saddened me the most. Fiene (all most 4 years old) can keep the distance if she thinks about it. We are all corona-free so far so she hugged my legs!

#12) The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. I have been in the biggest reading slump that I can remember these past few weeks, so I needed something gentle. This was it. Very sweet, low stakes, lovely characters.