Quaisior's 2021 ROOTs

Hello again. My goal this year is to read (or DNF) at least 50 books from my shelves. Last year, I read just under 50 books, but I read a lot of shorter fiction too, and I deleted over 100 books from my collection. Some of my books have been sitting around unread for many years (10 to 20 years, in some cases) and my tastes have changed in that time, so I'm going through my whole collection and getting rid of books that no longer interest me.

I haven't been reading as much as I used to because I have a chronic illness (Crohn's) and it is flaring now, so I get so fatigued that it's hard to read much. I was on Humira last year and it worked for a few months, then I developed antibodies to it. I just started getting Remicade infusions last week and since they take about 3 hours, that's plenty of time to read. For my first infusion, I read a few chapters, then took a nap (I have to take two Benadryl pills before the infusion, so I get very sleepy).

My list:
1. Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi
2. Stealing Magic by Tanya Huff
3. Superluminal by Vonda N. McIntyre
4. Echo 8 by Sharon Lynn Fisher
5. Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
6. Finding Magic by Tanya Huff
7. The Girl with the Make-Believe Husband by Julia Quinn
8. Tales from Plexis edited by Julie E. Czerneda
9. Ghost Planet by Sharon Lynn Fisher
10. Moon of Three Rings by Andre Norton
11. What Ho, Magic! by Tanya Huff
12. A Passage of Stars by Alis A. Rasmussen (aka Kate Elliott)
13. The Other Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
14. The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee
15. Exiles of the Stars by Andre Norton
16. First Comes Scandal by Julia Quinn
17. Revolution's Shore by Alis A. Rasmussen (aka Kate Elliott)
18. Metallic Love by Tanith Lee
19. Judy Blume's Story by Betsy Lee
20. Thistledown by Susan Dexter
21. The Price of Ransom by Alis A. Rasmussen (aka Kate Elliott)
22. Loving a Lost Lord by Mary Jo Putney
23. Exile by Anne Osterlund
24. The Color of Distance by Amy Thomson
25. Never Less Than a Lady by Mary Jo Putney
26. Maiden, Matron, Crone anthology
27. Through Alien Eyes by Amy Thomson
28. Nowhere Near Respectable by Mary Jo Putney
29. The Cold Between by Elizabeth Bonesteel
30. No Longer a Gentleman by Mary Jo Putney
31. Forms of Heaven by Clive Barker
32. Remnants of Trust by Elizabeth Bonesteel
33. Sometimes a Rogue by Mary Jo Putney
34. Incarnations by Clive Barker
35. Not Quite a Wife by Mary Jo Putney
36. Star Trek Cats by Jenny Parks
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation Cats by Jenny Parks

I also read seven e-books, which I don't count here because I'm trying to get unread books off my physical shelves in this challenge. Plus I read several short stories and I read so many books to my daughter.

I've also gotten rid of 94 books this year and DNFed 40.

Good luck with your efforts ad good health for 2021!

Hi Quaisior, welcome back. I hope your health stays manageable and you get lots of reading time. Happy ROOTing.

Welcome back, I hope that your treatment works for longer, and you're able to enjoy your reading.

Best wishes for your reading and your health.

Wishing you good health and good reading in 2021!

Thank you everyone. It's amazing, I've already started to feel so much better from the new medication and I only been on it for about a month. It complicates my being able to get the Covid vaccine, but at least I will be eligible to get it starting Monday.

I've been reading a bit and also weeding out my collection. I've read six books and I've gotten rid of twelve.

>7 Quaisior: So good to hear your medication is doing it's job!

>8 connie53: Thank you so much! It's been almost 4 weeks since my last infusion and I'm still feeling well most days. I wasn't sure if the increasing gaps between infusions would lead to more flaring, but they haven't seemed to. My next infusion is on Monday and I already have my book picked out for it. :)

I've been able to read every night while my daughter falls asleep, then I end up staying up too late reading after she's asleep. I've also been weeding out my anthologies and have now gotten rid of 25 books this year. I do books swaps on a few different web sites, but I've gotten rid of so many books that my huge container of swap inventory is overflowing. Maybe in the spring, I will take some of the books that have been sitting around for a few years to the Little Free Library nearby (if it doesn't still have a wasp's nest in it; I got stung for the first time in my life last year when I opened the LFL door and disturbed the wasps).

I forgot to mention that in addition to reading, two of my other hobbies are collecting dolls and knitting/crocheting. I still have a lot of yarn that I inherited from my aunt and most of it was limited to 1 or 2 skeins. I've been trying to use those up by knitting and crocheting Barbie doll clothes for my dolls and my daughter's dolls. It's fun, plus it's a quick project, so it's almost instant gratification. There are so many free patterns online, plus I have 3 books of Barbie patterns.

>9 Quaisior: Nice hobbies. I did some knitting and crocheting when I was younger and embroideries. The last thing I loved the most but my sight is getting worse and I can't see the little cross-stitches anymore because I like to use a counting pattern not a pre-printed one on the cloth. (does that sentence make any sense?)

This is my favorite one.



I knitted sweaters for my kids when they were younger and crocheting Barbie clothes too!!!!

>10 connie53: That is beautiful! I've never done cross-stitch, but I have a little learn to cross-stitch kit somewhere in my craft stash. I forgot to mention that I also taught myself to loom knit last year and made a hat for my daughter and myself, plus a few mug cozies. My daughter was so interested in what I was doing that she learned how to lift the stitches off the pegs, but not how to wrap the yarn around the pegs. She got her own loom knitting kit for children for Christmas. I knitted my daughter a few sweaters too when she was a baby. Now, she wants a crocheted mermaid tail blanket, so that's one of my next planned projects. ;)

It was warmer here a few days ago, so I got to take a few books to the Little Free Library. I'll try to go back next week when it's supposed to be very warm to drop off the bigger books I couldn't take last time.

I'm reading my 10th book of the year, which has me right on track to read 50 this year.

>11 Quaisior: I've never heard of loom knitting!! So I searched for it and think it's a great thing to do. I might try it myself.

>12 connie53: That's great! It's really fun and goes pretty quickly. I found some tutorials on Youtube (which is also how I learned how to crochet).

Let's see, what's going on here? I got my first Covid vaccine on the 11th of this month and will get the second next week. My state prioritized people with health conditions, so I was able to get vaccinated earlier than other people in my age group. I won't really be doing too much differently after I get fully vaccinated, but I am looking forward to birthday shopping in-person this summer for my daughter. I've only been under a roof that isn't the one for my own home a few times in the past year, and most of those were doctor's appointments and such.

I've been reading as much as I can, but I still won't finish all of the books I wanted to read this month. :( I'm still making doll clothes too and weeding out various collections. The weather has warmed up a lot here, so I've been going for daily walks again. The Empire State Trail opened here recently and it goes from NY City to the Canadian border and to Buffalo. We went for a walk on Sunday on the part of the trail near us and my daughter rode her balance bike. She recently got a bike with pedals, but she's still uncomfortable and nervous riding it.

>13 Quaisior: Glad to hear you're close to being fully vaccinated and that you're enjoying the spring weather! It was lovely here today, 19 degrees C.

>13 Quaisior: Hurrah for vaccinations. Did you have side effects? Hurrah too for warmer weather.

>14 rabbitprincess: and >15 connie53: Thank you! I was so amazed and relieved the get an appointment so soon. Tomorrow, my husband's age group will be eligible for vaccinations and pharmacies will be able to give anyone the vaccine, not just people over a certain age or with comorbidities. I hope he will be able to get an appointment soon. As for side effects, I just had a sore arm for a few days and a tiny, faint bruise; I actually had a more severe reaction to last year's flu shot than I did to the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine. I've heard the second dose has caused a lot more side effects, so I'm going to make some chicken soup in my crock pot on Thursday, so it will be all ready when I get home from getting my vaccine. My in-laws had chills and were super tired after their second dose. I'm also getting the hepatitis A/B vaccine this year, which is a series of three shots. After the first one, I had a sore arm, but after the second one, I was exhausted. I get the third one in June. Because of my medications, I'm always sort of relieved when I have some side effects from vaccines because then I know my immune system is actually reacting the way it should.

It's so strange how those side effects occur. Some people have no trouble at all and some have extreme reactions. I have to take precautions too for when it's my turn.

>16 Quaisior: Good idea to make soup in advance! Whenever I am able to get the vaccine, I'm probably going to preemptively book the next day off work in case of side effects, particularly after the second shot.

>17 connie53: I know, I follow a few people online who had severe reactions after the first dose. One was fine for her second dose and the other hasn't had hers yet. Best wishes to you when you can get vaccinated.

>18 rabbitprincess: Thanks, the soup turned out to be delicious- and made a bit of room in my freezer. A friend helped with a food pantry and they had leftover 10 pound bags of chicken legs and thighs that she gave away, so I put two in the soup. I felt okay last night, but within about 20 minutes of the injection, my whole right arm hurt. I'm a bit achy today and my stomach feels a little upset, but I've been able to eat. I may have had a slight fever last night too. I was going to suggest the same to my husband about taking the next day off or having his on a Friday, but then a friend got him an appointment for his first vaccination yesterday afternoon, so we both got shots on the same day. His second one is in 27 days.

>19 Quaisior: I hope that are all the side-effects you have. It sounds bearable and I hope you feel better today.

Happy Easter to you and the family.

Thanks everyone. I guess I'm feeling so much better that I'm too busy cleaning out my house (long overdue)... and playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. I'm also still homeschooling and my daughter is learning to read, which is so exciting. She's also super interested in science, so we keep buying science kits for her and we found a local place to go fossil hunting (for free!) and we came home with several pounds of fossils.

My daughter will be getting vaccinated Saturday and she's so happy about it. I've had my 3rd dose and I felt even worse after that one- but still not anywhere near as awful as my poor spouse felt after his 2nd. Oddly enough, I had a weird side effect to the vaccine: I had an earache in my right ear with both the 2nd and 3rd shots.

Anyway, I've been reading as much as I can and I've been weeding out my book collection again lately. I'll update my list above.

>21 Quaisior: I've heard about that earache over here too. My son and daughter-in-law both lost taste and smell for a period of time. That's all related of course.
I'm just curious when I will get my third shot.

Your daughter learning to read must be so cute.

>22 connie53: Oh wow, I guess it kind of feels good to not be alone in the weird Covid vaccine side effects boat. :) I think I might actually be eligible for a 4th dose next month, if it gets approved here. I wonder if I will get another earache.

It is, when it was warm enough to go for walks, she would attempt to read every sign. Now she's reading words on TV, in books, on packaging, etc. I'm glad that me being forced to homeschool her hasn't delayed my daughter learning to read anyway.