JANUARY ROOT - PROGRESS THREAD

LIBRARY OF THE MONTH - Wiblingen Abbey Library
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Our first library for 2021 is in Germany. I decided that since the first printed book using movable type was brought about by Guttenberg, a German, we should start in his native country.

The Wiblingen Abbey library, part of the Wiblingen Monastery, was designed by Christian Wiedemann in the Baroque style. This library is located in the German state of Baden-Württemberg and was completed in 1744. The Wiblingen Abbey library occupies a pavilion. It is a two story library with two levels of windows and a slightly raised roof, which provides extra space for the domed ceiling. The width of library was not proportionate to the height, so the architects made the galleries wider to make the room look balanced. The monastery library with its exquisite Rococo interior features an ornamental, winding gallery supported by multiple columns. This library has a rich palette of golds, pinks and blues. Every surface is covered in decoration. The columns and statues are made out of wood, but they are painted to look like marble. The numerous statues and sweeping ceiling fresco represent the architect’s vision that the library be a place for preserving “treasures of wisdom and science”.

The library holds over 15,000 books, not very large by some standards, but it is considered one of the most beautiful libraries in the world.

Password is ROOTS

The goal for January is still being determined as people join the group.
So far, January's goal is 249

I will be updating the goals as they are added.

Goals so far:

Ameise1 12
beach85 36
benitastrnad 62
bragan 85
brakketh 30
ca_dmv 12
Caramellunacy 20
Carmenere 25
cecilturtle 50
clue 50
Coach_of_Alva 25
connie53 50
crazy4reading 30
curioussquared 50
cyderry 84
detailmuse 40
DisassemblyOfReason 100
enemyanniemae 60
FAMeulstee 24
Familyhistorian 65
floremolla 40
fuzzi 100
HelenBaker 48
Henrik_Madsen 50
h-mb 20
Jackie_K 60
johnxlibris 20
justchris 100
kac522 50
karenmarie 30
Kristelh 50
LadyBookworth 20
leslie.98 80
lilisin 60
lindapanzo 72
LoraShouse 15
Lynsey2 50
madhatter22 50
majkia 65
mandymarie20 25
martencat 30
misscleasia 20
Miss_Moneypenny 80
MissSos 25
MissWatson 75
nebula21 36
Nickelini 26
QuestingA 35
rabbitprincess 60
readingtangent 25
Rebeki 18
ritacate 24
Robertgreaves 96
rocketjk 30
rosalita 48
Sace 21
sallylou61 40
si 25
sibylline 16
susanj67 50
This-n-That 14
torontoc 30
Val_Reads 75
vestafan 60
wandaly 18

Okay, what do you think? too many pictures, too big?

I think the pictures are stunning!

pictures are impressive. Gorgeous!

I gasped aloud! That library is gorgeous!! Excellent choice.

>2 cyderry: Pictures definitely not too big, or too many. That is a luscious looking library! What a great way to start the new year.

I second all the above posts!

I love the pictures, a perfect start of the new year.

Just beautiful! Thank you!

The pictures are gorgeous! I wouldn't mind if you added more. (must visit vicariously through photos)

Great theme for 2021, and photos are perfect!

Lovely pics, Chèli, and thank you for all the hard work you do for us each year.

>1 cyderry: I really enjoyed the pictures and blurb about Wiblingen Abbey library. Nicely done. Cheers to our first official day of 2021 ROOTing.

Wow! Beautiful! I was momentarily jealous, until I thought about trying to clean it 😆

Chéli. Do you want us to update the group-tickers if we feel sure about doing that ourselves? Or do you want to do it yourself as you did in the last months of 2020?

The pictures are perfect Chéli! That library is absolutely gorgeous and I really love the theme this year!

Pictures are wonderful and love this theme (especially with not being able to travel to such lovely locations). Very happy to be back again in 2021.

Welcome and best of luck to all in their 2021 goals (ROOT related or otherwise).

First Root finished for the year, # 1 for January

Draken van een verdwenen maan - Weis & Hickman

Own tickers updates.

Added my first ROOT of 2021 to my personal ticker: Doctor Who: Ghost Stories, a comic featuring the Twelfth Doctor.

I have two ROOTs to report, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art and The Rose Code. Technically, I started these in December and just completed them. My personal ticker has been updated.

First ROOT of the year done. My thread and all tickers updated...

>2 cyderry: Love the pictures. Not too many nor too big :) What a gorgeous library - great choice to start us off, Chèli!

I have finally created my thread and decided on my first read of the year. As I've decided I want to have a strong Japan year my first read will be Kenzaburo Oe's A Quiet Life. I have also increased my goal from 50 to 60, which includes both books and manga as always.

Several members don't appear to have a thread setup or a goal determined. Probably just an oversight with all the excitement of the new year.

Could vestafan, mstrust, Familyhistorian, BookDoc16, DianaNL, RyanCSmith, and genealogy_nana take a look at this please?

Last year was an exceptional reading year for me. In total I read 135 books. 106 of them were ROOTS, the rest were books I picked up at the library and were not previously entered into my LT catalog, or purchased in 2020 so couldn't count them as ROOTS. Since I anticipate that work and life will be returning to a normal work day schedule I have decided to keep my ROOT goal at a modest level. I am upping it to 62 for the 2021 year.

Because I will now be working four days a week in the library I will have less time at home and therefore less reading time. That makes 2020 a reading anomaly. I feel that 62 is a reasonable number for a goal for the coming year. I am sure that 2020 will prove to be an anomaly in my reading life and so think that 62 is a goal I might be able to reach in a normal year. I am certain that most things are going to change in some way due to the weird wacky year 2020 but think that 62 is a goal I can reach, even if I don't exceed it in 2021. It may be modest compared to my numbers for 2020 but it is reasonable. It may turn out to be that thinking that 2021 will be a more normal year is wishful thinking, but I hope for better things in 2021.

I also have 2 ROOTS for 2021 to report. I listened to two books while driving back to Alabama and both of them were ROOTS.

My first recorded book of 2020 was Book 1 in the Queen's Thief series and my first recorded book in 2021 was Book 5 in that same series - Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner. For those of you who like fantasy this is a great series with fully developed characters and tricky intricate plotting.

My second recorded book of 2021 was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling. I have never read the Harry Potter series, so I got Book 1 from the library last year and listened to it while driving back to Kansas for Christmas. I decided to continue that tradition with book 2 and so listened to it while driving through rain, sleet, and snow this Christmas. It is entertaining, but I found the writing, plot, and characterization simplistic. It made me wonder why this series was such a hit? It is not nearly the quality of several other children's fantasy series such as the Wrinkle in Time series, Books of Beginning series, or Septimus Heap, which were all written for children of that age.

My first ROOT of the year is done: Ben Hur by Lewis Wallace.

Ah, it feels good to get started.

>26 Henrik_Madsen: I've been afraid to tackle that one. Good for you.

First ROOT- what can I say-Pride and Prejudice is such a good comfort read for me.

>1 cyderry: :drooling:

Gorgeous.

And thanks for everything you do!

My first 2021 read is a ROOT, yippee!

First read of 2021 completed!


The Confession of Brother Haluin by Ellis Peters

Personal ticker updated.

>26 Henrik_Madsen: that's a good one! I tacked it in my 20s, found it a challenge but satisfying.

What a wonderful choice for January, Chèli! I'm making a note of this for the next time we visit Baden-Württemberg!
I have set up my thread, posted my ticker and entered my first ROOT of the month, one of my favourite Christmas stories: Das fliegende Klassenzimmer.

>30 MissWatson: When you go there be sure to share what you thought of it. Is it truly one one of the most beautiful libraries?

I've finished a ROOT which had been on my shelves since April 2012: Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. I loved it; a beautiful story of contrasts as a young woman seeks out her grandafther's first wife in India. Weaving different story lines, the author accentuates emotions and desires through the extremes of Indian weather. It's short but very poignant.

I've started out the year badly (slaps self on hand). First two books I've read were both library books. But am now reading two ROOTs so things will look up for me!

I plan on reading the entire Sue Grafton alphabet series.
A is for Alibi is my first root of the year.

PS. I love the topper, soooo dreamy!

>32 Cecilturtle: I read that book in highschool and really enjoyed it even though I'm sure I missed some of the finer points. Maybe it's time for a re-read soon?

>35 Henrik_Madsen: Definitely! It's short but juicy, and with a adult perspective, I could see similarities between the main characters which I definitely would not have caught as a teenager.

I've just added my first ROOT of the year to my ticker. It was a very good one to start the year with - Chernobyl Prayer by Svetlana Alexievich.

>37 Jackie_K: Alexievich is great! I already read her book about women in WWII and this one is also on my wish-list. For good reasons I see.

Second ROOT of the year done - my thread and all tickers updated.

BTW, I have discovered that if, after you save your update on the ticker website, you click on "Next" on the upper right of the page and then click on "New ticker", you no longer have that problem with it changing the ruler & slider of the next ticker you use. (You don't have to start a new ticker for this to work.)

>39 leslie.98: Good to know, thanks Leslie!

>23 cyderry: question - I was not planning on setting up a personal thread since I really never manage to keep up with one. I have set a goal and posted a ticker to the 2021 thread. Is that sufficient?

>41 Sace: As long as there is some way for me to get your progress, no need for a separate thread.

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm late to join the group and I probably won't set up my thread for a bit - too much going on in RL but I'll get to it soon. Soonish.

>39 leslie.98: Ah! Thanks for letting us know.

I've just added my 2nd ROOT of the month to my ticker. I'm leaving the group one alone for the time being!

I just added my first root to my personal ticker. The Guilt of Innocents by Candace Robb.

I just added my second ROOT for the year, a short graphic novel by Henry Sørensen. It's inspired by T.S. Eliot (The Wasteland) and it is every bit as confusing, dark, and bleak as you might exptect. On to something else.

I'm finishing Nuit sombre et sacrée by Michael Connelly. It was a gift from my Dad at the beginning of the 2020 Christmas season, so it's not so dusty but still an enjoyable read!

I am new to the group and just finished my first Root. Am I supposed to post that here? Not clear if I am supposed to update the ticker above?

>48 Lynsey2: Hi Lynsey. You can put it here and just update your own Ticker. Chèli asked us to keep away from the group-tickers for the time being, since Tickerfactory changed their website and it was not clear how things functioned in the beginning.
I guess we are waiting for Chèli (cyderri) to decide that we can update ourselves again. And if that's the case you must update both tickers on top!

>48 Lynsey2:, >49 connie53:

Not to give you seemingly contradictory information, but, the only true requirement of this group is that you have to be a member and you have to update your own ticker that you should have posted in the TICKER THREAD.

Everything else is optional and just depends on how active you want to be in the group.

So additional options:
Create your own thread - members love to lurk on others threads to see what they're reading
Post your reads on this thread - update us with your progress!
Post on other people's threads - join a discussion with other members

You CAN, if you want, update the group ticker, again, if you'd like, but that gets updated at the end of the month anyway by Cheli so it really doesn't matter if you update your data. The only benefit of people updating the group ticker throughout the month is to see progress throughout the month instead of having to wait till the end of the month. If you do choose to update the group tickers, however, it is asked that you update BOTH so that the ticker data matches.

Does that make sense?

>50 lilisin: Yes it does to me. Thanks for the additions and the clear way you explained them.

I finished my third ROOT of the month today. I read Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman. I have been wanting to read this book for a long time and entered it into my LT account back in 2013, so I am finally ticking it off my list.

The book was somewhat of a disappointment. It was a DaVinci Code style thriller. I loved the idea that it was set in Prague and other historic sites in the Czech Republic and some of the historical aspects were interesting to see worked into a plot, but I had trouble connecting with the characters. Not a one of the characters grabbed me. I also found the plot predictable. I think that is because I have read many of this type of thriller in the past so brought too much experience with the genre into the reading. If I were a YA reader I would probably think differently about this book, and I will be recommending it to readers who are looking for a mystery/thriller. Especially if they are YA readers as it would just right for them.

I finally posted a ticker and a thread to the group, Cheli. Sorry for the delay. I didn't realize how busy I was until January hit and everything started up again!

ETA Great pictures of the library up top!

I finished another ROOT. This is actually a new book, but I started reading it back in November and didn't finish it until today so it now counts as a ROOT. Playlist: The Rebels and Revolutionaries of Sound by James Rhodes.

This is a children's book about Rhodes pick of the best classical music out there. He uses accessible language and the style of his writing is ultra withit modern. The illustrations in this book are outstanding. The illustrator has chosen a collage approach. Each page is a patchwork of different pictures and font styles that make a cohesive hodgepodge. The colors used are amazing and very bright and bold and this combined with the mixture of font sizes and styles makes it visually appealing. The text is also appealing and could easily be read aloud. Each composer comes with a playlist of the music the author discusses in the text and the playlist is free on the website given in the book. This would be a great book to use in a classroom. Kids would totally love it.

Added my second ROOT of January to my personal ticker: The Story of a Hare, by J. C. Tregarthen, which I downloaded as a public-domain ebook.

Another ROOT finished - my thread and all tickers have been updated.

Just completed the new audio version of The Hobbit, for a total of 3 ROOTs read so far in January. Personal ticker updated.

Finished 2 more ROOTS today and purged 8 more!

My first read of the year (Kenzaburo Oe's A Quiet Life) is a major slog so I've abandoned it. I might read 10 pages each day over the next 12 days so that I can finish it because I can't for the life of me understand right now why every single review of this book, whether here or on Amazon is so damn positive. I can't grasp the point of this book and it puts me to asleep every time I try! One positive though is getting this off my TBR as it's an older ROOT from 2014.

I have switched over to the much more readable and interesting nonfiction In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park about her escape from North Korea.

But damn that first book making me lose two weeks of reading to it. (And only to make it to page 120 after all that slogging!)

>50 lilisin: Thank you to both Connie and Lilisin for addressing my question!
I plan to leave the group tickers alone and just update my own ticker/thread. i also hope to find more time to be a little more active in the group.

>60 Lynsey2: Just take your time. We don't go anywhere.

I'm reading Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes which I've had since 2007. I probably would have enjoyed it more then than now. The pandemic has really shifted the way I see - I realize see things as pre and post 2020 now. It will be interesting to see what kind of new literature emerges.

I completed my first root for the year, last week, Summertime by J.M. Coetzee. However, I have been distracted by 3 library books. It is now time to refocus on my root goals for the rest of the month.

That is indeed a stunning library. However I find that the art and architecture overwhelm the books somewhat.

Added my third ROOT of January to my personal ticker: Henry VI, Part 1, by William Shakespeare.

Reporting ROOT # 2 for the year, # 2 for January

Updated my own tickers.

I've just added ROOT #3 to my ticker.

Four ROOTs so far this month.

>67 MissWatson: I've just caught you up - just added #4 for the month/year to my ticker too.

2 down - 48 to go!

I've added #5 to my ticker - 2 ROOTs today is not as impressive as it looks, as I've been reading this book since April last year!

I clear another ROOT off my shelves today. I finished listening to Night Country a YA fantasy novel by Melissa Albert. This one is number five for the year.

God's Spies edited by Alberto Manguel - a look at fighting for justice, freedom and vengeance... all around the world.

2nd root for the year, The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani. A very pleasing start to my Alphabet Challenge, back to the shelves for letter 'B'.

Clocking in at 7 ROOTs finished this month! I'm guessing these will be the last of my January ROOTs as I have a huge stack of library books to get through.

Hi, Chéli! I saw in this topic (https://www.librarything.com/topic/328876) in the New Features group that group admins can now pin threads so they always appear at the top of the group age. I wonder if you would consider pinning the ticker thread and the current month's progress thread? It's sometimes hard to find the ticker thread if individual threads have been lively as it falls pretty far down the page.

Just a thought — as the admin you should do what you think is best. You do a great job and I trust your judgment!

ROOT #3 is completed-The Midnight Library. I hope to finish one more ROOT by the end of January.

>75 rosalita: If you sort by topics, the Ticker thread will be at the top. I don't tweet.

Thursday, January 21st is National Hugging Day. But that's a no-no right now. I'm sending mine virtually to all my friends.

>78 cyderry: Ahhh, that is sweet! Thanks Chèli! Right back at you :)

Really sweet, Chèli. I return the hug to everyone here.

>77 cyderry: Sorry, I meant pinned threads, not tweets. But as I said, not a big deal.

Updated my personal ticker with my 4th ROOT for January: Life, the Universe and Everything, by Douglas Adams.

>82 rabbitprincess: Fun book!

I have added another ROOT - Henry VI, Part 1. My thread and all tickers have been updated.

That is the most over the top library ever!

Reporting first ROOT of the year

Reporting another ROOT, which is #4 for the month of January. I read The Other Bennet Sister which was a decent fanfiction novel related to P&P. Personal ticker updated.

I have just reported my fifth ROOT for the year. So far 2021 is looking like a good reading year!

A couple more ROOTs completed - I am finally getting back to a more normal amount of reading :-)

My thread and all tickers have been updated.

Root #2 completed- review is on my thread

I finished another ROOT today. This time it was Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman. This book is totally worth reading if you want to know how we got to now in U. S. Politics.

Just finished ROOT #4 The Other Side of the Door aka Complicit. Good mystery one which made me feel very uneasy which is not a feeling a get from the usual mystery.

I just completed ROOT #3. For ROOT #4 I am finally getting to The Sunne in Splendour in honor of Sharon Kay Penman. RIP
This could take awhile. See you in February.

>91 Lynsey2: Don't you mean Sharon Kay Penman?

>91 Lynsey2: that was my first Penman. It made a big impression on me.

I finished another ROOT this morning. This one was Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. Good book, but somehow not as engaging as was Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I finally got this one read because it was our February selection for my real life book discussion group.

Root #3- review is on my thread

>92 cyderry: Arrrggh! Of course I do! Going back to correct my error now.

>93 fuzzi: I am enjoying it a lot so far! Hard to put down.

>96 Lynsey2: so sad, she wrote some great books!

My #3 root completed and trying for one more before month's end.

>97 Lynsey2: her books don't read like chunksters.

I've finished Thirteen at Dinner by Agatha Christie - it had been abandoned in my library by my daughter - and The Girl Who Made Them Pay, a faced-paced YA novel on human trafficking. This last one was written by a friend of mine and I had bought two of her novels last year: I wasn't disappointed!

A couple more ROOTs completed. My thread and all tickers updated. I am still not reading at the rate I was a year ago but am beginning to get some focus back...

>100 fuzzi: It certainly doesn't. I usually can't read anything except a mystery or thriller at night because I fall asleep but I couldn't put it down last night.

Reporting ROOT # 3 for the year, # 3 for January

Updated my own tickers.

>105 cyderry: Yes. Exactly.

>105 cyderry: Love that chair! It looks so cozy.

Added my 5th ROOT of January to my personal ticker: The Gambler, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated by J. C. Hogarth. I read the public-domain ebook off Project Gutenberg.

>105 cyderry: LOL! love it :)

I finished another ROOT - my thread and all tickers have been updated. And I notice that with this book, we have reached January's goal of 213! So well done everyone!

>110 leslie.98: Sorry to disappoint you but in January as people join, the goal shifts. We have a new goal of 249.

I've finished my seventh and final ROOT for January — while I didn't meet all of my monthly reading plans, I'm very happy that all of the books I finished this month came off my shelves! A good way to start 2021, for sure.

>111 cyderry: Ah well - I thought it was too good to be true!

Added #2 for January. Personal ticker updated!

>25 benitastrnad: Maybe that's exactly the reason they are so popular. A lot of kids probably don't want to get into a complicated plot or characters. I do think that there's a lot of subtle humor in that book though. And as the series progresses, I believe it gets deeper.

>2 cyderry: Wow. Just wow.

Beautiful library. But yes, it looks like the books kind of get lost in all the artwork!

I've just added ROOT #6 to my ticker. It was Roger Deakin's Waterlog - I enjoyed it a lot, it'd be a good gift for the wild swimmer in your life!

Hey, I just noticed I'm not included in the list above. What do I need to do for that? I added my ticker to the ticker page. Do I also need to link to it here? Thanks!

Sad to report not much progress for me yet, but it's January so I'm full of optimism.

To stay on goal for ROOTs, I'll need to read 6 each month. In January, nearly every library book I reserved came in all at once so I read only 5 ROOTs in January. Not too worried and I know I can catch up.

I have read 2 ROOTs in January, so I am right on track.

>118 justchris:

If you’ve added your ticker to the ticker thread you don’t need to do anything else. Cheli will add your name to the list during the next tally and round-up of results. Welcome to the group!

>118 justchris: Sorry, Chris, I hadn't updated the OP in awhile. Busy reading ROOTs!

OP should have everyone, if not please let me know!

Finished #2 and already halfway through #3! For me, this is huge progress. =) Unfortunately, I did cave already and buy another book. I couldn't resist picking up a copy of Why We Sleep.

>121 lilisin: and >122 cyderry: Thanks!

I have not yet really dived into ROOTs--been very focused on books for book clubs. Technically, they are ROOTs, just not those that have been sitting stacked in my bedroom.

I managed to finish another root this morning, Leave Before You Go by Emily Perkins which takes me to 4/48.

Four ROOTs for January: Sugar Money by Jane Harris; The Dutch House by Ann Patchett; Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell; and Motherwell: A Girlhood by Deborah Orr. That's 4/40 for 2021.

All tickers updated.

I am halfway through my fourth root but unfortunately not going to get it completed until February. I did choose a rather lofty goal of 50 Roots for the year so I hope to not only catch up but get ahead in February.

Added my 6th ROOT of January to my personal ticker: Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, by Christopher Brookmyre.

Add #3 for me, Doorways in the Sand. I usually enjoy Zelazny, this one just didn't get my attention.

Personal ticker updated.

I've sneaked in one more, making that #7 for January. Added to my ticker.

I had 8 ROOT's I'm January. No ticker. No updates on ticker, but I made my contribution to the January goal. It was a slow start for me but I managed to make a good contribution in the end. The road trip back to Kansas helped my January stats. YEAH!

so four ROOTs read this month!
No ticker but my review is on my thread. ( I will have to learn how to make a ticker this year!)

I had the following ROOT's in January

Sound Recorded ROOT's
1. Thick As Thieves by Megan Whallen Turner
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling - yes it is the first time I have read it.
3. Night Country by Melissa Albert

Books read
1. Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman
2. Playlist: The Rebels and Revolutionaries of Sound by James Rhodes
3. Scorpions: The Battles and Triumphs of FDR's Great Supreme Court Justices by Noah Feldman
4. Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

Novella
1. Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

I read 3 ROOTs in January. If I keeping reading ROOTs at that rate I won't make my goal of 65 or get enough of my books culled before I have to move them. I paused most of my library holds so next month should be better as far as ROOTs go.

My final tally for January is 7 ROOTs, my ticker is up-to-date. How are we doing?

8 for January- updating personal ticker.

I read 5 ROOTs in January, including a cozy mystery, The Cat Who Saw Red, for the January sub-challenge that Cheli offered in the sign-up thread: "A book with a color in the title."

I read Wedding Bear Blues and Lavender Blue Murder for the sub-challenge as well as 14 other ROOTS. Putting them together with the 29 ROOTs that I purged - my count for January is 45!

I've never gotten to a ★★★★★ position before. Hope I can keep it up!

>138 cyderry: WOW!!! That is amazing!!!

February thread is up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/329394

I only managed one read ROOT for January. I did abandon two books and I have to consider whether I want for myself to consider them as ROOTs. I typically don't mention books I've abandoned because I always keep the illusion that I might pick them up again later in life but that has never once happened so I think I have to accept this realization now.

>141 lilisin: once my abandoned books go out the door they're ROOTs, for me. I mean, they're off the shelves, right?

>141 lilisin: If they go out the door I would count them as ROOTs if they just go back on the shelves they remain a possible ROOT in the future. That how I count them.

Just popping in here to say that I got my final Off the Shelfer of January added onto my thread here this morning. I read 5 books off my shelves in January, so I've got a pretty good start on my 30-book goal for the year. Cheers!