shinyone ROOTS on in 2014

My goal for 2013 was 35 ROOTs, and I managed 45. In doing so, I cleaned up the TBR pile to a level previously unheard of. After adding new acquisitions from this year, I have only about 50 books in my "To Read" collection.

My goal for 2014, therefore, is to cut the current list in half by reading 25 ROOTs. This should leave me lots of time to read library books and to do some re-reading that I've been meaning to get around to.

Let the games begin!

Great work! Welcome back and good luck with this year's challenge! :)

Thanks, rabbitprincess! Good luck to you as well!

I'm sure I'll find a few more books squirreled around the house that I forgot to catalog. As long as I know they arrived before 2014 they will be fair game.

Good to see you again, Shinyone.

Glad you're back, Laura!

Amazing! Only 50 TBRs. I'm in awe. I am SO eager to whittle my pile down to a reasonable size.

Hello shiny and good luck with your challenge this year. The ROOTs are going to rock!~!

Two down already, both books that my hubby got me for Christmas. (Have to show appreciation by reading them right away, you know!)

1. In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood

As a huge fan of both Margaret Atwood and "SF" (science fiction or speculative fiction, depending on your preference), I really enjoyed this book.

2. Illegal Alien by Robert J. Sawyer

A quick, fun read -- not one of his more thought-provoking but very entertaining.

I am also tracking my ROOTs and non-ROOTs on the 50 book challenge, where I hope to have a few more semi-coherent thoughts on my reading throughout the year. If you care to stop by, you can find me at http://www.librarything.com/topic/163325

Well, there's two books that won't wait and wait on the shelf to be read! Congratulations to you on finishing two!

I finished a third book, but it wasn't a ROOT. Really, though, a book that's been sitting on my shelf since I originally read it in 1994 should almost count!

I also wrote (gasp!) an actual review of In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, which is on my 50 book challenge thread along with my thoughts on The Handmaid's Tale, my non-ROOT.

3. She by H. Rider Haggard

Very very dated but kind of fun. This was one of the early science fiction novels discussed by Atwood in In Other Worlds, which is what prompted me to download it to my Kindle before the end of the year.

"I finished a third book, but it wasn't a ROOT. Really, though, a book that's been sitting on my shelf since I originally read it in 1994 should almost count!"

Why would that book not count as a ROOT? I would count a reread off my shelf as one. After all you are reading your own tome.............

I'm not counting rereads for this challenge. Maybe next year I will, though. I have a lot of books on my shelf I would like to revisit and that would give me incentive. I intentionally made my ROOT goal smaller this year so rereads wouldn't make me feel guilty.

I wish I had another ROOT to add, but I have been distracted by library books. Next up will be another ROOT as soon as I can decide which one.

4. Ubik by Philip K. Dick

It's always delightful to let Philip K. Dick mess with my mind.

Wow # 4!! You are doing a good job, Laura!!

I guess I didn't manage to update my ticker after #4...so I got to add one after all! I went a little crazy at the library this month, so no ROOTs so far. Oh, well, the month's not over yet!

February has come and gone, and between my library books and life interfering, I didn't finish a single ROOT. March will be better!

Yes, sure it will be!

You just keep on reading, Laura!! Eventually a ROOT capture your interest.

Finished a ROOT that I started a couple of weeks ago...

5. VALIS by Philip K. Dick

Really, really weird. Even for a Philip K. Dick book.

Finished a big fat ROOT!

6. The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd

Well done!

Congrats! I am about a third into that one myself.

Nice work! That is a big one, especially in mass market paperback format.

I kind of wished I was reading that one on my Kindle instead of the huge fat paperback!

Good for you, Laura!!

7. Manifold Space by Stephen Baxter

8. The Game by A.S. Byatt

9. Understories by Tim Horvath

Excellent short story collection!

Moving right along! Congratulations. :)

10. A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell

Nothing much happens, entertainingly.

Sounds like a description for Fontane (whose books I enjoy). I really need to have a look at Powell.

>31 shinyone: Yes! a perfect description of Powell :)))

Unfortunately I don't have any of the other TWELVE books in the Powell series, so I won't be continuing the story any time soon. I got A Question of Upbringing as a free kindle book.

I haven't read any more ROOTs in April so far, but the month isn't over. I was going to read Absolution Gap but I realized that it was the 3rd book in a trilogy, not the second, and I didn't have the second book. Of course, I had to remedy that by buying the second book, Redemption Ark, and reading it first...and then the last couple of weeks have been a little crazy and I needed an easy comfort read so I reread Persuasion.

11. Absolution Gap by Alistair Reynold

After a slight detour through Redemption Ark and a stop-over at Mission at Nuremberg (which was loaned to me so I felt I needed to read it right away) I am back on the ROOT track. I really need to knock a few more off the list before the Hugo voter packet comes out and derails me again!

12. Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone

13. The Divine Invasion by Philip K. Dick

14. Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia E. Butler

We're getting toward the end of June, and nary a ROOT have I rooted. *sigh* Instead, I have re-read an old favorite and read 2 library books and a book I just bought.

At the moment I am working on another library book, a very long ROOT, and a book I acquired this year, which under my current rules does not count. It's time to change the rules! For the rest of the year, books acquired in the first half of 2014 count as ROOTs. That means the books in my Hugo voter's packet count! That's handy, because I'm reading one now!

Currently reading:

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson (library book)
Hard Magic by Larry Correia (ROOT under the new rules)
Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas (ROOT)

Let's see if I can finish anything by the end of the month.

As someone so memorably said: They're not rules, they're just guidelines. The main thing is to enjoy the reading. Good luck with your ROOTing!

I finished a ROOT! Yay!!

15. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

You did it!

Yes, good job!

ROOTing in the Hugo voter packet:

16. Hard Magic by Larry Correia

17. The Chaplain's Legacy by Brad Torgersen

18. Wakulla Springs by Andy Duncan

19. Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope

I worked on this one all month and managed to finish it on July 31!

Well done, that is a hefty tome!

MissWatson, I really liked it, but I kept getting sidetracked by other things. I want to read more of his books!

So do I. Next year, when it's his bicentenary.

Just stopping by and waving Hi.

>48 MissWatson: ooo, is it? What a good excuse to re-read the Palliser series.

>50 ipsoivan: Yes, he was born on 24th April 1815. I am looking forward to reading more about the Pallisers.

I upROOTed another big one:

20. Reamde by Neal Stephenson

>52 shinyone: That is a big one! How was it? It's been sitting on my TBR shelves for far too long, too.

bragan, I didn't think it was Stephenson's best, but I did enjoy it. I gave it 4 stars.

21. Edith Wharton: Matters of Mind and Spirit by Carol J. Singley

First ROOT of September. read in its entirety on September 1:

22. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier

Doing great, Shinyone!

23. Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper

24. The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson

I gave it 100 pages, but I just couldn't get into this.

25. 11/22/63 by Stephen King

Mission accomplished!! 25 out of 25 ROOTs!!

Congratulations! And so early in the year!

Woo hoo! Congratulations!

Congratulations on reaching your goal!

Thanks! I am glad to be done because the next couple of months are going to be kind of crazy. Also, a friend just loaned me the entire Dark Tower series by Stephen King, and now I can read them guilt-free!

Congrats on reaching your goal!

Congrats!