ROOT - 2013 - lizamichelle1

50 Books to ROOT

My plan this year is to only read books that are in my home as of January 1, 2013. But to read mostly stuff that has been around for years.




I will start my list of potentials here:

JANUARY
1. Ten Typewriter Tales - Mobashar Qureshi (12/31/12 - 1/1/13)
2. One for The Money - Janet Evanovich (1/8/12 - 1/14/13)
3. Fork It Over - Alan Richman (1/3/12 - 1/18/13)
4. Two For The Dough - Janet Evanovich (1/15/13 - 2/2/13)

FEBRUARY
5. To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee (2/2/13 - 2/19/13)
6. The Glass Castle: A Memoir - Jeannette Walls - (2/11/13 - 2/26/13)
7. The Memory Keepers Daughter - Kim Edwards - (2/19/13 - 2/28/13)
8. Life Expectancy - Dean Koontz (2/17/13 - 3/15/13)

MARCH
9. Foul Play - Janet Evanovich - Audio (3/4/13 - 3/8/13)
10. Before I Breathe - Janelle Jack Pierre (3/12/13 - 3/14/13)
11. Three to Get Deadly - Janet Evanovich (3/15/13 - 3/25/13)
12. The Vow - Denene Millner (3/25/13 - 4/15/13)
13. The Undiscovered Novelist - Sarah Bridgeton (03/25/13 - 4/4/13)
14. Hero At Large - Janet Evanovich (Audio) (3/25/13 - 4/2/13)

APRIL
15. Lethargica - Edward H. Carpenter (4/3/13 - 4/4/13)
16. Roxy - Jenelle Jack Pierre (4/8/13 - 4/8/13)
17. Desperate Thoughts: The Gift - Ian Dalton (4/9/13 - 4/11/13)
18. Haunted - Willow Cross (4/15/13 - 4/16/13)
19. Just One Sip - Katie MacAlister (4/15/13 - 4/19/13)
20. Night Stalks the Mansion: A True Story of One Family's Ghostly Adventure - Constance Westbie (4/16/13 - 4/20/13)
21. The Loom - Shella Gillus (4/22/13 - 4/29/13)

MAY
22. Running With Scissors - Augusten Burroughs (5/1/13 - 5/16/13)
23. Krik Krak - Edwidge Danticat (5/1/13 - 5/5/13)
24. Four to Score - Janet Evanovich (5/6/13 - 5/13/13)
25. High Five - Janet Evanovich (5/16/13 - 5/23/13)
26. No Good Deeds - Audio - Laura Lippman (5/17/13 - 6/9/13)
27. Celia, A Slave - Melton A. McLaurin (5/23/13 - 5/29/13)

JUNE
28. Disintegration - Scott Nicholson (6/5/13 - 6/19/13)
29. Hot Six - Janet Evanovich (6/12/13 - 6/14/13)
30. Seven Up - Janet Evanovich (6/17/13 - 6/24/13)
31. Crime Beat - Scott Nicholson (6/20/13)
32. The Skull Ring - Scott Nicholson (6/21/13 - 7/8/13)

JULY
33. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini (7/20/13 - 7/31/13)

AUGUST
34. Swimming Upstream, Slowly - Melissa Clark (8/1/13 - 8/7/13)
35. The Mis-Education of the Negro - Carter G. Woodson (8/1/13 - 10/6/13)
36. The Bachman Books - Stephen King (8/8/13 - 9/29/13)

SEPTEMBER
37. Hard Eight - Janet Evanovich (9/9/13 - 9/17/13)

OCTOBER
38. Visions of Sugar Plums - Janet Evanovich (10/1/13 - 10/3/13)
39. To The Nines - Janet Evanovich (10/4/13 - 10/8/13)
40. Ten Big Ones - Janet Evanovich (10/12/13 - 10/29/13)
41. Pirate's Price - Aubrey Ross (10/19/13)

NOVEMBER
42. Last Chance Saloon - Miriam Keyes (11/1/13 - 11/13/13)
43. Eleven on Top - Janet Evanovich (11/1/13 - 11/15/13)

DECEMBER
44. Midwives - Chris Bohjalian (11/22/13 - 12/1/13)
45. The Undomestic Goddess - Sophie Kinsella (12/9/13)
46. Plum Lovin’ – Janet Evanovich (12/9/13)
47. Twelve Sharp - Janet Evanovich (12/6/13 - 12/13/13)
48. Bared to You - Sylvia Day (12/12/13 - 12/18/13)
49. Lean Mean Thirteen - Janet Evanovich (12/27/13 -
50. Enter Whining - Fran Drescher

1. Ten Typewriter Tales - Mobashar Qureshi (12/31/12 - 1/1/13)

All of these short stories were awesome! I couldn't put this down. My favorite was the one about the AA meeting; it's not what you think. Next would be about the abusive boyfriend; that has an interesting twist...I may have to read that one again.

Good luck, Liza

Thanks, Connie. I am reading 3 books right now, only one is on my list above tho.

One for The Money - Janet Evanovich (1/8/12 - 1/14/13)

Classic. I am so glad I started back from the beginning.

I've read this one last year and I really love it. I'll read more of this serie this year.

Fork It Over - Alan Richman (1/3/12 - 1/18/13)

After reading this book, I realize that I am more interested in ACTUALLY eating food than reading about someone else's eating adventures. About 1/2 way through I found myself skimming through the book, reading the chapters that featured his parents thoroughly. His mom is hilarious.

I am so moving slowly right now. I can't even bring myself to pick up a book. I just stare at the covers. I think I am temporarily burnt out.

Or the books I want to read right now are "heavy" reads for me. Either historical, biographical, classics lol.

That is not a good thing, Liza! I hope you will be doing and feeling better soon. Just hang in there!!

I think once I get through the two I am working on, I will move faster.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Very good book. I can see how it would be deemed a classic. Just a few pivotal years in the life of a young girl, during a time where African Americans were not given a fair shake. Shows a town divided on right and wrong based on skin color and status.

Number 5! You did it!

LOL, I didn't think I would. It took so long. Four in January and only 1 so far in February. But these are only books that I own (ROOT) that have been gathering dust. I am still reading giveaways that I am backlogged on, audio books for when I can read the words, and ebooks when a physical book is not convenient.

Busy.

The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls

Oh boy, the life of this woman and siblings was rough!!! With a life like that, you have to pull yourself up from your bootstraps and get 'er done. A life of hard knocks done on purpose by her parents. They hated authority, conformity; they hated help.

Though she had a hard life, it made her and her siblings stronger. It gave them purpose in their lives and they took nothing for granted. They didn't pray for help, they helped themselves. They helped each other.

Very engaging memoir.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

It was a sad story with a happy ending. A woman is giving birth to a set of twins, one each. She never gets to see the daughter because the husband told her the girl died. In actuality, the infant was given away to the nurse to raise.

Many years later, after the father has died, the son meets his sister. Happily ever after.

Wow, that's a story!

>16 connie53:
Connie, it just didn't hold my attention. I found myself drifting and having character confusion.

Liza, that's not so good. But you finished it anyway (so I read in your first post). That's good work. And i will not put this book on my TBR pile.

Before i Breathe - Jenelle Jack Pierre

The book was engaging. I felt the teenagers in the book were typical had typical teen issues. Kalena fell for one of the popular guys in school and felt special when with him. Her desire to please him was stronger than the desire to please herself. She seemed a little reluctant to give it up for about 5 seconds, and then she couldn’t help herself. In a relationship for just a few weeks and already pregnant and moving into his family home; that was a bit much.

She let the outside influence her life too much. She let her “boyfriend” dictate her life without him even trying. She needed tough love and a wake up call. She wasn’t a bad kid, just made bad choices.

It is a quick read for a young adult without too much emotion. Gives them the overview of a year in the life of a teenage girl make one bad decision that cause a ripple effect of other bad things.

Lethargica - Edward Carpenter

When I started reading this book, I had no idea that encephalitis lethargica was a real condition. I thought this story was just 100% fiction. This disease claimed many lives during WWI but was over shadowed by war death and the Spanish flu.

This disease sounds like the paralysis a person in surgery could wake up in: the brain is awake, the senses are awake but the body can not move. Scary.

But this short story is about a volunteer soldier and the woman he loves that he left behind. By the time he is released from service, he finds his love in the hospital with this disease. He loves her, she loves him and can feel his touches and hear his voice, but cant respond. She eventually passes.

That is really sad!

The Undiscovered Novelist - Sarah Bridgeton (03/25/13 - 4/4/13)

A nice short story of two strong willed and strong minded women, who spend 2 years of their lives waiting for the other to apologize for a disagreement they had over one moving away. The Undiscovered Novelist is more of a back story. The novel is what ultimately brings them back together.

It is a nice story of a mother and daughter finding their way back to each other. Any you can actually purchase the novelists novel referenced in the story, which is a good idea!

Desperate Thoughts: The Gift - Ian Dalton

Adult content, very adult content. Book is for those who would rather read about sexual relations than watch movies lol. Victoria loves to gobble 'em up and makes no qualms about it. She goes in search of giving the gift that her dead husband received as a young man that made him the man he was (before he died).

She goes on a hunt for fresh freshman at the college campus her husband used to work for and gives them an ego boost. But she only goes for the nerdy and inexperienced looking guys. Until one of them catches onto the game and lies his way in. And into her sexual heart.

The Vow - Denene Millner

The story follows a year in the lives of best friends Trista, Vivian, Elise, Amaya (I think there may be one more) after Elise marries the man of her dreams. The other girls make a Vow to be married by the next new year. Trista is stuck between a old college sweet heart, Damon and the bourgeois Garrett. Vivian is stuck with her love and desire complete her family of three by marrying her child's father, Sean and trying to make him jealous with another man. Amaya is divided between her love of a married man, Keith and her new fling, b-ball player Troy. The story ends as it should.

So many characters with some many men problems. Too much for me. This book was LONG. I would compare it to Waiting to Exhale. If you liked Waiting, you will most likely enjoy The Vow.

Haunted - Willow Cross

Awesome paranormal activity. Stuff that I could see happening. I wouldn't want them to happen to me though. After watching so many movies about this type of thing, you are compelled to believe that the spirits are following her as opposed to every place she lives being haunted. Does she just have bad luck with homes?

Creepy good. Gotta read the sequel.

Just One Sip - Katie MacAlister

I think that these stories were written to be shorter than they are.

I only enjoyed the first story, Viva Las Vampires. It was the story of a vampire on the verge of "dying" and needed to find himself a blood slave to stay a warm blooded, living vampire. Nice love story, sexy even.

The other two...not so much. All three stories center around vampires but I kept forgetting that the Dark One was a vampire (Bring Out Your Dead). It spent a lot of time talking about zombies (reverants), I thought the Dark One was more of a devil.

The last one (Lucy & the Crypt Casanova) I didn't get further than the first chapter. It talked of too many mythical beings at one time: ogres, trolls, werebears (?). A bit too much for me to take in and believe.

I give the book three stars because I liked the first story and would be tempted to read it again.

Night Stalks the Mansion: A True Story of One Family's Ghostly Adventure - Constance Westbie

Creepy good. This family were forced to stay in this haunted mansion (because they signed an lease with no escape clause). It was haunted by at least 2 individuals, one woman and one man. They heard footsteps on the stairs and landings at night, they heard footsteps on the path to the home that would stop/end at the front door. After getting used to at least the female presence, they struck a deal with the spirits and things seemed to get easier for them.

But they couldn't seem to keep the help. Everyone they hired to help with the home eventually left because of the "goings-on". Family seemed to only make one trip to the house in the 2 years the family occupied it. Towards the end, they found someone who knew the history of the home and was willing to work for them but refused to stay in the house by nightfall.

He eventually told the story of what happened at the mansion, just before the family moved out.

Excellent.

The Loom - Sheila Gillus

This was a story of slave (Lydia) who skin was so light, she could pass for white. She was so pale she could have passed as her mistresses sister. Which she did, against her will, since she was a slave. She was ashamed of her light skin and her green eyes. Angry that she didn't look like her family, at least the only family that would accept her.

She fell in love with a fellow slave, fell in love with his ability to purchase their freedom. When it seemed as it would not happen, she ran. Ended up running into the arms of the man her mistress once wanted to marry. He remembered her from her days of travel with her mistress, he liked her. They were to marry, but all hell broke loose.

In the end Lydia got her freedom, the freedom she always had but didn't know.

Krik, Krak - Edwidge Danticat

A story of stories told by several generations/members of the women of a Haitian Family. Every story is of hardship, religion and perseverance. The last story had the best ending. Sadly, these stories are true for many as the country has experienced more hardships than necessary since they won their independence.

Disintegration -

This book was awesome...and confusing. Two children dead, one by fire one by natural causes within a year of each other. Grieving parents trying to rebuild their life together after such tragedy then in comes the Evil Twin Brother trying to steal back the inheritance he believed should have been his alone.

The twists in this story are crazy. I kept second guessing myself.

This last book sounds interesting!

August was a nightmare. Bad month for me. No reading almost the whole month. So behind.

The Bachman Books - Stephen King

Rage: I enjoyed this one. A troubled teenager kills a few teachers and takes one of his classes hostage. Makes them tell true stories of their lives, exposing secrets. I cant remember exactly how it ends, but the story itself was good.

The Long Walk: Was a long read. About a contest for young men to win money at the end of an 450 mile walk. They are not allowed to stop. If they stop for too long they are killed. They make friends and they make enemies.

Roadwork: I found boring. It is about a guy who is angry with progress. The new road is being built and eminent domain takes his home and business. He decides to be a thorn in the side of progress.

The Running Man: Another game of survival. The world is truly broken into the haves and the haves nots. A man from the slums of Coop-City needs meds for his toddler daughter who has pneumonia. With no money he signs up for any of the get-killed games shows and gets "The Running Man". They pay the contestant a certain amount for every hour they stay alive. The longer he is alive the more he earns, if he lives past 30 days he wins a billion New Dollars. No one has lived longer than a week.

The Mis-Education of the Negro - Carter G. Woodson (8/1/13 - 10/6/13)

What is sad about this book is that everything in it are still issues that are present today.