atozgrl (Irene) ROOTs again in 2024

My name is Irene. I'm a retired librarian, and returned to LT last year after a long period of inactivity. I tried the ROOT Challenge last year because I have so many books on my shelves that I have not yet read, but set my sights a bit too high. This year I'm going to start out with a more conservative goal, and maybe I can surpass it. I'll start with a goal of reading 25 ROOTs this year. Since I've joined a couple of RL book clubs, I may be reading more books that are not already on my shelves.

Anything already on my shelves before 2024 will count as a ROOT. Last year I did not count re-reads in my ROOTs, but I see that some of you do count them, so I will also count any re-reads this year toward my ROOT totals. I also see that many of you count anything on your own shelves as ROOTs, even recently purchased books, so I may do that as well this year.

Last year I also found that I did most of my posting over on the 75 Books Challenge thread. I'll probably do the same this year, but I'll try to do better of at least saying something about the books I read here as well.

Welcome back to the group, Irene, it's good to see you again!

Welcome back! Good luck with your goal this year :)

>2 Jackie_K: >3 rabbitprincess: Thank you both! I'll be around to visit you soon

And oops! I'd better add a place to track my books read this year.

ROOTs Books Read in 2024

January
1. The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book by Wendy Welch.

February
2. Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge by Richard Ovenden.
3. 1776 by David McCullough.
4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

March
5. Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins by Paul Jordan.

April
6. 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence by Cindy Brehse and Tami Brehse Dzenitis.
7. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
8. Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley by Stephan Faris.

May
9. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester.
10. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan.

Welcome back!

>6 cyderry: Thanks, Chèli! And thanks for all you do for this group! I hope 2024 is a great year for you. You deserve it!

Hi Irene! Happy ROOTing. Starred your thread.

>8 connie53: Thank you, Connie. Happy ROOTing to you as well!

Welcome back, Irene. Happy reading!

>10 MissWatson: Thank you, Birgit, and the same to you!

1. The little bookstore of big Stone Gap : a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book by Wendy Welch

I finished my first ROOT of 2024. I started this book while we were in Mississippi, on Christmas Day. If we hadn't gotten so busy while we were down there, and didn't have the long drive back home, I'm sure I would have finished it before the end of the year.

This is a book about a married couple who are burned out by the rat race and wind up setting down in the Appalachians and following an old dream of running a used book store. It tells of their struggles trying to open the store, their ignorance about what it would take to do so, and their efforts to fit into a small town in a part of the country that tends to be suspicious of outsiders. Eventually, they and their store become a centerpiece of the community. Near the end of the book, Welch shares some of her own recommendations of books to read, and I wound up with a few more titles added to the TBR list. I found it to be a heartwarming story.

Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge by Richard Ovenden

Yesterday I finished Burning the books: a history of the deliberate destruction of knowledge. I read this book for the January Nonfiction Challenge, which was to read "Prize Winners - prize winning books that won literary prizes that are off the beaten tracks." This also includes books shortlisted for prizes. I found that Burning the Books was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize in 2021, and since it was on my wishlist, I ordered a copy and read it for the challenge.

This book gives a history of libraries and archives that have been damaged or destroyed from ancient times to today. It is obviously not a complete history, but it tells the story of some of the most notable losses. It also reports on a couple of cases of personal papers or memoirs that were deliberately destroyed to prevent publication and/or protect reputations. Or in the case of governmental archives, to cover up the actions of colonial/government workers. The famous case of the Library of Alexandria is included. Although its destruction has variously been blamed on the Roman army, early Christians, and Muslims in the 7th century, Ovenden believes these are myths and that the library most likely disappeared due to slow decline, underfunding, and neglect. I had first seen that theory when reading Cleopatra: a life last year, and it is confirmed here.

A number of libraries were deliberately attacked and destroyed over the years, in attempts to suppress a religion or a specific culture. All the stories are heartbreaking to me, because of the loss of knowledge and history. And unfortunately it still continues today. Serbia's deliberate destruction of the National Library of Bosnia occurred only 30 years ago.

Ovenden also addresses the move to the digital world, and how much of current social discussion takes place online. He is greatly concerned about the loss of history for future research if what is online is not preserved. So much of it is currently under the control of a few large tech companies, whose purpose is to make money, not to preserve information for the future. Ovenden feels that libraries and archives need much better funding so that they can carry out the task of preserving this information for the future. At the end, he makes a plea to "the holders of power" to adequately fund libraries and archives.

I thought the book was interesting and very well written. Highly recommended.

>13 atozgrl: That sounds really interesting, I'm going to add it to my wishlist.

The British Library suffered a catastrophic online attack at the end of last year, and it still hasn't fully recovered all its services, with massive consequences for researchers and authors (not to mention their staff, whose personal details were sold on the dark web). And yet our government is still talking about making archives digital-only. Sadly, the attacks on repositories of knowledge and literature is very much a live issue (was it last year that LibraryThing suffered a significant online attack too? It was pretty recent).

>14 Jackie_K: Hi, Jackie. It was an interesting book! I think you would like reading it.

I think I heard that the British Library had been attacked, but I didn't realize that it was still dealing with the fallout. It's so sad that there are people out there who want to do such things (and worse that some governments are involved). Yes, it was a recent attack on LibraryThing, just a few months ago. It was frustrating when I couldn't get in for a while.

Based on what our library was dealing with before I retired, I'm not surprised that governments want to go digital-only. But that requires lots of money to provide digital storage and to make multiple copies, and to plan preservation for when technologies change. Digital may solve the physical space problem, but it creates new problems to solve.

>16 Jackie_K: They're still not able to offer online ordering of resources (you have to turn up in person to the library in London). And for authors, they're not yet accepting digital submissions of new books, or letting authors update their records, so that may affect the payments they get from PLR (public lending right - the payment they get when people borrow their books from libraries in the UK and Ireland). I think it's going to be several more months before they're fully back up to speed.

>16 Jackie_K: That whole situation sounds just awful! These people who attack websites of schools, hospitals, and now libraries should be assigned to a special section of hell.

1776 by David McCullough

I pulled this one off my shelves for the February War Room challenge. I was surprised at what an easy read this was. A lot of times, I didn't want to set it down. McCullough tells the story of the American army at the start of the Revolution, starting from the last quarter of 1775 through the end of 1776 (plus the Battle of Princeton at the beginning of 1777). His description of the events during this time is extremely detailed, but it is never dry. He includes information from the British side although the main focus is the Continental Army. We see Washington's inexperience and several blunders that he makes, but also his ability to redeem the mistakes as well as his perseverance and the leadership that inspired his men. The book is obviously extremely well researched, and includes quotes and observations from many participants at all levels, from leaders on both sides all the way down to privates and civilians. There are copious footnotes and an extensive bibliography. I loved it.

>18 atozgrl: I loved McCullough's 1776. If by any chance you want to try another American Revolutionary War history that reads basically like a sequel to 1776 but is written by a different author, I highly recommend Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fisher. It essentially starts where 1776 leaves off and is equally well written and interesting (sez me, anyhow).

>19 rocketjk: David Hackett Fischer's book Albion's Seed is one of my all time favorite history books, so I highly recommend him as an author.

My RL history book group read it (even tho it's 900+ pages). It explains how immigrants from Britain could be so dissimilar in their culture & beliefs here in the US. It made me think slightly better of the Puritans and slightly worse of the Quakers. And explains why today's Republicans are incorrect in calling themselves the party of Lincoln.

>19 rocketjk: Thank you for the recommendation! I have that book on my shelves, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I'm not sure how soon I might be able to get to it, but it sounds like something I need to put on the list to get to in the near future.

I don't think I've visited your thread yet. I'll try to get to it sometime today.

>20 ReneeMarie: Thank you for that recommendation. I was not familiar with Albion's Seed. It sounds very interesting; I'll have to go look it up.

Sounds like three good ROOTs!

>13 atozgrl: Some years ago, I remember hearing about Syrians gathering books from bombed-out buildings and creating a word-of-mouth library. I think Syria's Secret Library is the book that memorializes it.

Regarding digitalization, I still grieve the few years that I organized my life on a Palm Pilot device. When it grew archaic and those years basically went poof, I returned to paper planners that are permanent and rich with detail :)

>23 detailmuse: I hadn't heard of Syria's Secret Library before. It looks very interesting! I'll have to check it out.

I never had a Palm Pilot, but I can understand about the technology change. Sometimes the old-fashioned way of doing things is better!

Thanks for visiting, I'll go look for your thread and pay a return visit.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for my book club this month. I had never read it, and I was actually surprised to find that it was an autobiography. For some reason, I had always thought it was a work of fiction. Maya Angelou tells the story of her life from age 3 to 16. Many of the events of her life are difficult, painful, even traumatic. She develops from a shy child to a confident young woman. The writing in this book is very rich and descriptive.

I found the book to be a fascinating read. Even though I am aware of the racism in the US, it was still enlightening to me to see the world from the viewpoint of the blacks living in the South in the 1930's, and just how separate their world was from the white one. The way they thought about white people was eye-opening. I really appreciate being able to see the world through the eyes of one young black girl. Highly recommended.

>25 atozgrl: it's been on my wish list for ages. Thanks for your summary; I want to read it even more now!

>26 Cecilturtle: I hope you can get to it soon, I think you'll like it.

5. Neanderthal: Neanderthal man and the story of human origins by Paul Jordan.

Between my husband's knee surgery this month limiting my reading time, especially early in the month, and the books I read for the book clubs I belong to, which were both library books, I have not been doing well tackling my ROOTs this month. I did finally finish Neanderthal at least.

The book opens with the discovery of the first Neanderthal remains in Germany and goes on to discuss the subsequent finds in multiple places. Jordan reports on the changing interpretations of the various Neanderthal finds. He includes a lot of technical information on the bones that have been recovered, as well as the tools used by the Neanderthals, and summarizes the theories about the Neanderthal way of life. He goes on to include background information on the world before the Neanderthals, and the evolution of human species. He discusses reasons why Neanderthals may have disappeared and why modern humans were able to out-compete the Neanderthals.

Neanderthal was published in 1999, so although it discusses DNA evidence, what they had at that time was early results of testing. They only had mtDNA results at the time the book came out, and researchers found no DNA evidence of relationship to modern humans. Of course, subsequent testing has shown that modern humans do carry some Neanderthal DNA, so I now want to find a book that covers more recent findings. Jordan does point out that some European populations have skeletal features that appear to have a possible Neanderthal influence so that interbreeding of Neanderthals with modern humans could have been possible, and the DNA evidence at the time was certainly not complete. This skeletal evidence is not in modern populations in other parts of the world, only in Europeans, which is where Neanderthals lived. But he concludes that the preponderance of evidence shows it is highly unlikely that Neanderthals could have evolved directly into modern humans, as some were still speculating at the time the book was published.

There is a lot of detailed information packed into this book. There are also many illustrations. The author intended to give an overview of the evidence regarding Neanderthals, and it is based on a lot of research done by many scholars. He has deliberately skipped noting all the research and names in order to "present an unbroken and impersonalized account of the material under discussion" to make it more readable. In general I think that's fine, however I wish he had included a section of notes at the back of the book to show what the sources were. There is a bibliography, but extensive notes would have been useful. I also wished several times in the sections discussing human evolution that he had included a graphic tree showing the relationships between the various human species. There wasn't one in the book, and I wound up looking in Wikipedia more than once to see the tree. Overall, I learned a lot from this book, but I really want to know more about what has been discovered since the book was published.

6. 5-Minute Core Exercises for Seniors: daily routines to build balance and boost confidence by Cindy Brehse and Tami Brehse Dzenitis

I picked up this book last year after it was recommended by the instructor in one of the exercise classes I took at the senior center last year. I hadn't done much with it yet. But with my DH's surgery, I wound up missing my exercise classes at the senior center for three weeks, and I noticed that I was getting really sore, especially in my lower back and hips. After seeing some discussion on another thread about staying active and doing exercises to strengthen the core to prevent problems with your back, I decided I really needed to pull this out and use it. And it has helped! The book includes lots of exercises you can do to strengthen your core. The exercises are easy, and the illustrations and descriptions tell you how to do them. Then the book has a section of routines that put four of the exercises together to help with various problems, such as lower back pain, hip pain, burning calories, building endurance, or moves needed for activities of daily living. I have found all of this very easy to use and it has helped me with my aches and pains.

>29 atozgrl: The aches and pains are what I'm liking least about ageing! I don't care about grey hair and wrinkles, but I would really like to get up out of a chair without bracing myself first.

>30 Jackie_K: Amen, sister! I agree completely with that. I really didn't expect relaxing to lead to aches and pains. You really do have to exercise those muscles to prevent it.

7. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I read A Wrinkle in Time this month for my RL Challenged Books Club, which meets next week. It was a reread for me, but I read it even longer ago than Catcher in the Rye or Brave New World (previous reads for the book club), so I had even less memory of the details of the book. It tells the story of Meg, age 13, her genius young brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin, as they are taken across the galaxy to rescue Meg's missing father from the Black Thing. Three supernatural beings take them to several new worlds via a tesseract (which folds space and time). It's a story of the battle between good and evil. I did not remember the Bible quotes that are included in the text, and possibly I was so young when I first read the book that I didn't even realize that those quotes came from the Bible. It was a fun read, and you don't have to be a young person to enjoy it. I'm glad to have reread it.

>29 atozgrl: Years ago, I recorded for my mother some episodes of the public TV program, "Sit and Be Fit" -- was surprised by how invigorating even chair-based stretching and strengthening could be! It's still on TV and now I should try it again!

>33 detailmuse: Interesting! I had not heard of "Sit and Be Fit." I haven't seen it on my local PBS. I'll have to check into it. Thanks for mentioning that!

8. Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley by Stephan Faris

Oops, I almost forgot to post my comments on this book here. I finished reading Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley by Stephan Faris on Monday. I read this for the April Nonfiction Challenge on Globalization. The book was published in 2009, but even though it's 15 years old now, the information it contains is still pertinent. Although Faris, a journalist, says

In a sense, this book is an exercise in optimism. Just what global warming will mean for the world will depend on just how serious we become in fighting it.

it was still hard to read. The world hasn't gotten serious enough in the past 15 years to make a big enough dent in the problem. Faris was trying to wake people up to all the ways that climate change was already impacting the world. He started with the horrific war in Darfur, which had its roots in a drought all the way back in 1985. He said that war was usually portrayed as a racial one; I saw reports that focused on religion. However, he says there was not much physical difference, and both groups were predominantly Muslim. The main difference was in the lifestyle, with the Arabs being primarily nomadic herders and the black Africans being predominantly farmers. They had lived in peaceful coexistence for a very long time, but drought caused the Sahara to spread south. The farmers started to fence off their land, leading to conflict with the herders, and eventually a terrible war. Analysts initially blamed the farmers for the environmental degradation, but climatologists later showed that rising temperatures caused warming in the tropical and southern oceans, disrupting the African monsoons and leading to the drought back in the '80's. Faris uses this to show how climate change can lead to political chaos.

Faris goes on to provide examples of how climate change is affecting the world. This includes the impact of rising seas and hurricanes on the Florida Keys, leading to enormous losses for insurance companies and resulting drastic increases in the cost of insurance and some insurance companies pulling out of certain areas. Environmental change and disasters is also causing people in poor areas to flee to other countries, and he talks about how people fleeing Africa for Europe is impacting politics in Europe, with a focus on Italy and the UK. He also talks about the Amazon and how deforestation there had led to an increase in malaria (because one of the varieties of mosquito that spreads malaria best breeds much better in deforested areas). Because wine grapes are so sensitive to climate, where these can be grown is changing. We have all seen reports about Churchill in Canada, where the polar bears are struggling to find enough food to survive, due to the drastic decrease in polar ice. However, Faris also points out that it could be beneficial to the port at Churchill, because it is a deep water port. If the reduction in ice makes it possible for large ships to come into the port during more months of the year, they would not have to take the long route through locks to the ports on the Great Lakes. And it's also a shorter trip to ship to Europe from Churchill. But the reduction in polar ice is also leading to territorial disputes between Canada and Denmark and the US and Russia. Faris ends up discussing a potential flashpoint between India and Pakistan, due to disappearing glaciers in the Himalayas, the source of water for much of the area, but especially Pakistan. And on the other side, Bangladesh will be heavily impacted by rising seas, pushing refugees into eastern India.

Overall, the scenarios being presented were rather overwhelming. I know the intent of the book was to push people and governments into doing more, but at this point in time it does not seem like enough has been done to prevent a lot of the problems he pointed out from becoming worse and leading to major crises. The major impacts will happen in the parts of the world that are already the warmest, and also the poorest, with the least ability to adapt. So pressures of climate refugees is only going to get worse, and we already see how the refugee problem is impacting our politics. This did not help me to feel more positive about the future.

>35 atozgrl: That sounds like a hard, but vital, read. I am not optimistic either.

>35 atozgrl: Wow - sounds like the author laid out well the complexity of the issues and consequences. It's fascinating the geopolitical impacts that it has.

>36 Jackie_K: Yes, it was. I just wish we had made more progress by now, since the time the book was published. The issues were already known by 15 years ago.

>37 Cecilturtle: He really did lay things out very well. He visited the places he wrote about in person and spoke to experts and locals. I was aware of some of the geopolitical issues, but he showed more of them. It's definitely good information to know.

9. Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester

I inherited a set of Hornblower books from my dad. I also really enjoyed the Hornblower series that ran on A&E about 20 years ago, back when A&E really was "arts and entertainment," before it turned into mostly junk programming. So for this month's War Room challenge on The Napoleonic Wars, I decided I should finally tackle these books. I started with Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, which was not the first Hornblower book published, but is first chronologically.

This book tells of Horatio Hornblower's beginnings when he first joins the British royal navy. It follows his early career as a midshipman in the navy, and his adventures during this time. It is actually set during the French Revolutionary Wars and includes several battles, on land as well as sea. Unfortunately, we don't learn anything about Hornblower's life before joining the navy, and there's not a whole lot of character development, but it's still an enjoyable read.

>35 atozgrl: So interesting! Last year I finally read the 2013 issue of The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and I went back now to look up these devastating quotes from one of the entries:

The question is no longer whether global warming exists or how we might stop it, but how we are going to deal with it

The biggest problem we face is a philosophical one: understanding that this civilization is already dead

It would be so good if society realized imminent consequences like those you described.

>41 detailmuse: It certainly would, wouldn't it! I guess people just aren't wired to deal with an uncertain future.

>41 detailmuse: I heard an interview on NPR about a year ago with a climate scientist who said that a lot of people think of global warming in terms of D-Day: the world will finally get together and make a big push to figure out how to combat the problem effectively. But, said he, the more accurate metaphor at this point is Dunkirk.

>43 rocketjk: Very interesting point! Thanks for sharing.

10. The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

The Kitchen God's Wife is this month's read for my RL book club. The book starts with the relationship between Winnie Louie and Pearl, a mother and daughter who find it hard to understand each other. Each has secrets that they haven't been able to tell each other because of the distant nature of their relationship. Pearl's Aunt Helen knows their secrets and because she thinks she is dying, she threatens to reveal them. The first couple of chapters are told from the Pearl's point of view, but the majority of the book is told from her mother Winnie's viewpoint. We learn about her life in China, her first husband and family, and the suffering she endured during WWII.

I serendipitously learned about an American Masters episode devoted to Amy Tan over on msf59's thread earlier this month. I was able to find it on Passport and watched it. From that, I could tell that most of Winnie's story was based on Amy's mother's life. I don't know how much was fictionalized and how much was true to life, but there seemed to be quite a bit of her mother's relationship with her first husband that was reflected in the story. It was interesting to me also that the Chinese said WWII started in 1937 (not 1939), when Japan invaded China. I did like the book and think it is a worthwhile read.