APRIL ROOT - Progress Thread

Ahh, the saying is April in Paris, therefore, our garden this month is a FRENCH GARDEN.

The French formal garden, also called the jardin à la française , is a style of "landscape" garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order on nature. Its epitome is generally considered to be the Gardens of Versailles designed during the 17th century by the landscape architect André Le Nôtre for Louis XIV and widely copied by other European courts.




its garden, its golden lead peasants and animals, its water effects and its gorgeous marble sculpture at the top make Latona Fountain a gem at the heart of the Gardens of Versailles. Designed by Le Nôtre in 1665 and embellished by Hardouin-Mansart, it has regained today its splendor thanks to exemplary restoration works.

At Versailles, the fountain complex ordered by King Louis XIV used a vast, complicated and highly expensive system of 14 huge wheels, each more than 30 feet in diameter, powered by the current of a branch of the river Seine. A river current is just another manifestation of the power of gravity.

At its peak, there were 2,400 fountains in use at Versailles, including the fabulously complicated Machine de Marly that pumped water from the Seine. Today there are only fifty fountains still functioning and the mile-long Grand Canal supplies the never-ending supply of water required.


Other French gardens can actual utilize vegetables in their designs. Wherever they are grown, planning is the key element of a French Garden.










Do you like a garden that's planned or a wild one?

Here are the members and their goals so far.
Remember if your name doesn't appear, check to make sure you are a member.

Ameise1 3 / 10 ★ 30.0%
atozgrl 5 / 25 20.0%
awwarma 2 / 10 20.0%
benitastarnd 28 / 72 ★★ 38.9%
Bookbrained 7 / 70 10.0%
brakketh 9 / 34 ★ 26.5%
bumblesby 6 / 20 ★ 30.0%
ca_dmv 2 / 12 16.7%
Caramellunacy 10 / 24 ★★★ 41.7%
Cecilturtle 19 / 50 ★★ 38.0%
clue 11 / 40 ★ 27.5%
Coach_of_Alva 12 / 25 ★★★ 48.0%
connie53 10 / 36 ★ 27.8%
crazy4reading 3 / 30 10.0%
curioussquared 37 / 65 ★★★★ 56.9%
CurrerBell 11 / 50 22.0%
cyderry 29 / 72 ★★ 40.3%
deep220 5 / 50 10.0%
detailmuse 21 / 40 ★★★★ 52.5%
DisassemblyOfReason 6 / 100 6.0%
EGBERTINA★ 243 / 25 972.0%
ell-in-or 6 / 10 ★★★★★ 60.0%
emmanuelfakunle 0 / 7 0.0%
enemyanniemae 12 / 50 24.0%
Familyhistorian 12 / 65 18.5%
floremolla 0 / 40 0.0%
fuzzi★ 63 / 50 126.0%
handshakes 6 / 32 18.8%
HelenBaker 11 / 48 22.9%
Henrik_Madsen 7 / 50 14.0%
highlandcow 5 / 40 12.5%
humouress 6 / 25 24.0%
Jackie_K 17 / 40 ★★★ 42.5%
JaxlynLeigh 0 / 25 0.0%
jhbaker 0 / 12 0.0%
kac522 21 / 75 ★ 28.0%
karenmarie 1 / 10 10.0%
karns5306 1 / 75 1.3%
KWharton 4 / 12 ★★ 33.3%
Kyler_Marie 14 / 60 23.3%
LadyBookworth 5 / 30 16.7%
lindapanzo 32 / 84 ★★ 38.1%
LisaMorr 12 / 40 ★ 30.0%
madhatter22 10 / 50 20.0%
majkia 27 / 65 ★★ 41.5%
martencat 0 / 18 0.0%
MissSos 3 / 25 12.0%
MissWatson 29 / 75 ★★ 38.7%
murphyse 4 / 10 ★★ 40.0%
nebula21 2 / 12 16.7%
nenasfilla 6 / 64 9.4%
QuestingA 15 / 50 ★ 30.0%
rabbitprincess 27 / 40 ★★★★★ 67.5%
readingtangent 9 / 55 16.4%
Rebeki 10 / 30 ★★ 33.3%
ritacate 14 / 24 ★★★★★ 58.3%
Robertgreaves 20 / 72 ★ 27.8%
rocketjk 6 / 30 20.0%
rosalita memorial 36 / 50 ★★★★★ 72.0%
sallylou61 7 / 24 ★ 29.2%
si 7 / 25 ★ 28.0%
starkittyn 0 / 25 0.0%
torontoc 6 / 30 20.0%
twogreys 6 / 24 ★ 25.0%
wandaly 6 / 24 ★ 25.0%
wood0360 0 / 25 0.0%
zombiecat 2 / 10 20.0%



We actually have some fast starters - fuzzi and EGBERTINA - have already reached their goals!

April's goal is 866 and we are actually 100 ROOTS ahead already! Keep digging!

Wow! We're doing great!

I've just added my first ROOT of April to my personal ticker: The Satan Bug, by Alistair MacLean. It's been in progress for a few weeks, so it's not that impressive a start ;)

That's a fabulous theme for my April reading! I'm just back from Paris and want to read some of my French books now.

Look at us go!

Personally, I really like French gardens - I find them soothing and aesthetic - maybe because it's what I grew up with, with one down the street from my apartment near the Parc de Sceaux.
When I showed it to my Canadian best friend, however, she exclaimed: crazy French with their square trees! I had a good laugh.

I have my first root for April (20 overall): The Illustrated Book of Signs and Symbols by Miranda Bruce-Mitford

I loved seeing all the Versailles pics at the top of this thread, along with the history - so impressive!

Reporting ROOT # 11 for the Year, # 1 for April

The Book that Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence

Own tickers updated.

I've just added my first two ROOTs for April (#18 and #19 for the year) to my own ticker only.

I have added four ROOTs to my own ticker so far. I've got some more mysteries on deck which are quick reads, so I am looking forward to a successful ROOTing month.

I've added #3 for April (#20 for the year to date, so officially half-way to my goal).

I finished my first ROOT for the month. Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos. This one was a BFB (Big Fat Book) at 542 pages. I read this one for my real life book discussion group. It was OK but didn't get interesting until about 3/4 of the way through those 542 pages. Unlikeable characters was the problem. Not the length. I seem to be stuck on BFB's this month. I am also reading two other novels that are over 500 pages.

That's ROOT #4 for April (#21 for the year) added to my own ticker only.

I've added another 2 ROOTs to my ticker, including How to Read a Novel like a Professor by Thomas Foster which I had on my shelves since 2008. It's nice to make some headway :)

I have 2 ROOTs read for April so far, bringing my total to 7 for the year. I have updated my personal ticker only.

>11 benitastrnad: Benita - I call them chunksters! LOL

Sometimes we have to bite the bullet and read the chunksters to finally get them off the shelf. I usually have these in the Classics - apparently in "ancient" times the more words and pages the "better" the book (?). I read Twenty Years Later - the sequel to Three Musketeers - earlier this year - 734 pages. I didn't think it was as good as 3M.

But it is done.

Sometimes even chunksters are worth the extra time. Hope the new ones are.

I'm having a good month this month (of course now I've written that my reading will probably tank :D ) - have just added ROOT #5 (#22 for the year) to my own ticker.

I'm already half-way through my yearly goal at 25! I have 6 ROOTS so far. I seem to have accumulated a great deal of books last year... trying to be more conscious this year :)

My personal ticker is updated.

Another ROOT pulled out. I finished Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. This was a YA fantasy novel that is the first installment of a trilogy series, Legacy of Orisha. It was also a BFB. It wasn't worth the effort of reading it. It was a very good idea with average execution. It was a YA fantasy that was based in West Africa Yoruba mythology, which was a good idea but the writing was amateurish. I think it was a case of rush to publish when the editing should have been more complete. It had a great dust jacket. The artwork on it was amazing and probably paid for itself in sales. I don't think I will bother with reading the other two in the series.

A 25 year old ROOT removed.

I seldom quit on books, especially nonfiction books, but I am giving up on Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman. I have read 140 pages and I know two things reading this book. Friedman is an unabashed cheerleader for globalization and that this book is sadly out-of-date. I should have known there was a reason why it was on my shelves for almost 25 years. It never appealed to me and it still doesn't. The book was written in 1998 and that age shows. The great disasters of 2007-08 haven't happened yet, and so all the evils of globalization as we know it today haven't happened. Therefore, it is easy to be positive about the idea and how it will lift all boats and bring millions out of poverty. Yada, yada, yada. I think I will quit on this book and start reading World on Fire instead. It was written in 2003 and appears to be a sort of answer to Lexus and the Olive Tree. It may also prove to be dated, but we'll see.

At any rate, I wouldn't recommend anybody waste their time reading Lexus and the Olive Tree unless they are undertaking a historical study on attitudes and ideas about globalization. That sounds like a job for an academic, not somebody who just wants to learn about globalization in 2024.

Gosh my reading has slowed down this year. Finally two roots for April, Warlight by Michael Ondaatje*and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens*. So now at 13/48. Currently reading a library book so will have to read quickly to get another root in before the month is out.

HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY 2024

>21 Robertgreaves: Yay!

After two non-ROOTs this month, finished one yesterday: Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, a ROOT since 2019.

I've just added ROOT #6 for April (#23 for the year to date) to my own ticker.

I have read 9 ROOTs this month and am now at the halfway point of my challenge, 38/75. And since we have three days left, I may be able to add another one.

ETA: The ninth book is Les adieux à la Reine, and the narrator spends a lot of time walking the park and gardens of Versailles.

I finished two more ROOTs this weekend - Magic in the Wind, a Root since 2008, and The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, a ROOT since 2021.

No ROOTs for April for me- I went to an art teacher conference and came away with too many graphic novels on artists. I will get back to the books that are in my house for over 6 months in May!

I finished Fire Dance by Helene Tursten on Friday and hope to finish another ROOT before the end of month. It won't be one of the BFB's but it is a book. The BFB's are taking lots of my reading time.

The Tursten book was another police procedural from Sweden and it was good reading. I am enjoying my time with Inspector Huss.

Reporting ROOT # 12 for the Year, # 2 for April

De gestolen erfgenaam by Holly Black
Own tickers updated.

I won't finish another ROOT by tomorrow evening so I will make my monthly report a day early.

I had 8 ROOT's for April. No tickers updated.

I had 2 Nonfiction books.
Three Ways to Capsize a Boat: An Optimist Afloat by Chris Stewart
Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks by Terry Tempest Williams
2 Fiction books.
Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos
Fire Dance by Helene Tursten
3 Recorded Books
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian
Jell-o Girls: A Family History by Allie Rowbottom
1 Did Not Finish ROOT
Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman

It's been a good month for me, I've just added ROOT #7 for April (#24 for the year to date) to my own ticker. That will be it for April, I'm not far enough into any other book to be able to finish by the end of tomorrow.

I finished my third ROOT for April and my 8th for the year so far: Forecast : the consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to Napa Valley by Stephan Faris. I've updated my own ticker only.

Here is my report for April 2024:

UpROOTED books: 7
ROOTless books: 11
Added to the treebook TBR shelves: 2

The ROOTs were:

Darius the Great Is Not Okay and Darius the Great Deserves Better, both by Adib Khorram
A Leg To Stand On by Oliver Sacks
Language Unlimited by David Adger
A Corruption of Blood by Ambrose Parry
Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Edward Craig
William Shakespeare: A Very Short Introduction by Stanley Wells

ROOTs in YTD: 27

(Group tickers not touched)

I hope to finish another ROOT tonight, so my final report will come in tomorrow.

I only read 3 ROOTS this month. The last two weeks I was in a bit of slump, although I've completed a second book for Rosalita today.

Ending the month with 7 ROOTS, bringing me to 34 for the year.

I managed 1 ROOT for April, for a total of 7 for the year. My ticker updated but not the group ticker.

I have finished 12 ROOTs this month, and my own ticker is updated.

I finished one more ROOT for April, Five for Soor, Ten for Joy, 4th ROOT for April, 16 for the year and my ticker is updated.

I read 5 books this month.
Only my personal ticker updated.
Happy reading all!

I read 3 ROOTs in April which is way below my usual number. In the coming months I will try to get back to my own books again. I keep thinking I've taken care of my library holds but then more show up!

I read three this month. I'n blaming the library. Four is my goal.

Have unexpected company, will get to numbers asap.

I also have the following that are no longer functioning. Please fix that as soon as you can, please.

floremolla
martencat
wood0360
karenmarie
jhbaker
nenasfilla
emmanuelfakunle
starkittyn

>43 cyderry: Enjoy your company!

My tally is 26 overall and 7 for April. My personal ticker is updated.
Happy May, Everyone! The sun is finally here in Ottawa, Ontario!

May thread is up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/360525#