Kristel Joins the forage for ROOTS, 2018

Kristel's definition of Root: Anything that I purchased or acquired prior to the start of this year, but the older the better.

Welcome to the ROOTers, Kristel.

Welcome from me too!

Hi Kristel! Nice to see you here! Have fun :)

Hi Kristel and good luck rooting!

Good luck with your ROOTing in 2018!

Glad you're with us!

Kristel, are you a member of the group yet? I don't see you in the list of members!

I will join, thought I had, must not have.

LOL, I see you in the list now!

Welcome and happy reading!

Happy New Year, Kristel.

Welcome, and happy ROOTing!

Happy reading in 2018, Kristel!

Happy ROOTing!

#1 Finished The Monk which has been on my TBR for many years, probably since I first started reading 1001 list but GR has it listed as since 2016.

>16 Kristelh: great review, thanks Kristel! I'm not slavishly following the 1001 list but cherry-picking the ones I might like ;) - so this is one I'll probably read based on your rating.

>18 Tess_W: Love Gothic, a BB for me!

#2 Finished The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, another Gothic, an interesting history to this one as I noted in my review. It was a 3 star book.

#3. Finished Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence. This is the one on my shelf the longest so far, it's been there since between 2008 and 2010.

#4. A Closed and Common Orbit audio book purchased in 2017. Hoped to read it last year but got it done this year.

#5. Passing e book purchased in 2017. #Reading1001 BOTM January. This one is really good. I recommend it. African American, Harlem Renaissance, Race.

# 6. The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker. Free audio in July 2017. This is a great book!

>22 Kristelh: that's fascinating, I hadn't considered food losing its flavour. I was born in the fifties (just) and assumed it was 'an age thing' and my taste-buds had worn out. Wishlisted - and one I'd probably gift to friends too! Thanks.

>23 floremolla:, according to this book, it is not our old taste buds. I thought it was an age thing too.

Welcome to the group.

Loved The House of the Seven Gables..

>22 Kristelh:

It seems this book supports the thought I've always had that science has removed flavor from foods.
My friends growing up (and when I meet new people) always looked at me as a snotty person because I would complain that American food had little flavor and that you could buy a lemon at the supermarket and it would taste like water. (I would be even be called un-American by some!) They would say I was strange when I told them that egg yolks are supposed to be orange and not yellow. I would say this because in France my grandmother would choose her ingredients straight from the farm. We would go to her friend's farm and choose which animals we wanted and once they were slaughtered we would bring the meat home in suitcases to put in her freeze box. She would also never go to supermarkets and bought all fruits and vegetables at the market. It made every meal so wonderfully delicious. But it also meant that I could make the exact same recipe as my grandmother but it wouldn't taste the same making it in America with American ingredients.

>agree....I buy eggs from farmer and yolks are orange, Buy fresh fruit at orchards in summer and they are so fresh and firm my grandkids ask what's wrong with them!

>26 lilisin: In America it is very difficult to find good produce because our farmers are into production in quantity rather than quality. You can find and egg to buy but to find a chicken will be harder. Even are seeds that we buy for our gardens have been manipulated by farmers so people trying to grow their own produce have to search for heirlooms and those are also not always very good. It was such a disheartening book for me. It does mention that France is still a place where you can get good tasting food because the French did not give up on flavor. The sad thing is that in America there are few people who really know how food is suppose to taste so the younger the person the more they will think real food taste “funny”. It is so sad.

book #7 from my tomes Homeland by R. A. Salvatore. Purchased in 2017. Fantasy series, Legend of Drizzt, this made it to the Top 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy NPR list. 3.5 stars.

Book #8, A Hundred Lifetimes by David C. A. Zink.

# 9: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, 2013

#10 Shadowshaper by Daniel José Olden
#11 The Third Man by Graham Greene

>31 Kristelh: Other than a short story, Cat's Cradle is the only Vonnegut I've read. For someone who really doesn't do dystopias, I have to say I rather enjoyed it!

>32 Jackie_K: Vonnegut has a way of doing dystopia that makes it mostly humorous. I suppose it would be called satire. Some day I might have to reread his books to see if I get more out of them a second time around

#11, The Power by Naomi Alderman, not my favorite. Surprised it won the Bailey.

Two more books that I had on my tbr since last year

#12 Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing, 11/06/17m obtained free

Finished two books that have been on my tbr for quite awhile
14. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, since 2014
15. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimotor, not sure when I acquired this one

16. Barkskins by Annie Proulx , obtained July 2016

If you want to share your thoughts about Barkskins, we started a group read in February.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/285832

My first Root for March
17. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, obtained 1/2/2017 (audio).

Two more ROOTS for March (Total for March, 3)
18. City Primeval Elmore Leonard, purchased 11/23/12, so that was a long ROOT, but a goodie
19. Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates, purchased 5/5/17, newer but fat ROOT

20. Borne by Jeff VanderMeer, obtained in 2017, Indiespensible Book #66.

No. 21, Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord by Louis de Berniiéres. This one has been on my shelf for quite awhile. Not sure but over 2 years.

Wow, Kristel, you are far ahead and passed the half way point! Congrats!

No 22. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi, I've had this book around for quite awhile. At least 2 years but I think longer. 1001 Book, it is a memoir written by Italian Jew, Primo Levi of his few months at Auschwitz where he never thought he would leave by any other way than the selection.

# 23, Pastoralia by George Saunders acquired 1/2/2017.

#24, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, acquired 9/11/17

#25, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I have had this book on my nook since 2012. And it is a biggy, so this root was hard to pull but it is out now!

>46 Kristelh: Excellent work!

>47 rabbitprincess: that's a big one, Kristel.

>46 Kristelh: good review, Kristel - I always like to see what you're reading because you're in my 'top 100 similar libraries' according to LT - and I was planning on getting round to The Count of Monte Cristo at some point!

>49 floremolla:. Interesting, I see we share around 250 books.

And we share 115 books! Nice!

Another book that has been on my tbr since 2012, Justine by Lawrence Durrell. This might be a short book in page count but it was a real labor in completing. #26.

>52 Kristelh: great review - I loved 'Justine' but you're right, it's a long read, the language is so dense and peppered with classical references - some of which I looked up but forgot almost instantly!

#27, Plus One by Elizabeth Fama, obtained June 2017.

#28,
The Leavers by Lisa Ko. Obtained June 2017, read for f2f June book. Rating 3.67.

#29,
The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. Rating 3.67. Interesting postmodernism twist on the detective novel.

#30, Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev, obtained in 2014.

#31. Love In the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Obtained 2012.

#32 The Lost Language of Cranes by Leavitt acquired 2013-12-08 A bit of a disappointment.

#33 Gulp by Mary Roach, acquired 2014-04-07, so very good, best one yet by Ms Roach

#34 Under the Skin by Michel Faber, 2014-10-23, interesting and very readability however "gross".

My #35 book (100%) Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler. I've now finished all 3 Chandler's on the 1001 list (complete).

So I am a bit over half way through the year so will set a new goal, I plan to read at least 5 more books, so #40 total or more. do I update my ticker? start a new ticker, or just keep counting with current ticker and go for 110% or something?

Congratulations on meeting your goal!

You can keep counting with your current ticker. That's what I do when I reach my goal :)

>62 rabbitprincess:, Thanks

#36 Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. Purchased 12/9/2014.

#37, Unless by Carol Shields, owned since at least 2016. One of the last books I got from paperbackswap before I quit them. They won’t let me look at my statistics anymore unless I join.

#38, Purchased this one in November 2017, so not real long time on the shelf but a ROOT nevertheless. The Peripheral by William Gibson.

Good for you, Kristel. All books you read past your goal will count for the group total. Making up for ROOTers who don't make their goal.

#39, Libra by Don Delillo Libra by Don DeLillo is a 1988 book. Don Delillo is a post modernist author. This is his 9th book. Libra is a retelling of the assasination of JFK by Lee Harvey Oswald.. This book will make you believe the conspiracy theories. Not sure of my rating yet. The story is the life of Oswald from childhood as a bullied, disadvantaged youth with dyslexia. The assasination, dreamed up after the Bay of Pigs to promote anti Cuban opinion and push America back into conflict with Cuba was dreamed up by disgruntled CIA agents was meant to fail. This book has a lot of espionage in it. It also has a parrallel story of the man who has been assigned to review all the data that has been collected about the assasination and write the history of the assasination

Purchased 11/10/16.

#40. Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi purchased 9/1/17

#41 Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, purchased 8/3/2017.

#42, Day of The Dolphin by Robert Merle, purchased used library book either last year or before.

#43, one more ROOT for August, Murder on the Orient Express. I have this old pocket paperback 35th printing 1975. Found the pocket book at my parents home when rummaging through boxes back in 2008.

First root for September, The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell. Purchased 12/20/17.

#2 for September, 45 for the year, King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard. I've owned it for awhile but not sure for how long. More than a year. Didn't realize i also own the audio since 2013. Need to listen to audio.

#3 for September and 46 for the year The Stand by Stephen King, owned since 7/29/16. Rated 3.5 stars. It was just a bit wordy and too tied into pop culture.

#47 and 48 Beast by Donna Jo Napoli, Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay. Two retellings, YA books that were picked up in 2017 from the Audio File program that runs over summer for youth.

#49, Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

#50, Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. On my shelf since 2014.

October ROOTS 2

51. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe. I've had this book on my shelf since 2010.

52. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe

October Roots: 4 so far but I might have one more.
49. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
50. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
51. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
52 Mysteries of Udolpho
#53, The Iron Heel by Jack London
54. We have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

#54 for the year. 6 for October. We Have Always Live in the Castle

#55, first book for November, The Hours by Cunningham. Glad I read this following Mrs Dalloway last month. Pulitzer Prize winner, deserving the win!

November 2 more, 3 total so far
#56 The Red Umbrella by Chrinstina Diaz Gonzalez, tells the story of that is not often told is that of the thousands of unaccompanied children who were sent from Cuba to Miami in the early 1960s, as part of a U.S. government program called Operation Pedro Pan. I did not know about this so it was knew information to me. An interesting story and a feel good story. obtained in July 2017

57. Alien: Out of the Shadows (Canonical Alien trilogy, #1) by Tim Lebbon, read this for creatures, pretty much was like seeing the movie. (full cast audio) obtained December 2017

58. The Light of Day by Graham Swift, obtained 5/2016.

For November I read 4 books from by ROOTs

First book for December
#59 for the year. The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I’ve had this book for some time, finally read it. Great book.

#60, The Whites by Richard Price. Probably been on my shelf 2 years maybe only one but was on my radar since it made a ToB list.

#61 for the year and 3rd book for December. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters. on shelf since 3/3/2016.

#62 for the year, 4th for December, Pierre and Jean by Guy deMaupassant. It was a good one. I've had this on my shelf possibly since 2008 or so.

Hi Kristel, I'm catching up on threads and trying to read all entries. To be honest I skip some because there are so many to read. I hope you are doing fine. But at least your reading is going very well.

>91 connie53:, Thanks, things have gone well this year. I've had a good year of reading.

#63 for the year. Crosstalk by Connie Willis, bought 11/29/17. I enjoyed this, fun, lighthearted, romance.