Elizabeth/readingtangent's 2021 ROOTs

Hi, I’m Elizabeth :). I live in Texas, USA, with my husband of nearly 17 years, and aside from reading, I also like to run, go to concerts, cook, bake, and do jigsaw puzzles. I believe this is my seventh year ROOTing!

My favorite genres are historical romance, YA, horror, sci-fi, and comics/graphic novels, but I will try just about anything that sounds interesting.

Last year I started the year with 253 books on my TBR list (not counting all of my unread comic book collections, things I’ve gotten as gifts, or most of my husband’s books). This year I am starting with 340. So, um, yeah…something went wrong-? Ha, ha. I didn’t do so hot with reducing that number, even though I read 124 books and 51 were ROOTs. I just acquired way too many new ones for it to make a difference.

My official goal this year is 25, one more than last year, but I’m hoping to actually do way better than that.

Good luck with your goals, everybody!

Here are my stats as of January 1st, 2021. The first number is how many books I acquired that year (beginning in 2014, which is when I started my spreadsheet) and the second is how many are still waiting TBR.

Obviously, I have been buying more and more every year :/. At least I've read a lot of the oldest ones...I'm aiming to read all the ROOTs left from 2014 - 2017 this year. That's only 33 books, so I think it's doable!

2014: 54 --> 4

2015: 69 --> 12

2016: 53 --> 4

2017: 54 -->13 readingtangent:

2018: 101 --> 46

2019: 111--> 80

2020: 151 --> 124

ROOTs read in 2021

JANUARY
1) America 51 - Corey Taylor (Christmas gift, 2020)
2) Life in Victorian England - Christopher Hibbert (acquired in 2017)
3) Therefore, Repent! - Jim Munroe (graphic novel, acquired in 2015)
4) Sword of My Mouth - Jim Munroe (graphic novel, acquired in 2015)
5) Fear the Drowning Deep - Sarah Glenn Marsh (acquired in 2017)
6) Brea's Tale (A Feyland Novella) - Anthea Sharp (novella, acquired in 2020)
7) Your Story, My Story - Connie Palmen (acquired in 2020)
8) Court of the Midnight King, The - Freda Warrington (acquired in 2020)
9) Ready Player Two - Ernest Cline (Christmas gift, 2020)
10) Dracula's Guest - Bram Stoker (short story collection, acquired in 2020)

FEBRUARY
11) Work of Art, The - Mimi Matthews (acquired in 2019)
12) Murderous Minds - Dean A. Haycock (acquired in 2019)
13) Pemberley to Waterloo - Anna Elliott (acquired in 2020)
14) Always and Forever - Wendy Lindstrom (acquired in 2018)
15) Twice Loved - Wendy Lindstrom (acquired in 2017)
16) Project Beta - Greg Bishop (acquired in 2020)
17) Boy Next Door, The - Meg Cabot (acquired in 2017)

MARCH
18) Taste of Blood Wine, A - Freda Warrington (acquired in 2020)
19) 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami (acquired in 2020)

APRIL
20) Slight Indiscretion, A - Emma V. Leech (acquired in 2020)
21) Children of the Vampire - Jeanne Kalogridis (acquired in 2020)
22) Lord of the Vampires - Jeanne Kalogridis (acquired in 2020)
23) Cora's Courage - Kathleen Ball (acquired in 2019)
24) Luella's Longing - Kathleen Ball (acquired in 2019)

MAY
25) Nonviolent Communication - Marshall B. Rosenberg (acquired in 2014)
26) Xoe - Sara C. Roethle (acquired in 2014)
27) Unearthly, The - Laura Thalassa (acquired in 2014)
28) Angels of Music - Kim Newman (acquired in 2019)

JUNE
29) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (acquired date unknown, but probably around 2014)
30) Wayward Bride, The - Anna Bradley (acquired in 2019)
31) Princess of Mars, A - Edgar Rice Burroughs (acquired in 2020)
32) I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy From Anthrax - Scott Ian (acquired in 2020)
33) Vivia - Tanith Lee (acquired in 2020)

JULY
34) Silver Storm - Cynthia Wright (acquired in 2019)
35) From Rockaway - Jill Eisenstadt (acquired in 2020)
36) Dark Days: A Memoir - D. Randall Blythe (acquired in 2019)
37) Rogue Prince, The - Elise Marion (acquired in 2020)
38) Heart of Fragile Stars (novella) - Cynthia Wright (acquired in 2020)
39) Timeswept Bride - Eugenia Riley (acquired in 2020)

AUGUST
40) Killer Angels, The - Michael Shaara (acquired in 2018)
41) Lost Letter, The (novella) - Mimi Matthews (acquired in 2020)
42) Paul of Dune - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson (acquired in 2019)

SEPTEMBER
43) The Little Friend - Donna Tartt (acquired in 2018)
44) The Corinthian Duke - Emma V. Leech (acquired in 2020)
45) The Blackest of Hearts - Emma V. Leech (acquired in 2020)
46) Intertwine - Nichole Van (acquired in 2018)

OCTOBER
47) His Wicked Sins - Eve Silver (acquired in 2019)
48) The Indie Author Power Pack - David Gaughran, et al (acquired in 2014)
49) Two Tales Dark and Grim - Rachel Hawkins & Julie Kagawa (acquired in 2018)
50) Hemlock - Kathleen Peacock (acquired in 2015)
51) The Viscount and the Vicar's Daughter - Mimi Matthews (acquired in 2020)

NOVEMBER
52) Too Sinful to Deny - Erica Ridley (acquiredin 2019)

DECEMBER
53) Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus - Various authors, edited by Kate Wolford (acquired in 2019)
54) He Sees You When He's Creepin' : Tales of Krampus - Various authors, edited by Kate Wolford (acquired in 2019)
55) Christmas Bride - Brenda Hiatt (acquired in 2020)

Hi Elizabeth, Good to see you back again. Happy ROOTing!

Welcome back!! Have a great reading year :)

Nice to see you back again - have a good 2021!

Glad you're here! Happy 2021 Reading!

Wishing you an enjoyable year of reading and ROOTing.

>4 connie53:,>5 rabbitprincess:,>6 Jackie_K:,>7 cyderry:,>8 This-n-That: Thank you! :) Good luck with your goals!

Happy ROOTing in 2021!

Happy new year, Elizabeth and good luck with your challenge!

>10 MissWatson:, >11 Carmenere: Thank you! :)

January's ROOTs:

1) America 51 - Corey Taylor (Christmas gift, 2020)
2) Life in Victorian England - Christopher Hibbert (acquired in 2017)
3) Therefore, Repent! - Jim Munroe (graphic novel, acquired in 2015)
4) Sword of My Mouth - Jim Munroe (graphic novel, acquired in 2015)
5) Fear the Drowning Deep - Sarah Glenn Marsh (acquired in 2017)
6) Brea's Tale (A Feyland Novella) - Anthea Sharp (novella, acquired in 2020)
7) Your Story, My Story - Connie Palmen (acquired in 2020)
8) Court of the Midnight King, The - Freda Warrington (acquired in 2020)
9) Ready Player Two - Ernest Cline (Christmas gift, 2020)

Wow, you have read a lot this month!

Woo hoo, good job on tackling the new ROOTs! I'm always trying to be "fair" to mine and reading the oldest ones first, haha.

>14 MissWatson: It was a good month. Although, two were graphic novels, one a novella, and most of the others somewhat short, quick reads, too, so that helped a lot :).

>15 rabbitprincess: Thanks :). I try to pick at least a few from the oldest ones each month, so I won't feel as bad about reading stuff I just got. Ha.

I managed to squeeze in one more for the month:

10) Dracula's Guest - Bram Stoker (short story collection, acquired in 2020)

February's ROOTs:

11) Work of Art, The - Mimi Matthews (acquired in 2019)
12) Murderous Minds - Dean A. Haycock (acquired in 2019)
13) Pemberley to Waterloo - Anna Elliott (acquired in 2020)
14) Always and Forever - Wendy Lindstrom (acquired in 2018)
15) Twice Loved - Wendy Lindstrom (acquired in 2017)
16) Project Beta - Greg Bishop (acquired in 2020)
17) Boy Next Door, The - Meg Cabot (acquired in 2017)

I think I'm going to up my goal, maybe next month.

Wow, you have really been reading a lot, Elizabeth.

>18 readingtangent: Woo hoo, awesome work!

>19 connie53:, >20 rabbitprincess: Thanks :).

I haven't done as well in March. I read almost 7 books, but only 2 of them were ROOTs. I blame the Murakami book; it's over 900 pages long! :) I'm still not quite done with it, but I'm going to go ahead and count it now because I'm really close and likely to finish before the end of the month.

18) Taste of Blood Wine, A - Freda Warrington (acquired in 2020)
19) 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami (acquired in 2020)

Just popping in to wish you and yours a Happy Easter, Elizabeth.

>22 connie53: Thanks, Connie! I hope you had a wonderful holiday :).

Wow, you are so close to your goal already!

>24 MissWatson: Yes, I think I made it too low and just raised it :). Hopefully that won't mess anything up.

My ROOTs for April so far:

20) Slight Indiscretion, A - Emma V. Leech (acquired in 2020)
21) Children of the Vampire - Jeanne Kalogridis (acquired in 2020)
22) Lord of the Vampires - Jeanne Kalogridis (acquired in 2020)

Probably not if you mention it in the ROOT-progress thread.

May's ROOTs (it was nice to finally read some of those titles from 2014!):

25) Nonviolent Communication - Marshall B. Rosenberg (acquired in 2014)
26) Xoe - Sara C. Roethle (acquired in 2014)
27) Unearthly, The - Laura Thalassa (acquired in 2014)
28) Angels of Music - Kim Newman (acquired in 2019)

June's ROOTs:

29) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (acquired date unknown, but probably around 2014)
30) Wayward Bride, The - Anna Bradley (acquired in 2019)
31) Princess of Mars, A - Edgar Rice Burroughs (acquired in 2020)
32) I'm the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax - Scott Ian (acquired in 2020)
33) Vivia - Tanith Lee (acquired in 2020)

Hi Elizabeth. You are doing great ROOTing. Only two more to go and plenty of time to do that.

Some intriguing books! I used to be a big fan of Tanith Lee. What did you think of A Princess of Mars?

>30 connie53: Thanks, Connie. I finished! But I intend to keep ROOTing :).
>31 Charon07: Cool :). I've long had a goal of reading every Tanith Lee book, but there are so many! A lot have been out of print, too, so I've had to track them down used here and there. More have been popping up as ebooks lately, though.

As for Princess of Mars, I thought it was entertaining, and it was good to finally read a classic I've always heard about. I went ahead and read books 2 & 3 also, and now I'm almost done with part 4. Only 7 more to go! :)

July's ROOTs (since I failed to post them in July):

34) Silver Storm - Cynthia Wright (acquired in 2019)
35) From Rockaway - Jill Eisenstadt (acquired in 2020)
36) Dark Days: A Memoir - D. Randall Blythe (acquired in 2019)
37) Rogue Prince, The - Elise Marion (acquired in 2020)
38) Heart of Fragile Stars (novella) - Cynthia Wright (acquired in 2020)
39) Timeswept Bride - Eugenia Riley (acquired in 2020)

August's ROOTs:

40) Killer Angels, The - Michael Shaara (acquired in 2018)
41) Lost Letter, The (novella) - Mimi Matthews (acquired in 2020)
42) Paul of Dune - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson (acquired in 2019)

>32 readingtangent: Then congratulations are in order.

Woo hoo, congrats on reaching your goal!!

Yay, congrats!

>34 connie53:, >35 rabbitprincess:, >36 MissWatson: Thanks!! :D

I'm so behind on posting ROOTs, but I have read ten more.

September:

43) The Little Friend - Donna Tartt (acquired in 2018)
44) The Corinthian Duke - Emma V. Leech (acquired in 2020)
45) The Blackest of Hearts - Emma V. Leech (acquired in 2020)
46) Intertwine - Nichole Van (acquired in 2018)

October:

47) His Wicked Sins - Eve Silver (acquired in 2019)
48) The Indie Author Power Pack - David Gaughran, et al (acquired in 2014)
49) Two Tales Dark and Grim - Rachel Hawkins & Julie Kagawa (acquired in 2018)
50) Hemlock - Kathleen Peacock (acquired in 2015)
51) The Viscount and the Vicar's Daughter - Mimi Matthews (acquired in 2020)

November:

52) Too Sinful to Deny - Erica Ridley (acquiredin 2019)

Here's what my stats looked like at the beginning of the year. (The first number is how many books I acquired that year (beginning in 2014, which is when I started my spreadsheet) and the second is how many are still waiting TBR.)

2014: 54 --> 4

2015: 69 --> 12

2016: 53 --> 4

2017: 54 --> 13

2018: 101 --> 46

2019: 111--> 80

2020: 151 --> 124

And where I am now:

2014: 54 --> 0

2015: 69 --> 10

2016: 53 --> 3

2017: 54 --> 7

2018: 101 --> 42

2019: 111 --> 70

2020: 151 --> 102

I have not managed to clear off years 2015 - 2017 like I wanted, but I did clear out 2014, so that's something. Maybe next year! I've also managed to buy way fewer books this year than last. "Only" 78 so far vs. last year's total of 151, and only 56 of this year's are still waiting TBR. Not terrible :).

Those are impressive stats!

>37 readingtangent: Re your no 48, I'm a big fan of David Gaughran - if you're not on his mailing list, get on it if you're an indie author!

Your stats are very impressive!

>40 Jackie_K: Cool, I will look into it :). His book was insightful and helpful.
>41 connie53: Thanks, Connie. I love that graphic. I hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday season :).

December's ROOTs:

53) Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus - Various authors, edited by Kate Wolford (acquired in 2019)
54) He Sees You When He's Creepin' : Tales of Krampus - Various authors, edited by Kate Wolford (acquired in 2019)
55) Christmas Bride - Brenda Hiatt (acquired in 2020)