fuzzi's Attempt in 2013 to Extricate Those Deeply ROOTed Tomes!

I'm in!

I'm also new to this challenge, what's a good 'starting' number, something to ROOT for? :)

maybe 1/2 to 1/3 of the books you normally read a year, if your Mt TBR is as massive as mine?

welcome!

Thanks, majkia. This year I read over 100, but quite a few were rereads...how about 30?

Sounds like a good number :) I went with 25 (with the possibility of increasing later). I should be surpassing it by a lot, but the library tends to do evil things... lol

(4) Poly-Mon, I adore the title of your ROOT thread!

:D

Okay, I went through 'My Library' collection, and chose 44 books, listing them in a new collection: "ROOT 2013".

I've included a number of classics that I've never read, like Frankenstein and Peter Pan.

I'll list them shortly...not in any particular order...

ROOT READING LIST FOR 2013
Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken - Planned read for October 2013
The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory - DNF
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Indian Paint by Glenn Balch - completed 01/11/13
Peter Pan by JM Barrie
Agnes Gray by Anne Bronte - DNF
In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham
The Christmas Dog by Melody Carlson
A Simple Amish Christmas by Vannetta Chapman
The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems by Geoffrey Chaucer
Fortress in the Eye of Time by CJ Cherryh
The Faded Sun: Kesrith (from the Omnibus by CJ Cherryh) - Currently reading as of 10/1/13
Cyteen: The Betrayal (from the Cyteen Omnibus by CJ Cherryh)
Otis Spofford by Beverly Cleary completed August 2013
Mitch and Amy by Beverly Cleary - completed 1/16/13
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane - completed 01/05/13
The Waste Land by TS Eliot
Wildflowers of Terezin by Robert Elmer
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Bella Poldark, A Novel of Cornwall: 1818-1820 by Winston Graham - completed 4/13/13
Redwall by Brian Jacques -Read in February
The First Mountain Man by William Johnstone
Night Over the Solomons by Louis L'Amour
Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean
The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America by Mike McIntyre
Midnight by Rutherford Montgomery - Read in February
It's Like This, Cat by Emily Cheney Neville - completed Dec 2012
Dogsong by Gary Paulsen - completed August 2013
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - DNF
The Hidden History of the English Scriptures by GA Riplinger
He Is There and He Is Not Silent by Francis A. Schaeffer
The Autobiography of Foudini M.Cat by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
Roadmap Through Revelation by Rick Schworer
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Ash Road by Ivan Southall - completed September 2013
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - DNF
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
Hold the Rein Free by Judy Van der Veer - Read in April 2013
My Man Jeeves by PG Wodehouse
Jersey Joe Walcott: A Boxing Biography by James Curl

Added:
Jesus in Beijing by David Aikman

Added: The Brown Study by Grace Richmond

(Uh oh, I'm up to 47...)

Added:
Tex by SE Hinton - completed 01/04/13

Added:
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy (FebruaryCAT Challenge) - Read and reviewed
On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George - Read and reviewed

Oooooh The Guns of Navarone! Ah how I love Alistair MacLean! His heroes are like 80s/90s action movies, able to overcome any odds, and his situations can get quite wild, but it's such a fun ride, and there's always several fantastic quips scattered through that you can't help but laugh out loud at. I have a whole cubby full of him! :D

PolyMon, I've never read his books, but I love the Navarone movies!

I actually only more recently discovered there existed a movie, I've yet to see it! It (the book) has a sequel as well, Force 10 from Navarone, which you must read after! Guns... does wrap up nicely, no worries, but Force 10 continues on. Two of the guys are probably two of my most favorite MacLean characters of those I've read. :))

(edited because the touchstone did that irritating thing they sometimes do - where they act like it's not there! humph)

>7 fuzzi: I like the idea of adding them into their own collection! Thanks for the idea.

Looks like 2013 is going to be a great year of reading for you! Good luck!

Some good stuff there; hope you enjoy tackling them. I read Ash Road as a kid, and still remember that I shouldn't take refuge in a creek in the event of a forest fire. Useful to know :)

SPOILER! SPOILER!



Don't do that again....or else!

Oops! Of course there's nothing about a fire. The ash of the title is obviously a tree :)

And here's the ticker!

Persuasion is my absolute favourite Jane Austen novel. I am sure that you will love it.

My philosophy is set a goal that's low, and then feel really good when you meet it!

Well, I don't want to set it TOO low...or too high.

We shall see...won't we?

And thanks to all who have dropped by and/or added comments!

This week I have spent hours sorting and reorganizing my closet, and today, my book/junk shelves. I assembled a new wall shelf that I will use for books, and moved my CJ Cherryh books to a new 'home'!

Picture will be forthcoming...

Happy reading Fuzzi!
I like how organised you are, I am more an impulsive reader, but I might join you with Dogsong.

I'd like that, FAMeulstee.

BTW, I read It's Like This, Cat before January first...do I count it as a 2013 ROOT accomplishment? Hello? Anyone know?

As per post 21, here is a picture of my newly mounted and organized shelves:



The ROOT books are on the brown shelf to the left...

Nice! And about counting the book. I would not count it when I read it in december. But it's your challenge!

connie53, I read that book both in December 2012 AND January 2013. So, I should either count it for 2012 or 2013, not both.

Technically, I did not finish it in 2012, so I'll probably put it in the 2013 column. :)

Fuzzi, Then it's a 2013 book! ;-)

Yes, it is!

This discussion might be moot, because I'm having a hard time getting through The Cat Who Came for Christmas, and am considering putting it down (no pun intended!).

Will we be getting updated pictures of the ROOT shelf as the books dwindle down?

That's a great idea!

One book off the shelf, but no congratulations are in order...I just got tired of slogging through The Cat Who Came for Christmas.

connie53, sorry to confuse you. You were right: It's Like This, Cat was a December book since I read it in Dec. I thought you were talking about The Cat Who Came for Christmas.

Read a fairly new TBR, Tex.

#1 - Tex by SE Hinton

I have reread The Outsiders many times since I first discovered it, but I was very disappointed in That Was Then, This Is Now, another book by Ms. Hinton.

However, I am pleased to report that Tex is a worthwhile follow up read, a place to go to for a few hours, a story to sink into, deep.

Tex is 15, and is being raised by his older brother, Mace, in the absence of their father, who prefers the rodeo circuits to being home with his sons.

It's a trying time for the brothers, especially with money being short. Tex and his friend Johnny get into trouble over shenanigans, but Mace has his own demons he is struggling with.

And now Tex is in love.

Good read, entertaining, with some deeper elements that raise it above standard fare.

Hey Fuzzi, that's allright. I sometimes think that I'm interpreting something wrong because English is not my native language. But nice to hear that i've got it right this time ;-)

Hey fuzzi! I'm impressed with your organized shelves. I would keep my ROOT books seperate but the trouble is I keep changing my mind as to what they'll be.
I read The Outsiders a couple of years ago when my son had to read it for school. I enjoyed it, one of the better books for that age group that I have read.

Thank you, Carmenere, I'm not OCD, but definitely am a person who likes to have "a place for everything, and everything in its place" (my father's mantra, ha!).

connie53, I never would have guessed that English is not your native language! Great job. :)

> 28

Aw! :(

I loved The Cat Who Came for Christmas (the author's other books, less so).

(36) I don't know exactly why, but it's just not grabbing me.

I love James Herriot's books, so it's not the genre.

How about dog books?

Have you read Marley & Me or The Art of Racing in the Rain? I loved both of them, probably the latter the best, though.

I have The Art of Racing in the Rain, recently bought/downloaded based upon reviews here on LT.

>35 fuzzi:, Thanks Fuzzi. That's good to hear. ;-) I live in the Netherlands and speak Dutch, duh!! .
I love the English language and scored very high in this school subject when finishing Highschool, but that was 40 years ago. Hanging round here brings back a lot of words and things.

> 39

The Art of Racing in the Rain is really a quick read...and so touching! You'll love it.

#2 - The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

This book has been considered a classic, but I never considered reading it until this year: I am trying to read many of those classics that I neglected during my childhood.

The story is told through the perspective of 'the youth', aka 'Henry'. He is a raw recruit in the Union Army, during the American Civil War, actual year is not mentioned. Henry dreams of glory until his first real battle. He survives, but has conflicting emotions, which continue to haunt him until the next battle.

I did have some difficulty with this book, especially concentrating during occasional musings by Henry. However, I did get a better sense of what the young soldiers must have experienced.

I'm glad I finally read it, but am unsure of a reread in the future.

#3 - Indian Paint by Glenn Balch

In the past I've read and enjoyed books written by Glenn Balch, and this story is not an exception.

Little Falcon knows what he wants, from before the Paint colt is even born. Through hardships and trials, despite setbacks that would cause others less determined to give up, the son of his tribe's chief relentlessly pursues his dream of taming and riding Shadow, son of the wild stallion from the high mesa.

Started a little slow, but I quickly was pulled into the narrative, and finished this book in 'one sitting'.

Recommended!

#4 Mitch and Amy by Beverly Cleary

Another winner from the author who has given us Ramona the Pest and other charming books about children. This story is about twins, who fight and fuss at each other a lot, their amiable parents, and the trials of being 9 years old. Amy hates multiplication tables, Mitch has trouble reading, but they are both typical 4th graders with worries about quizzes and bullies. Entertaining, engaging, and just plain fun to read.

I'm currently reading a recent arrival, Animals Nobody Loves by Ronald Rood. It is actually a reread, so I'm not counting it towards my ROOT total.

I did not finish The Cat Who Came for Christmas, but since it technically is off my shelves, I added it to my ROOT total.

#5 The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory

My ROOT shelf, slightly smaller than at the beginning:


And now, after I added the February RandomCat Challenge book, Red Storm Rising:


I can use Red Storm Rising as a ROOT, since it's been on my shelves for about 4 years...

Great pictures, Fuzzi.

Thank you, connie53!

I'm an organizational type of person, can you tell? ;)

It takes one to know one!

I also managed to live a very long time before picking up The Red Badge of Courage--just last year, in fact!

Desert Dog by Jim Kjelgaard

Addendum: On second thought, this is a reread, so I'm removing it from the ROOT total.

I'm trying to like Agnes Grey, but she's not helping much...

Read in February:

Redwall
Midnight

Also, am currently working on Red Storm Rising, and hoping to finish it by the end of February.

How did you like Redwall? My children loved listening to that series for their bedtime story. I miss those days! Congratulations on being so organized! It's just not in my personality :-(

Thanks for asking. Here is my review:

Although it started slowly, the story of Matthias and the abbey Redwall became interesting and entertaining as I continued to read. Brian Jacques has created a charming world inhabited by the creatures of the field and wood.

I gave it three stars. :)

I have updated my ticker, I had miscounted my ROOT total:

1. Tex
2. Red Badge of Courage
3. Indian Paint
4. Mitch and Amy
5. The Cat Who Came for Christmas - DNF
6. Agnes Grey - DNF
7. Midnight
8. Redwall

Now I'm going to try to read the rest of Red Storm Rising to make it a total of 9 ROOTS for 2013!

Yay! Good luck! You're doing great :)

Almost done with my February ROOT challenge book, Red Storm Rising: page 662 of 725!

I think I'm gonna make it!!!

Go Fuzzi, Go Fuzzi!!!!

I did it before midnight! Yippee!

Red Storm Rising

I've read books written by Tom Clancy before, and found them to be engaging and entertaining and complicated, and Red Storm Rising is no exception.

As this book was first published in 1986, many things are obviously dated, but it's still a very good read. There is no one protagonist as in the Jack Ryan books, but a cast of many characters (you DO need a score card!). The plot twists, bobs and weaves so much, if you try to read this story in short increments, you will get "lost"...

My favorite character was probably the weatherman in Iceland, who finds an inner strength as he meets obstacle after obstacle.

Well recommended!

Well done, Fuzzi!

I'm impressed that you squeezed that last one in!

And now, my first March ROOT: All Quiet on the Western Front.

Starting, NOW!!!! (12:08pm)

Go, go, go!!!

Okay, I'm quitting All Quiet on the Western Front...it just did not interest me. :(

I am now giving Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde a try...

Bzzzz!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde goes by the wayside...another book I just cannot get interested in...

Bella Poldark is completed, and such a keeper!

It was with some sadness that I began reading Bella Poldark, as it is the last in a wonderful series written by the late Winston Graham. In the over 30 years of reading these volumes, I have come to care for the people he wrote about. Mr. Graham made these fictional characters truly real, three dimensional, and beloved by many.

Perhaps as this story is still fresh in my mind I am forgetting how good the other books he wrote about Cornwall were, but yet I believe that this final installment was his crowning achievement in the Poldark/Warleggan histories.

We are back to Nampara, Truro etc. a scant three years after the last book, The Twisted Sword took place. Most of the regulars are still around, but a new group are also in attendance: the military veterans of the recent war with France, the survivors of Waterloo and the other campaigns against Napoleon. And Bella is now a young lady ready to make her own mark in the world.

I hesitate to reveal too much, not to 'spoil' what has happened previously. I will admit that this story had me frantically turning pages, reading at a furious pace, impatient to find out how all the tangled plots and situations would be resolved...if they would be.

Wonderful!

I just took a picture of my ROOT/TBR shelf, and realized that a lot of 'new and shiny' tomes have added themselves, thus diluting my original ROOT ambitions, so...

...as of today, I am going to attempt to concentrate more on the remainder of the original ROOT list, as updated below:

ROOT READING LIST FOR 2013 updated 4/13/13
Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Peter Pan by JM Barrie
In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham
The Christmas Dog by Melody Carlson
A Simple Amish Christmas by Vannetta Chapman
The Canterbury Tales, and Other Poems by Geoffrey Chaucer
Fortress in the Eye of Time by CJ Cherryh
The Faded Sun: Kesrith (from the Omnibus by CJ Cherryh)
Cyteen: The Betrayal (from the Cyteen Omnibus by CJ Cherryh)
Otis Spofford by Beverly Cleary- Read and reviewed
The Waste Land by TS Eliot
Wildflowers of Terezin by Robert Elmer
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
The First Mountain Man by William Johnstone
Night Over the Solomons by Louis L'Amour
Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean
The Kindness of Strangers: Penniless Across America by Mike McIntyre
Dogsong by Gary Paulsen - Read and reviewed
The Hidden History of the English Scriptures by GA Riplinger
He Is There and He Is Not Silent by Francis A. Schaeffer
The Autobiography of Foudini M.Cat by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer
Roadmap Through Revelation by Rick Schworer
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Ash Road by Ivan Southall
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Dracula by Bram Stoker
A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
Hold the Rein Free by Judy Van der Veer - Read and reviewed
My Man Jeeves by PG Wodehouse
Jersey Joe Walcott: A Boxing Biography by James Curl
Jesus in Beijing by David Aikman
The Brown Study by Grace Richmond

As of today, I have read 14 ROOT books, almost halfway to my goal of 30!

That really nice, fuzzi and lots of time to get to your goal.

68: I've been keeping my new purchases far away from my tbr pile, in totes. Not exactly the best place for them, but that does keep them away from my wandering eye. And of course, since one goal is to clear off a shelf on my tbr pile, perhaps one day they will get added, and new gems will be found.

Of course, I have been known to root around in the tote a time or two or three...

LOLOL...

Wow! I'm jealous. I have been a slacker in reading books off my shelf. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

Thanks, thomasandmary! I am determined to remove books from my shelves, especially since books keep finding their way to my house...

Right now I'm reading another ROOT book, Life With Father. :)

Finished and reviewed Life with Father this evening. :)

That's 15 ROOTs to date, right on target!

Yeah for you!

In July I read and reviewed another ROOT, Serpent's Reach.

Now for August, I am taking the challenge to read only books from my bookshelves (bought before August 1) or my iPad. No new books, no library...

...it fits right in with this ROOT!

If any of you interested in joining me, the link is here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/156934#

Catching up here:

17. Whitey and the Wild Horse (ROOT)
18. Dogsong (ROOT)
19. Red Dog (ROOT)
20. Otis Spofford (ROOT)

Good for you, four books in August!

Thanks, thomasandmary. I think I read Whitey and the Wild Horse at the end of July.

I finished Seabiscuit: An American Legend late yesterday. Now I've read four ROOTs in August!

Three more ROOT'd out in September!

Ash Road
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Bob, Son of Battle (not read, just culled)

That's 24 done to date!

Working on #25, The Faded Sun: Kesrith.

Six ROOTs to go, three months to go...it's doable!

It certainly is! You go!!

ROOT READING LIST FOR 2013

Completed through 10/1/13:
Ash Road by Ivan Southall - Read and reviewed
Hold the Rein Free by Judy Van der Veer - Read and reviewed
Tex by SE Hinton - Read and reviewed
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy (FebruaryCAT Challenge) - Read and reviewed
On the Far Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George - Read and reviewed
Whitey and the Wild Horse - Read and reviewed
Dogsong - Read and reviewed
Red Dog - Read and reviewed
Seabiscuit: An American Legend - Read and reviewed
Otis Spofford by Beverly Cleary - Read and reviewed
Fantastic Mr. Fox - Read and reviewed
Redwall - Read and reviewed
Midnight - Read and reviewed
Mitch and Amy - Read and reviewed
Indian Paint - Read and reviewed
Red Badge of Courage - Read and reviewed
Bella Poldark - Read and reviewed
Life with Father - Read and reviewed
Serpent's Reach - Read and reviewed

DNF (Did Not Finish)
Bob, Son of Battle by Alfred Ollivant
The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory
Agnes Gray by Anne Bronte
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

#25 The Faded Sun: Kesrith (from the Omnibus by CJ Cherryh) - currently reading as of 10/1/13

#26? Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken - scheduled read for October 2013

Finished The Faded Sun: Kesrith. Here's my review:

Long neglected on my bookshelves, The Faded Sun trilogy has been tackled, and the first book, "Kesrith", completed late last night. As with most of CJ Cherryh's works, it starts slow, and builds until you suddenly realize you do not want to put it down, that you HAVE to keep reading to find out what happens.

Kesrith is a desert world inhabited by two distinct and extremely different sapient species: the mri and the regul. For thousands of years mri have served the regul, but now that the decades old war between the regul and humans has come to an end, and with the destruction of most of the mri race, the world as he has known it has come to a stunning end for young mri, Nuin. Intrigue and deception abound in Kesrith, as three races come together in what might be the extermination of one.

On to book #2...

Well written, deep, fascinating. Typical CJ Cherryh. Highly recommended.

#26 has been completed, The Faded Sun: Shon'Jir.

Currently reading #27, The Faded Sun: Kutath.

#27 The Faded Sun: Kutath (book 3 from the Omnibus by CJ Cherryh) - Read and reviewed

I have updated my personal ticker.

Completed Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken for #28!

Tonight I finished Lion Hound for my 29th ROOT book read...one more to meet my goal!

Nice work, fuzzi! :)

Thank you, rabbitprincess!

I have met my challenge, but I am not stopping yet...there are approximately 54 days left to extricate ROOT books from my TBR shelves!

#30 A Children's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas

This is a short book, with much imagery in the writing, regarding what Christmas was like when the author was a small boy. If you like poetry, this is prose you will probably enjoy.

I liked much of what was written, but it's not something I'll probably reread.

Job well done, Fuzzi! Hurrah.

Congratulations!

Thank you, all. :)

Well done!!!

:) Ameise1

Finished #31 last night: The Screwtape Letters, a well-written and thought-provoking look at human nature and faith.