Terri (tymfos) trims the bookshelves!

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It's time for a new round of ROOT, trimming the bookshelves of some of those untouched volumes.

I had a hard time deciding on a goal for this year. I had no trouble making my goal of 60 last year. However, the rules I used last year allowed me to use newer books for half of that total, as long as I owned them. I abused that leeway and wound up adding books to my shelves! So I'm re-thinking my strategy and thus the number of ROOTs I can expect to trim.

I initially set a goal of 50 ROOTs this year, but I've changed it to 48 in order to be divisible evenly by 12 months. The books can be real or virtual (e-books) but I must have owned them before January 1 of this year. Two exceptions: books borrowed from friends more than a year ago that I need to return, or ER/ARC books that must be read. (I don't want to neglect those in favor of books I own, so I make those exceptions.)

I'm also trying to do a moratorium on book-buying -- that way anything I read off my own TBR shelf counts as a ROOT. Ha, ha, ha; I'm a fool if I think that kind of book-buying embargo is going to last long! I am proud that I bought no books on my holiday vacation.

ROOT Books in 2014:




ROOTs finished in January
1. Blood Land by R. S. Guthrie (1/2/14) e-book ROOT
2. A Comedy of Heirs by Rett MacPherson (1/3/14)
3. 58 Degrees North: The Mysterious Sinking of the Arctic Rose by Hugo Kugiya (1/6/14)
4. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson (1/13/14)
5. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy by Elizabeth Varon (1/26/14)

ROOTs finished in February
6. The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill (2/3/14)
7. Blood is the Sky by Steve Hamilton (2/10/14)
8. Faith Under Fire by Roger Benimoff with Eve Conant (2/17/14)
9. Real Men Work in the Pits: A Life in NASCAR Racing by Jeff Hammond

ROOTs finished in March
10. Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear
11. I Was Right on Time by Buck O'Neil
12. The Summer Camp Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

ROOTs finished in April
13. Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism by Paul Collins
14. Where's Your Jesus Now? Examining How Fear Erodes Our Faith by Karen Spears Zacharias
15. Jazz by Toni Morrison
16. Not Flesh Nor Feathers by Cheri Priest (4/24/14)

ROOTs finished in May
17. Dead Wood by Dani Amore (5-3-14) e-book ROOT
18. Foolish Undertaking by Mark de Castrique (5-5-14)
19. Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott
20. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller (5/21/14)
21. The Stranger You Seek by Amanda Kyle Williams e-book ROOT (5-28-14)

ROOTs finished in June
22. Q Road by Bonnie Jo Campbell (6-8-14)
23. The Vows of Silence by Susan Hill (6-18-14)
24. A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy (6-20-14)
25. Safe from the Sea by Peter Geye (6-26-14)
26. Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood (6-27-14)

ROOTs I'm currently reading:
Five Complete Novels by Dashiell Hammett

The book buying embargo did not last long!

Glad to see you in the group again, Terri

Hello again! Love the photo :)

Great to see you again. Lovely pic 😃

Hello, from The Other Terri!

:)

Hi Terri. Good luck with your challenge. (Love, love, love your graphic!)

Hi, Connie, rabbitprincess, Ameise, Terri, fuzzi, and Belva! Glad you've all stopped by. I'm just now really starting to get my act together for my 2014 challenges. I've finished one book, and hope to post it soon.

ROOT Book #1 2 (Oops! I missed the first book I read, which is reviewed in next post)
Title: A Comedy of Heirs
Author: Rett Mac Pherson
Genre or subject information: genealogical mystery
Copyright/Year of original publication:
Series?: Torie O'Shea #3
Date finished: 1/3/13
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 4 stars
Notes:

These Torie O'Shea mysteries are so much fun!

As Torie is preparing for the big family reunion at her home, someone anonymously sends her an envelope with newspaper clippings about her great-grandfather's murder. Murder? She'd always been told he died in a hunting accident! Of course, she needs to know what really happened -- and help comes from an unlikely source.

There's lots of family turmoil in this one, but quite a few smiles, too. MacPherson has just the right touch of humor balanced with more serious matters. I love the way she creates and fleshes out characters (major and minor) and the genealogical angle is fun.

I just realized that I missed the very first book I finished this year. (It was hardly memorable.) So the Torie O'Shea series book was actually #2.

ROOT Book #1
Title: Blood Land
Author: R. S. Guthrie
Genre or subject information: western mystery
Copyright/Year of original publication:
Series?: James Pruett #1
Date finished: 1/2/14
Off the Shelf? Yes (virtual)
My Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Notes:

Right at the beginning, the sheriff's wife is shot. There seems no doubt what happened or who did it. But there are lots of questions anyway. There are issues of land and mineral rights and gas drilling and the government.

OK, I liked the characters the way the characters were drawn in this story, and the gradual way certain information was revealed, and it was all good up to a point. The sheriff's character was a bit too changeable, but he was an alcoholic who was off and on the wagon, so that explains a lot of inconsistency.

But the ending of this story left things up in the air in a way. It just didn't explain things. There was a conspiracy -- we knew that, to some extent, most of the way through -- but there was no real understanding given of how the conspiracy worked and how far it extended. We were just supposed to accept that there was a conspiracy and so-and-so was involved (maybe among others), but there was no sense of exactly how such a thing could have been done. IMO, it was just lazy writing -- the be-all and end-all is just to say that there was a conspiracy, and no sense of how it worked and thus whether it was something that could really have been done in real life.

It left a bad taste in my mouth. I won't be reading more of this series. Not recommended.

Two books done already! And A Comedy of Heirs does sound pretty good. I'll watch for that author.

Merryann, I spent the first several days of the New Year as a passenger on a long car trip, which gave me lots of reading time.

ROOT Book #3
Title: 58 Degrees North: The Mysterious Sinking of the Arctic Rose
Author: Hugo Kugiya
Genre or subject information: non-fiction
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2005
Series?: no
Date finished: 1/6/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 3 1/2 stars
Notes:

At about 3:30 a.m. on the morning of April 4, 2001, an automated emergency beacon (EPIRB) -- designed to activate if it was submerged in 13 feet of water -- sent an emergency signal which alerted the Coast Guard in Alaska of a possible fishing boat in trouble in the Bering Sea. This was the first hint of any trouble. The EPIRB was registered to the fishing vessel Arctic Rose .

Right away, I was hooked wanting to know what happened to this boat! She sank without an SOS or even reporting any difficulty whatsoever, in waters that were reported to be calm. How? Why?

Much of this book is the story of the investigation by the US Coast Guard into what went so terribly wrong on the Arctic Rose. The author also gives a lot of background about the crew and owner of the boat (and of a fisheries observer who left the boat shortly before it sank). There are also lots of details about fishing in Alaska, and even about the history and culture of the region.

I only gave the book 3 1/2 stars because I found the organization of the information somewhat faulty. Perhaps this is partly because the author started out writing a series of newspaper articles and then expanded it into a book, continuing to follow the investigation. I found that the details of the various crew members were worked into the book in a rather odd fashion. Some details were repeated in a way that felt haphazard and even slightly confusing to me. And I found myself skimming some of the statistics about fishing (though not the ones about the mortality rate for those who fish for a living!) But it was a worthwhile read.

That does sound like an interesting topic! The organization would be distracting though.

I can't read in a moving car, consider yourself fortunate!

Sounds a lot like The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger. I liked that a good deal but was also somewhat annoyed by the speculation about what might have happened. Is it the same here?

Hi, Henrik! There doesn't seem to be as much speculation as in The Perfect Storm. I mean, the job of the Coast Guard inquiry is to try and figure out what happened, and the end result of it is an educated guess, but they had a bit more to work with here in the end. This book tended to tell the background of the people involved up until the last fishing trip, report what was known of that trip via radio transmissions, and explore the evidence that was gathered by the Coast Guard and report their process and findings -- with a lot more background thrown in about the people involved, in a rather haphazard fashion, IMO.

fuzzi, I used to not be able to read in moving vehicles, either. Suddenly (about the time I needed bifocals) I started to be able to do so again without getting carsick.

rabbitprincess, I must admit I skimmed a few of the details and repeated bits, but it wasn't too bad -- a relatively minor complaint.

I must confess: sometimes I come look at your page just so I can look at the kitten and the plant. :)

LOL, Mary Ann! Come visit the kitten anytime. :-)

Oh, mercy! I stayed up late reading this, then took it up again this morning as soon as my son was off to school (ignoring a million other things I should be doing before I go in to work today at noon). I'm going to be sooooo tired tonight . . .

ROOT Book #4
Title: Case Histories
Author: Kate Atkinson
Genre or subject information: mystery/PI
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2004
Series?: Jackson Brodie #1
Date finished: 01/13/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 3.9 stars
Notes:

I can't quite explain how this book drew me in the way it did. It felt rather disjointed, and most of the characters (with the exception of the protagonist, Jackson) were . . . pretty weird? somewhat-to-very unlikable? Vulgar at times? Somewhere on the dysfunctional continuum? I say with the exception of Jackson, but he had his own brand of dysfunctional background, his own flaws and neuroses, but I (mostly) liked him.

It was interesting watching the various elements gel into a story. I kept having to look back because of the various leaps in the narration, but it really did make sense. And I can't imagine another way to put the varied cases together into a coherent narrative. I could have done without a few details, and I wish he'd resolved one plot-line a little more clearly, but I mostly liked this book a lot and could hardly put it down.

Terri, I had the same issues with Case Histories but overall I liked it. I saw an adaptation on PBS and it was easier to follow after reading the book.

I agree with your comments on Case Histories, including that it was hard to put down. I have also read the next two in that series, having just finished as my first ROOT When Will There Be Good News. All are similar with lots of odd characters and story elements, but I think you hit it exactly when you say they "gel" -- that is the perfect description for these Atkinson stories.

Cheli, it's definitely an unusual kind of book. I never saw the PBS adaptation.

Anne, glad you like my word choice. It just felt like after swimming around in all these different story elements, the whole thing just seemed to "gel" into something solid. I'm looking forward to the later installments in the series.

Have you seen the 'curious cat peeks over bed' on wimp.com? For some reason, that cat made me think of yours in the picture.

Hope your reading is going happiy. :)

No, Mary Ann! I'll have to look into that. Happy reading to you, too!

Speaking of cats, I've adopted one that was stranded out in the cold. Somehow, the conversation and photos wound up over on my 75 Challenge thread. I have too much LT to try to keep up with!

I've finished another ROOT:

ROOT Challenge Book #5
Title: Southern Lady, Yankee Spy
Author: Elizabeth R. Varon
Genre or subject information: the life of Elizabeth Van Lew, Union agent in Richmond during the Civil War
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2003
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 1/26/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 3.7 stars
Notes:

Elizabeth Van Lew was the daughter of a prominent Richmond, Virginia family. During the Civil War she not only took it upon herself (at great risk) to befriend Union soldiers imprisoned by the Confederates, and even to help in escapes, but she also served as central figure in an intelligence ring which funneled information to Union officers. She continued her unorthodox life after the war, serving as Postmaster of Richmond under the Grant administration. But her post was subject to the politics and prejudices of the day.

The subject matter of this book was interesting. It was well organized and well documented, with sufficient endnotes. I found the writing a little dry, perhaps, but overall well done. The author does a good job of disabusing the reader of some common misconceptions of Van Lew, put forth by those who knew her late in life and commonly disseminated in both non-fiction and literary representations of her work, but not supported by the evidence dating back to her wartime contributions.

I begin to see why people talk about book bullets. I would love to read a real-life story of a southern woman who helped Union soldiers during the war and went on to become postmaster!

Do you recommend starting with this book because of it's unbiased approach, or another, less-dry story of her life?

Mary Ann, I'm not sure what to suggest. I actually first read about her in a novel, Only Call Us Faithful, but that novel perpetuates some of those myths that this historian complains about, and I didn't particularly like the way it approached telling her story. I don't recall it dealing with her role as Postmaster, either, which was a fascinating part of her life. I understand that Jennifer Chiavarini has a recent historical novel out called The Spymistress, which I haven't read and thus can't comment on. I don't really know what other books are out there about Van Lew. She certainly was an interesting and amazingly independent woman for her time and place!

Thanks. I think I'll put the non-fiction one on my wishlist.

Southern Lady, Yankee Spy sounds really interesting!

Mary Ann and Monkey, she was really interesting. It's amazing she got away with some of the things she did. You can really "credit" sexism and class-consciousness for part of the reason why the authorities didn't come down on her.

Oh I bet! Women were completely brushed off and no man at the time would be caught dead trying to claim a woman were doing such cunning outrageous things! Heh.

There were some women who were jailed by the Confederate authorities for pro-Union activities, but they tended to be from the "lower classes," not "ladies" from "good families."

Hiya! I'm a little behind here, but I love your book commentaries! All you creative people are making me seriously re-think my own reviews... I think adding the little "quick glance" information is REALLY helpful!

Also, Congrats on your ROOTS so far!

I recently read a book that included a famous Confederate spy (and lady), but I can't for the life of me remember what book it was (nor whether it was Belle Boyd or Rose Greenhow - or someone else entirely)!

But Southern Lady, Yankee Spy sounds really intriguing - after all, my favorite bit of the DC Spy Museum is the women spies section!

Hi, Avanders! Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words. I'm way behind on getting to people's threads -- no way to keep up. Good luck with your ROOTs!

Caramellunacy -- love that name! I bet I'd like that museum.

My first February ROOT!

ROOT book #6
Title: The Risk of Darkness
Author: Susan Hill
Genre or subject information: police procedural
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2006
Series?: Simon Serrailler #3
Date finished: 2/3/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 4 stars
Notes:

Serrailler is called to another district where a child has been abducted. Is it related to the kidnapping of young David Angus, whose unresolved disappearance haunts Simon? Meanwhile, a young woman is dying of Variant CJD -- Mad Cow Disease -- and her distraught husband is quite seriously losing his mind. And the mother of a new priest at the Cathedral has been assaulted and robbed in her home.

Susan Hill expertly weaves these threads, and others, into a marvelous novel that kept me turning pages late last night and when I should have been doing other things today. The story is complex and satisfying, the characters are rich, the setting is so real you can almost feel the fog closing in. Marvelous!

Sounds great! :)

36 It is, Monkey!

You make that latest one awfully tempting, Terri. I read the first one and have another on one of the devices...hmm...

Suggeston: Gail, don't read the third-in-series I just read unless you read the second one, The Pure in Heart, first. They are linked.

Oh, yes, it's the second one I have as an e-book. I'm determined to get at my owned books this year...determined, I tell you...

The second one is excellent, Gail. When I finished it, I immediately bought the next four in the series.

Just don't expect everything to be tied up neatly at the end. These books always leave something to ponder.

Susan Hill... didn't she write the Woman in Black? Or... I'm probably getting my authors confused.. Anyway, sounds great!
And re comment in 34: no way to keep up? no kidding!! :)

You are not confused! Susan Hill is, indeed, the author of The Woman in Black.

yeah I loved that book! definitely put the risk of darkness on my wish list :)

I loved The Woman in Black, too. These are of a different genre, but equally good, IMO.

I'd definitely suggest reading the first two volumes of the series first -- or at least the previous one, as The Risk of Darkness is very much inter-related with that one. They are all very, very good. It's really a series the builds one upon the other.

The earlier books:
#1 The Various Haunts of Men
#2 The Pure in Heart

and then
#3 The Risk of Darkness

I have the fourth, The Vows of Silence on my TBR shelf. I'll probably read it soon.

It seemed like they were in a different genre.. thanks for the heads-up, I've changed my wishlist to put Various Haunts on it. I wasn't paying close enough attention ;)

Good! I hope you enjoy it! Be aware, these are the kinds of books that start out slowly, especially that first one -- getting to know the village and various people, with just hints of what is to come. However, they do come together in a very impressive way.

Morning, Terri.
I think I'll re-read The Various Haunts and then go on to The Pure in Heart. I remember from reading V.H.o.M. that it was all about scene-setting, but it was so well-written that I loved it--enough to immediately get the second one. Life and other books intervened, so I'll refresh my memory and then move on to #2. That's what's so convenient about the e-readers: you can store so many books in such a very small space, ready and waiting for you when you return, no matter how long it takes you,

Life and other books intervened,
Gail, isn't that the way it often goes?
Yes, e-readers are certainly convenient!

I read a Civil War spy bio too, i was also a woman but she was spying for the South!

Cheli, was the book good? If so, what book was it?

I have been slow with ROOTs this month -- and with reading in general. It's already the 10th of the month, and I've only finished two books -- and only one ROOT. I am close to finishing one, and probably will sometime today.

No need to feel bad about that. I've only finished 1 book so far! So you are ahead of me.

I've only finished two also. It's the February Sluggishness I suppose.

Well, Connie and Mary Ann, I did finally make it through another ROOT!!! :)

ROOT #7
Title: Blood is the Sky
Author: Steve Hamilton
Genre or subject information: search for the missing brother of a friend
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2003
Series?: Alex McKnight #5
Date finished: 2/10/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 3.8 stars
Notes:

Who says that the rank amateurs in cozy mysteries are the only mystery characters who do really dumb things? Retired Detroit cop and supposedly retired PI Alex McKnight has the training and experience of a veteran investigator, and ought to know better than to do some of the things he does. But he just can't leave things alone. When his friend Vinny asks him to help find his missing brother, who failed to return from a hunting trip in the wilds of Canada, Alex heads north with him to investigate. And even when the Ontario Provincial Police tell him to go home and STAY on his side of the bridge, he just has to check one more thing . . . the result is a nail-biting adventure for the reader . . . and occasional moments when I wanted to tear my hair out.

This books has enough action and twists and turns to satisfy an adrenaline junkie, but also some thought-provoking moments. The suspense is multiplied by the fact that Hamilton rarely provides "neat," happy endings. There is a darkness in these books, a messiness that mirrors much of the way things are in real life. One can count on Alex to live to face another mystery, because there's a next book in the series -- but, otherwise, all bets are off as to how things will turn out.

Ooh, sounds like a riveting story! Congrats on another ROOT!

Good for you, Terri!

I have been slow with ROOTs this month -- and with reading in general. It's already the 10th of the month, and I've only finished two books -- and only one ROOT

Same here! But I only just started my next one today, and it's a library book to boot! Oh well. I was far enough ahead last month and have enough time left that I should still wind up only just on track this time, lol.

Thanks, Mary Ann and Connie!

Monkey, I'm kind of tied up with library materials, too. I have a non-fiction ROOT to start, planned for the GeoCAT in the category challenge group. But I also have library materials I need to get through, and for some reason none of them are drawing me in so that I get them out of the way and get back to the ROOTs! But they're not bad enough to abandon, either.

Regarding your sluggish library books, somebody here was talking about a reading 'rule'...something about 100. It had a clever title, but I can't remember that, or who to credit with the discussion of it.

But the gist of it was to take 100 and subtract your age. The number remaining is how many pages to invest i a book before, if it's not capturing your attention, giving it up. So, I'm 48, and I read 52 pages and if I still don't like it, I move on without a qualm.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it in case you missed it in whatever thread it was in. It's a cool idea, though I admit I do wonder if it's just that 52 is a really good number of pages to try. It's far enough in that if the story isn't working, it's probably never going to work. And yet it's also far enough in that I feel I really did try. AND, it's far enough in that so far I've decided to just keep reading rather than waste those fifty pages, lol.

Mary Ann, it's the "Pearl Rule" created by literary critic Nancy Pearl.

I wouldn't consider "Pearl-ruling" any of my current crop of library books. They're good enough books, it's more a matter my moods and of circumstances, format, and trying to read too many things at a time. They include an e-book and an audio book, and I have particular situations when I tend to use those formats. I really think that's the biggest issue. And the books are having to compete with the Olympics (and, earlier this week, the Westiminster Dog Show) for my attention.

(Laughing at myself) When I read the original post about the rule, I thought it was the invention of someone in the group. Had no idea it's an Official rule from a literary critic!

I know what you mean about the moods and format. And it's hard when there's so much else going on!

Well, I wouldn't call it "official," Mary Ann! But it seems helpful for folks who get a book they really don't like, but who have a hard time not finishing every book they start.

I didn't have a clue when I first saw people referring the the Pearl Rule. Eventually someone posted a pretty good explanation.

I did some Google research, and here is Pearl's own explanation of how the rule came to be:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/nancy-pearls-rule-of-50-for-...

Ooh good rule... I usually give a book an initial 20'ish pages... That's to decide if I'm even going to invest (ie, if it's in my house, chances are, I've invested :)). But if I've actually started reading it, I tend to give it at least. 100 pages... Bc I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to "miss out". ;). It is HARD for me to put down a book once I've stared reading it, but it h as been known to happen, and although I occasionally wonder if I should go back, on the whole, I'm glad for the decision ;)

I like that rule too! And since I'm 60, I 'only' have to read 40 pages before deciding to give up on a book.

Ava and Connie, I generally have a hard time giving up on books, though lately I've put down a few. Often, I just decide it's the wrong time and I'll try it again when in a different mood. But there are some that I just decide to pitch! I had it happen with an ER book once, and felt so guilty . . . I just gave it an honest review saying that I disliked it so much, I couldn't stand to read the whole thing!

Life is too short and the TBR list too long to be wasting time reading books one doesn't enjoy.

>63 by avanders, I agree, I could never put down a book so soon, unless I was just absolutely hating every moment of it—and I could count the number of times on one hand and still have a couple fingers to spare that that has ever happened. I just don't think 50pgs is nearly enough, sometimes things just aren't as gripping yet, it's really early in! I think maybe a percentage would be better, like, if the book is only 200pgs, alright, fine, by p50 I suppose you could possibly tell. But not if it's 300, or especially 500, etc! So, I think at least 25% is needed to form a real opinion, unless you are simply miserable, in which case there should be no "rule" aside of -I am hating every moment so why continue?- and that's that.

I partly agree, PMM, I used to finish all books I started, but lately I feel that there is not enough time left to read al my books. I used the 50 pages rule for a time. I think in some cases I can tell very early on if I like it or not. It may be too gross or the humor is not my style. Or the writing style is not for me. But I think everybody has his or her own rules and if it works, it works!

Although my Pearl Number is an amazingly low 35 (and so how did that happen?), I usually give a book 50 pages--100 if it's quite long. However, there have been mysteries (and a few very violent books) where 35 pages is more than enough to know that the book isn't for me.

I'm sure it's my mood, but I had to put down John Banville's The Sea. It just didn't work for me. But it might work this summer or next year.

I always thought the "Pearl" rule was 50 pages and I usually give a book at least that. I too have decided that life's too short and there are too many books waiting to be read that I'd enjoy to keep reading when I'm not. I used to press on and finish everything, but no longer. I still feel a little bit guilty, I'll admit. but I can see reading more if the book is longer.

Hi, Monkey, Connie, Gail, and Betty! I think the issue of if/when to abandon books is one where each reader has his or her own approach -- and that approach often changes over time, too.

>62 tymfos: Thanks for that link, Terri. It was a good article, and it leaves me with only one (unanswerable) question: How do I get my own action figure? I'm reading This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. I will laugh out loud if I get to a chapter in which Nancy Pearl, the Pearl Rule, and the fact that she has her own action figure is discussed.

At 8:34 this morning I was shrieking with delighted amazement as I read, "I've got a librarian action figure on my desk, modeled on the charming real librarian Nancy Pearl, who thought up the idea of a whole town reading the same book and who wrote the bestseller Book Lust. When you press her back, she lifts her finger to her mouth, the old-fashioned signal authority figures use to say 'Shut up!'"

It would not have surprised me to read about Nancy Pearl in This Book is Overdue, but to read it within twelve hours of wondering if I would???

Mary Ann, that's priceless! (And I want one of those librarian action figures!)

ROOT book #8
Title: Faith Under Fire: An Army Chaplain's Memoir
Author: Roger Benimoff with Eve Conant
Genre or subject information: memoir of Chaplain who served 2 tours in Iraq and came home with PTSD
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2009
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 2/17/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 3.9 stars
Notes:

Roger Benimoff spent much of his life in the military: first as an Army fuel specialist, then in the Reserves while studying for the ministry, and finally re-enlisting for full-time service as a Military Chaplain doing two tours of duty in Iraq and then serving as a Chaplain at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"Chaplain, who's your chaplain?" an officer once asked Benimoff. It's a good question -- those charged with supporting the troops often seem to get precious little support themselves. Benimoff weathered his tours of duty well, running on adrenaline. But his return home was marred by the classic symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the result of the carnage he witnessed, his sense of failure at not being able to do more to help those in his charge, some very "close calls" with death, and the weakening of his faith in the face of the horrors of war. Perhaps his case was even more complicated by the fact that he felt he had no right to have PTSD -- after all, he hadn't been wounded in battle, at least not physically.

Benimoff, with the help of Newsweek journalist Eve Conant, tells his story, including passages from the journal he kept during and after his second deployment. I found it a very insightful and moving look at war, the scars it leaves, and the questions it raises for people of faith.

I'll bet you will see the name again in a short while! You know: All things come in threes ;-))

All I can say is, it was pretty eerie seeing it this morning. It would really be weird if it pops up again!

Regarding Faith Under Fire I certainly hope the chaplain is doing better now. Hopefully, it will help in many different ways that he wrote his story, for himself, and to let others know some thoughts about war they may have been able to avoid knowing.

Faith Under Fire sounds really interesting, and yes I definitely hope that he has received some help himself now, or at the very least that his being able to write this book to tell about it all has helped to lift his burden.

Yes, Mary Ann and Monkey -- he actually spent time as an impatient at the same facility where, before his deployment, he had been trained in the care of those with PTSD.

I am glad the facility was able to be there for him, the way he was there for others. :)

Good to hear!

It is a good thing, Mary Ann and Monkey!

Well, I finished another ROOT:

ROOT Book #9
Title: Real Men Work in the Pits
Author: Jeff Hammond
Genre or subject information: non-fiction; NASCAR
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2005
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 2/22/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 3.9 stars
Notes:

Every year during Daytona Speed Weeks, I read a NASCAR-themed book. This year it's Real Men Work in the Pits: A Life in NASCAR Racing by Jeff Hammond. One I got past the sexist title (and, to be fair, he speaks favorably of women who have entered NASCAR) I've really been enjoying this book. Hammond was a crew chief working with some of the more colorful characters of NASCAR -- the great Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough, and Darryl Waltrip. He's now a TV NASCAR commentator. The book is full of NASCAR history and anecdotes, recounted with good humor and apparent honesty.

My one question is that he mentioned working with Kenny Wallace toward the end of his work in the pits, but he really didn't say anything about that short stint, other than that it happened. I'd like to know why -- Kenny is another pretty colorful character.

Interesting that you read a NASCAR-themed book every year! What has been your favorite so far?

I think my favorite among the non-fiction -- at least for sheer fun -- may have been He Crashed Me, So I Crashed Him Back by Mark Bechtel. I actually got that one through LT Early Reviewers.

My favorite NASCAR-themed novel is St. Dale by Sharyn McCrumb. The story is accessible to anyone, NASCAR fan or not, but she slips in these humorous little "insider" comments that the true NASCAR fan (like me) can catch and appreciate (while other readers just wouldn't notice them).

Thanks! I never even realized there were NASCAR-themed books... enough to read a new one each year! But it makes sense given how many fans there are!

>83 avanders: We're in the era of publishing where, for better or worse, anything that has an audience, has books about it. Heh.

As it should be! In the case of NASCAR there is a lot of fascinating history and it is a cultural phenomena with deep roots. Why wouldn't there be books about it, and novels with characters who love the sport - including literary efforts like McCrumb's? There have always been books about baseball and football, including some considered classics.

true to both!
I'm glad that when I go on a vacation, I can *almost* always find some murder mystery set in that location... spices up the vacation ;)

Oh, that's a favorite thing for me -- to read books set in the places that I visit!

And sometimes I go visit places I've learned about through books!

If I find a book by an unknown (to me) author sometimes the place where it is set is the deciding factor as to whether I will buy the book. I love to be able to remember being in a place when I am reading about it in a book.

Absolutely! That's part of why I like Steve Hamilton's Alex McKnight series so much. I tried them because I loved that part of the UP of Michigan where it is set.

>87 tymfos:-89 - Glad to hear it's not just me ;) I've definitely liked a book more because of the location's familiarity... I loved The Charles Dickens Murders because it was set on my undergrad-college campus :)

Familiarity of location is a good reason to buy a book but I have also been known to buy books when they are set in locations that I am going to visit, especially if I haven't been there before.

Oh, yes, it works that way too. And it's really neat to read about a place while visiting. I was reading one of Laura Lippman's Tess Monaghan novels while visiting Baltimore, and it was really fun to see the locations I was reading about!

That would be good. You could read about it and then go and explore the area. I will have to try that.

>91 Familyhistorian: and 92 - definitely agreed!

Southern Lady, Yankee Spy sounds quite interesting, definitely going on my list.

>93 Familyhistorian: Meg, give it a shot. It's fun!

>94 avanders: Hi, avanders!

>95 mabith: It was very interesting, Meredith.

I finally finished a book -- my first book of any kind completed this month -- and it's a ROOT. Actually, sort of a semi-ROOT but under my rules it counts.

ROOT Book #10
Title: Pardonable Lies
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Genre or subject information: Historical Mystery
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2005
Series?: Maisie Dobbs #3
Date finished: 3/9/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 4 stars
Notes:

There were several interesting cases intertwined in this book, all with some sort of greater societal or political issues of significance. But all the mysteries in this book took a backseat to the powerful account of Maisie facing her traumatic past as a nurse in WWI.

Maisie takes on two cases involving service men lost during WWI, and the attitudes of those seeking answers couldn't be more different. There is also a case, in consultation with the police, of a 13-year-old girl accused of murder. The coincidences test my ability to believe, but author Winspear confronts that head on, as Maisie sees the hand of Fate in the progress of her investigations. Her work takes her to France for the first time since her service in the war; she must face her demons.

This one started off slow for me, but near the end it had me in tears.

Hi tymfos! ;)
Also, I think the Maisie Dobbs books were some of my husband's dad's favorites... Looking forward to checking one of them out one of these days :)

>97 avanders: Ava, I hope you enjoy it when you get to it!

ROOT #11
Title: I Was Right On Time
Author: Buck O'Neil with Steve Wulf & David Conrads
Genre or subject information: Non-fiction memoir
Copyright/Year of original publication: 1996
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 3/16/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Notes:

Buck O'Neil, who died in 2006, was a player and later a manager of the Kansas City Monarchs in Negro League Baseball, which flourished in the years before the "major leagues" were integrated. Later, he was a scout for the Chicago Cubs -- he coached briefly, the first African American to do so in MLB -- and later yet, was a scout for the Kansas City Royals. He gained a renewed recognition when Ken Burns featured interviews with him in his epic "Baseball" mini-series production.

I struggle with how to rate this. O'Neal was a most likable person, and this is reasonably well written in a conversational style, which frequently rambles a bit -- bringing things up almost stream-of-consciousness and then saying, "But I'm getting ahead of myself" or "more about that later." He has maintained a mostly upbeat outlook on life, as evidenced by the title. At first, I got the feeling he seemed almost too accepting of the injustices that he'd experienced and witnessed. That sense faded as the book went on, and the book benefited from the honesty. It was an informative and thought-provoking book by a very impressive man about his life and and the people he worked with.

OK, so far this year I've read 11 ROOTS -- and I've acquired 18 books, one way or another, with five more on the way. Somehow, I don't seem to be making the TBR pile any smaller.

ha... I have the same problem ;)
But the self-imposed rule is now, if it can fit on my shelves, it's ok.
if not, well then we'll have to re-look at that rule ;)

Congrats on ROOT 11!

> 101 Who doesn't?

and 11 is very good!!

> 100 My numbers are almost identical, but I'm trying to focus on the positive: I don't think I'm buying / getting more books than usual - but I'm definitely reading more of them.

These last several posts make me think of Fillmore, the sea turtle in Jim Toomey's Sherman (the shark) comics. One day Fillmore finishes his book, closes it, and says, "That's it. I've read all the books." Because he has. Read them ALL. Including the booklet that came with the VCR Sherman bought two years ago (or something like that).

I'm glad I'm not Fillmore.

>101 avanders: if it can fit on my shelves, it's ok.
Good argument for buying more shelves!

>102 connie53: Common problem here, Connie . . .

>103 Henrik_Madsen: I don't think I'm buying / getting more books than usual - but I'm definitely reading more of them.
I like that positive approach!

>104 Merryann: I'm glad I'm not Filmore too, Mary Ann!

TECH QUESTION: Somehow, when I copied that phrase from Message 101 and tried to paste it, I managed to permanently highlight it in orange (at least on my screen) in the original message. What did I do? Is there a way to undo it?

eta to add OK, when I went out of the thread and went back in, the highlighting was gone -- whatever it was!

>105 tymfos: lol, true, true... :)

>105 tymfos: The orange monster at work!!

>106 avanders: unfortunately I'm out of places to put shelves!

>107 connie53: not sure what it was, but it's gone.

I read The Summer Camp Mystery for a juvenile mystery theme on another challenge group. That is my third root for the month, #12 for the year.

>108 tymfos: I know that feeling... not enough places for all the books! :)

Congrats on your newly pulled ROOT!

How are things, Terri?

>110 avanders: I think most of us here on LT know that feeling, Ava! Thanks!

>111 connie53: Good, Connie! I just finished a really great ROOT, I'll be posting shortly. How are you?

Today I set up our library's display for Autism Awareness Month. I am donating this book to the library & plan to display it prominently, because I want people to read it!

75 Challenge Book #25
Title: Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism
Author: Paul Collins
Genre or subject information: non-fiction, book about autism from various angles
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2004
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 4/8/14
Off the Shelf? yes
My Rating: 5 glorious stars
Notes:

This was a wonderful book. This was a fabulous book. This may be the best book I've ever read about autism, with the exception of Temple Grandin's Thinking in Pictures.

Paul Collins is an historian. He is also the father of a son with autism. This book is hard to describe. It combines history (people of the past with autism and those who dealt with/reacted to them), and a memoir of his experience of life with his young son with autism, and some modern-day developments in dealing with autism. It is well-written and engaging. There were moments when I laughed out loud -- not so much that the material was funny, but simply out of RECOGNITION, because I'd lived the experience with my son and it was so good to see someone putting a loving spin on what so many people recount with gloom.

So many autism memoirs make me sad because I relive unhappy times, or wish I'd done things differently. This one reminded me why I love my son so much, and made me better appreciate the special view he has of life.

Enthusiastically recommended to anyone even remotely interested in the topic of Autism!!!

Thanks for the recommendation... I've already passed it on! :)

You're welcome, ava!

> thanks Terri. I'm just fine. I spend the weekend with my best friend Vera and just got home a few hours ago. I really like being with her, going shopping and out for dinner. But no reading at all. We just talk all day (and most of the night)

Glad you had a good time, Connie!

I finished a ROOT:

ROOT Book #14
Title: Where's Your Jesus Now?: Examining How Fear Erodes Our Faith
Author: Karen Spears Zacharias
Genre or subject information: Religion/Spirituality
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2008
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 4/15/14
Off the Shelf? YES
My Rating: unsure
Notes:

I have really mixed feelings about this one. I agree with most of her basic themes
1) that fear is rampant in our world, and that this fear undermines faith.
2) That fear-mongering is a way of life in our society
3) that too much fear is peddled in the name of God (hellfire & brimstone, natural disasters as "God's punishment," etc.)
4) that the prevailing fear among many Christians of those they perceive as being not like themselves -- an "us vs. them" mentality toward Muslims, homosexuals, "liberals" -- stands in the way of obedience to the command to love neighbor as self
5) that God is a God of love and grace who is with us in our trials and troubles, not a "Gotcha!" God looking to trip us up

There's more, and a lot of it is good. Unfortunately, Zacharias falls into some of the very pitfalls she warns us about. Mind you, I'm pretty much a liberal, but I can see that she's guilty of judging conservatives in the same way that the conservatives she's bashing are judging the liberals. I've notice that this is a common failing on both sides of the political divide. (A pastor I know once admitted, "I judge the judgmental people; that's my own sin.) I'm not a Dick Cheney fan, but seeing him lumped with Hitler and Stalin in one sentence was eyebrow-raising, to say the least.

I liked many of the examples she used. The title of the book is an over-arching example within the book -- the mother, held hostage at gunpoint by her religiously deranged son, who was asked by him, "Where's your Jesus now?" to which she replied, "He's right here." Some would be funny if they weren't so sad: the owner of ArmageddonBooks.com, who watches the news to gauge likely demand for his literature. "If things are bad for Israel, business is good. But if there is peace in the Middle East, I'm in trouble."

In all, there was a lot that was worthwhile, but the author got in her own way with a bit too much of a judgmental attitude toward those with whom she disagreed.

>117 tymfos:, "(A pastor I know once admitted, "I judge the judgmental people; that's my own sin.)"

I like that sentence. Something for me to keep in mind.

>118 Merryann: I heard that comment almost 30 years ago, and it has stuck with me!

>117 tymfos: Interesting, thanks! I like this comment and find it common among most people who talk about religious folk or non-religious folk alike: "I can see that she's guilty of judging conservatives in the same way that the conservatives she's bashing are judging the liberals"

Nice that other people notice that too ;)
(I'm a bit of a judger of judges myself, and have worked hard to reduce it!)

ROOT book #15
Title: Jazz
Author: Toni Morrison
Genre or subject information: literary fiction
Copyright/Year of original publication: 1992
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 4/18/14
Off the Shelf? YES
My Rating: I don't know how to rate this; it was brilliantly written, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped
Notes:

Toni Morrison has an amazing way with words, with metaphor, with imagery . . . her writing is so original and creative, it's hard to say anything bad about it. I just had difficulty getting into the story . . . actually, I liked it much better when I was finished than I did partway through, especially when I was reading the section about Golden Gray (what a name!). I think it was Lori who said this is a book that really needs to be discussed or re-read to fully appreciate, and I would agree. I'd also agree with her that I'm not sure I liked it enough to do that. Maybe someday.

>120 avanders: (I'm a bit of a judger of judges myself, and have worked hard to reduce it!)

Me, too. I'm very intolerant of intolerance . . . ;)

Seriously, it's hard to know where one draws the proper line between having an opinion and expressing it, and being judgmental. I fear many (most) people are intolerant of opinions that differ from their own. There are certainly legitimate reasons to express concern if you feel someone is behaving or speaking in an unhelpful way -- especially if someone is behaving in a way that contradicts what they profess to believe. I agree with Zacharias that a very central part of Christianity is the command to love neighbor, and the need to not be self-righteous; and that a lot of Christians behave in ways that are very contradictory to those values. How to express that in a way that is loving and non-inflammatory is the issue for me. Does that make any sense?

It's noteworthy that I had no issue whatsoever with Zacharias speaking harshly about the "Westboro Baptist Church" -- the folks who picket military funerals with anti-gay slogans. Their hateful actions are such that I refuse to refer to them as a "church" without quotation marks, since I find the idea of people saying that "God hates (anyone)" totally out of line for anyone claiming to be a Christian of any kind. OK, I'm being judgmental, I admit it, but that's one I can't help.

yes - makes sense... especially because most people aren't really open to third-party, uninvited "correction" these days (any days?).. Even if they hold themselves out as Christians, if you correct in the way the Bible instructs, most people do not respond openly..

And, of course, nothing in the Bible says "condemn everyone who has a more difficult time w/ something than you do." (and quite a bit says the opposite)
Judgement is even "one of those things".... it seems to be significantly easier for me to not judge (except for judging the judgers ;)) than it is for others... so is it fair for me to jump down their throats for their judgment? What about the things that I have difficulty with? How would I feel if everyone attacked me because I'm not as good at, e.g., self-restraint than they are? or, whatever the thing is....

yeah. it's a tough line...

And I think that's right.. God loves us all equally. Ya know what they say -- hate the sin, love the sinner ;)

Ya know what they say -- hate the sin, love the sinner ;)

And my theology says we're all sinners . . .

I keep trying to comment, because this conversation is interesting, but everything keeps coming out wrong. So, now I'm just going to say, this is an interesting conversation. There. :)

Glad you're finding it interesting, Mary Ann!

>124 tymfos: yes! I agree; left that part out ;)

>125 Merryann: lol -- I know the feeling! Sometimes I write, erase, think, write, erase, think..... ;)

Good morning to you, Terri, and wishing you a happy week.

>122 tymfos: Boy, ain't that the truth? I'm trying to curb what I say and my initial reaction to some things, as I tend to make snap assessments and then feel compelled to share them. Obviously this is counterproductive in interpersonal relationships. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes not so much. On the other hand, I've been quietly but very firmly taken to task for being judgemental in a book review, which I thought was one of the underlying purposes of reviews.

Anyway, I'm in complete agreement with >125 Merryann: and >127 avanders: ; trying to avoid foot-in-mouth disease when posting can be tricky!

Yesterday I listened to an interesting talk about love, and I decided to love everyone today, all day. Not just family, friends, and acquaintances. Everyone. People I passed in other cars, other shoppers in stores, everyone. It was interesting. Lots of people smiled at me (I smiled at lots of people). The only downside: I was dismayed to find how often I had to turn my thoughts and/or words from negative ones to loving ones. It was hard to stop the internal judging and critical thinking; hard, too, to stop myself from trying to justify the bad judgment I was trying to make!

And by the end of the day, now, I am really, really tired, lol. Still, I'm going to go for it again tomorrow.

Goodnight, and know I love you all, lol.

lol Mary Ann -- yes, it's hard to stay positive in the world sometimes!
(I tried to do a heart symbol, but forgot that the open carrot expects html code and a closed carrot ;))

Thank you, Ava. I see the heart, invisible though it is. :)

>129 Merryann: I do that too! Not today specifically, but when I think of it. Every morning when I ride my bike to school (a two way bikepath), I smile to the people that I meet or I greet them. And they always smile back or say good morning. There is this man (big, sturdy, bikerjack, bald) with an enormous dog. At first I was a bit afraid of him, but then I thought: "what am I thinking about this man. He may be the friendliest man alive, he just looks unapproachable!" and I started to say: Good morning. And now we smile and greet each other.

>125 Merryann: >127 avanders: I do the write/erase/write/edit /erase/write/erase all the time. :)

>128 Matke: Gail, I do believe that one is supposed to express some judgment in a book review! And I am prone to foot-in-mouth ailment in all modes of communication.

>129 Merryann: I love that idea, Mary Ann! I do try to spread sunshine, but the negative does tend to creep in.

>130 avanders: html does have its limits, Ava!

>131 Merryann: I think our group has a lot of heart!

>132 connie53: I like that where I live, I can usually get a good response if I smile and say good morning on the street. However, when I lived in Philadelphia, strangers I said hello to used to look at me like they suspected I was an ax murderer or something.

Just don't let the negative win!!! Beat it!

>132 connie53: That is a wonderful story, Connie! It makes me think of a children's book I read...can't remember the name, and of course the book is packed in a box somewhere, grrr. The story was about a boy who is afraid to go to his friend Josh's house, because Josh's father is so big and scary looking. At the end, he finds, of course, that the very large, very scary dad is very nice.

I had a built-in image of the man with the dog looking like the pictures of Josh's scary dad, lol.

>133 tymfos:, I know what you mean! In Milwaukee everyone talked to everyone all the time. If you were in line at a store, you passed the time chatting with others in line. When I first moved to Atlanta? No! People looked at me like I was crazy and edged away. Either it's more relaxed in the south-of-Atlanta town I live in now, or I've gotten better at starting short conversations, because talking with others seems easier now.

>134 connie53: Yes, Connie! (ROOT for the positive? ;-)

>135 Merryann: Mary Ann, my guess is that your town is more relaxed than Atlanta, though your conversation-starting skills may be improving, too. The one time I visited Atlanta, I did not find it very relaxed or friendly. It had that "big city vibe" like Philadelphia, of being very wary of strangers. Smaller towns seem to be more open and friendly -- it's a stereotype, but it's been my experience, too. Milwaukee is a big city, too, but Wisconsin and Minnesota are states that seem to be famous for friendliness. Something about that part of the country?

I'm reading a lot of library books, but I am working on my fourth ROOT of the month, which I should easily finish and will keep me on pace toward my goal.

ROOT book #16
Title: Not Flesh Nor Feathers
Author: Cheri Priest
Genre or subject information: Zombies invade Chattanooga!
Copyright/Year of original publication:
Series?: Eden Moore series, #3
Date finished: 4-24-14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Notes:

OK, this book wasn't very plausible. As the author admitted in her note, "This is a work of fiction, which probably dawned on you at some point before you met the homicidal zombies." She took some liberties with timeline and geography, and just the basic mechanics of how things might work -- besides which, there were the zombies.

Her first concern was that people not see it and relate it to Hurricane Katrina. As she pointed out, the novel premise was "sold" before that disaster happened, and Chattanooga is a very different city than New Orleans. However, it is about a flood that strikes a southern city, and she knew people would make a mental connection. She wants to make it clear that this story is not about that. Not at all.

What it is about is dirty secrets buried and uncovered and buried again -- but which won't stay buried. It's about a flood that unleashes a supernatural evil on a city, rooted in the city's history. It's about a woman who sees dead people, and really wishes she didn't.

The story isn't very "plausible" but it's a pretty decent yarn. I think I like it as much or better than the other installments of the series.

Hi, Terri! You've had some good reads! I've put Not Even Wrong on my list to read.

>138 tloeffler: Hi, Terri! I hope you like it.

ROOT Book #17
Title: Dead Wood e-book
Author: Dani Amore
Genre or subject information: Mystery fiction
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2011
Series?: John Rockne #1 (but there's no #2 yet!)
Date finished: 5/3/14
Off the Shelf? Yes (virtual)
My Rating: 3.4 stars
Notes:

I didn't expect a lot out of this little mystery, which I got free or for 99 cents a while back. I'd never heard of the author, and I see her profile has been removed from LT, though her author page still lists her as an LT author. (I bet she was spamming -- seems most obvious reason for her account to have been shut down.)

Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. No, it's not great literature, but it had a likable protagonist. John Rockne is an ex-cop private-eye whose sibling is a police chief. I enjoyed the humor. Some of the characters were a little shallow, and maybe some of it was a bit implausible. As is often the case in mysteries, the protagonist took too many chances. And a few plot elements didn't quite hang together nor make sense to me. So I'm not quite sure why I gave it 3.4 stars, but overall I enjoyed it and laughed out loud on a few occasions.

ROOT book #18
Title: Foolish Undertaking
Author: Mark de Castrique
Genre or subject information: mystery fiction
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2006
Series?: Buryin' Barry #3
Date finished: 5-5-14
Off the Shelf? YES!
My Rating: 3.9 stars
Notes:

I stayed up LATE to finish yet another great mystery from Mark de Castrique. I'm not sure which series I enjoy most -- this Buryin' Barry series, or his current Sam Blackman series -- but they are both very enjoyable.

Barry Clayton is an ex-cop who returned to his hometown in the mountains of North Carolina to take up the family undertaking business when his father was stricken with Alzheimers. But he keeps winding up in the middle of mysteries. In this installment, he is assaulted when a body is stolen from his funeral home. The deceased is a Montagnard who was deeply loved by Vietnam veterans (including the local sheriff) for his courage in rescuing Americans in peril during the war. Why was his body stolen?

Those who assemble for the now-postponed funeral include a Boston detective, an Army general and his aide, a US Senator and his aide, a Hollywood actor, a slew of Vietnam Veterans, and a gathering of Montagnards who had resettled in the US.

de Castrique makes it clear in his preface that part of his motivation in writing this particular story is to draw attention to the fate of the Montagnards, the indigenous people of the Vietnam Central Highlands who showed astounding loyalty and courage in aiding American troops. Some were resettled here in the U.S., but since the American withdrawal those remaining have suffered constant persecution by the government of Vietnam. I was not familiar with this aspect of the Vietnam War until I read this book, so it provided a bit of an education in the process of a very enjoyable mystery.

ROOT #19
Title: Operating Instructions
Author: Anne Lamott
Genre or subject information: published journal entries
Copyright/Year of original publication: 1993
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 5/14/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
Category for 2014 Category Challenge: Have a Little Faith
How does it fit the category? (if not obvious): With Lamott, there's always a strong faith angle, even if that's not the stated subject
Alternate category
My Rating: 3.75 stars
Notes:

Anne Lamott kept a journal during her son Sam's first year of life, and apparently her agent convinced her to type it up and publish it. I'm glad it was published. Lamott is more honest than most mothers would be about the thoughts that occur to a sleep-deprived mother. At times this was laugh-out-loud funny (and I laughed), at times poignant, at times uplifting, and at times painfully sad. The political rants, always a staple in the books I've read by Lamott, weren't too wild. Generally, I cringe at political rants on either end of the spectrum because I don't like being preached to when I read (even when I agree), but hey it was her journal this time.

Sounds interesting... I agree that being preached to when reading is annoying (and, in my opinion, a sign of a lazy writer).. but I also agree that it's her journal, so "have at it, hoss" :)

>143 avanders: Hi, Ava!

I finished my 20th ROOT, out of 40 books total so far this year. I think that's a good percentage for me.

ROOT book #20
Title: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Author: Donald Miller
Genre or subject information: memoir & spirituality
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2009
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 5/21/14
Off the Shelf? yes
My Rating: 4 stars
Notes:

We all love stories, don't we? Every life is a story, and part of a bigger Story. While working with screenwriters to adapt his earlier memoir to a screenplay, Donald Miller learned a lot about stories. And he began to look at the story of his life, and imagine that it could be a better story.

This book was very different from the earlier book I read by Miller, Blue Like Jazz. There's some of the same whimsy and irreverent reverence, but he's older, more mature, and writing of a somewhat later period of his life. There is more of an overall arc -- a single story -- and an overarching philosophy (or theology) developed over the course of the narrative.

Miller writes from a Christian perspective, but much of what he writes is more general -- about life well-lived. I really liked this book, and it gave me a lot to think about.

I have Blue Like Jazz somewhere in my TBR pile and remember your review made me think I should move it up, but I haven't gotten to it yet. Oh well - there's always next year.

>144 tymfos: Hi Terri! :)
Another interesting-sounding book...

Half way and it's only May! Good job, Terri.

>145 dudes22: Betty, I liked that one, but this later one seemed better for me.

>146 avanders: hi again, Ava! It made me think.

>147 connie53: Not halfway for this challenge, Connie. I wasn't clear about that, I guess. My goal here is 48, so I'm 5/12 of the way through, right on track. But I've read 40 books this year and 20 of them - half - were ROOTs, which is a high percentage for me, given that I work in a public library!

>148 tymfos: I misunderstood that one, Terri. I guess I should have read your first post first! But you're on track! That's good too.

>149 connie53: No, really, I wasn't very clear, Connie.

My ROOTs status report:

I've finished two novels out of a big volume of Five Complete Novels by Dashiell Hammett. Since we're a books off the shelf group, I'm going to wait until the entire volume is done before I count it. In my other challenges, I'm counting the individual novels as I finish them.

I'm counting e-books I've owned since last year as ROOTs, so my current e-book, The Stranger You Seek will count when I get it done. I'm not sure when that will be, as I'm not thrilled with it. My current paperback, Eggsecutive Orders, is owned, but newer than I'm counting as ROOTs this year, so it won't count toward this challenge. My current audio, Any Other Name by Craig Johnson, is a library loan -- no ROOT there, either.

Unless I finish the e-book by the end of the week, my ROOTs will stay at 4 for the month.

And I finished the e-book! So this is #5 ROOT for May.

ROOT book #21
Title: The Stranger You Seek e-book
Author: Amanda Kyle Williams
Genre or subject information: forensic mystery
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2011
Series?: Keye Street #1
Date finished: 5/28/14
Off the Shelf? Yes (virtual bookshelf)
My Rating:3.6 stars
Notes:

Keye Street is an interesting character. She's a recovering alcoholic, a former FBI criminal profiler who was fired due to her drinking problem. She's dried out and started her own detective agency in Atlanta, near where she grew up. She's Asian-American by birth, raised by adoptive white southern parents with an adopted African-American brother who happens to be gay. The family dynamics are interesting.

Keye is close friends with an Atlanta PD detective named Rauser, who unofficially calls upon her profiling skills when a pair of grisly murders are linked together and with two earlier murders in Florida, and the police realize that they have a serial killer on their hands. Now the killer is taunting them with letters and e-mails. What kind of person is committing these crimes?

I didn't expect a lot from this book, which I'm sure I got free or very cheaply for my e-reader; however, it was well written. I didn't like the sections that got into the mind of the killer, as they were too graphic, violent and twisted for my taste (not unusual for a forensic murder mystery). Fortunately, those passages were brief. It took a while for me to warm up to the protagonist. I gradually grew to like Keye and her detective friend Rauser. There were plenty of twists and turns as Keye is drawn further into the case by the killer, while the Atlanta PD big-wigs seek to distance her from the case due to bad press about her past.

This is one of those books that I liked better the further I read, and at the end I could hardly put it down. Early on, I wasn't sure whether to continue it and definitely didn't plan to continue the series. I'm glad I kept reading; I may decide to read more about these characters.

>150 tymfos: That's what I'm doing too, Terri. Counting an omnibus with three books as one ROOT. Because that's the way I have my books listen in my library. I never thought about counting the individual books for my list. I'm going to do that now!!!

Great idea.

edit: GR and LT do not let me count this as three books! GRRRRRR.

Connie, I'm just talking about how I list books in the threads, so there's no issue involved in how LT "lets" me count it. I type what I please on my list for each thread. (There are records for each individual novel in LT, so there are individual touchstones for each novel when I type the title.) I list the individual novels in my 75 thread because each was published as a novel in its own right and is rightly considered a work completed; but for ROOTs, I'll wait and list the book as a whole only once when I finish all five stories, because this challenge is about clearing entire books off the shelf. As for cataloging, I have it cataloged as one book, the volume as it sits on the shelf containing 5 novels. I really don't care about LT's automatic stats, how it counts the books I have cataloged.

>152 connie53: what if you search for a different version/edition of the book, does that help?

I've been rooting through my books that I've read, weeding my overflowing shelves. My son is finally parting with some of the books he's outgrown, passing things on to be enjoyed by other readers.

I'm just wondering how long it will be before one of us regrets something we've given away.

In my experience, my regret has always been short-lived. Whether it was a favorite series read as a kid or an as-yet-unread book that I had to get rid of in one of our (many) moves.... there've been regrets, but then I move on pretty quickly. Particularly w/ all the library book sales and used bookstores at my disposal...

so perhaps you'll find a regret, but hopefully it will be short-lived!

I have numerous regrets about favorite children's books that went missing when we moved (my mum always relented if we said we couldn't get rid of a book and I repaid that by taking them all with me when I moved out, something my older siblings hadn't been willing to do), but it's fine as long as I can buy another copy. Some are hard to find and expensive online though. One was pricey enough I had a boyfriend buy me a copy for my birthday, as I couldn't justify spending $35 on a picture book (it was Gator Pie).

Ah, yes, the hard-to-finds.... :,{

>154 avanders: Yes, it does help and I did ad the individual ones to my read list and the omnibuses to my ROOT list that way.

>156 avanders: >157 mabith: Ava and Meredith, I'm making sure I don't part with the irreplaceable items. I have a couple of signed first editions by favorite authors which I'll hang onto no matter what. So far, no regrets about the five bags of books we parted with over the past two weeks. And I have another $30 in credit at the paperback exchange for the ones that went there!

I will add that I have a harder time parting with non-fiction, because I always think I may want to refer back to the books for some fact or another.

>159 connie53: Hi, Connie! Glad you got that to work.

I finished my first true ROOT for June:

ROOT book #22
Title: Q Road
Author: Bonnie Jo Campbell
Genre or subject information: literary fiction
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2002
Series?: is related to her later book Once Upon a River through references to character Margo Crane
Date finished: 6-8-14
Off the Shelf? Yes!
My Rating: 3.8 stars
Notes:

I met Bonnie Jo Campbell at a book signing, where I bought this book. (She happened to be at a bookstore in Traverse City, Michigan, when we were vacationing in the area.) It's the first book I've read by the author. It's a tale about an odd assortment of people in an area of Michigan near Kalamazoo that's transitioning from farmland to development. I've never seen such an odd cast of characters, but Campbell drew me into the story. There is tragedy and there is humor, and there is a lot of human frailty. Even though some (most) of the characters seemed a little over-the-top, there was a lot to think about as to how real-life people behave. And she left me once again pondering the question: why do city people move to the country, presumably to get away from the city, and then set about trying to turn the country into city?

Excellent question. I love the cover of the book and will be putting this on my "in the future" list.

>162 dudes22: I think you might like it, Betty.

I went to a used book sale today, and walked away empty-handed. This is odd.

Whoa.. That's some restraint!

>164 avanders: I just didn't see anything that struck my fancy. Maybe if I'd gone the first day of the sale, before things got picked over, I would have found something, but I had to work that day.

just a case of hiahiahin (heb ik al, heb ik al, hoef ik niet = i have it, I have it, i don't want it)

>166 connie53: Yeah, something like that!

I picked up my new eyeglasses today! I think they'll make a big difference in my reading. The old ones just weren't doing the job for near vision.

>165 tymfos: ah, yeah... well that's kind of sad then :( But I suppose not adding to the TBR pile is also always a benefit ;)
>166 connie53: perfect! :)

Oh, fun! I love getting new glasses :)

I woke up during the night and couldn't sleep, so I read for a while and finished this book.

ROOT book #23
Title: The Vows of Silence
Author: Susan Hill
Genre or subject information: police procedural
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2008
Series?: Simon Serrailler #4
Date finished: 6-18-14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 3.7 stars
Notes:

A gunman is terrorizing Lafferton, and the police are on high alert. Throw in a dose of family tragedy, and Simon Serrailler has his hands full. I was a bit put off by the way author Hill made one character (the born-again Christian boy) too simplistic and stereotyped (not normally Hill's style) but overall the book caught the complexities of life and death and faith and love -- along with the nitty-gritty of solid police work -- in Hill's usual striking way.

I'm halfway to my goal! Right on schedule!

Root book #24
Title: A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy
Author: Ann Cleeves
Genre or subject information: police procedural / village mystery
Copyright/Year of original publication: 1992
Series?: Inspector Ramsay #3
Date finished: 6-20-14
Off the Shelf? Yes!
Category for 2014 Category Challenge: Have a Little Faith
How does it fit the category? (if not obvious): victim was vicar's wife
Alternate category
My Rating: 3.5 stars
Notes:

Dorothea Cassidy, the middle-aged vicar's much-younger wife, has been murdered. Everyone loved her -- well, almost everyone -- so who would want to kill her? She had interacted with a wide variety of people that day. Every Thursday was "her" day to tend to her projects. Trained as a social worker and filled with altruism, she got involved in lots of causes and cases and ruffled quite a few feathers. Which of them made someone mad enough to kill her? And what does it mean when another body is found?

This short (215 page) book was a nice nuts-and-bolts whodunit. The characters are less developed than in the more recent Shetland Island novels by the author, but the plot was clever. There were lots of possible suspects who clearly had secrets -- the question being "is it the big secret?" as in being the murderer -- and a fair number of red herrings were thrown into the mix. I did not guess whodunit until the actual moment of the arrest.

Cleeves also captures the atmosphere of the village carnival quite splendidly, and it makes a marvelous backdrop for some of the action.

I must say, the basic premise is a lot like the previous book in this series: a woman who everyone supposedly loves is murdered, but it turns out she's a bit of a busybody. Mrs. Cassidy's involvement in other people's affairs is more professional than nosy, but the same kind of dynamic appears to be in operation.

Woot! Congrats on making it halfway to your goal!

Thanks, Ava!

Two more ROOTs -- one "real" and one "virtual" -- both count.

ROOT book #25
Title: Safe from the Sea
Author: Peter Geye
Genre or subject information: literary fiction
Copyright/Year of original publication: 2010
Series?: n/a
Date finished: 6/26/14
Off the Shelf? Yes
My Rating: 4 stars
Notes:

I really liked this story about an estranged son and his dying father. The father had been one of three survivors of a terrible shipwreck on Lake Superior, and it affected him for the rest of his life.

The characters were rich and complex, and I loved the shipwreck story that loomed so large in the father's life. I might have given this another half star, but I thought the end a bit too tidy for what preceded it.

ROOT book #26
Title: Cocaine Blues e-book
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Genre or subject information: historical mystery fiction
Copyright/Year of original publication: 1989 (original Australian publication)
Series?: #1 Phrene Fisher
Date finished: 6/27/14
Off the Shelf? Yes (virtual)
My Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Notes:

Circa 1920's, worried father sends thoroughly modern Phrene Fisher to check on his daughter in Australia because he fears she's being poisoned by her husband. While there, Phrene also contends with cocaine dealers and an abortionist who kills his patients.

I thought a historical mystery set in Australia in the era of flappers would be nifty. Phrene was just not a character I could warm up to, or even believe in. She could drive like a race car driver, pilot a plane, smoke like a chimney, dressed perfectly, looked perfect (except when in disguise) with never a hair out of place even after driving an open car over the speed limit for miles . . . you get the idea. Too good to be true. I just found the whole thing very meh.

Miss Fisher is definitely not meant to be a super serious/realistic character, I think. The TV show of it (with some pretty big changes, and they actually made her older in the show, which, how often does that happen with female characters!), well, it's basically one of the greatest shows ever. I read that first book but couldn't separate from the show enough to judge it as a stand-alone book, I'd already watched the episode based on it five or six times due to showing it to people. My mom said that without seeing/hearing the characters from the TV she wasn't sure the first book would kept her interest. The show is impeccably casted and acted though, and the costume are just amazing (if you have Netflix it's on there, and if PBS aren't fools they'll be getting it).

>174 mabith: My mom said that without seeing/hearing the characters from the TV she wasn't sure the first book would kept her interest.
Interesting comment. I've never seen the TV show, and the book certainly didn't make me want to watch it. But, then, I find I'm often reluctant to watch TV shows based on books that I really like, too, because they never match up with how I mentally see the characters. This is especially true for books that I've listened to and liked as audio books.

they actually made her older in the show, which, how often does that happen with female characters!
That is really unusual! But the character's many accomplishments might make more sense in a woman with more years of life behind her.

Well, and in the show they're not mentioning all of these accomplishments in the first episode, barring the superficial things of being incredibly stylish and observant enough to be a detective. The talents come out much more slowly, rather than all in a couple episodes, and they're never quite that braggy about them in the show in terms of proficiency.

It really is one of the most perfectly acted things I have ever seen, the actors get the minute facial changes/expressions that can add so much, and if you like period mysteries I would give it a shot. It's funny and gorgeous, and honestly one of the best TV shows I have ever seen (I would compare it in quality to some of the HBO and Showtime period pieces, though with rather more humor).

I don't really picture characters physically very much, barring a few basics that the author gives me (hair and build, mostly), though I do get quite attached to the way good audiobook readers voice a character and thus can't listen to some radio adaptations of books. Those darn Harry Potter movies... Rowling describes Harry's messy hair on every page practically (or that's what it ends up feeling like) and then they cut his hair super short starting with the fourth or fifth movie? Like how basic is that given how often the author harps on it!

>176 mabith: I guess I don't picture characters physically very much, either. But I do imagine the way they talk (with help, in the case of a good audiobook) and some basic traits like age and body build and just a sense of what they are like.

Well, I've nailed down my initial reads for July, and they are all ROOTs:
Blood on the Moon from the three-novel volume LA Noir by James Ellroy (for MysteryCAT)
Dead Angler by Victoria Houston
Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

I am cheating a bit by also using an audio download for Blood on the Moon and a free e-book copy of Dead Angler to increase my reading time options.

Ooh, what did you think of Musicophilia? It is probably going to be a ROOT for me in 2015 (or 2016!). The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat was one of my ROOTs earlier this year, I really liked it and bought Musicophilia on the strength of that.

Edited: just realised you haven't read it yet! Looking forward to the review when you have! :)

So far, it's fascinating!

>177 tymfos: If that's cheating I do that too! I try to find audiobooks for as many of my ROOTs as possible. I have been known to get friends to sign up for Audible free trials so I can use their credits even (when it comes to getting to read certain books I can be a fiend). Plus anything I have in a mass-market edition is almost impossible for me to hold.

Yeah I don't consider that cheating! Just being smart ;)

>173 tymfos: >174 mabith: I haven't read any of the Phrene Fisher books but I love the show. The acting is really good and the clothes are just gorgeous. With wonderful characters and an on-going back story for the characters what more could you ask? The Phrene Fisher Facebook page said that they are going ahead with shooting the third season. I can't wait to see the show again.

>180 mabith: & >181 avanders: Thanks for the support on that. I don't do it often, but this seemed like a month for it.

>182 Familyhistorian: I'm doing three challenges, and I've gotten recommendations for that TV show on each thread where I've posted comments about that book. It must really be good.

Just wandering in saying: 'Hi'.

Hi, Connie!

We're over halfway through the year, and this thread is getting long, so I'm going to start another.

So I'm over here now!

NEW THREAD:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/177709