Sign up for the clearing squad - ROOT on others as we read our books!

Yes, 2014 is around the corner, and I don't know about you, but I still have ROOTs to take care of.

ROOT - Read Our Own Tomes - it can be all of us cheering or shouting encouragement for a team or it can be each of us weeding out those old books that have been sitting on the shelf for too long. The challenge is what you define it to be! And who knows, you just might find a diamond buried beneath!

Take some time, look over your shelves and make an honest evaluation of the books that you believe that you can read in 2014. Then sign here with your estimate of the number of books for your goal and then create your own individual thread to show your progress and boast of your efforts. Please include your user name in the thread title.
Once you've made your individual thread, I would appreciate if you have a ticker if you would add it to the ticker thread for the year. If you put the same ticker (copy the HTML) in thie ticker thread, whenever you update your thread the ticker thread will also be updated. This really, really helps me with the monthly totals, so if you need help a ticker, just ask, we'll be glad to explain it.

Ticker thread

Once the team members are here, I will create the list for the monthly progress report. Join in the game against unread books! So seek the opponent - HELP WIN THE GAME! Dig down deep!

I'm in for another year - my goal 95.

I'm back! I'm planning on a goal of 60.

I'm in for 50 again!

I'm in for another 50 too!

I'm in for 25! That leaves room for new and shiney ones!

I'm in for one more than last year - 120!

Hi everyone! I'm a new member to the group, although I've been lurking around since 2013 - not part of that challenge. But I most certainly am joining up for 2014! :) I'm moonshineandrosefire's daughter, Mareena. I've set a much smaller goal for myself than my mom has set for herself! - I'm tentatively going for 47! :) Although, I'm currently reading one or two books that I hope to finish in December - so that total may rise a bit by the end of the month. Great to be here! :)

Welcome to the group, enjoy!

Welcome, Mareena!

I'm back for 2014 and I'm going to tackle 40.

Great to see old and new friends!

I'm in for 50 this year. Let's see if I can do it!

I'm in. My target will be 10.

I'm in for 50 again this year!

I am going to sign up for 30 books this year. That is the same as last year. That leaves me room for new books too.

I will be taking part but my ROOT year starts on 13 January, when I get back from my Christmas/New Year trip. Then I'll have a look at what books slipped themselves into my luggage and what seems a reasonable goal.

I'm in. My goal for 2014 will be 36, an increase from my 2013 goal.

Looking forward to ROOTing through 2014! I'm planning to read some long books and fewer books overall, while keeping about half my reading coming from pre-2014 TBRs ... thus my goal here = 30.

I'm in for 2014 and my goal will be 30 ROOTs.

I'm back for 2014. This will be my fourth year and it's a great help in keeping the TBR moving. My goal will be 30 again this year.

I'll keep my goal at 50 and will be using the same points system but tweaking my goal since a new year will mean points awarded for book age will shift.

I'll set up tickers and thread once I untangle myself from this years challenge.

My goal for 2014 will be 20 books.

I'm in! This will be my first year and I'm looking forward to getting to know folks. I'm keeping my goal modest at 18 books. The books on my TBR shelf are not the only thing on my reading menu but I need this goal to keep me from getting distracted by the new and shiny as well as the library books (typically about half of my reading).

Welcome Suzi. Good luck!

I will definitely be in on the challenge again in 2014. I plan again on reading 20 books of my bookshelves.

I'm definitely up for the challenge next year, but won't set a target until the 1st or 2nd Jan when I'm back from a Christmas trip.

I'm joining in. I took this year off from LT for various reasons, but I am looking forward to being back in 2014. And certainly in reading more books off my own shelves. I love the acronym ROOT.

I have two goals
Read 30 books.
Of those, I want to read at least 50% of the books I acquire in 2014.
I did that this year so it seems reasonable. But things will come up, and bright shiny things will keep getting my attention. :-)
And it would be nice to read the other 16 books purchased in 2013 but not read yet :-)

I'm in, but I will decide my goal toward the end of the month.

I overestimated my 2013 goal so I would like to be more realistic in 2014.

I'm in, but not ready to start a thread or declare a goal yet.

I'm in and my goal is to read 136 books in 2014. However, only 30 of them are 'for grown ups'. 78 are children's picture books or early chapter books. 28 are 'free choice and may be 'grown up' or 'young'. For the purpose of the goal, should I only count the 30 definitely 'grown up' books?

There's no reason to limit it to "grown up" books, as far as I know.

I love children's books, please count them in. And don't forget to tell us all about them in your thread.

Last year I had a goal of 20 books, so this year I'm really going to stretch myself and read 21. :)

Can you believe we've already got a goal over 1,000!

I'm trying to keep my list up to date, cheli! I believe!!

Cyderry, how's this for a graphic for 2014?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=600459060008189&set=a.10873735251369...

LOVE IT!

I'm in, Cheli. I'm doing my usual thing of aiming for 10% of my tbr pile, which means I'm going to try to read eight books this year.

ramblingivy, I love that graphic!

Heehee, so do I. Just a lucky find through my Facebook newsfeed.

Reminds me instantly of the movie version of Matilda...

Ramblingivy, could you add your user name to the title of your thread? I believe Cheli asked us to do so to make it easier to find someone's thread.

I hope you can change it, I don't know if you can.

#43 by @connie53> no, we can't change thread titles. I forgot to add my user name to mine as well, but alas...

;-((. Well, if you can't, you can't!

So I've been visiting everyone's threads, lurking though. Just know I'm watching you.... ;)

In a good way, of course. Same here. It's fascinating how many interesting books there are, waiting to be discovered.

I'll have a goal of 30 books from my TBR pile in 2014

@ 37: Great pic. I love it.

Hi!
I'm a ROOT newbie, though I have in years past always made an effort to read from my TBR stacks! This year I'm going for 50! :-)

#50 by @Tanya-dogearedcopy> welcome! good luck!

Welcome, Tanya! Good luck with your challenge.

I'd like to read at least three books off my shelves each month, so I'm going to set my goal at 36. That's about twice as many as I've read this year.

Hello Inge, welcome to the group!

I'll commit to 25 although I would like to get through more than that.

Welcome here, leslie!

Hi All :)
New to ROOT! I've signed up for the Challenge 2014 group and discovered a lot of my books chosen for that group are books which have hung around unread and untouched way to long on my shelves. So, I shall be looking at what I have and set up a thread and ticker before the end of the year!

Happy ROOT reading everyone....

Welcome, lilywren. Happy ROOTing.

I'm very happy to be in ROOT for my second year. This year my goals will be numerically more modest, 30 books, but still ambitious; I plan to read one large-ish book a month. This will ensure that some of my longer books are considered in my reading.

I'm definitely in again for 2014, with a goal of 20 ROOTs, which should allow me ample time to clear some longer/deeper/serious books from my virtual shelves. Also, I will do tickers this coming year, cyderry!

Would someone please do a post on how to do individual and group tickers, please? Thank you!!

--> 61 Do you mean how to update them, Karspeak?

I've never made or used a ticker before, so I need to know how to pick one, add it to my thread and the ticker thread, and how to update the tickers, as well (do we update 3--our personal thread ticker, the ticker thread, and the overall group ticker?)?

>63 karspeak: Just go to http://tickerfactory.com and follow the steps. Copy the HTML into your thread and the ticker thread. It's just one ticker, you don't update in multiple places. When it needs updating, you just click the link back to it, use the password you made, and increase your number accordingly.

>63 karspeak: And you can also update the group tickers Chèli has made in the progress thread. The password is already entered there

I don't use a ticker. I just report the total at the end of the month to Cheli. I think at this point not having a ticker at all is still an option.

64&65: Great, thanks!!

66: I didnt use tickers this past year, but thought I'd cowboy up for 2014;).

I am in again for 2014 and am setting my goal at 50 ROOTs. That is up 2 from this year.
Welcome to all of you newbie ROOTers. It is so nice to see you here. I am looking forward to the new year & beginning afresh.

I'm keeping my goal the same for next year - 25. That's 2 a month on average, with one for good luck! My tangential goal will again be to keep track of the new books, and stay on top of them, thus overall having less books in the house.

Well, I knew that I could do it! :) I finished reading ROOT 114 on Monday, December 16th. That means I'm aiming to read 115 ROOTS in 2014! :) I may be able to read two more books by the end of this year, but puzzles might take precedence - I'm not sure! :)

Yay!

Wow, what a great job, Ms&Rf..

Way to go, Mom! :) I finished reading my 46th ROOT on Friday, December 13th! Which means my personal reading goal for 2014 is going to be 47! :) I'm hoping to read 50 books by the end of the year - a nice round number :)

Good for you, Ruby.

I'm in for another year.

This is my second year ROOTing out my neglected unread books.

I met my goal of 30 this year, but still have SO many more to read...

...so I'm upping my goal to 40 this year, woo!

I'm in again for 2014. However, in 2014, unlike 2013, I'd like to focus on what Cheli has called Antique Reading Devices, aka books, not just Kindle books.

In 2013, I've added 35 ARDs to my shelves so, for 2014, I'd like to read at least that many. By comparison, in 2013, I've read 25 ARDs. Most of my reading is on my Kindle but I absolutely must make a bigger dent in my actual books.

Welcome again for 2014 Fuzzi and Linda!

->77 lindapanzo:- so your goal is 35?

#38 Thanks.

Yes, probably three-fourths of my reading is on Kindle but regular books seem to be taking over so I want to focus on reading more actual books. 35 is my goal for 2014.

>61 karspeak: Thanks for asking about how to make and use a ticker. I have never used one before either.

And thank you to those who answered.

Hi all, I have been waiting to see this up. This year I wish to join "physically" { partake} and not just read the threads . :+}
My goal is 25.
Thanks cyderry for setting this up!

Welcome, Ladybookworth!

I'm back and upping the challenge to 50.

Yes, welcome Henrik!

This is the sort of challenge I've needed to get my pile of books to be read down. I think I'll be aiming for 50 in 2014.

Welcome Kaydeanne! Happy reading in 2014.

lol Connie, you seem to be quite the official greeter :P

I finally decided on a number for the challenge, 75. My individual ticker is on the designated thread and I hope to be more successful this year. I decided to concentrate on actual physical books it was too easy for me to count e-books which accomplished nothing for my running out of space problem.

Welcome Lisa!

> 88. I'm home all day and checking LT every hour. The vacation has started, so I have nothing else to do but keep house and greet ROOTers! ;-))

Hello there, everyone! :) So, I finished my 115th ROOT last night. I guess I'm catching up on my reading slightly. :) I'm currently reading City of Bones by Michael Connelly - which I started reading today. I may be able to finish reading this book and then squeeze in another one before the end of the year :)

Good job, Ms&RF!

Hi! It's craso at Caroline's ROOT Reads. I will be reading 8 books this year.

Hello, group! This will be my first year and I look forward to reading with you! I'm going to set my goal at an ambitious 50 books and (hopefully) cut my "To Read" collection in half.

#92 - thanks so much, connie53! :)

I'm in for 2014. I ROOTed 76 (possibly 78 by the time 2013 is over) in 2013. But I'll set my goal for 2014 more modestly, I'll start with 50 and go from there.

Welcome Auntie, Amberfly and Caroline

#90 Thank you for the welcome Connie! I can't wait to make a dent in my neverending pile of ROOTs!

So many folks showing up! Welcome all!

> 98: Just a few days and we can start! Yeahhhhh.

It's absolutely wonderful to see everyone's enthusiasm for the coming year! Sorry, I wasn't here to greet everyone, but Connie did a great job in my place! (Thanks Connie!)

I was busy taking my Mom home from the hospital and getting her settled! We have a wonderful caregiver service so she's not alone but just being at home, she was all smiles. Thanks everyone for your prayers and good wishes!

> 101

I have a list of thickertotals for next year. If you want to have it you are welcome to it, Cheli.

what are thickertotals?

lol I'm guessing it's an amusing typo for the ticker totals.

Yes typo!! ;-))

Just my old list with nicknames, names and countries. I added the new members for 2014 and their goals.

ah, darn. I was hoping instead of a typo you had some exotic plot underway.... growing books perhaps on that plot.

lol, I wish I had, but no...

Connie, thanks but I've been making my list as the thread has grown and I'm trying something different this year to make the month end totals go faster. I'll see if it works.

Okay, I hope it works! It's a lot of work. But we, list lovers, like making them!

Ah! I just realized something. The reason I feel so comfortable with the 75ers, and now ROOTs is because there are so many list makers and stats keepers. I am often teased mercilessly for my need to keep track, make lists and analyze the data. It's nice to be around others who think there's nothing wrong with that. :-)

This is a Great Idea so I'm in. I have a ton of books to read but I'll try to make a reasonable goal of 30 books that I have been meaning to read ages ago. Hope to read more but need to get to 30 that have been on my to-read list for a long time.

Anybody who wants to make friends with me . I am also at Goodreads (Mark Goodwin in Halifax NS, Canada)

welcome moonfish!. And yes, AuntieClio, we're very understanding of you listmakers. Me, of course, I don't make lists. Not me! Nuh uh. ;)

> 110: lol. The whole idea of LT is listmaking and stats keeping.

>111 moonfish:: welcome to the club.

>112 majkia:: No of course you don't.

I'm playing again next year too! Towards the end of 2013, I ran out of time to do a lot of posting, but I'll try to do better in 2014. I met my 2013 goal, and I'm looking forward to getting more books off the shelf, without putting too many new ones back on....

Glad to see you Terri!

I'm new this year as well and will aim for a modest 10, which is actually ambitious considering my reading habits of late so fingers crossed! :)

I'm so glad that so many are coming back or new and joining us at our goal.

Don't forget to place your ticker on the ticker thread.
http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=162053

Woo! New blood, welcome all first-timers, and those who are back!!!

List makers? We don't want the likes of them around here...I, for one, can't understand the need for lists...

http://www.librarything.com/topic/148588#3848285

;)

30, definitely just 30 this year

Welcome back, everyone!! It's good to see you all here again.

Hi, I'm new to ROOT and happy to be here. My goal is 45 books, although I just did an inventory and I have 133 books on my shelves that I really want to get to. Hahaha. Anyway, this is a great idea! Good show! Now to figure out how to include a ticker.

Just a quick comment on the list making. At the end of 2008 I had several people tell me "I read alot" Ok, yes, but dang I couldn't remember a single title!So I decided then for 2009 to keep a list of books read. And have done since! In fact at the start of this I got my 13 year old to do it,and was surprised she had read 24!!Her comprehension is got high so books, like "City of bones "ect Lists are great!!!ps I think she reads instead of studying! LOL

#122 by @LadyBookworth> oh we're all listmakers here. We're just teasing. I keep several spreadsheets of reading for various things. But I'm not OCD about it. Some folks are, and that's fine!

I'll try 20 :)
It seems so low compared to the rest of you... wish I had more time to read!!

Brilliant! I always want to do this but it does not happen enough. My first goal s 25 volumes.

List-makers - Did someone mention list-makers? ;) No. No way! Not me! *cough* That definitely wasn't me at age eight, sitting on my bedroom floor with a notebook and pen, surrounded by Halloween candy sorted into piles and meticulously counted! :)

Let's see: "5 bags of M and Ms, 10 Reese's peanut butter cups, 2 long Butterfingers, 20 individually wrapped butterscotch candies." - Gosh! Apart from any book related presents, if anyone got me office supplies - notebooks, pens, journals, post-it notes - I was one happy girl! :) LOL!

>126 rubyandthetwins: Ooh office supplies are my second favorite thing (to books, of course)!! :D

Now I know I'm with the right group of folks. When I was younger, the office supply store was my second favorite place to be.

Stationery and lists combined with books. Sounds like the right place to me.

I'm back for another year - ended up with 39 ROOTs this year so am stretching my goal to 50 for next year. Such a good motivator to clear some books off the shelf!

I love how nuts we all are. Like many of you, I love school supplies too. I don't have an excuse to buy them anymore for myself or children but when I go in the stores in late August and see all of those beautiful composition books, new pencils and pens I still just have to buy. Fortunately our local United Way has a school supply drive so I have an excuse should I feel like I need one and I'm not just piling them up somewhere.

#131 - Late August was my absolute favorite time of the year! *Squeal* Back to School Shopping!!!! :) Oh my gosh! I absolutely LOVED my Trapper Keeper and mechanical pencils! I literally color coded my pencils and notebooks - purple topped pencil or pen ink color was for my favorite subject - English - which I alternated with the color Blue - as my mom was a former English teacher whose favorite color is blue! Red topped pencil or pen ink color was for Math - my dad was a former math teacher whose favorite color was red! LOL! :)

In for this year with a ROOT goal of 28. I won't be starting my thread till later, though.

Don't laugh. My goal is 5. I want to read books that I acquired before 2010, but I can't seem to stop myself from reading the newest books.

>124 avanders:: Hi avanders. I am new here, but as so many people have welcomed me, I am now comfortable welcoming you. :) 20 is a good goal and anyway the numbers don't tell the whole story. My goal is 136, but the vast majority of them are children's books. Being here seems to be just about sharing the joy of reading.

And appreciating office supplies, lol. >126 rubyandthetwins:, Oh, I think I enjoyed the sorting of the Halloween candy far more than the eating of the Halloween candy. While eventually we must outgrow trick-or-treating, thank goodness I'm never going to be too old for the clearance aisle at Office Max!

Hey I don't have to have Halloween candy to sort it, I sort the candy that I do get if it has various flavors or whatnot, so that they get eaten evenly! hahahaha.

thank goodness I'm never going to be too old for the clearance aisle at Office Max!
Yussss! Granted, there is no Office Max here so I have to make do with the various smaller offerings in other kind of stores, but still! :P

Welcome to all the new members! Just remember any goal is right. The challenge is about what you make of it.

LOL, I'm crazy about the moleskin notebooks!

>134 SqueakyChu: SqueakyChu I think that 5 books before 2010 is a great goal. Most of my books TBR are older than that and I would definitely have a hard time trying to definitely read 5 of them in one year. Sounds awful somehow and I know I'll like most of them, but somehow it wouldn't do for me t set such a goal. Bu I draw my hat and wish you best of luck with his goal.

Oh and for list making: Count me in. Not only do I list the books I've read in one year, I also mark them for the categories owned, borrowed, re-read, new etc. I do love making lists of how to pent a houseworking day and my husband and I keep making lists for our holiday period and what we are going to do which day. Lists are great!

>135 Merryann: Thanks Merryann! I'm looking forward to this! :)

And I echo lots of sentiments herein: School Supplies!! I thought I was the only crazy in her mid-thirties who still just WANTS to buy school supplies! (for no reason!!) So I've converted my desire into OFFICE supplies!! weeeee!!! (many a comments from co-workers regarding WHERE did I find that pen?!)

And yes lists.... :)

I'm new to the group this year (and to LT groups at all, actually!) but I desperately need to do something about my TBR pile. I just managed ten books in two months - but that was without reading any library books at all (which is hard for me as I'm a librarian and they NEVER LEAVE ME ALONE). So I'm going to try for half that, which is thirty books for the year. Hopefully I'll go over - 30 will hardly dent my To Read shelf - but it's better than nothing, right?

And I'll join you, too, in the love of office supplies! I go to Staples for de-stress shopping. Is that weird?

Welcome jen.e.moore.

I am here! With the goal of reading 100 ROOTs, plus, as with last year, a second goal involving a points system, where older books are worth more. I've made the points thing a little more complicated than last year's. We'll see how well it works!

Hello everyone, and I join Connie in welcoming to all the new participants in next year's reading challenge! :) So, I finished City of Bones by Michael Connelly on Christmas Day - my 116th ROOT! :) And I 'broke the back' of my 117th ROOT tonight :) I may even sneak in one more by the end of the year - no pressure, of course! :) LOL!

Welcome to everyone who have decided that they are going to make a conscious effort to read books that have languished on their shelves for too long...it doesn't matter whether your goal is 5 or 500...it's your goal and you alone know whether it will be hard or easy. This is your challenge and we are all here to support and cheer you on.
So line up those ROOTs and get ready to dig in!

Some of these point systems sound fun. I'm now thinking of devising my own before January 1st and using it alongside my book ticker. I guess that means I'm part of the list-making crowd as well. And I do have a small but much-loved collection of interesting journals and pens tucked away in various places around the house, so I guess I'm a stationary lover too. I never knew there were so many others like me on LT.

> 138

Thanks, Tallulah_Rose. I was so much better last year. However, in 2012, books acquired before 2010 were not that old. They get older every year they're not read. :)

Have you read the book by Atul Gawande called The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right? It's great! I think you would love it. Just sayin'.

My TBR pile keeps growing and growing so this looks like the group for me. I hope I am not jinxing myself by setting my goal at 35 - we'll see. Now off to figure out tickers.

I'm in! First time. Planning on a goal of 10. Have seriously been slacking, going to fix that in 2014.

>143 moonshineandrosefire: moonshineandrosefire, one more before the end of the year. Woohoo! :o) That smiley is me cheering you on. And thank you, because your post gives me a glimpse of how good I'm going to feel this time next year when I'm squeezing in that one-more-book!

Welcome Imani. I hope you join the group and make your own thread and ticker.

I'm new to the group but love the idea. I plan on reading 75 books.

Welcome, LissaJ. Good luck with your reading.

Lots of new folks! Great! Welcome both newbies and regulars!

I'm signing up for 50 books. That was my goal last year, too, although I didn't achieve it. I'm still working on the last few I have in progress, though for 2013.

I've done a point challenge for the last few years, but it hasn't been motivational enough. So this year besides the point challenge, I'm doing a category challenge-- 6 books that I cataloged into LT in 2006, 7 books from 2007, 8 from 2008, etc. I'm hoping that this will be visual for me and will help me start reducing the planet of TBR books.

My thread is here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/162971

#154 by @streamsong> oh that's a great idea! good luck with it!

Good Luck, streamsong.

#149 - Merryann, it's very nice to meet you and believe me, it feels absolutely wonderful to squeeze in one more book - especially if you've been reading some really good books for most of the year! :) I think that between 96-98% of the books that I read this year were really excellent! :)

Anyway, I finished my 117th ROOT last night - The Summer I Dared: A Novel by Barbara Delinsky. I immediately started reading my 118th ROOT, which I may finish tonight - or tomorrow at the latest. :) By New Year's Eve, I'll definitely have my December totals all collected. :)

I'm in again with a target of 60 books.

Welcome back Pigletto. And good luck.

Well I have decided to join this year. My goal is 35! Good luck everyone!!

Good luck to you too, C4R.

Attacking my ROOTS sounds terrifying, but since I have two full bookshelves of them, maybe this ticker thing and you all in this group will help me make a dent.

I may, or may not, attempt to create said ticker, but I'll randomly select the number 10 for my ROOTS. I'm hoping I can finish a whole book (I'm often reading several books at a time, due to different moods, etc.) every month of the year, leaving two months open for the new and shiny, and required reading for work.

Happy reading, Y'All.

Welcome, Inhalelife. And good luck with your ROOTs.

Ticker up and ready to go :)

Good to see you here Inhalelife and lilywren. Good luck!

Thank you for the offer to help. I would like to participate, and posted a message (Just Breathe n Read in 2014) but I can't tell if I now am part of the group or how to create the ticker. I poked around a bit, but I'm not getting it. Thanks in advance for any specifics you can provide. Happy New Year!

No you are not yet part of the group. I will invite you to join.

Making tickers:

Just go to http://tickerfactory.com. Somewhere halfway down the left column look for crafts and hobby/objects and action. Then you follow the steps (password goal), select a ruler, select a slider. Copy the HTML into your thread and into the ticker thread. It's just one ticker, you don't update in multiple places. When it needs updating, you just click on the ticker to go back to it, use the password you made, and increase your number accordingly.

And you can also update the group tickers Chèli has made in the progress thread. The password is already entered there

>157 moonshineandrosefire: moonshineandrosefire, Congratulations on The Summer I Dared! On to 118. Wow! This amazes me: reading was already fun to begin with, but this makes it so much more fun. Enjoy your last book of the year! (Unless you zip through 118 today and start another, lol.)

>162 ValerieOzgenc:, Hello, inhalelife and welcome. This is my first year here also. I dreaded setting up my ticker because I'm afraid of all Things I've Never Done Before. But I must say, it was quite easy to do once I tried. If you decide you want one and don't see the directions posted elsewhere, let me know and I'll tell you how I got mine.

Oh, I love seeing so many new readers joining us on the quest to ROOT!

100 members in the group. 65 personal threads. 62 tickers in the ticker thread.

I just love to do lists and counting.

Originally I was going to keep track of my ROOTS in my 14 challenge thread. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it's much easier for me to keep track here on it's own special little thread. So I'll be joining again this year. Not sure how many I'll sign up for yet, but I'm going to try and get it set up tomorrow sometime and my ticker too!

yay! welcome!

Good thinking, Betty.

Yes Connie, I keep hoping to see more tickers on the ticker thread because right now I'm missing 21 tickers for people who either have an individual thread and goal or have stated a goal here.

So if you are joining, I'll sweetly ask you to either copy your existing ticker to the ticker thread if you haven't already, or if you are not making a ticker, be sure that you have an individual thread to identify where you are at the end of each month.

That must be confusing for you, Chèli. I hope people go and do the ticker thing.

Happy new year to everyone and good luck!

I know some expressed reluctance about tickers, they could always make a "Books read: #" post in there and just edit it at least around the end of the month (if not after each individual read)...?

That sounds good to me, PMM. Let's wait for Chèli. She can tell what she wants.

I am back for another year of ROOT reading with a goal of 25 - down 5 from last year. Good luck everyone and happy reading!

First timer here - I'm aiming for 25 (1 fiction and 1 non-fiction per month, plus one extra for luck). This feels ever so ambitious for me (I'm much better at buying books than reading them, and have tons more than 25 in the TBR pile) but I'll be glad to make a dent in the pile even if I don't quite make it!

Good luck everyone :)

I am new to the group and have no idea how to create a ticker but will attempt to accomplish that task this week. I read about 60-80 books a year, most of them pretty lengthy. This year I will dedicate my time to those books I've owned for many years, digging some of them out of storage. My goal is 70 books. Looking forward to interacting with other bibliophiles !

Tickers: see post 167

And welcome to the club, Renee!

I'm new to this group. Given the cold, snowy winter we're having here in Maine thus far, this seems like a good time/place to keep my eye on the goal: thin out my tbr shelves. Will spend some time reviewing those titles and come up with a goal for the year. Does anyone else here follow Canada Reads? Haven't checked to see what the 2014 titles are, but I always enjoy that list, so I may begin with those. Thanks for letting us know about this group on today's fb posting--that's how I found you today.

I was wondering how all the new members found this group!

Welcome Imnop! Happy reading.

New, but willing to play in 2014. Estimating a conservative number - 36. I'm not quite clear how to create an individual thread. Is there a FAQ spot? Micdi.

Happy to find this group because this was my New Year's resolution already! I have SO many books that I either need to read or pass on. I am determined to whittle down my TBR list before I buy new books. Though I may still buy some new books...
Anyway, my Reading goal for the year is 100 books! I hope at least 50 of those are my old tomes! Happy New Year y'all!

Micdi, welcome to the club.

36 is a nice number leaving room for new and shiny books.

And no, no FAQ, but I will try to explain.

On the top of this tread you can click on ROOT - 2014 Read Our Own Tomes then you are directed to the group profile. You can see the rules, the names of the members and at the bottom you see all our threads and there you can start your own.

@ 185 -- micdi, to elaborate on what Connie said, there should be a link that says "Post a new topic." Click that to start your own thread!

connie53, I saw the post about it on the LibraryThing facebook page and thought it looked like a good idea.

>189 Jackie_K:: Jackie, Do you have a link?

I'm new to the group, and aiming for 50. Trying to focus on my Currently Reading collection, and on the oldest books in my catalog. We'll see.

connie53, this is a link to the facebook page (can't work out how to link to individual posts, but it's currently the most recent post there): https://www.facebook.com/pages/LibraryThing/29747340038

I'm going to go for 25 books as that leaves me room for some new books as well. :)

#193 by @eesti23> good plan!

New to this but I'm aiming for a ROOT of 50.

Also planning on having a balanced book budget (BBB); the number of books coming in to the house must be less than or equal to the number going out.

Greetings, everyone! This is my first attempt at this particular challenge, though I've sort of tried other LT challenge groups in the past. I was planning to do this anyway--read 75 of my own pre-2014 books--but this will hopefully give it a measure of officialdom. =)

I'm in for 100 this year.

I'm going to go for reading 25 pre-2013 physical (ie., not e-books) books. I know this is a significant reduction on my goal for previous years but I've got some quite dense non-fiction and collected editions that I've been avoiding in previous years in order to meet the total. I'm also hoping that a lower goal may encourage me to read more of my older books.

> 195 I love the idea of the balanced book budget and will also give this a go!

Welcome Infoquest and Welcome back Mandymarie en Riverwillow.

Welcome to all the new members! It's great to see so many new faces. Let's hope for a great reading year and let us not be too tempted, to fill our wishlists with the reading choices of the other members! ;)

I think I may have done this backwards. Was I supposed to sign up for the group here first? I've already created a thread and posted the ticker. So sorry if I mixed it up. I'm a first timer on this group and still getting used to how the threads operate. Anyway. I'm looking forward to reading some of those old books that have been gathering dust. This is a great idea and wonderful incentive. I chose a small challenge for myself for this first time. I want to end the year feeling successful and maybe bite off more in 2015.

You did nothing wrong, Ellsiefind! And you did not mix things up at all.

But please sign up for the group if you did not do that until now.

This is my 4th challenge year and I started small too, 12, 18, 20 and now 25.

> 198 I count works, not books. Otherwise I would never get to the collected editions where a lot of my classics are and that would be a shame.

>203 Henrik_Madsen: I do too, which is why those tend to sit on my shelves a lot longer! :P

Hi all, I'm Gricel and I'm ready to finally get through my TBR shelf! I'm aiming for 30 books this year.

Welkom Gricel! Happy Reading.

Tess here and I'm starting with a modest 11 books....sad to say I love my Kindle very much and those real books are languishing!

If you haven't found it yet, cyderry has posted the January thread here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/163154

Cheli, thinking of your mom (and you!) at this time.

I'm in!

Last year I aced my goal of 40 so this year I'm upping it a bit to 45.

I'm going to try for 25 this year, which may be ambitious given the number of new books and ARC's I can't stop myself from getting.

Another welcome to al those newbies and oldies that are attentind our challenge this year!

And cyderry, all best wishes for your mom and a fast recovery.

Personally, I count the ARCs and ERs as ROOTs because they have to get read.

Personally, I count the ARCs and ERs as ROOTs because they have to get read.

I do that, too. I found that if I didn't, I neglected them too long to focus on books off the shelf.

I also am counting a few long-term loans from friends (several years) that I absolutely have to get read. (They've been on my shelf -- a different shelf from the other TBRs, but my shelf -- for over a year, anyway.)

My goal for 2014 is to read 35 books off my shelves (not ebooks, just physical books).

Ooh, good idea counting long-term loans from friends. I agree, they need to get off my shelves, so they should count!
And I have the opposite problem as some of you with ebooks. I'll ignore my ebooks for the real book I pick up in my hands, so I'm counting ebooks in mine. I totally understand where others are coming from. I just happen to have the opposite habit :-)

I've read 3 ROOTs already!
Although one was an ebook downloaded just this week for the American Author Challenge over in the 75 group. But hey, I read a whole ebook! (see note just above, this is not my strong suit)

Kisses From Kate, another ROOT, was an easy read and it's for book club in a week.

But Crome Yellow has been on my shelf over a year so it's a real honest-to-goodness ROOT. Yay me.

Right time to decide. Yes I achieved 50 ROOTs last year but it meant that a lot of the newbies got ignored and I missed the discussion that often comes with new releases, so I am opting for 35.
Of course, the great thing about the start of the year is that all books are now eligible for this challenge so I just grab any book that speaks to me. Last year I did author and alphabet challenges but this year I will relax my reading choices and see where it leads me. Off to create new tickers as I have completed my first book.

Helen, don't forget that you can always overachieve and read more than 35 ROOTs. :-)

Yes, thanks Cheli, I'm hoping that will be the case.

Hi I would like to join and read 13 books this year.
I wont keep a comentary-just update tickers.
Thank you

I started counting all books, not just those acquired before a certain date last year exactly because I kept ignoring new books having them hang around until they counted. I use the challenge to read more books, and my personal points system to pick up some of the older books. I find that this makes my reading more enjoyable.

I found that I have at least 170 unread books*gasp*.
My serious goal is to read 20 of them this year.
I have to admit that have no idea what this 'ticker' stuff, or pretty much everything about internet stuff - what should I do with the ticker-things?

There is an explanation in post 167 in this thread!

And please ask when you don't know what to do! We are a very supportive group and we all love to help.

Thanks for the info in post 167. My ticker is done, I think my be going the wrong way, compared to others!

Yes you are! Click on your Ticker and edit. And set a target, in your case 25.

I'm in for a total of 50 ROOTs for 2014.

Welcome back Robert!!

So sorry that I'm so late at welcoming the newcomers, my mom has kept me hopping! I'm trying to visit all the threads today while I wait on news from her surgery.

Hey, moms are important. Some of us have been filling in for you ;-)

Hope all goes well with your mum's surgery, Cheli.

Welcome to all newcomers and returning ROOT-ers!

I say 'welcome' also, and if you haven't already, you may want to go look at tymfos' cat at the top of her thread. Still makes me smile.

I am joining the ROOT challenge. My goal is to read 50 books from my TBR mountain range.

Welcome Anansilaw. Happy ROOTing!

I feel like I am coming into this "late" in the game, but this group sounds perfect to me. I used to be on a couple of other reading sites, but the issue was that most of the groups required you to read books that you did not have on your shelf for varying challenges that they had. It became difficult for me to continue doing that month to month when I had numerous bookshelves with books that I had yet to read. Also as a full-time student it was challenging to want to read some classic work when all I wanted was a bit of downtime from my academic studies. This group looks like the perfect fit for me to get my downtime and still get books off my shelf!! I am planning on a low number for me with 25 books, primarily due to having to read so much for my classes. I am unsure if more will be possible.

Welcome!

>234 CassieWinters: -- Eric--Welcome! and keep up with the group on the current month's thread:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/170971

welcome Eric!

Welcome, Eric. It looks like this is the right club for you!

Welcome, Eric! Glad to have you with us.