MAY ROOT - Progress Thread

Fifth Labour: Augean Stables

The fifth labour was to clean the stables of King Augeas. This assignment was intended to be both humiliating (rather than impressive, as the previous labours had been) and impossible, since the livestock were divinely healthy (and immortal) and therefore produced an enormous quantity of dung. The Augean Stables had not been cleaned in over 30 years, and over 1,000 cattle lived there. However, Hercules succeeded by re-routing the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out the filth.

Before starting on the task, Hercules had asked Augeas for one-tenth of the cattle if he finished the task in one day, and Augeas agreed. But afterwards Augeas refused to honour the agreement on the grounds that Hercules had been ordered to carry out the task by Eurystheus anyway. Hercules claimed his reward in court, and was supported by Augeas' son Phyleus. Augeas banished them both before the court had ruled. Hercules returned, slew Augeas, and gave his kingdom to Phyleus. According to the Odes of the poet Pindar, Hercules then founded the Olympic Games: the games which by the ancient tomb of Pelops the mighty Hercules founded, after that he slew Kleatos, Poseidon's godly son, and slew also Eurytos, that he might wrest from tyrannous Augeas against his will reward for service done.

The success of this labour was ultimately discounted because the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables and because Hercules was paid for it. Eurystheus said that Hercules still had seven labours to perform.

As the tasks get harder for Hercules, so too it gets harder for us to stay on target.

Below is the current list of members that have identified a ROOT goal for 2017 and how many books they read by the end of April.
The percentage is calculated and a star awarded for those on target to reach their goals. More stars for farther toward their goal.

If anyone's number is incorrect, please let me know and I will make the necessary adjustments.
So go out there and dig those ROOTs.

abinitio 21 / 50 ★★ 42.0%
Amberfly 12 / 35 ★ 34.3%
Ameise1 7 / 10 ★★★★★ 70.0%
auntieknickers 0 / 40 0.0%
avanders 11 / 18 ★★★★ 61.1%
avidmom 5 / 15 ★ 33.3%
benitastrnad 25 / 47 ★★★ 53.2%
billiejean 9 / 25 ★ 36.0%
bragan 35 / 100 ★ 35.0%
brewergirl 8 / 30 26.7%
Britt84 21 / 75 28.0%
Caramellunacy 1 / 20 5.0%
clue 16 / 40 ★ 40.0%
Coach_of_Alva 7 / 25 28.0%
Conachair 2 / 10 20.0%
connie53 11 / 36 30.6%
crazy4reading 11 / 30 ★ 36.7%
CurrerBell 29 / 75 ★ 38.7%
cyderry 28 / 72 ★ 38.9%
detailmuse 17 / 40 ★★ 42.5%
DisassemblyOfReason 21 / 100 21.0%
enemyanniemae 12 / 52 23.1%
Erratic_Charmer 30 / 75 ★ 40.0%
Familyhistorian 13 / 50 26.0%
floremolla 27 / 40 ★★★★★ 67.5%
fuzzi 45 / 150 30.0%
getrus 7 / 52 13.5%
HelenBaker 23 / 48 ★★ 47.9%
Henrik_Madsen 16 / 40 ★ 40.0%
HenriMoreaux 6 / 55 10.9%
InfoQuest 53 / 100 ★★★ 53.0%
Jackie_K 18 / 48 ★ 37.5%
JBenedict 0 / 52 0.0%
jen.e.moore 13 / 50 26.0%
johanna414 5 / 25 20.0%
JPGilpatric 4 / 100 4.0%
kac522 10 / 35 28.6%
kale.dyer 17 / 40 ★★ 42.5%
karenmarie 17 / 40 ★★ 42.5%
kkunker 15 / 40 ★ 37.5%
klarusu 13 / 50 26.0%
knotbox 2 / 10 20.0%
LadyBookworth 15 / 48 31.3%
LauraBrook 34 / 75 ★★ 45.3%
leslie.98 45 / 100 ★★ 45.0%
liberian 2 / 50 4.0%
lilisin 3 / 50 6.0%
Limelite 3 / 12 25.0%
lindapanzo 29 / 60 ★★ 48.3%
lkernagh 20 / 40 ★★★ 50.0%
LoraShouse 7 / 20 ★ 35.0%
luvamystery65 24 / 50 ★★ 48.0%
madhatter22 9 / 40 22.5%
majkia 32 / 50 ★★★★ 64.0%
martencat 9 / 25 ★ 36.0%
MissWatson 26 / 40 ★★★★ 65.0%
Montarville 5 / 15 ★ 33.3%
moonshineandrosefire 10 / 59 16.9%
nancynova 31 / 75 ★ 41.3%
nebula21 14 / 30 ★★ 46.7%
nerwende 1 / 15 6.7%
Nickelini 7 / 20 ★ 35.0%
Pigletto 12 / 80 15.0%
Queezle 2 / 20 10.0%
rabbitprincess 19 / 50 ★ 38.0%
rainpebble 1 / 12 8.3%
randomarbitrary 6 / 75 8.0%
readingtangent 19 / 46 ★ 41.3%
Rebeki 8 / 16 ★★★ 50.0%
Robertgreaves 35 / 72 ★★ 48.6%
rubyandthetwins 13 / 23 ★★★ 56.5%
sace 16 / 36 ★★ 44.4%
sallylou61 10 / 25 ★ 40.0%
si 9 / 20 ★★ 45.0%
streamsong 12 / 50 24.0%
tames 1 / 13 7.7%
tess_schoolmarm 37 / 65 ★★★ 56.9%
torontoc 9 / 30 30.0%




Our leaders so far are:

Ameise1 70.0%
floremolla 67.5%
MissWatson 65.0%
avanders 61.1%

The goal for May is 1,478 I know the weather is starting to improve and we're starting o think of vacations, but let's take our book for a walk in the fresh air! We need to read 300 books this month! We're almost there where everyone has read at least one ROOT. Let's make a big push this month!

My apologizes for the delay.
My mom has been keeping me hopping!

We have finally succeeded in getting her to agree to move to an assisted living facility and getting all the paperwork and such in order has been somewhat time consuming.

She'll be moving in the next few weeks so hopefully, my reading time will be returning soon.

Doing my best to get us to 150 posts this month. I hope to be less busy than last month so I can post more.

>2 cyderry: Always appreciate your work for the group and glad to hear that things with your mum are progressing, tough times.

>2 cyderry: I remember when my parents moved to a continuing care facility (something like a combination of retirement village & assisted living & nursing home). Even though it was their choice, it was a lot of work! Both of them have been very happy with the move (now ~8 years ago) & I hope that your mother finds that to be true as well once she becomes adjusted.

Thank you for persisting with this in difficult times, Chèli. I hope life does get easier for you.

Thanks Cheli. I hope the move for your mom goes smoothly. For my elderly relatives the physical move was difficult but they all settled in quickly and were soon feeling at home. It was a great relief to me.

Thank you again! Also -- I changed my goal .. so though it's nice to be so close... I'm not actually that close ;) I believe my ticker is updated, but in any event, my new goal is 18. Thanks again!

>2 cyderry: absolute no worries on the delay! Sorry life has been challenging lately -- glad you are going to be seeing some relief soon!

Likewise, Cheli, thanks for all your work.

I finished Marion Garthwaite's You Just Never Know (3½*** review) on May 1, just a few minutes after midnight, but I've waited to include it on the ticker until the April count was done.

1st for May, 30/75.

I hope things will get easier for you and you can get some more reading in, Chèli. Thanks for the work you do for us.

Reporting ROOT # 12 for the year, first for May De erfenis by Henriette Lazaridis Power

Updating all tickers.

>2 cyderry: very appreciative of you keeping this Group going when you've so much on your plate in RL - hope you get a rest and some well-deserved reading time this month!

Thanks Chèli, for keeping us on track when there's so much going on in RL. I hope your mom settles in well, it can be a difficult move to make.

And I'm also echoing all the above re appreciation for all you do for this group, Cheli, when you have so much going on. I hope your mum feels settled soon and you can start to relax again.

>8 avanders: Adjustment made

First ROOT of the month finished! My thread & all tickers updated.

Two ROOTs finished on a lazy Saturday! (My tickers updated, but not the group ones, because frankly I've been drinking and I don't want to mess it up.)

I finished my first root of the month on the 1st and hope to be back soon with my second.

The first two Roots for May are in the books: #17 Spring Torrents by Ivan Turgenjev and #18 Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two by Alan Moore and Stephen Brissette. Both were really good but obviously also very different.

Reporting ROOT # 13 for the year, second for May De wet van staal by Brandon Sanderson.

Updating all tickers.

I've added my first ROOT for May (The Black Moon, by Winston Graham) to my personal ticker and the group tickers.

2nd root for the month completed and a fascinating book too, People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.

Finished 3 already this month!

Finally managed to read the last 60 pages of a book I read the majority of last year. Second book of the year. Glad to have it off my shelves.

First ROOT for May - 28/40 for 2017. All tickers updated.

The Maine Reader: The Down East Experience, 1614 to the Present (eds. Charles & Samuella Shain), 4**** with an extensive review.

ETA: A very dangerous book to have read. It's an anthology; I've already bought, on Abe, two of the books excerpted; and I've wishlisted quite a few more here on LT.

2nd for May, 31/75

Decided not to let myself pause after finishing the last book so I picked up the very short L'Étrange Bibliothèque (The Strange Library) by Haruki Murakami. I didn't like it but at least it's read and off my shelves.

Mary Ellen Chase, A Goodly Fellowship. Chase (1887-1973) was the successor to Sarah Orne Jewett among Maine novelists and an English professor (and eventually department chair) at Smith College from 1926 until her retirement in 1955. This memoir of her teaching life, published in 1939, is a sequel to her more interesting memoir of a Maine childhood, A Goodly Heritage.

3d for March, 32/75.

Accidentally read my first ROOT of May, a horrible book 12yo me decided was a BAHgain at a church sale. Claire Marvel. Avoid it like the plague unless you need another manic pixie dream girl in your life.

>28 knotbox: No thanks, I don't "need another manic pixie dream girl in my life."

I'm happy to say that I finished my second ROOT for May on Tuesday night, May 9th! - Indignation by Philip Roth. It was an unusual book and I enjoyed it very much.

I just finished my third ROOT for May. Things are moving along nicely!

(And since I have a bit of a cold there is a perfect excuse to read instead of gardening.)

Finished #10 ( first ROOT this month) review on my thread and no tickers updated

My first ROOT of the month. I finished Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman. I will update you on the numbers at the end of the month.

I continue my run of good-but-not-great books. ROOT #21 was a book on Danish local government and their politicians called De sidste sande amatører (The Last True Amateurs)

Another old ROOT busted - # 2 for May, 29/40 for 2017. All tickers updated.

Leviathan by Westerfeld, Scott, acq 01/2011. Tickers updated.

I just posted 2 ROOTs for May and realized that I forgot to update my ticker for the last ROOT that I read for April. That means I am up 3 for the month! Wooho - I'll get my star back yet!

I finished The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates. I never thought I would see the day when I read a JCO title that I liked. Well, I liked this one and would recommend others read it as well.

I've added my first two ROOTs for May (19 and 20 for the year) to all tickers, group and my own. Both good ones worth reading - Dear Fatty and Delusions of Gender.

I finished another root earlier this week and working on another. 26/48

Third ROOT for May - Nabokov's Pale Fire - 30/40 for 2017. All tickers updated.

Reporting ROOT # 14 for the year, 3 for May Koud vuur by Kate Elliott.

Updating all tickers.

I managed to finish two ROOTS while on vacation this week, bringing my year-to-date total to 22. I've updated my ticker and both group tickers.

The ROOTS were Island: The Collected Stories, by Alistair MacLeod, and A Great Reckoning, by Louise Penny.

I've completed my 20th ROOT against a goal of 40. I hope to complete 2 more before month end. Just finished Rutherford Park by Elizabeth Cooke, historical novel good for light reading. 3*

4th ROOT for May completed - The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco - 31/40 for 2017. All tickers updated.

2nd Root for May
#11- review is on my thread- no tickers updated

I'm out of my reading funk!

finished another 6 ROOTS so far this month and hoping for a few more!

>47 cyderry: Woo hoo! Awesome work!

UpROOTed one book. Starting another. My total stands at 5 ROOTs of 12 read.

My reading is extremely catch as catch can and patchy. Odd as it sounds, having reno work done has given me time and inclination to read (and buy more!) books.

Congrats to all ROOTers who remain on goal!

I've added one more (my 3rd for May, 21st for the year, so now just over half way to my new goal). Hoping I can squeak another in before the end of the month, but I'm currently reading something of a chunkster, so who knows? I'm finding it difficult to put down though, so hopefully will get it finished in the next week!

I'm on a roll! 3 more ROOTS!

I can report 3 more roots also. Now 29/48. Maybe time for 1 more for the month...

It's been a terrible month for me with ROOTs. Maybe i can salvage a ROOT or two before month's end. My current monthly total is 0.

Reporting ROOT # 15 for the year, 4 for May De stad van de alchemist - Natalie Koch

Updating all tickers.

I finished ROOT 8 of 10 and have updated all tickers.

2 more ROOTs done - my thread and all tickers updated! It's possible, though unlikely, that I may squeeze one more in before the end of the month...

#12 ROOT finished( also my 3rd ROOT this month) -review is on my thread and no tickers updated.

One more for the month and still 3 days to go...30/48

I hope to get at least one more done this month as well, and then report the final tally.

No day off for me tomorrow. Memorial Day is not a holiday for state employees in Alabama. Neither is Columbus Day or Veterans Day. Confederate Memorial Day was optional when I first arrived back in 1993, but nowadays it isn't an option either. (I didn't know that there was a separate holiday for the Boys in Gray, but there was back-in-the-day.)

Hello, I just want to report that I discarded 7 books lately, which according to my rules count as ROOTs.

I just saw, that I somehow had missed to sign up here, so I would likt to be added to the list now, if it's not yet too late. My overall goal for this year is 12 ROOTs.

Reporting ROOT # 16 for the year, 5 for May Het droomhuis by Rachel Hore

Updating all tickers.

I've just added my #4 for May (#22 for the year) to all tickers.

I won't finish any more this month, I've read 4 for a total of 20.

Finished Empire of the Sun - ROOT #5 for May, 32/40 might squeeze another short ROOT in before the month's end.

ETA all tickers updated.

Declared another ROOT finished: The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. All tickers (personal and group) have been updated.

I finished another ROOT last night. Wailing Wind by Tony Hillerman. I am still far below my monthly average, but I am trying.

Here is my report for May 2017:

UpROOTED books: 6
ROOTless books: 6
Added to the TBR shelves: 0

The ROOTs were:

Carbo and the Thief and Other Tales of Ancient Rome by Alex Gough
Tales of Byzantium by Eileen Stephenson
Treachery by S. J. Parris
Aegypt by John Crowley
Trying Neaira by Debra Hamel
Courtesans and Fishcakes by James Davidson

ROOTs in YTD: 41

Personal and group tickers have been adjusted, but hopefully not harmed.

Rachel Ferguson, The Brontës Went to Woolworths (4****). This one's a reread but I'm including it among my ROOTs because it's a desperately needed reread of a book that can be confusing at first glance and requires multiple readings.

I haven't been doing well this month. 12 reads so far, but only 4 that can count as ROOTs. I've just been buying an awful lot this month, and part of it is because of the Reading Through Time group's May thread – pick a state and read about it, which was my chosen topic and which for my own reading I devoted to Maine. Having read one ROOT on Maine (an anthology of Maine literature), I wound up on a buying spree. Then there was the new Rick Riordan book on the Trials of Apollo and an Early Review on vultures, and I also wound up reading some Kindles (I only count paper books as ROOTs).

But I did make good progress through some doorstoppers that I'll be finishing next month, which should boost my stats for June.

I should still be keeping my star with 4th for May and 33/75.

Hi all,

Only read 4 roots this month. That gives me 19/48 so far.

Personal ticker only updated.

Happy reading everyone!

Managed one more for the month taking me to 31/48. A good month.

I am pleasantly surprised to find I have read 6 ROOTs this month. Getting close to my goal!

Squeaked in with one more ROOT for the month: We, the Drowned, by Carsten Jensen (translated by Charlotte Barslund and Emma Ryder). This brings my total for May to 5 and my total for the year so far to 24. I have updated my ticker and the group tickers.

I finished 5 ROOTs this month. Looks like I'm back on track and, hopefully, will earn back a star.

Two short ROOTs squeezed in at the last minute - The Thirty Nine Steps and The Power-House, both by John Buchan. 7 ROOTs for May, 34/40 for 2017.

All tickers updated.

>53 lindapanzo: me too. I had an abysmal month for reading: four books read, one ROOT.

My personal ticker is up-to-date, but the main ticker I left untouched.

I hope June will be better...

bad news ---took a fall and whacked my shoulder which has me typing with one hand,
may take me a few days to get june thread up.

>78 cyderry: Take care, Chèli. I just got out of the hospital myself. I called the ambulance to get to the Emergency Room with an attack of COPD, and they identified what triggered it, what I'd been thinking was the problem for quite some time – gastric problems, severe constipation combined with gastric reflux into the upper GI, putting pressure on my lungs from top and my diaphragm from below.

Anyway, I just spent a night there, I'm seeing my GP tomorrow, and my gastroenterologist in two weeks (soonest he can see me). I did get some reading done in the hospital, but part of it's toward a doorstopper – and LoA, Sarah Orne Jewett: Novels and Stories that I've largely read (and some that I'm rereading) but I'm not going to take'complete credit for it until next month.

I'm also working on another doorstopper to finish for next month – another LoA, Willa Cather: Later Novels, which again I'll be getting credit for next month. It's also given me three novels for the Virago group's Willa Cather read for May as well as Shadows on the Rock set in late 17th-century Quebec, which gives me one for the second-quarter of the Reading Through Time group.

I've been reading a lot of non-ROOTs this month, eight books (including a couple Kindle) out of a total of 12 being non-ROOTs.

>70 CurrerBell: Still at 4 for May and 33/75, so I still (barely) keep my star, or at least I think so.

>78 cyderry: Take your time, Chèli, and take good care of yourself!

>78 cyderry: aw, that's bad luck, Chèli! Don't fret, we can wait - hope it gets better quickly!

>79 CurrerBell: that sounds awful, but hopefully something you can get back under control? Well done on keeping up with the reading anyway!

>78 cyderry: Get well soon, Chèli! We will still be here when the June thread is ready, the important thing is that you recover and don't overdo things.

>79 CurrerBell: I hope the various docs can get that sorted out soon!

>78 cyderry: Take care of yourself, Cheli! No hurry on the next thread. :-)

Hope things get sorted out smoothly CurrerBell!

Personally, I'm still having eye problems, so I'm not getting much reading done. I'm way behind on this challenge - but four of the five books I read in May were ROOTS. I won't admit to how many new books I acquired, though!

I'll find out next week if the docs decide cataract surgery will help.

>78 cyderry: we'll be okay, YOU get better!

#74
That one (We the Drowned) is a biggie! And one I have on my TBR list.

I have 3 ROOTS for the month. No tickers updated.

That should make me 29/47.

My three books are:

2 Tony Hillerman titles -
Hunting Badger
Wailing Wind
1 Joyce Carol Oates title, (that was amazingly, one I liked. She's not my favorite author), The Falls.

>85 benitastrnad: I really liked it! Hope you do too. It was a book that I wanted to race through but at the same time didn't want to end.

>78 cyderry: Ouch! Don't overexert that shoulder! I hope nothing was broken and that you weren't injured anywhere else.

>79 CurrerBell: Oh no! That sounds like a particularly no-fun hospital visit. I hope your GP and gastroenterologist can sort things out and that the doorstopper books prove riveting. How is Shadows on the Rock? It's on my to-read list.

>88 rabbitprincess: Not a typical setting for a Cather novel, but fairly good. Shadows on the Rock reminds me a bit of Death Comes for the Archbishop (and I don't think that's a SPOILER once you look at the chapter titles in Shadows), though it's nowhere near as good. Personally, I think Archbishop is Cather's greatest novel, though I haven't read Lucy Gayheart or Sapphira and the Slave Girl yet, and I really do need a rereading of My Ántonia, which I don't think you can "get" on a single reading.

2 this month for a total of 14- updated my personal ticker

I managed to finish off two ROOTS for May. Off to update the tickers.

>78 cyderry: >79 CurrerBell: >83 streamsong: I hope you all get well soon. Another one calling in sick here. My back is playing up so I am having to spend long periods lying flat. Even holding a book up is hard.

Hello all & to all of you who are not feeling well......feel better soon. I am right in the mix with you & have been fighting ear infections, dizziness & vertigo since February. So especially to all of my fellow Srs.............take much care of yourselves. We just don't bounce back like we used to. :-(

Anyway on to ROOTing: I felt well enough yesterday to sit up for a bit & work through my reading log which is located here.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/251185

My reviews, those that I have done, are all located on that thread.

I pulled out all of the ROOTs I have read through May & posted them on my thread here on our ROOT site & updated my ticker. So far this year I have read 44 ROOTS with a goal of 12. I have been unable to update my ticker from 30 to 44 so will try again tomorrow.

Just editing to say that this morning when I signed on & checked my ticker, it had updated overnight. YEA!~!

>92 Robertgreaves: so sorry to hear about your back, that's no fun.

Get well soon everybody!

JUNE THREAD IS UP! Sorry for delay
https://www.librarything.com/topic/258773#

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry that everyone seems to be going through such troubles. It just seems to be quite the year so far. I do hope that you all get better soon!

Due to everything that has happened with me just in the first few months of the year, I can already tell that my reading total will be significantly lower than it was last year. Although, I'm not too worried about that just yet! May's reading total was still slightly low - but I only read one less ROOT than last May - so I suppose that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Anyway, in keeping with the group theme, here are my totals for this month:

Ancient Oaks Pruned: stands for older books read from my TBR pile: 2
Young Saplings Pruned: stands for newer books read from my TBR pile: 1
Trees Replanted: stands for rereads from my TBR pile: 2
New Seeds Planted: stands for additions to my TBR pile: 7
Trees Transplanted: stands for books that were donated: 3

I have only dealt with my own personal tickers, never touched the group ones.