DECEMBER ROOT - Progress Thread

It is the end of another year trying to read our ROOTs. So what better way to end then with SUNSETS!





Sunsets can be pink or purple, yellow or orange, over the mountains or down at the seashore. The sky will be a mixture of a multitude of colors but it will still be breathtaking. If the sky is cloudy, you may see only a glimmer of the sun or just a glow. Any way it appears a sunset notes the end of another day.













Do you like to watch the sun set? What is your favorite locale to watch the day end?

PLEASE REMEMBER TO CLICK ON NEW TICKER AFTER YOU HAVE UPDATED

Here are our November totals for 2022. Remember, if you are not a member of the group, or have not set a goal, your name will not appear in the list.

aspirit 0 / 8 0.0%
benitastarnd★ 73 / 62 117.7%
bragan 61 / 75 81.3%
brakketh 35 / 50 70.0%
ca_dmv★ 12 / 12 100.0%
Caramellunacy★ 37 / 25 148.0%
Cecilturtle★ 58 / 50 116.0%
clue 40 / 49 81.6%
Coach_of_Alva★ 32 / 25 128.0%
connie53★ 41 / 36 113.9%
Cora-R 20 / 100 20.0%
crazy4reading 10 / 20 50.0%
curioussquared★ 80 / 55 145.5%
cyderry★ 301 / 84 358.3%
detailmuse 39 / 40 ★ 97.5%
DisassemblyOfReason 75 / 100 75.0%
enemyanniemae 62 / 70 88.6%
FAMeulstee★ 58 / 48 120.8%
Familyhistorian★ 67 / 65 103.1%
floremolla 28 / 40 70.0%
fuzzi★ 118 / 100 118.0%
HelenBaker 40 / 48 83.3%
Henrik_Madsen★ 51 / 50 102.0%
humouress 19 / 25 76.0%
Jackie_K★ 60 / 60 100.0%
janoorani24 9 / 20 45.0%
justchris 35 / 50 70.0%
kac522 62 / 75 82.7%
karenmarie 18 / 30 60.0%
Kristelh★ 57 / 50 114.0%
Kwharton 5 / 12 41.7%
LadyBookworth 28 / 30 ★ 93.3%
lilisin★ 105 / 80 131.3%
lindapanzo★ 91 / 84 108.3%
LoraShouse★ 17 / 15 113.3%
madhatter22 32 / 50 64.0%
majkia★ 106 / 65 163.1%
martencat 12 / 25 48.0%
Miss_Moneypenny★ 84 / 80 105.0%
MissWatson★ 83 / 75 110.7%
Nickelini 32 / 40 80.0%
Quaisior 15 / 50 30.0%
QuestingA★ 38 / 35 108.6%
rabbitprincess★ 52 / 50 104.0%
readergirliz★ 30 / 30 100.0%
readingtangent★ 46 / 45 102.2%
Rebeki 22 / 24 ★ 91.7%
ritacate 8 / 30 26.7%
Robertgreaves★ 114 / 90 126.7%
rocketjk 20 / 25 80.0%
rosalita★ 48 / 48 100.0%
sallylou61★ 34 / 24 141.7%
si★ 26 / 20 130.0%
Tara1Reads 7 / 52 13.5%
torontoc 29 / 30 ★ 96.7%
vestafan★ 66 / 60 110.0%
wandaly★ 18 / 18 100.0%

We have reached our group goal!!



We have 31 readers who have reached their goals - cyderry, fuzzi, si, connie53, sallylou61, Coach_of_Alva, curioussquared, majkia, lilisin, QuestingA, FAMeulstee, clue, Kristelh ca_dmv, LoraShouse, Robertgreaves, Caramellunacy,
MissWatson, vestafan, and benitastarnd - they were joined this month by rabbitprincess, Jackie_K, Miss_Moneypenny, Henrik_Madsen, readergirliz, Cecilturtle, lindapanzo, rosalita, Familyhistorian, wandaly, and readingtangent!!

Our top star readers closest to reaching their goals, are:
detailmuse 97.5%
torontoc 96.7%
LadyBookworth 93.3%
Rebeki 91.7%

Those sunsets are absolutely gorgeous, Chèli! It's hard to pick a favorite.

I love watching the sun set, as long as I'm not driving straight into it. :-)

Breathtaking photos! And hurray for us meeting our group goal!!

I love sunsets. Pre-pandemic I would often see the sunset while I was walking home from work. So for me, now, sunset means the end of the work day and nostalgia for a less complicated time.

And thank you Chèli for another year of encouraging us to keep on ROOTing and for all your hard work compiling the group's statistics.

Gorgeous shiots! Great year of reading ROOTS!

Yes, what lovely photos! For me, there's always something even more special about a sunset over water.

Those pictures are spectacular! They really brighten up a cold grey winter day. Thank you!

Looks like we've already reached our collective goal!
I absolutely love the photos! Personally, I love to watch sunsets from a balcony to see the sun sink from up high!

I might have left my last-minute catch-up a bit late this year, but I have finished What if? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions and Knit one, Pearl one.

What if? was good but it was a bit technical at times - a hard balance for the author! Knit One Pearl One was OK and didn't clearly say that it was the third in a series, but characters kept dropping so much backstory that I eventually picked it up. I guess that could be annoying if you'd read the first two and remembered them. I won't bother with them. I'm still working on Unapologetic.

ROOT #30 and my first for Dec. The review is on my thread and no tickers were updated.
I did reach my goal of 30 books from my book towers read!

Congratulations, torontoc. Well done.

Gorgeous pictures, Chèli.

Congrats, Torontoc.

I've just added my first ROOT for December (#61 for the year) to my own ticker only.

>1 cyderry: gorgeous.

I see sunrises here more than sunsets due to my locale.

>15 fuzzi: I think it will be the same for me when we move to Myrtle Beach, SC.

I left town before the end of November so didn't get to update my ROOTs total. Now that I'm back I have lots more ROOTs to add. I saw lots of sunsets in Mexico. They'll have to keep me for a while as I've only seen the sun once since I returned on Sunday!

I had my first ROOT this week. I finished reading A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh. Oh is one of the founding members of the group We Need Diverse Books. This was a short story compilation of folk and fairy tales from Asia. As a collection it was uneven which is generally the problem with short story collections. But none were bad enough that I quit reading the book. I rated it as average.

Pictures are stunning. Thanks for posting.

>16 cyderry: only about a four hour drive from here 😁😁😁

I've added another ROOT with Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë which I've had for at least 10 years.
I also finished The Cat who Played Post Office by Lilian Braun Jackson which I added to my collection in February.

All tickers are updated.

>20 fuzzi: where are you?

>2 cyderry:. Cheli, apologies my ticker thread should have read 47/48 at close of November but I was unable to update my ticker.
I am delighted that today I was able to, as I have reached my goal of 48/48 with The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante

Congratulations, Helen. Well done

>23 HelenBaker: congrats!

Finished my book club's November book, 花束は毒 (The Bouquet is Poison), which is a fun little mystery that I managed to solve which is fun. Tonight I'm going to read the last few pages of the French translation of Keisuke Hada's La Vie du bon côté which actually has the original title of "Scrap and Build" in the Japanese.

>22 cyderry: east of Greenville, NC.

Congrats, Helen.

Finished Unapologetic and started No-nonsense guide: World History which I did actually start many years ago, but never finished.

I finished book 13 in the Bruno Courrages series. AKA Bruno, Chief of Police series. Shooting at Chateau Rock. These books are great fun to read.

Belatedly adding my first ROOT of December to my personal ticker: The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence.

Just added book #31- a great reread!

I've added my second ROOT for December (#62 for the year) to my own ticker only. It was a good one - The Decade in Tory by Russell Jones.

It looks like I’ll make it after all! I think my ticker is irretrievably broken though, sorry.

Listened to a ROOT on the drive from Alabama to Kansas. We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal. this one was a disappointment. It was book 2 in the Sands of Arawiya series. I think the problem is that the first book was published in 2018. I read it in 2019 and really liked the novel. This one reads like it was hurried and poorly written even though it took 4 years to come out. The dialogue was just silly. But it is done now.

I have now finished my challenge with 30 /30 books read.

Congratulations to all of you that have already finished!

Happy reading to all!

Well done, LadyBookworth. Congratulations.

>36 LadyBookworth: Good job!!

Now that I've met my goal the ROOTs are dropping like flies. I've just posted the 81st ROOT on my thread. Will get around to updating my ticker later.

I have finished four ROOTs so far in December, my total is now 87. If nothing untoward happens, I may squeeze in another one before I leave for my holiday break...

Have to abandon my Japanese-language book club's December pick because the Japanese level was too hard. Too many obscure vocab words, kanji and expressions that obscured the reading experience. The native-Jpn reader in the club agreed that the words were rather difficult. It's my bad though. I've been checking the language level of all our picks to make sure they were at an appropriate reading level but this is the first one where I forgot to do so.

I only got through 20 pages of it so it will not be included in any of my reading stats. I'll keep the book in my TBR pile until a later date where I feel I can finally tackle it, if I want to tackle it. Admittedly it's not even a book I wanted to read; it was another reader's nominee. So high chance I just get rid of it entirely.

#32 ROOT of the year! The review is on my thread.

I surprised myself and actually did achieve my modest goal of 12 ROOTs! I really thought I would let you down this year.

Well done, K. Congratulations

Congrats, K!

I'm not going to finish another book, let alone a ROOT this year. So my total ROOTs for 2022 is 41.

My final number is 88, and I'm waving goodbye for now. See you all in January!

Wishing everyone the happiest of holiday seasons!

Friday is NATIONAL ROOTS DAY!

Do you think they are talking about us?? LOL

>48 cyderry: We'd probably best spend the day reading, just in case.

I finished another ROOT by reading in between baking gingerbread cakes. This one was Parrot in the Pepper Tree: A Sort of Sequel to "Driving Over Lemons" by Christ Stewart. This was book was fun light reading for the trip. It was book 2 in a trilogy Stewart wrote about his purchase of a farm in the Andalusia region of Spain. I had to request this one from Inter-Library Loan and will have to finish the trilogy now. Book 3 will also have to be an ILL request.

Here are some quick tips for those who aren’t sure how they are supposed to navigate this weekend’s unholy, cold weather. 🥶

🏝 Wear real shoes. Your flip flops will have to fend for themselves for a few days. They will be okay.
🏝 Socks! Wear them. Preferably with real shoes.
🏝 You've likely never noticed it but there is a setting on your AC unit at home that makes it blow out warm air. Use it. Look for a little fire symbol or the word H E A T
🏝 There is also a similar function for the AC in your car… and turn OFF the seat AC feature.
🏝 Umbrella. Use an umbrella if you do venture outside. Not for rain, it will help you avoid head injuries caused by frozen water sticks.

I'm only 2 books away! I've read my 23rd book of a goal of 25 ROOTs. I've updated my personal tickers but not the main one.

If anyone has a good alternative to Ticker Factory, I'd be grateful to hear of it. I'm so fed up with how temperamental it gets.

>51 cyderry: cute, ha!

>52 humouress: it's been working okay for me this year, but I'm open to alternatives.

Wishing everyone all the best for the season and a very happy 2023!

I'm finishing the year with a bona fide ROOT, on my shelves for 10 years now, with One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell, a great entertaining read for the Holidays.

All tickers are updated!

I finished the 2022 ROOT Challenge with 14 books read! Two over my goal of 12 books. Will there be a 2023 ROOT Challenge? I'm already getting a head start with a large volume that has been neglected way too long only because the size looks so daunting! :) I'm determined to have it read by the end of January to be my first ROOT of 2023.

>51 cyderry: It has been incredible watching your weather on the news. Here we are sweltering in 30+ temperatures, staying inside with AC on nice and cool. I have never experienced living in a snowy climate. I was stunned by the water sticks. They look lethal.

One more root for me The Thing About December by Donal Ryan, taking me to 49/48.

I've updated my ticker with two more ROOTS. Now sitting at 55/50.

The Green Branch, by Edith Pargeter
Doctor Who: Babblesphere, by Jonathan Morris

I've added ROOT #3 for December (#63 for the year) to my own ticker only. Still hopeful I can sneak in one more before the new year...

I've had a burst of energy here at the end of the year (more accurately, several extra days off work that I could devote to reading), and I've knocked off 6 more ROOTs. That brings me to 54/48 for the year.

Firefly Summer by Maeve Binchy (this was a re-read in preparation for passing it along to a friend)
The Fields by Erin Young
We Heard It When We Were Young by Chuy Renteria
Winds of Evil by Arthur W. Upfield
Mrs. McGinty's Dead by Agatha Christie
The Copper Beech by Maeve Binchy (another re-read before passing along the book to a friend)

Looks like the end of the year is prime time for ROOT reading. I read a total of 13 ROOTs in December for a final total of 84/65 - 19 over my goal. Now to see if I can keep that up in the coming year.

ugh- 5 short of my goal of 70. I guess 65 isn't too bad. I will do better next year. Updating personal ticker. See you all on the other side of 2022.

Here is my report for December 2022:

UpROOTED books: 10
ROOTless books: 11
Added to the treebook TBR shelves: 10

The ROOTs were:

The Crossroads Brotherhood by Robert Fabbri
Rome's Executioner by Robert Fabbri (DNF)
Put On By Cunning by Ruth Rendell
Golden State by Ben Winters
Crime & Punctuation by Kaitlyn Dunnett
The Other Man by Farhad J. Dadyburjor
The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Murder at Pirate's Cove and Secret At Skull House, both by Josh Lanyon

ROOTs in YTD: 124 (a record year for ROOTs)

(Group tickers not touched)

Two more ROOTs read in December, making a total of 60/48
Own ticker is up to date.

Happy New Year everyone! Checking in to report an extra four ROOTs (personal ticker updated, group ticker not touched) at the last minute! See you all in 2023!

I managed to finish two ROOT's between all the activities around the holidays. The first one was Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century by William Rosen. I have been reading this one since October. It wasn't a hard book to read, I just had too many other books distracting me.

I also finished Give Unto Others the last Guido Brunetti book by Donna Leon. This one was easy to read in between all the baking and other activities. I suspect it will be my last book of the year, but we will see as I am currently reading another ROOT that I hope to finish by the end of the year.

I finished my last Root of the year and my ticker is up to date.

Unfortunately, I didn't quite make my goal this year, but thanks to everyone for helping us exceed our group goal. I hope to do better in 2023.

And thank you Cheli, for all you do. Happy New Reading Year to All!

And I've done it, just finished my final ROOT for the year for a final total of 64. Happy new year to you all, and thank you again Cheli for all your hard work on this thread.

The 2023 ROOT CHALLENGE group is now open.

https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23888/2023-ROOT-CHALLENGE

Be sure to join the group for another year of ROOTing!!

yay!

12 ROOTs read between November and December - including some shorter books I must admit - brought my ROOTs to 40/40 for the year. Hoorah!

Reviews on my thread.

>73 floremolla: Yeah, Donna!

Added some more books to my personal ticker. My count is a bit messed up but I think, if I'm honest, that my final number for 2022 is 24 out of a goal of 25.

Main ticker not touched.

Happy New Year!

I had 7 ROOT's for December 2022. No tickers updated.

I had the following titles and genre's.

Nonfiction
Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century by William Rosen
Parrot in the Pepper Tree: A Sort of Sequel to "Driving Over Lemons" by Chris Stewart
House of Sticks: A Memoir by Ly Tran - sound recording

Fiction
Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Ellen Oh - sound recording
Shooting at Chateau Rock by Martin Walker
We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal - sound recording
Give Unto Others by Donna Leon

I met my goal - which was 62 books. I was not sure I would make that many ROOT's, but I did! I exceeded it. I think I have a total of 80 ROOT's this year.

Working on the final numbers for 2022.

>52 humouress: Oh yes, I'm so frustrated by my inability to get my ticker working!

>77 cyderry: Thanks Cheli! I'm looking forward now to another year of tackling Mt TBR.

The totals are in! We read over 300 extra ROOTs and reached our goal!!

Of the 56 participants, 37 got to their personal goal while 4 only missed out by 1 or 2 books. That's 2/3s reaching their goal. GREAT JOB EVERYONE!

Here are the final numbers:

benitastarnd★ 80 / 62 129.0%
bragan 66 / 75 88.0%
brakketh 42 / 50 84.0%
ca_dmv★ 14 / 12 116.7%
Caramellunacy★ 40 / 25 160.0%
Cecilturtle★ 62 / 50 124.0%
clue★ 54 / 40 135.0%
Coach_of_Alva★ 36 / 25 144.0%
connie53★ 41 / 36 113.9%
Cora-R 20 / 100 20.0%
crazy4reading 10 / 20 50.0%
curioussquared★ 85 / 55 154.5%
cyderry★ 355 / 84 422.6%
detailmuse 39 / 40 97.5%
DisassemblyOfReason 83 / 100 83.0%
enemyanniemae 65 / 70 92.9%
FAMeulstee★ 60 / 48 125.0%
Familyhistorian★ 84 / 65 129.2%
floremolla★ 40 / 40 100.0%
fuzzi★ 129 / 100 129.0%
HelenBaker★ 48 / 48 100.0%
Henrik_Madsen★ 55 / 50 110.0%
humouress 24 / 25 96.0%
Jackie_K★ 64 / 60 106.7%
janoorani24 9 / 20 45.0%
justchris 48 / 50 96.0%
kac522 67 / 75 89.3%
karenmarie 18 / 30 60.0%
Kristelh★ 66 / 50 132.0%
Kwharton★ 12 / 12 100.0%
LadyBookworth★ 30 / 30 100.0%
lilisin★ 112 / 80 140.0%
lindapanzo★ 99 / 84 117.9%
LoraShouse★ 17 / 15 113.3%
madhatter22 33 / 50 66.0%
majkia★ 116 / 65 178.5%
martencat 12 / 25 48.0%
Miss_Moneypenny★ 88 / 80 110.0%
MissWatson★ 88 / 75 117.3%
Nickelini 33 / 50 66.0%
Quaisior 15 / 50 30.0%
QuestingA★ 41 / 35 117.1%
rabbitprincess★ 55 / 50 110.0%
readergirliz★ 30 / 30 100.0%
readingtangent★ 51 / 45 113.3%
Rebeki★ 24 / 24 100.0%
ritacate 8 / 30 26.7%
Robertgreaves★ 124 / 90 137.8%
rocketjk 24 / 25 96.0%
rosalita★ 54 / 48 112.5%
sallylou61★ 34 / 24 141.7%
si★ 28 / 20 140.0%
Tara1Reads 7 / 52 13.5%
torontoc★ 32 / 30 106.7%
vestafan★ 72 / 60 120.0%
wandaly★ 18 / 18 100.0%

The finishers this month are:
LadyBookworth, HelenBaker. Kwharton, floremolla, Rebeki, clue, and torontoc.

Wishing you all a great 2023! Hope you all will join again.

Is there a 2023 Group up yet?

>81 rocketjk: https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/23888/2023-ROOT-CHALLENGE

>82 Robertgreaves: Thanks!

112 out of the original 80! I'm happy with that and am hoping for more success in the new year. Here's to a successful 2023 reading year!

Here is the link to my new 2023 ROOT thread. https://www.librarything.com/topic/347396#n8024604