HelenNZ Back for 2025

Apologies for my late appearance. Our year got off to a bad start with my husband having a heart attack on New Year's Eve. 15 days later he made it home from hospital with new plumbing i.e. two stents in his heart. It took quite a toll on us both energy wise, but hopefully back to a new normal now.
I have kept my goal the same i.e 48. I have 370 books unread on my shelves so plenty to choose from. I have set no other challenges so far this year.

Here is my ticker:

January.
1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez*
2. Delirious by Damien Wilkins*
3. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout*
4. Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout*
5. A Man you Can Bank On by Derek Hansen*
6. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid*
7. All the Broken Places by John Boyne*

>2 HelenBaker: I remember enjoying One Hundred Years of Solitude about 35 years ago. I think that's long enough to count as a ROOT again.

Hi Helen. What a awful start you and your family had. Glad to hear your husband is home again and doing well. Welcome back to the ROOTers.

Welcome back, Helen, and I hope things are going uphill for you, after such an awful start to the year.

Yikes! What a scary way to start the new year. Hope 2025 improves for you both.

February.
8. The Honeyeater by Jessie Tu
9. Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa*
10.Tin Man by Sarah Winman*
11.Lady Tan's Circle of Woman by Lisa See*
12.The Call by Gavin Strawhan*
13.Abide With Me by Elizabeth Strout*
14.Rapture by Emily Maguire

March.
15. The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford*
16. Marlborough Man by Alan Carter
17. The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall by Paul Torday*
18. Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
19. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead*
20. The Safekeep by Yael Van der Wouden
21. Another World by Pat Barker*
22. The Angry Women's Choir by Meg Bignell
23. The Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulk*
24. Red River Road by Anna Downes

Doing great, Helen. I hope the energy is returning and your husband is doing well.

April.
25. The Burrow by Melanie Cheng
26. Currawalli Street by Chris Morgan*
27. Golden Days by Caroline Barron
28. The Imaginary Lives of James Poneke by Tina Makereti
29. Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee*
30. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
31. Blackwater Lightship by Colm Toibin*
32. The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings*
33. Five Strings by Apirana Taylor*

May.
34. The Mires by Tina Makereti
35. A Week in the Life of Cassandra Aberline by Glenda Guest
36. James by Percival Everett
37. Washington Black by Esi Edugyan*
38. Pet by Catherine Chidgey*
39. Treasure and Dirt by Chris Hammer*
40. Time of the Child by Niall Williams*
41. The Only Story by Julian Barnes*

June.
42. Return to Blood by Michael Bennett
43. Juice by Tim Winton*
44. So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
45. The Secret Life of Luke Livingstone by Charity Norman*
46. Gulliver's Wife by Lauren Chater*
47. The Burning Boy by Maurice Gee*
48. Air by John Boyne*
49. Heloise by Mandy Hager*
50. The Coast Road by Alan Murrin*
51. The Echoes by Evie Wyld*

July.
52. Poorhara by Michelle Rahurahu
53. When the Deep Dark Bush Swallows you Whole by Geoff Parkes
54. The Woman on the Stairs by Bernard Schlink*
55. The Tilt by Chris Hammer
56. Sanctuary by Garry Disher
57. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz*
58. Doom Creek by Alan Carter
59. The Glass House by Anne Buist*
60. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel*
61. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Hi Helen, everything all right with you and yours? I hope so. You are doing great with your reading so far.

>14 connie53: Sadly the family health worries have continued through the year.
In March, my daughter Carolyn's husband suffered a ruptured appendix and was in hospital for a week. We just got him home and my husband Don went in to have his ulcerated little toe amputated. He is still having to have his wound dressed every couple of days by District Nurses. It has been very painful and slow healing as he is diabetic.
In May, our eldest daughter had surgery and collapsed the next day as she was bleeding internally and had to be rushed back in to surgery. They are now thinking she may have had a mini stroke from a small blood clot as a result of the bleeding as she is having cognitive problems and not able to return to work yet.
In June, Carolyn, also suffered a ruptured appendix and had emergency surgery. A very tired surgeon failed to suture one of her incisions and she too, had to go back in to surgery. A week later, still in hospital they operated again as they felt the infection wasn't contained. She is now home slowly recovering.
So a very worrying few months for the whole family. Although, I think my wakeful nights, mean I have read more books this year. It provides a distraction from reality when I am having trouble sleeping. It also may explain my absence from chat groups.
I hope you and Peet are keeping well.

Ohh, that really is a LOT of health stuff. And far to many appendixes rupturing. It seems like a familial epidemic.
And the toe thing sounds awful. I hope he will we get better soon despite the diabetic thing. My dad was a diabetic too and I know the complications there can occur. Give my best wishes to him and your daughters.

I'm glad books are a distraction in sleepless nights, but I hope you will have good nights to come.

Peet is doing good. His medication has been adjusted and now he is much better mentally. The physical things stays the same and there is no hope of that getting better. But he has accepted the fact that he had to live in the care centre for the remaining time. He is not rebellious about that any more which gives me less tension when visiting him.

Thanks for asking.

>15 HelenBaker: wishing you strength and healing going forward

>15 HelenBaker: That is so much do deal with. I hope things will improve soon. Take care of yourself.

August.
62. A Train in Winter by Caroline Moorehead*
63. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
64. The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
65. The Stars are a Million Glittering Worlds by Gina Butson
66. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
67. The Siege by Helen Dunmore*

>15 HelenBaker: so sorry to hear all your family has been going through. Prayers for healing and peace.

September.
68. The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels*
69. When Sleeping Women Wake by Emma Pei Yin
70. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler
71. Stoneyard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
72. The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright
73. Sorrow Spring by Olivia Isaac-Henry
74. The Name of the Sister by Gail Jones
75. Through the Lonesome Dark by Paddy Richardson*
76. By the Green of the Spring by Paddy Richardson

October.
77. All That We Know by Shilo Kino
78. Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu*
79. Lyrebird by Jane Caro
80. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
81. Hooked Up by Fiona Sussman
82. Mothers' Boys by Margaret Forster*
83. Father Lands by Emily Ballou*
84. The Children by Charlotte Wood*
85. The Distant Land of My Father by Bo Caldwell*
86. The Son by Philipp Meyer*

November.
87. Delirious by Damien Wilkins
88. The Child in Time by Ian McEwan*
89. Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook*
90. Sea Change by Jenny Pattrick*
91. The Death of Noah Glass by Gail Jones*
92. Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion*
93. The Pages by Murray Bail*

Finally, finally updating my reading log.
The year continues in the same vein sadly, for my husband. In early September he became very short of breath and developed angina, so it was back to hospital for him. It turned out he was severely anaemic. He was given 4 blood transfusions to elevate his haemoglobin to a safe level. 16 days later it occurred again so I called an ambulance and it was the same scenario with 4 more transfusions. After many tests it was decided he was having a reaction to one of his medications. His auto-immune system didn't like it and was attacking the medication designed to improve the production of red blood cells and then it had begun attacking all his red blood cells. So to date, he is currently have 2 more transfusions as I write, making it 19 units of blood over 10 weeks!
He started a new replacement drug not normally funded about 10 days ago, but last weekend he developed an infection and some of his joints have become inflammed, so he has been started on antibiotics and prednisone. They are hoping a course of prednisone will restart the production of red blood cells because this cannot continue.
So I have been struggling to find computer time with all my husband's appointments. However on the bright side, I have reached and surpassed my goal of 48 of my own books. Now I am at 51, so I am happy with that as I have also made a concerted effort to not go to bookfairs and add to my library. I will now try and remove these off my 'to read' list and hopefully get back with my adjusted number.

So my to read list is now at 337. I hope to continue to reduce this by years end. In recent years I have started the year with about 380 books on my shelves, so this is a satisfying reduction in number, largely due to my lack of acquisitions. I hope this will motivate me to continue this downward trend.

Congratulations on reaching your goal. I am also sorry to hear that real life has been very hard for you.

I'm sorry to hear about your husband, Helen. I hope you get some solace from all your great reading.

That's a very difficult year for you, Helen! I'm glad you have been able to achieve your reading goal. You have some great books on there.

I hope 2026 is a calmer year for you on the health front.

Oh Helen. What a lot of things have been happening for you and your family.
I really hope the health of your husband will get better and the prednison does it's work. My heart and thoughts are with you.

You've had plenty to contend with, that's for sure. Best wishes for an easier year for both of you coming up!

December.
94. Book of Colours by Robyn Cadwallader*
95. Field of Poppies by Carmel Bird*
96. 1985 by Dominic Hoey*
97. The Heart is a Star by Megan Rogers
98. When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain*
99. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw*
100. Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi*

Well I am delighted with my numbers this year, despite it being a very tough year healthwise for my family, I have read 100 books and with stricter monitoring of acquisitions I have read 61 of my own books and finally reduced my TBR. For the past few years I have started with around 380 books on my TBR and I am delighted that I finish the year with 332. Hopefully I will continue in this vein in 2026 and steadily bring it down.
I have, however, chosen reading over computer time, so my communication has been poor. I guess reading is an escape.

Wishing you all health and happiness and some great reading experiences in 2026.