LauraBrook tries to dig up more ROOTs in 2014

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LauraBrook tries to dig up more ROOTs in 2014

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1LauraBrook
Redigerat: jan 1, 2015, 12:21 pm

Hi all! I'm back for another round. Last year I aimed a little high for myself and chose 100 - this year, I think I'll aim lower and go for 50. Seems more attainable than the 100, and seeing as my part-time library job causes me to leave with at least 1 book EVERY. SINGLE. TIME, I may have a shot at getting to 50.

ROOT TOTAL: 65


image found via google - hopefully I'll get around to posting my own shelves at some point

2LauraBrook
Redigerat: jun 9, 2014, 7:19 pm

Books Read

1. Beethoven's Shadow by Jonathan Biss (Jan 1) 1 hr 57 min, 3*, and out the door (well, deleted from my computer)
2. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh (Feb ?) 384 pgs, 5 *, keeper
3. Bearded Lady by Mara Altman (Feb 15), Kindle Single, 4 *, keeper
4. The Woman in the Wall by Patrice Kindl, 192 pgs, adios
5, 6, & 7. The Griffin & Sabine trilogy by Nick Bantock, keepers
8. The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell, keeper for now
9. A Breast Cancer Alphabet by Madhulika Sikka, keeper
10. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, keeper because it's a nice copy
11. God Save the Queen by Kate Locke, keeper
12. Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey by the Countess of Carnarvon, keeper (& LTER win)
13. Marie Antoinette, the Last Queen of France by Evelyne Lever, adios
14. The Vision Board by Joyce Schwarz, keeper
15. Artifact by Gigi Pandian, keeper (ebook)
16. The Healing Consciousness: A Doctor's Journey to Healing by Dr. Beth DuPree, keeper
17. Ask Graham by Graham Norton, keeper
18. Sheldon & Mrs Levine, An Excruciating Correspondence by Sam Bobrick, keeper bc it was a present
19. The Storybook of Legends by Shannon Hale, keeper
20. The Complete Guide to Container Gardening by Better Homes & Gardens, keeper
21. Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly by Agatha Christie, keeper (ebook)
22. Naked Heat by Richard Castle, adios
23. Month By Month Gardening in Wisconsin by Melinda Meyers, keeper
24. 13, rue Therese by Elena Mauli Shapiro, adios

3rabbitprincess
dec 30, 2013, 8:11 pm

Yay Laura is back!! Having a part-time job at the library would be very tempting indeed. I'm only a patron and find it difficult to leave empty-handed; can't imagine how tempting it is for the people who work there!

4connie53
dec 31, 2013, 4:37 am

Welcome back Laura! Nice picture.

5cyderry
dec 31, 2013, 11:16 am

Glad you're back!

6tloeffler
dec 31, 2013, 9:09 pm

Well, I just couldn't even function working in a library. I'd be just like you. I'd have to start a Library Book Challenge...

Happy New Year, Laura!

7ipsoivan
dec 31, 2013, 9:43 pm

My sister is also a librarian. I love visiting her, and checking out the stacks of books she and her family each have piled next to their reading chairs. Wonderful stuff, and as she is the buyer for her library, they can perfectly suit their individual tasyes.

8rainpebble
jan 1, 2014, 1:53 am

Wow Laura; love your graphic! Good luck with your challenge.

9LauraBrook
jan 7, 2014, 1:45 pm

My first book done!

Book 1: Beethoven's Shadow by Jonathan Biss

A just-under-2-hour audiobook that I ultimately found both dry and interesting. Biss, a well-known pianist, talks about Beethoven, his piano sonatas, and his own experience with learning and playing each sonata. I usually enjoy books written by performers about their own experience with music, looking for some kind of connection between myself and them, but this one was difficult to find anything to relate to. Yes, we don't play the same instrument, okay, but that isn't usually something that matters much. Jonathan's intended audience is most assuredly not me, and is probably some classically trained, slightly snobbish Big City type, preferably a fellow classical pianist, but again, that shouldn't matter. Ultimately, this story seemed to float above most things, and not really touch the earth, or the reader/listener at all. I had a hard time finishing it, if I'm honest. Still, it was just this side of interesting, and I can safely delete it from my computer with zero guilt. 2.6*

***************

rp, it's hardest for me when I'm working in the back room, checking in all of the newly returned material. I'm touching and opening hundreds of books and being exposed to more new titles/authors than I ever thought possible. It's very dangerous indeed.

Connie, hello and thank you!

Cheli, I'm glad to be back, and I need to be here. Already 13 books purchased so far this year, not to mention the hundreds already laying around here - this does not bode well. ;)

TLo, I had to do just that! There is absolutely no way for me to not have one of those categories any more, it's just too difficult! Happy Belated New Year to you too!

Maggie, hello! It sounds like a dream job, doesn't it, buying books for the library? Maybe that's the goal I should set my sights on, as it may help the sheer book volume of my house. I love looking at other people's books too - have you found any good ones from checking out your sister's family's stacks?

Belva!!!!! HIIII!!!!! I'm so excited to see you here! Glad you like the photo, taking some of my own groaning shelves is on my To-Do List, but it would be a lot of photos and I don't know if it would help or hinder this group. :)

10connie53
jan 7, 2014, 2:03 pm

Congrats on book 1, Laura. I just finished my first one too.

11ipsoivan
jan 7, 2014, 7:30 pm

>9 LauraBrook: Luckily for my TBR stack, my sister lives in New Zealand and I live in Canada, so I don't get to eyeball her books often. But, oh... What books!

12lindapanzo
jan 7, 2014, 9:05 pm

Hi Laura, welcome back to ROOT.

I'm counting only actual books this year, not Kindle books, which'll be a lot tougher for me.

13connie53
feb 11, 2014, 3:22 pm

Hi Laura, How are you doing? We hope you are still ROOTing.

14LauraBrook
feb 13, 2014, 11:51 am

I am, but I haven't had a chance to put my ROOTs here yet - hopefully later today or tomorrow I'll be back with an update! Thanks for checking in, Connie!

15connie53
feb 14, 2014, 6:32 am

Well good for you! As long as you are enjoying your books it's all good.

I like to see what you have been reading.

16LauraBrook
feb 16, 2014, 9:48 am

I like to see what you've been reading too! And now, here is my sad little update.

Book 2 Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

Love her blog, and this book is that in blog form. It sounds like it shouldn't work, but this really does. Along with some of her "greatest hits", there are plenty of new stories too, and I found myself literally laughing out loud more than once. I picked it up once I got home, just to check it out, and I'd read 2/3s of it. 5 stars, keeper

Book 3 Bearded Lady by Mara Altman

A Kindle Single (just got mine on Friday!), this honest and funny look at women's body hair, the insane lengths we go to to remove and manipulate it, and the crazy thoughts you can have that sound rational but really aren't, was a great intro to both Mara's voice and my new toy. 4 stars, and I'm keeping it for now.

This is a terrible result for ROOTing, y'all. I've read 24 books so far this year and a measly 3 are from my own shelves. The library strikes again! I've got a few of my own that I'm over halfway through with, so that should help my numbers a little. And spending more time at my house taking care of my Mom leaves me more inclined to pick something off of a shelf (or a stack, or drawer, or pile) here rather than at work. Oh well, it's early days still!

17rabbitprincess
feb 16, 2014, 11:22 am

I love Hyperbole and a Half! The book is very high on my "buy with my Christmas gift card" list.

18connie53
feb 16, 2014, 1:32 pm

@ Laura - Feel free to drop by on my ROOT thread: http://www.librarything.nl/topic/168675

19LauraBrook
apr 13, 2014, 1:38 pm

Yikes, 2 months since I've been here! Let's see if I have anything to add...

Book 4 The Woman In The Wall by Patrice Kindl
This was only okay. A pick in one of my real-life book clubs, this story of a paralyzingly shy girl who literally retreats into the walls of her house, essentially bumping out walls by a foot or two, creating hallways and secret passages, and taking over several rooms on the top floor. She lives there that way for years, with her family nearly forgetting about her existence, except for food that gets mysteriously cooked and clothing that gets made. She finally is discovered and decides to come out of the walls and start living her life. It was sort of magical in a way, and the author really nailed the insular feelings and small world that all children (well, at least this child) had. In some ways it felt like she had tapped directly into my own past to describe the thought processes and seemingly logic choices that I made. (FYI, I'm an only child, and was often the only kid around.) But ultimately, I don't think that this was an excellent book. Good, sure, and interesting and unusual, but there were some storyline and time hiccups that interrupted the flow, so I'll have to rate this at 3 stars, and say bye-bye to my copy.

Books 5, 6 & 7 Griffin & Sabine, Sabine's Notebook, and The Golden Mean by Nick Bantock
Highly enjoyable, mysterious, and filled with curiosity and wonder. Is there a name for this genre of book, where it's illustrated and it's interactive? Because there needs to be, so I can list it in my "favorites" list. 4 stars each, keepers all.

Book 8 The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
Interesting, as Ms. Vowell's books always are, but this one took longer to really get into, and it didn't seem to hold my attention as much as other titles have. 3.5 stars, and a keeper for now, thought I expect to let it go at some point in the near future.

Book 9 A Breast Cancer Alphabet by Madhulika Sikka
Simply put, I can't imagine a better, more supportive book for breast cancer patients, family, and friends. Honest, loving, funny, and informative, this is the best book I've read about breast cancer since my Mom was diagnosed. 5 stars, keeper.

Book 10 The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Sadly, I was bored for a lot of this book. I had high expectations, as The Lord Of The Rings is one of my favorites, but there didn't seem to be a lot of heart to be found here. It was just action, introducing a whole slew of characters and worlds, and more action. And then a lot of talking, and then action. Lather, rinse, repeat. Because I have a nice hardcover copy, I'll keep it, but otherwise, this 3 star read would be a goner.

Book 11 God Save The Queen by Kate Locke
Initially this was a spur-of-the-moment checkout at work, but 100 pages in, I was seriously hooked and I bought my own copy. The pages fly by in this unique story, where goblins, vampires, Queen Victoria, werewolves, the plague, corsets, and Churchill are all part of modern, 2012 London. I'm too afraid of typing up a spoiler to summarize the plot (and anxiously awaiting book #2 in the mail to really think about it right now), but safe to say that if you read the publisher's summary and are intrigued I heartily recommend that you read this book. A keeper for sure, 5 stars.

Book 12 Lady Catherine, The Earl, and The Real Downton Abbey by The Countess of Carnarvon
An ER win, this book seemingly sounds a lot like something that would tick off my favorite things: royalty, history, the 1920's and '30's, England, an historic house, non-fiction, photographs. And it was interesting and enjoyable to read, but after awhile, it seemed to be repetitive, and I had a hard time keeping my mind on it for more than 50 pages at a crack. Still, I did really like it, and I look forward to reading the first book that the current Countess wrote - just not in the next couple of months. 3.5 stars, keeper.

Book 13 Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France by Evelyne Lever
I don't know, this one seemed to just feel flat and unsympathetic, making for a difficult read. Marie Antoinette is one of my favorite historical figures, and I try to read at least one book about her a year. Even though I know the highlights of her life, I still enjoy learning about different authors' viewpoints, and about what details they include and exclude. Maybe it was the translator, or maybe it was just the book itself, but I didn't particularly care for this one. Not bad, not great, just okay. 2.75 stars, and it's out the door!

Book 14 The Vision Board by Joyce Schwarz
I liked this book, though probably for the visuals rather than the text. I'll keep it, for sure, if for reference than nothing else, but it doesn't exactly get me "super psyched" about making a vision board. 3 stars.

20Tess_W
apr 13, 2014, 2:03 pm

I have the same Marie Antoinette book on my TBR......not going to be in any hurry now. I've spent about the last month reading about royals though: 3 on the Tudors and 2 on the Hanovers (QUeen Victoria and one on her 5 grandchildren who sat on various European thrones).

21connie53
apr 15, 2014, 12:52 pm

>19 LauraBrook: Well, you have been reading a lot, Laura! I'm glad you are back!

22LauraBrook
jun 4, 2014, 11:02 pm

Only been a couple of months since my last check-in here - at least I'm improving! ;)

Book 15 Artifact by Gigi Pandian
A fun book about an archaeologist who receives a package from her British ex-boyfriend in the UK, which contains a beautiful ruby bracelet. The next day, she hears of his death and thinks it sounds more like murder and less like an accident. Upon trying to contact his friends to find out more info, she starts researching this bracelet and enlists a grad student to help her out. After her apartment is broken into the next day, she and the grad student become slightly reluctant team, trying to uncover the truth about the bracelet, the ex, and a big historical mystery. Really great, full of action and interesting bits of history that I knew nothing about. I'm really glad that I have the next book ready to go on my Kindle! 4.5 stars, and a keeper!

Book 16 The Healing Consciousness: A Doctor's Journey to Healing by Dr. Beth DuPree
To be honest, I'm not quite finished with the book yet, but it's close enough for me to call it as complete. A wonderful, wonderfully refreshing story of a breast surgeon, her life story of how she got into medicine, and how she has grown spiritually (and therefore in every other way) in her practice and life since then. A great read. It's so nice to read a doctor's story that meshes with the beliefs of myself and my family. 3.8 stars, keeper

Book 17 Ask Graham by Graham Norton
I L-O-V-E Graham, and while this was a fun read, I wouldn't say it was hugely worth recommending unless you're already a fan. It's a collection of his advice columns from a UK newspaper, and I agree with his advice 99% of the time. Funny, good for a couple of chuckles, and a breezy way to spend a few hours. 3.25 stars, keeper (just because it was hard enough to find, I don't want to have to try and get my hands on another copy if I change my mind)!

Book 18 Sheldon and Mrs. Levine, An Excruciating Correspondence by Sam Bobrick
A spoof of the Griffin & Sabine books, this was a cute little book about an overbearing mother and her snotty adult son. A good parody and an easy read. 3 stars, and a keeper (because it was a bday gift).

Book 19 The Storybook of Legends by Shannon Hale
Picked up totally on a whim at a signing (it's got purple and pink pages!), this was a good little book set in the land of fairy stories about two girls, one who is set to be the Evil Queen in the Snow White story, and the other set to be Snow White. They both need to sign the book of legend, making a pledge to fulfill the duty of their story, but the girl who's set to be the Queen doesn't want to be Evil, so the two girls set about trying to find out what happens if you don't sign the book of legend and follow your own path instead. Certainly set for middle-graders (even grade schoolers reading a slightly higher than average level), I liked this book less than The School for Good & Evil which is aimed at the same reading level and is set in a similar setting. Recommended if you like this sort of thing, or know a younger reader who'd appreciate it. 3.2 stars, keeper bc it's signed.

Book 20 Complete Guide to Container Gardening by Better Homes & Gardens
An excellent resource on all things related to gardening in pots and things, including a lot of varied options for setting up unique and pretty containers. 4.5 stars, keeper for sure

Book 21 Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly by Agatha Christie
The first of a recent Christie short story kick, I relished tipping myself into Christie's story and the world of Poirot. 3.5 stars, keeper

Book 22 Naked Heat by Richard Castle
Like reading a new story of the "Castle" TV show, it was light, kept my interest, and threw a few laughs in too for good measure. 3 stars, and out the door

Book 23 Month-by-Month Gardening in Wisconsin by Melinda Myers
A great resource on what to do in your garden for each month, organized by type of plant. Keeper, 4 stars

Book 24 13 rue Therese by Elena Mauli Shapiro
Not at all what I was expecting. A fictionalized story about the authors real story. An elderly neighbor in the authors Parisian apartment building passes away, and after no relatives came forward, the Super allows each resident to go through her apartment and take something if they'd like. Elena chose a metal box filled with various pictures, gloves, and sentimental objects, and uses these objects (beautifully photographed and included in the book) to invent a story both of her neighbor's life and of a researcher who comes across this box. Told partly diary-style, with varying perspectives and shifts between first-, second-, and third-person, I didn't like this book at all. It was confusing, surprisingly sexual, and I nearly always felt like I was missing part of the story, like I had skipped a page or two. Ugh. Glad to have this one off of my shelf (a generous 2 stars for the idea and the physical presentation only), and I'm disappointed in this one.

23MissWatson
jun 5, 2014, 3:18 am

You spent the time reading, what better way to pass the time?

24LauraBrook
jun 9, 2014, 7:20 pm

I know, I just wish there were more of it! I'm currently working on a stack of library books (some of them I can no longer renew, I've had them so long), and then I hope to be back here, kicking my own books to the curb! (Though upon looking at my keep vs go piles, the keep is much bigger than the other. Oh well.) :)

25Tess_W
jun 9, 2014, 9:19 pm

A great job reading!

26connie53
Redigerat: jul 8, 2014, 6:56 am

You can keep all the books you like, Laura. I do the same thing, but I put them in my read-bookcase. If only I could stop buying new ones that would work fine.

27Merryann
jun 21, 2014, 10:51 am

What a nice variety of reading!

28LauraBrook
jul 5, 2014, 12:12 pm

>25 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess!

>26 connie53: I do the same thing, Connie! Though my read-bookcase is now double-stacked and overflowing. I'm hoping to reorganize my books this weekend - it's one of my favorite tasks, and the perfect thing for me to do if I need to have a Big Think. Apparently, I need one of those now.

>27 Merryann: Thanks, Merryann! It doesn't seem so varied to me (because I've been staring at these puppies for years), but I suppose it sort of is. :)

Book 25 Jane in Search of a Job by Agatha Christie
A lovely short story by Dame Agatha, unlike anything else I've read by her. Very fun, 4 stars, keeper (ebook)

Book 26 The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nope. 1 star, and a goner

Book 27 The Serpent's Trail by Sue Henry
The start to a cozy mystery series, and this one didn't work for me. Most of the sentences seemed two phrases too long, and I just couldn't really get into it. I finished it because my Mom and her friends all enjoy this series, but it's not for me. 2 stars, and bye-bye!

Book 28 Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers by Patrick Kavanaugh
It's only about Christian composers, and some of these are a real stretch, including some who are Jewish. Seemed like the author was really trying to make everyone here sounds like Uber-Jesus fans, and it doesn't work for me. Why force something? 1 star, and so so gone.

Book 29 The Giver by Lois Lowry
My only regret in reading this book is that I didn't do it when it was first published and I would have been the same age as Jonas. 4.5 stars, keeper

Books 30, 31, 32 The Gryphon, Alexandria, and Morning Star by Nick Bantock
Another great trilogy by an imaginative author, these were fun to read, and I recommend them if you liked the Griffin and Sabine books. 3.5 stars each, keepers

Book 33 The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig
More fluff than I expected, and fun and intriguing too. Why didn't I read this sooner?!? 4 stars, keeper

Book 34 Hotel Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones
I first found this book after watching and liking the TV series this was based on - in that time, though, I've read (and preferred) the more recent Heads in Beds, so this book just seemed like a gossipy, worse, re-hash of the same territory. 1.5 stars, and it's gone

Book 35 Archduke Franz Ferdinand Lives! by Richard Ned Lebow
An ER book, and while I enjoyed it, I'm glad I didn't spend any of my own money on it. 3 stars, keeper for now

Book 36 Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
I don't know if I prefer the TV version or this, the source, better, but I really liked this long-overdue revisit to the Poirot series. 3 stars, keeper

29Merryann
jul 15, 2014, 11:31 am

Hmm...now I'm curious about The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. One for me to check out sometime, probably. :)

30LauraBrook
aug 30, 2014, 10:12 am

Book 37 Secret Lives of Great Authors by Robert Schnakenberg
Most of the info in this book I'd at least heard in passing, but it was still interesting nonetheless. It was nice to read 2 or 3 pages of a bio for each author, and then there were the same amount of pages (or more) set up magazine-style with separate boxes to highlight certain facts or events. It was a nice book to pick up and put down again, and my only gripe was that the print was so small (or white print in a red box) that it was sometimes hard to read without a bright light. 3.5 stars, and it's gone.

Book 38 Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
I've totally drunk the Kool-Aid and am loving every second of it! This is the start to the best historical/time travel/romance/fiction/humor book I've ever read, or can imagine reading. I hated to put it down to go to work or get some sleep! Five stars, and for sure a keeper!

Book 39 A Tramp in Berlin by Adreas Austilat and Mark Twain
An ER win, this was the most thorough and interesting book on Twain's time in Berlin. Slim, filled with several pictures and illustrations, and with information about every level of life at that time, and with his friends and the articles he wrote for newspapers both local and in the States, this was a book that was more interesting than I would've thought. 3.75 stars, and a keeper for now at least

Book 40 The Orphanage of Miracles by Amy Neftzger
Another ER win, this start to a trilogy about an orphanage that can harvest miracles and some of the children that live/work there was a nice respite from real life and lose myself in this odd and oddly familiar world. Very good, and I look forward to the next installment. 4 stars, keeper

Book 41 Graduates in Wonderland by Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Yet another ER win, I totally adored and inhaled this book! This memoir about these two best friends and their lives in the first few years after college really struck a chord with me. Told all in emails/letters (my favorite book format), it sent me right back to the same time in my life, and some of the conversations that my friends and I had. It seemed like everything was possible, and we were both terrified to do anything and make a mistake, or we just did things and leaped without looking. Reminiscent of another of my favorite books (same format, same story-ish, different time - Dear Exile by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery), I loved getting lost in their world. 5 stars, a for sure keeper

Book 42 Rheinsberg: A Storybook for Lovers by Kurt Tucholsky
The last in a string of ER wins I caught up on, it was refreshing to read this short and classic-in-most-other-countries novelette that's finally been translated into English. Sweet, sentimental, and based on a weekend the author spent with his girlfriend, it was a pleasantly romantic and funny book. The pictures of the real people and places were an extra bonus. 4 stars, keeper

Book 43 Moon Sworn by Keri Arthur
The last of the Riley Jensen series, I was sad to see it go, but it felt like the right time. She gets into higher stakes than ever before, and several characters and story lines were finally ultimately dealt with. A rollicking good read, and I look forward to reading more from the author. 4 stars, and it's already out the door.

Book 44 Borderlands by Brian McGilloway
A pick for one of my book clubs, this start to a mystery series was mostly a miss for me. The main character, Inspector Devlin, was a mostly unlikable and unrelatable and to me, irrational, man, whom I mostly wanted to punch in the face when I wasn't trying to keep my brain focused on the fact that he was the narrator and I should probably try to pay attention to what he was bumblingly figuring out. I enjoyed the setting of the Irish borders (hence the title), and the time period, and the side characters, but that was about it. 3 stars, and if it wasn't on my Kindle, it'd be out the door.

Book 45 Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
Number 10 in the Sookie Stackhouse series, this was another good read that took me out of my life and into that of my favorite telepathic bar waitress. I've been gobbling up this series fairly quickly, and now that I've only got 2 books left I'm trying to string them out a little more. 4 stars, and a keeper for now (as it's the only book in the series I own and I'm contemplating getting the rest of the series since I enjoyed them so much).

*****************************

Life is starting to settle back down to what was formerly normal, and I'm enjoying the break from the high stress of constant doctor's appointments, hospital visits, chaperoning, errands for two, working three jobs, etcetera. Mom's last radiation treatment is this coming Tuesday, and the follow-ups start on the same day. I finally quit job #3 (yay!) and am now down to two, but am looking for a different #1 job that has a higher rate of pay (like something that's at least $10/hr would be nice). Mom and I are going up to visit our cousin in the UP of Michigan in a couple of weeks, and it will be nice to see family, be out in the country, and take a break from regular life for a few days. We look forward to lots of card games, catching up, naps, and sitting outside with cups of coffee and watching the wildlife. As for me, today, I'm meeting an LTer for lunch, and I have big plans to sit around and read do whatever I feel like for this long weekend.

31Merryann
sep 2, 2014, 3:14 am

How exciting, meeting an LTer in real life! I hope you had a lovely visit and a great weekend. I don't know what your Mom has been having radiation treatments for, but I hope she has a good treatment later today and the follow-ups go well! :)

32connie53
sep 7, 2014, 2:52 pm

Hello Laura, good to hear live is settling back to normal (kind of) and your Mom has had her last treatment. I hope she is feeling better now. Have a nice weekend in the country and I like to hear all about the lunch!

33Tess_W
Redigerat: sep 8, 2014, 10:09 pm

Good luck on losing job #3 and I hope you find a good replacement for job #1. Also, congrats on mom finishing up radiation--been there myself about 13 years ago. You probably drove through my area to get to the UP. Let me know next time and perhaps we can meet for a cup o or iced tea!

34lindapanzo
sep 8, 2014, 12:14 pm

I can't speak for Laura but I had a great time at our lunch last week.

35LauraBrook
sep 10, 2014, 4:40 pm

I had a great time too, Linda! I gave my Mom my giant heap of leftover pulled pork and now she wants to go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. :)

31: Merryann, it's always wonderful meeting LTers, isn't it? We had a great time. Mom had breast cancer, and is all done and "cancer-free" (using air quotes like her surgeon).

32: Thanks, Connie. She's feeling pretty well, just very tired still. We leave in a week and we are both excited about the trip!

33: Tess, where are you? (Feel free to PM if you'd like.) We're coming straight up 43 from Milwaukee, going around Green Bay. My cousin lives in Bark River, just a little East of Escanaba. I'm relieved to have job #3 be gone, and I'll take all the positive thinking I can get for a new job for #1. It's not terrible, just SO low-paying and I'm tired of being so broke all of the time.

In book news, I've just received the latest two ER wins, and I'm trying to get through 8 of my own books for various book clubs in the next couple of weeks. If I didn't have a stack of library ones due, I'd be okay, but as it stands, it's going to take a bit of effort to bookhorn them in. It's the right kind of problem to have, isn't it?!? ;)

36rabbitprincess
sep 10, 2014, 11:23 pm

>35 LauraBrook: That's always the right problem to have! :D

37LauraBrook
Redigerat: sep 23, 2014, 10:18 am

Book 46 Pirate Vishnu by Gigi Pandian
The second book in the Jaya Jones series was just as much fun as the first, I am very happy to report! This time, Jaya and Lane are on the hunt for a treasure her great great uncle may have left in either 1900's San Francisco or in Northern India, where he was from. Exciting! 3.5 stars, and a keeper (but only because it's on my kindle)

Book 47 Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
I've FINALLY READ THIS BOOK!!! The series is a favorite of my good friend Jenna (she has read each book at least twice, I believe), and the TV series starting up was the final push to get this sucker completed! I really liked it, though it was fluffier than I expected (the size is so intimidating), and Claire got to be a bit annoying at times. Still, a good read, and once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. 4 stars, and a keeper (another kindle book)

Book 48 Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories featuring Poirot, more than I expected to! 3.7 stars, and a keeper

Only two more to go!!!

38MissWatson
sep 23, 2014, 3:24 am

You're on the home stretch, keep going!

39connie53
okt 5, 2014, 2:36 pm

Ohh, I love Gabaldon! I'm very much looking forward to book 8.

How does the job hunting go! And how was the trip?

40LauraBrook
Redigerat: okt 5, 2014, 3:06 pm

>38 MissWatson: Will do!

>39 connie53: I'm looking forward to book 2, too, I just need a bit of a Claire and Jaime break. Job hunting is pretty much at a stand-still. I'm thinking of going back to school to get a Masters in Library Science (or something related to that), and after talking to my boss, I'd be a shoo-in (sp?) for the internship spot they'll have open starting next June. Since I need to have one of those, anyways, that would be really nice if I could just "walk in" to that position. So I'm looking at schools more than jobs right now.

The trip was just okay. It was nice to see my "Aunt" and her daughter and common-law husband, and nice to get out of the city. BUT - my Aunt is hard of hearing (which we didn't know about), her hearing aid battery was dying (thankfully it wasn't the kind that squeals) so we were yelling over a blasting TV a lot of the time, it was hotter than hell in her house, Mom and I slept in a full-sized bed together (and we're both sprawlers when we sleep), and we couldn't help her with any chores or yard work because the son-in-law (they live above my Aunt) won't allow anything in Nature to be moved/trimmed/straightened because that's how it's supposed to be or Mother Nature or whomever wouldn't have made it that way. And, because when we did try to help with a few house things the daughter and s-i-l picked on her and us for helping her. (As in she shouldn't have "made us" do things for her, and we should just be enjoying ourselves. Mom and I are both used to being busy most of the time, and these were small things to do that really make a difference - like hanging nails outside for her to put her wind chimes up, and fixing a mirror frame that was broken, refilling bird feeders, etc. Not a big deal!) It was incredibly frustrating for all of the obvious reasons, and plus, we just felt bad that this 87 year old lady had to put up with all of these shenanigans all the time, living 15 minutes from the nearest gas station/grocery store, out in the country. She's been talking about moving back down to the Milwaukee area, where she could at least go out and do things, but it's a big decision to make, and it would effect all of their lives a lot. (Especially the daughter and s-i-l's - my aunt does most of their cooking, all of their laundry, some of the house cleaning, and all shopping. The daughter can't walk (3 bad hip surgeries and now does not have 1 of her hips, so she lives in a wheelchair or recliner), and the guy is just lazy. They both say that it's because he has a bad back, but by their definition so do my Mom and I, and he moves around better and faster than either of us do, so that's a whole pile of BS.

Sorry for the rant, but you did ask! ;) To sum up: it was partly good, and partly bad, and we were VERY glad to come home after a few days.

Book 49 The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke
This was more of a slog than it had to be. Around 200 pages (not including notes, bibliography, etc), it was so filled with information as to be barely readable. While I appreciate that that author did a TON of research for this book, she should have either re-done the formatting (i.e. tell the story first, then go back and cover certain historical background, and then cover the trial, instead of jamming every teensy historical fact into the "main story" as it unfolded), and/or taken out at least a third of the background information. As it was, I had to read the Wikipedia entry for Bridget Cleary just to understand the actual story this book was trying to tell. So go read that instead of this book. 1.5 stars, and out the door

One more to go!

41LauraBrook
okt 9, 2014, 8:12 pm

Book 50 The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny

Wow! Ms. Penny knocks another one out of the park! Usually I try to space out my Gamache books, but this one has such a non-resolved ending that I was forced to pick up the next, book 6 Bury Your Dead immediately afterwards. 4.8 stars, and a keeper for sure!

Since I've now officially completed this challenge (may be a first for a ROOT challenge for me!), I'll keep on reading my own as much as possible. I think I may do another 10 or so and change my goal total, but I'll wait and see how I do after Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon next Saturday. I'm only going to let myself check out a graphic novel or two this time around, since I'm trying to read my own "scary" book this time. *fingers crossed*

42lindapanzo
okt 9, 2014, 9:33 pm

Glad you're liking the Louise Penny books, Laura. I finished the most recent one a few weeks ago. She's a friend on FB and I love hearing about the developments regarding the next one.

43rabbitprincess
okt 9, 2014, 10:22 pm

Yay, congratulations on meeting your goal! :D

Also, I really liked Bury Your Dead. Hope you enjoy!

44Tess_W
okt 10, 2014, 1:19 am

Congrats!

45odudu
okt 10, 2014, 2:48 am

Detta konto har stängts av för spammande.

46LauraBrook
okt 12, 2014, 8:38 pm

I'm totally loving them, and am on a Three Pines train now, apparently.

Book 51 Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
I stayed up until 1:30 in the morning to finish this book. There was no way I could sleep without knowing how these 4 story lines were eventually tied up! 4 stars

And I've now started on the next one in the series!

47connie53
okt 26, 2014, 2:10 pm

>40 LauraBrook:. That sounds like a not so nice trip! I think I would have dreams of nasty things happening to the daughter and the SIL.
What's wrong with doing those little things for your aunt. They won't do them apparently. Putting nails in for wind chimes or filling bird feeders are just minor things. Sometime people are really.....Silly (I could come up with other words but I won't)

48LauraBrook
dec 17, 2014, 1:15 pm

>47 connie53: I don't know, it's craziness to me. I could come up with lots of other words too, but I'm trying not to. They're nice, decent people, they just have a blind spot for her mom. Sense it does not make.

Since October, here's what I've read of my own... (Geez, I probably should have checked before I started typing this, there might not be anything to add!)

Book 52 Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey by Nick Bertozzi
A quick, nicely illustrated GN that only peaked my interest in Shackleton even more! 4 stars, keeper

Book 53 Jane Goes Batty by Michael Thomas Ford
The second in the Jane Austen trilogy, it had been too long since I'd read the first book, and I'd forgotten what a nice vampire world Ford has set up for our favorite Brit Lady Author. Good, very entertaining, and I'm looking forward to the next book! 3 stars, keeper

Book 54 The Journey by Sarah Stewart
That's it, I'm a big fan of anything she and her husband, David Small, do. 4 stars, keeper

Book 55 Ghost Hunting: True Stories of Unexplained Phenomena from the Atlantic Paranormal Society by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson
Good, and it was interesting to read about some of their cases that either weren't on TV and/or were so early in the show that I'd forgotten them. 3 stars, keeper for now

Book 56 GI Brides: The Wartime Girls Who Crossed the Atlantic for Love by Duncan Barrett
One of my bookclubs won the Book Club Girl contest, and this is the first of 6 books that we won to read and discuss. I enjoyed it, but I had a bit of difficulty keeping all 4 of these ladies straight in my head. Each girl alternates chapters, and while they were still in the UK, their stories (and locations!) seemed to overlap quite a bit. It's an interesting story about what happened to quite a lot of women who left England to come to the States for love, and I'm glad to have read it. 3 stars, and a keeper for now.

Book 57 The Cruise of the Vanadis by Edith Wharton
Only recommended for Wharton completists. This diary (never intended to be published) from her summer journey around the Med on the boat, The Vanadis, it was a very dry read. The publication could have been better formatted too, with larger photos of the appropriate region/boat/noun actually either on the same page or the facing page, instead of a small photo featuring lots of blank space around it at the end of the "chapter". Eh. 2 stars, and while I still have it, I'm debating keeping it or not.

Book 58 A Timely Vision by Jim and Joyce Lavene
First recommended by Richard, this was a breezy and cute little start to this cozy mystery series. 3 stars, and I think I'll let it go once everyone around me is done reading it.

Book 59 A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
I couldn't get into this book despite so many of my friends raving about it. I can deal with an unsympathetic main character, but this one was so blah and contrary (seemingly just to be so) that I couldn't get behind her on her forced adventures. 2 stars, and adios!

Book 60 The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace
If I knew more about the precise details about "great" wines, vintages, Chateaus, regions, years, etc, I'd probably have like this book some more. As it was, it was so detailed that I could only follow the basic gist of the story threads, skimming most of the middle and only really reading the first and last bits. 3 stars, and out the door.

Book 61 Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian Weiss
Truly wonderful, I gobbled it up in under 12 hours, including sleeping! 5 stars, keeper

49connie53
dec 17, 2014, 1:17 pm

You are doing great, Laura!

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

50MissWatson
dec 18, 2014, 4:56 am

Hi Laura, looks like you've done much better than the 50 ROOTs you planned. Congratulations and all the best for the holidays!

51LauraBrook
jan 1, 2015, 12:21 pm

A few more in under the wire -

Book 62 The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
Maybe I shouldn't be, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this first Tommy & Tuppence mystery. Christie never disappoints! 4 stars, keeper

Book 63 Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy
A bummer for me, overly long. Didn't care too much about each character, but I enjoyed the setting. 2 stars, and gone!

Book 64 What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool
No idea why it took me 15 years to get round to reading this. Very interesting, detailed reference book about the Victorian era. 4 stars, keeper

Book 65 Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie
An ultimately surprise ending. Always wonderful to spend time with Poirot, no matter how bloody or body-filled it is. 4 stars, keeper.

That's a wrap for 2014!