Lynda (Carmenere) pulling ROOTS in 2021

Hi, I'm Lynda. I haven't been a ROOT member for a couple of years but I'm returning to give my reading a little bit more direction, a little bit more focus. Goodness knows, "The Year Which Will Remain Nameless" lacked any kind of focus.

Welcome back, Lynda! I had the same problem in 2020... found it hard to focus and ended up picking up a lot of rereads. I hope 2021 is a good reading year for you!

Hi Lynda, good to see you back. I hope you get your focus back!

Have a good reading year, I hope you find your reading mojo!

Hooray, Lynda's back!

Happy 2021 Reading!

>2 rabbitprincess: Thank you! I found many distractions in YouTube, Netflix and Amazon TV. I've got to remind myself to shut off the outside world and just pick up my books. I hope you find focus and good reads in '21!

>3 connie53: Thanks, Connie! I hope so too!

>4 Jackie_K: Thank you, Jackie! I'm definitely going to give it a try!e

>5 mstrust: Jennifer! Hi! I forgot you were a ROOTer! It's good to be back.

>6 cyderry: Thanks, Cheli! Same for you!

Wishing you good luck with your ROOTing goals. I agree with your comments about 2020 'the year which will remain nameless.' Onward to 2021.

Have a great reading year, Lynda!

>8 This-n-That: Thanks! Yes! Ever onward!!

>9 readingtangent: Thanks, Elizabeth! You too!

1. A is for Alibi (I purchased a majority of the series at a local library book sale in 2018)
3.5/5

Happy new reading year, Lynda, from another member of the lost-focus club of 'the year which will remain nameless'. Hope you reach your goal.

>12 floremolla: Welcome Donna and thanks! I hope we are all going to have a better reading life in 2021!

Welcome back and happy reading, now that this year which will remain nameless is over at last!

>14 MissWatson: Good to see you again, Miss Watson! Yes, I like the idea of a clean slate!

Happy ROOTing in 2021, Lynda!

My reading also dropped in the nameless year, although the pandemic was not the only cause.

>16 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita!
Same here, same here. My book club met on Zoom (this one meets once a year to discuss the 12 books we passed to each other in our neighborhood group) and I could only discuss 3 which I was focused enough to read. Felt bad and vowed to improve in 2021.

ROOT #2 - 'B' is for Burglar - Sue Grafton
3.75/5

>17 Carmenere: It seems that LT-ers either read a lot more of a lot less during 2020. I guess some could not concentrate enough due to Covid or fled from real life in a book.

>19 connie53: True, Connie! Sorry it took me so long to respond

ROOT #3 - The Midnight Library - Matt Haig
4/5

>20 Carmenere: No need to be sorry.

>22 connie53: :0) I usually visit this page when I finish a ROOT and unfortunately it doesn't happen as quickly as I would like.

LOL. There is not any need to visit your ROOT thread sooner, I totally understand.

Oh my goodness, It's only February and I'm already forgetting to update this thread.
ROOT 4 - The Other Side of the Door - Nicci French
This was a NetGalley so not officially taking up a space on my shelf but I guess it still counts because it is taking up space on my Kindle, right?

>25 Carmenere: I agree with classifying Kindle books as ROOTS! :)

>25 Carmenere: Kindle ROOTs absolutely count!

>26 rabbitprincess: Great! Thanks!

>27 mstrust: This is great news! Maybe the incentive I need to read more of them!

5th ROOT was a tough one to pull. It has been on my shelf for at least 5 years. A good one, The Last Season, and I'm sorry to have put it off for so long.

After reading a couple of books for book clubs, I finished one from my shelf, ROOT #6 C is for Corpse.

And I forgot to post, I finished #7 The Long Call on the last day of February.

I have two book club books for March I need to read before I delve back into my ROOTS. So probably not until mid-March.

Hi Lynda, Just popping in to see what you are up to and say Hi.

Hi Connie! Thanks for visiting. I need to pop in more often on the thread too. Hope all's well in your corner of the world

>33 Carmenere: All is well, but really quiet. No visiting, just my son bringing groceries and Peet's friend who comes over for a coffee every now and then. So I hope spring will arrive soon and the temps will go up. I've started making walks in the neighborhood. There is this professor, Erik Scherder, https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Scherder who is frequently on talkshows about mental and physical health. He has an app and I'm using that to keep track of my walks. That makes it more fun.

>34 connie53: I hear ya, not much visiting going on here either. I only visit with my sister in law and it's usually just a few minutes. hahaha since I'm adverse to cold weather I haven't walked consistently but I do yoga every morning. Yes! apps are great for motivation and enjoyment.
The weather folks say we'll get a taste of spring next week. Eeeee!

>35 Carmenere: We had one day of 17C a week or so ago, but now it's around 6C during daytime and -2C in the night.

>36 connie53: That's the thing about March, Spring wants to kick winter to the curb but Winter says no no no, not yet!

Yes, winter is clinging on here. But the trees are having little buds that say 'I will win this sometime'.

>38 connie53: Yay! Go buds, go buds, go buds!

Finally! My first ROOT of March! D is for Deadbeat

Next up: The Last Tourist from Netgalley

Hi Lynda, good to see you are reading ROOTs again. Keep it up!

>42 connie53: Thanks, Connie, I will till the beginning of April when I'm committed to two book clubs for the month. When I'm finished with those I get back to plucking roots until the following month when it all begins again. Such a vicious cycle ;0)

Go go go go! You can do it!

Just popping in to wish you and yours a Happy Easter, Lynda.

>45 connie53: A belated thank you, Connie! I hope you had a very pleasant Easter too.

I've finished my 10th Root The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman. I need 15 more ROOTS to complete my challenge. It's not as easy as it sounds.

>46 Carmenere: Hi Lynda. We had a nice but quiet Easter. Only the kids and grandkids visited. We had three weekends of festivities. First my birthday, then Easter and after that Lonne's 3 birthday. So we did see everybody several times. I'm happy the weather is getting better and we can spend more time in the garden. We did some gardening and I could even read outside.

15 ROOTs in 8 months is doable, I think. Just keep reading.

>46 Carmenere: That sounds lovely, Connie! Gathering with people dear to us is good for the soul. We've had some 80f days but now were under the treat of snow early next week. Spring is a fickle.

The trouble is, I'm drawn to books for my book clubs which take me away from my ROOT pulling. My reading average is 4 books, 2 are for the book clubs so it I read 2 ROOTS in the next 9 months I can reach my goal. Ahhh, Life if tough

>48 Carmenere: Spring is late everywhere, I fear.

I know how it feels to get attracted to non-ROOTs. I'm experiencing the same since I started reading the Inn-keeper books by Ilona Andrews I had to read all those books before I could return to my current ROOT.

>49 connie53: Ilona Andrews? Huh, I haven't heard of her. So, I googled to find she has 4 or 5 different series going on, The Inn Keeper which you mentioned is one of them. If it's something you HAD to read, I guess she's an author I NEED to investigate further. Have you read any other of her canon beside the Inn Keeper series?

I read the Edge books too. That are the only books translated into Dutch. The inn-keeper books I read in English. I'm still improving on my English reading skills. ;-))

Thanks, I'll look into them, Connie!
You go girl! I'm really impressed by your English reading skills. I could probably read a book in Spanish, though i've never tried and thanks to Duolingo I'm learning a bit of French and Romanian but I'd never have the patience to read anything other than English. Or maybe it's laziness ;0)

Thanks, Lynda. I could read a simple French or German book. But feel no inclination to try.

>52 Carmenere: Romanian! That's very unique, any particular reason? Or just one of those things like, "If only I could speak Romanian..." It's great that you're learning new languages.
I took two years of French and my dad spoke a little of it at home because he'd been stationed outside Paris for a while. I retain just a little but can muddle my way through simple written French. I can order a doughnut and coffee!
I learned enough Swedish years ago to be able to speak a little and read a bit more, but that was with a Swedish tutor. It's all gone now.

>52 Carmenere: >54 mstrust: I can speak Romanian too! I went to evening classes in the early 90s to start to learn it (after 1989 I just became fascinated with the country), and have had a couple of stints of living and working there. I'm a bit rusty now, but do have a handful of books in Romanian which I read (slowly), and try to keep up with online newspapers too. It's not a difficult language to learn if, like me, you are already familiar with another Latin language.

Woo Hoo! Root #11 is finished. Working through the Grafton alphabet series and E is for Evidence is completed!

>54 mstrust: Long story short....I'm a 1/4 Romanian and was always fascinated with that side unfortunately grandpa passed before I was born which made me intrigued even more so. Fast forward to last year.......Will needed to choose a language for his masters program from the Slavic Dept. so he chose Romanian. So I'm trying to learn a little too thinking maybe one day we can visit grandpa's family over there. (I guess that wasn't such a short story after all)
Wow, Swedish! That's interesting. Was your dad stationed in Sweden too?

>55 Jackie_K: Very cool that you put your language skills to good use! It may have been a little easier for you because of familiarity but I'll bet you put in a lot of hard work.

>56 Carmenere: Ah, wanting to connect with your roots! And fate has made it an option for you and Will. Good luck!
My dad never got to Sweden. I had a Swedish boyfriend years ago and spent a little time there. His brother worked for a charity and taught some kind of classes, I can't remember what now, but he was an excellent and patient teacher. We'd sit at the kitchen table nearly every day and he'd give me a lesson, going over the alphabet and phrases. He had Swedish/English workbooks. I left Sweden being able to read full paragraphs and instruction manuals, stuff like that.

>55 Jackie_K: I'm so sorry I didn't respond to your post, Jackie! That is very cool! You are correct, I see so many similarities between Spanish French and Romanian. Yet every morning when I do my Duolingo lesson I usually choose french, it's so romantic. My mom's cousin's used to correspond with us but their Canadian translator moved and they had no one else to help them communicate with us. If Will and I decide to travel there, I'll probably try to reach them.

>57 mstrust: Within everybody, there is an interesting story and yours sounds like a good one. The only word I know in Swedish is yeborschkadorkmetaforkborkborkbork and I'm feeling that's actually not a Swedish word. ; )

That's a perfectly correct cooking term. Say it with confidence when you meet a Swede!

Of course, it is....I use it all the time when I'm mixing ingredients that or Double double toil and trouble/Fire burn and cauldron bubble

Finished my first ROOT of May, My Name is Red. A Reread, but I just love this novel.

I have not forgotten my ROOTS! I'm finishing up a relatively new ROOT, I guess you can say a fresh ROOT. hehe. I have 6 ROOTS set aside for September, so hopefully I'll get myself on track.

I'm back! What the heck happened to my ticker? So many others look to be in the same predicament.

Anywho, I fixed mine and recorded my 13th Root of the year with an ARC of Cloud Cuckoo Land from Netgalley.

I was sidetracked for a minute but hopefully on track again.

>63 Carmenere: I think TickerFactory redid their site this year and it messed up a whole bunch of tickers.

>64 rabbitprincess: Aaaah, Thanks!

Good to see you back, Lynda!

Thanks, Connie!!

I've finished my 14th ROOT, a NetGalley which is pretty fresh but a ROOT nonetheless. Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

My 15th Root has been plucked, read and reviewed. The Return of the God Hypothesis from NetGalley. It took me awhile to finish this one. It was really, really deep.