johnxlibris and his ROOT 2021 goal

I've lurked on LT for a while now and I've always wanted to participate in this challenge. So here we go! I'll try to set a modest goal of 21 books from my shelves this year. Between full-time librarianing and kids, I don't have much time at all for reading, but I think I can manage ~2 books per month.



Here is my list, in no particular order:

The Master and Margarita
The book of the courtier
White tears/brown scars : how white feminism betrays women of color
Thing explainer : complicated stuff in simple words
Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions
Homegoing
The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us
Plato: Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo
Opera and its Symbols: The Unity of Words, Music and Staging
A Short History of Philosophy
Lure of the Limerick
On poetry and poets
Impure by Tony Barnstone
The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World
How to Win Every Argument: The Use and Abuse of Logic
L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City
Falling Man by Don Delillo
All the Sad Young Literary Men
The Fire Next Time
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
The Children of Húrin

ROOTs read in 2021:

1) The Master and Margarita - January 10, 2021
2) White Tears / Brown Scars - January 30, 2021
3) Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village - February 11, 2021
4) Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions - March 18, 2021
5) The Fire Next Time - March 21, 2021
6) Thing Explainer - April 1, 2021
7) All The Sad Young Literary Men - April 8, 2021
8) L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City - May 25, 2021
9) Homegoing - June19, 2021
10) Impure by Tony Barnstone - July 5, 2021
11) The Children of Hurin - August 18, 2021
12) How to Win Every Argument - August 28, 2021
13) The Human Age - October 4, 2021
14) Falling Man - October 17, 2021

Hi John. I like it when lurkers delurk and show themselves. Good to see you. Happy ROOTing.

Nice to see you here, welcome to the group, John!

Welcome!

Welcome aboard and good luck with your challenge! I'll be interested to hear what you think of Thing Explainer. Randall Munroe's books are auto-buys for my family (they make good gifts for my dad, and then everyone else reads them too).

Welcome to what we hope will be a happy and healthy year of ROOTing, John

Welcome and good luck with your challenge!

Don't worry so much about reaching your goal, just try to enjoy the books you do read!

Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the company!

Just finished my first book of 2021! I've been wanting to read The Master and Margarita for years now and only just got around to it. I admit I started this a few days before the new year, but I didn't really start reading it in earnest until the New Year holiday.

Hi John. Good job! If you want to, you can report your read ROOTS in the monthly progress thread, but that's optional.

The thread is here https://www.librarything.nl/topic/327995

>10 johnxlibris: Oh, that's one of the classics staring at me reproachfully...

>1 johnxlibris: Welcome to the group and enjoy whatever reading you can fit in.

Finished book #2: White Tears / Brown Scars. An immensely thought-provoking and accessible read that brings a non-US perspective to issues of race and white feminism.

Finished Book #3: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. A easy, quick read. I didn't realize when I bought it for my kids that it was meant to be read as performance pieces. Knowing that made it even more enjoyable! Still slowly working through Thing Explainer: really tiny font. =)

Got distracted from my ROOTs and read A World Without Email. I had pre-ordered the book back in November so in some sense it was in my collection before 2021 began. ;-)

I don't know what your rules are, John, but if you count any book purchased before January first you can (maybe) count this as a ROOT too. You can make your own rules!

In the first post your ticker says 20 but you write about a goal of 21? Something wrong there?

>18 connie53: Oh, good catch! That was a mistake. Thank you.

Finished book #4: Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. This was a quick read and a good reminder for how I should be talking with my daughter.

>19 johnxlibris: Hé, I read every entry with interest!

Finished book #5: Another short read, but one that has been on my tbr list for far too long. The Fire Next Time. The legacy of Baldwin in current writing and thinkers is evident through this work.

Finished book #6: This one took a while since I read it in small chunks. Thing Explainer is a delightful dive into how things works, including our own language.

Hi John, Happy Easter! I've heard of Thing Explainer. Looks like a book my son and my son in law might like. Maybe for their birthday.

>24 connie53: It's definitely the type of book one can get lost in!

Finished #7! When I bought All The Sad Young Literary Men back in 2008, I was post- English grad school and still thinking I might go into the literary/academia field. I'm glad that I didn't (going into libraries was the right call), but this book reminded me of what it felt like to aspire to be a "literary creative."

I got distracted reading Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving (ebook from the library) but now I'm back on track and started reading L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City.

Hi John! I gave my son the book in >23 johnxlibris: on his birthday last month. He loved it and is reading it in small chunks like you said. So thanks for the recommendation.

Whew! That last one took a while. #8 was L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City. It was a meandering read: one you can take up for a couple chapters and easily put down. While chronological, the thematic structure was difficulty to follow. But I'm glad I read it: gives me a deeper perspective into the history of the LAPD.

Homegoing was one of the best works of fiction I've read in a while. Every chapter was gut-wrenching and beautiful.

Hi John, making my rounds on the ROOTers threads.

>30 johnxlibris: That's a good thing. And it's translated, so maybe I will go and search for the Dutch version.

Finished #10! Impure by Tony Barnstone is a raw and meaty and visceral collection of poems that are at times funny, tragic, sexy and earthy.

>30 johnxlibris: Homegoing is on my to-read list, but sadly not a ROOT of mine. I may have to sneak it in anyway as ROOT prevention. I’ve heard nothing but good things about.

Finished #11: The Children of Hurin. That was much easier than The Silmarillion, though it's been decades since I read that one.

Now working on #12: How to Win Every Argument. I'm actually reading this alongside An Illustrated book of Bad Arguments.

Done with #12! Up next, I think I'll read The Human Age.

Done with #13! I need some fiction. Going to do Falling Man next.

Good job, John!

Finished #14 a while back and started reading The Body in Pain but honestly had to give up after abut 100 pages. I get it, but I'm not sure I'm willing to see it through. So that will be my ROOTing for 2021: 14 titles is not much, but it's more books I've read in year since grad school, so I'm proud of myself. =)

>39 johnxlibris: Fantastic! I found studying completely knocked reading for pleasure on the head, it took years later (and finding this group) that got me back into reading. (funnily enough studying didn't knock buying books on the head, hence my now enormous TBR pile).

>39 johnxlibris: Excellent work!

Good job, John!

Trying to catch up on threads again. I want to wish you