Cheli's ROOT Challenge for 2024

In 2023 I had a rough time and had to adjust my goal so I think I'm going to go with that goal again this year.



Goal:
E-Books/Net Galley 54 Books off my e-readers or NetGalleys downloaded to my Tablet, or Books on my PC Kindle App.
Audio books 12 - Books downloaded to my PC or NetShelf.
ARDs 6 - Books that are already sitting on my shelves or ARCs/ERs awarded to me in 2023.

For every ROOT successfully cleared in 2023 I put $1 in my book bank so that at the end of the year I have money for new books! I've completed my wish-list but there may be a few more before the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, I will place my order with Amazon for my e-book acquisitions and will have additional books to count.

Starting Tallies:

Tsundoku (My Unread) = 94
Audios = 14
NOOK = 55
Tablet/Kindle = 81

STARTING ROOT TOTAL = 244

NetGalley/ER/ARC Awards in 2024 - 43

Total ROOTS = 287

I again am aiming to read at least 50% of the new books added in the new year. I did very well in 2023 with 55% of my acquisitions read!

I'm starting the year with $386.05 in my book bank. I haven't made my final 2023 purchases so that will decrease before the start of 2024.

Once again I will be tracking how many new books enter my catalog and the target percentage to be read in the current year will remain at 50%.




1.To Slip the Bonds of Earth NetGalley 1/5/2024 READ
2.Death by Chocolate Raspberry Scone NetGalley 1/12/2024 READ
3. Murder at the Leaning Tower NetGalley 1/19/24 READ
4. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died READ
5. FDR's Mentors NetGalley 1/31/24 READ
6. Crime and Cherry Pits NetGalley 2/6/24 READ
7. A Killer Clue NetGalley 2/6/24 READ
8. Five Furry Familiars NetGalley 2/8/24 READ
9. Underground Library NetGalley 2/12/24 READ
10. Four-Alarm Homicide NetGalley 2/12/24 READ
11. An Intrigue of Witches NetGalley 2/12/24 READ
12. An Inheritance to Die For Audible 2/12/24 READ
13. A Dead Ringer Audible 2/12/24 READ
14. A Party to Murder Audible 2/12/24 READ
15. Friday Night Mystery Club Audible 2/12/24 READ
16. Captured on Camera Audible 2/12/24
17. The Adventures of Finn and Annie Audible 2/12/24
18. The Locked Room Murder Audible 2/12/24 READ
19. Coffee, Kids, and a Kidnapping Audible 2/12/24
20. Frappes, Flamingos, and a Fireman Audible 2/12/24
21. Mochas, Mermaids, and a Murder Audible 2/12/24
22. Espresso, Elvis, and An Eyewitness Audible 2/12/24
23. Pumpkin Spice, Pirates, and a Pickpocket Audible 2/12/24
24. Cappuccino, Christmas, and a Counterfeiter Audible 2/12/24
25. A Mysterious Arrangement Audible 2/12/24
26. The Rome Apartment Amazon 2/28/24 $.99
27. Secrets at the Rome Apartment Amazon 2/28/24 $3.99
28. The Body in the Kitchen Amazon 2/28/24 $3.99
29. The Italian Daughter Amazon 2/28/24 $3.99
30. Sapphire Daughter NetGalley 3/3/24
31. Widows on the Wine Path NetGalley 3/3/24 READ
32. Escape to the Rome Apartment NetGalley 3/3/24
33. A Refiner’s Fire NetGalley 3/3/24
34. The Flower Sisters NetGalley 3/3/24
35. Booked on Murder NetGalley 3/3/24
36. The Last Hope NetGalley 3/5/24 READ
37. Dial P For Poison Amazon 3/6/24 READ
38. Battered and Buried NetGalley 3/16/24 READ
39. Murder on the Italian Riviera NetGalley 3/29/24 READ
40. Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies NetGalley 4/2/24 READ
41. Murder in a Tourist Town Amazon 4/4/24 READ
42. The Queen of Poisons NetGalley 4/7/24 READ
43. A Taste for Crime NetGalley 4/8/24
44. Murder in the Tea Leaves Audible 4/14/24 READ
45. Olive You to Death NetGalley 5/3/24 READ
46. An Art Lover's Guide to Paris and Murder NetGalley 5/9/24 READ
47. A Limited Edition Murder NetGalley 5/9/24 READ
48. Murder at the Spelling Bee NetGalley 5/9/24 READ
49. Reading Between the Lies NetGalley 5/9/24 READ
50. Murder at Vinland NetGalley 5/9/24 READ
51. Trouble Is Brewing NetGalley 5/9/24 READ
52. Prosecco Pink Amazon 5/14/24 $.74
53. Sweet Tea and Sympathy Audible 5/21/24 READ
54. I Loved Her in the Movies Audible 5/21/24
55. The Body in the Bookstore NetGalley 6/4/24 READ
56. A Slay Ride Together With You NetGalley 6/4/24
57. A Murder at the Movies NetGalley 6/7/24 READ
58. A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death NetGalley 6/7/24 READ
59. Schooled in Murder NetGalley 6/22/24 READ
60. The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime NetGalley 6/22/24 READ
61. Murder in Portofino NetGalley 7/2/24 READ
62. The Winemaker's Wife Audible 7/2/24
63. The Harbor House Amazon 7/9/24
64. Aged for Murder Amazon 8/4/24
65. A Mystery in Bloom: Murder in the Marigolds Amazon 8/4/24
66. A Killer Cupcake Amazon 8/4/24
67. Six Stunning Sirens NetGalley 8/26/24 READ
68. The Next Deadly Chapter NetGalley 8/26/24 READ
69. Silent Nights Are Murder NetGalley 8/26/24 READ
70. Murder on the Page NetGalley 8/26/24 READ
71. A Fatal Feast at Bramsford Manor NetGalley 8/26/24 READ
72. Little Lost Library NetGalley 8/28/24 READ
73. Gingerbread Danger NetGalley 8/28/24 READ
74. Holiday Homicide NetGalley 9/14/24 READ
75. Madrigals and Mayhem NetGalley 9/18/24
76. Death As A Fine Art NetGalley 10/28/24 READ
77. Essence of Foul Play NetGalley 10/28/24 READ
78. A Spirited Blend NetGalley 10/28/24
79. Back in Black Amazon 10/29/24 READ
80. Murder in Verona NetGalley 11/1/24 READ
81. Grey Wolf AUDIBLE 11/1/24 READ
82. Somewhere in the Night Amazon 11/4/24 READ
83. Magically Murdered AUDIBLE 11/12/24
84. Magically Poisoned AUDIBLE 11/12/24
85. Magically Attacked AUDIBLE 11/12/24
86. Magically Missing AUDIBLE 11/12/24
87. Sprinkles and Sea serpents AUDIBLE 11/12/24
88. Union Street Bakery AUDIBLE 11/12/24
89. Written in Stone NetGalley 11/18/24
90. A Death in Diamonds NetGalley 11/18/24
91. Murder by Cheesecake NetGalley 11/18/24
92. I Felt the Cheers NetGalley 12/3/24
93. Death at a Country Mansion AUDIBLE 12/27/24
94. A Deadly Deed AUDIBLE 12/27/24
95. A Dead Giveaway AUDIBLE 12/27/24
96. Whispers of Murder AUDIBLE 12/27/24
97. Whispers of Death AUDIBLE 12/27/24
98. Whispers of Mystery AUDIBLE 12/27/24
99. Cruising Through Midlife AUDIBLE 12/27/24
100. Mai Tai Murder Cruise AUDIBLE 12/27/24

$386.05 STARTING TOTAL IN BOOK BANK

2024 Expenditures = $18.69

Current balance = $367.36

Books read off my e-reader goal 54

1. Murder by the Seashore
2. Murder in Florence
3. Limoncello Yellow
4. Murder in Siena
5. Dating Can Be Deadly
6. Murder at the Matterhorn
7. Murder at the Leaning Tower
8. A Twinkle of Trouble
9. A Medium Fate
10. Fatal Folio
11. Final Reveille
12. Four-Alarm Homicide
13. Final Tap
14. Five Furry Familiars
15. Final Vow
16. Medium Homecoming
17. Razing the Dead
18. The Last Hope
19. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died
20. The Sign of Four Spirits
21. Underground Library
22. Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies
23. Murder in A Tourist Town
24. Crime and Cherry Pits
25. Widows on the Wine Path
26. Poison Pen
27. Queen of Poisons
28. Trouble Is Brewing
29. Reading Between the Lies
30. Body in the Bookstore
31. Battered and Buried
32. Nuts & Bolts
33. Serving Up Spite
34. Murder on the Italian Riviera
35. Death by Chocolate Raspberry Scone
36. Friday Night Mystery Club
37. Intrigue of Witches
38. To Slip the Bonds of Earth
39. Murder at the Spelling Bee
40. Snow Place for Murder
41. Murder in Portofino
42. An Art Lover's Guide to Paris and Murder

Audio books read goal 12

1. There's A Murder Afoot
2. a Curious Incident
3. Chalice of the Gods
4. Razing the Dead
5. A Three Book Problem
6. Muffin but Murder
7. Privy to the Dead
8. Dead End Street
9. Death of a Coupon Clipper
10. Death of an English Muffin
11. Digging Up History
12. Death of a Chocoholic
13. The Locked Room Murder
14. To Helvetica and Back
15. An Inheritance to Die For

ARDs read (Antique Reading Devices) goal - 6

1.You're Snug With Me
2. Ballparks: Yesterday & Today
3. 20 YEARS AFTER
4. Dead Man's Folly

Happy ROOTing this year, and good luck with your goal!

Happy New Year! Good idea to keep track of in-coming books too... my pile seems to grow despite my best efforts!

A Happy and a much better New Year, Chèli. Good luck with your ROOTing.

Thanks for all you do for the group, Chèli! Have fun spending the book bank and racking up new ROOTs for next year's bank!

Good to see you back again! I still love your book bank idea.

Happy new year, Chèli and good luck toward your goal!

Thanks for organizing this group for another year, Cheli.

I'm with Jackie — the book bank is a great idea!

Wishing you a great reading year. Thank you for running this group and making all our lives better :)

>1 cyderry: What a cool idea, to put money in your book bank for every ROOT read! Maybe I should try something like that. I'll have to read more of my ROOTs and make it add up.

Thanks again for all the work you put into this group, and I hope you have a much better year this year.

So happy to see you're back to organise us, Chèli. I hope 2024 will be a lovely year for you, after all the troubles you suffered.

Such a good idea to save money for new books! That's brilliant. I don't know if I could have that much discipline though, lol.

Thank you so much for all you do to organize this group. Although I've not participated much beyond posting my reading, I see that this is a wonderful group of people who take an interest in each other's lives. Beautiful!

My sister, tututhefirst, is an enabler. I called to talk to her this morning because I wanted to see if she had a book I was looking for and borrow it from her.
As our conversation progressed we got on the topic of Audible and she was surprised that I didn't have an Audible account. So she very quickly stated that she wanted me to sign up and she would gift me a 1 year subscription for my birthday (which is several months in the future). This basically means that she gave me 12 books!

So I have spent the last few hours devouring the books on Audible and have started to amass a wishlist. While doing so, I came across several books that were FREE! Needless to say I had to acquire those.

I think I will never finish my TBR list now!

>19 cyderry: And that is a good thing, with all books read there would be no reason to be here. Hooray for tututhefirst.

>19 cyderry: What a lovely gift! Enjoy!

>19 cyderry: That is a lovely gift! And I love >20 connie53:'s take on this! Let's all buy more books to make sure we can still hang out here :D

What a great gift! Although, as you say, that's enabling behavior for sure, lol. Enjoy!

setting off for a Caribbean cruise - we forgot 1 thing - my insulin! This should be a very interesting week.

Oh, that's not good, Chèli. Isn't there a doctor on the boat? I would not be at ease about not having insulin.

>19 cyderry: Kinda nice that you both have the same addiction, ha!
>24 cyderry: Oh, dear. I hope everything goes okay!

Thanks everyone for your concern.
I stopped off at the medical facility when we boarded and since my doctor is trying to wean me off of the insulin, this might actually work to my advantage. I have a monitor that tells me my sugar levels and so far I've been doing okay. The doctors here on the ship are aware of the situation and said just to keep a close eye on my numbers and if they start to take an unusual climb, to come see them.

So far so good!

>27 cyderry: It sounds like you've set yourself up for a good, safe cruise - I hope you enjoy it and your numbers stay in range.

>27 cyderry: Looks like you're in good hands, Chèli. Enjoy your cruise!

>27 cyderry: Enjoy yourself, Chèli!

Don’t Go Into the Library

The library is dangerous—
Don’t go in. If you do

You know what will happen.
It’s like a pet store or a bakery—

Every single time you’ll come out of there
Holding something in your arms.

Those novels with their big eyes.
And those no-nonsense, all muscle

Greyhounds and Dobermans,
All non-fiction and business,

Cuddly when they’re young,
But then the first page is turned.

The doughnut scent of it all, knowledge,
The aroma of coffee being made

In all those books, something for everyone,
The deli offerings of civilization itself.

The library is the book of books,
Its concrete and wood and glass covers

Keeping within them the very big,
Very long story of everything.

The library is dangerous, full
Of answers. If you go inside,

You may not come out
The same person who went in.

>31 cyderry: Hi Chèli, something is off with your picture. That's a shame, because I liked it.

Too many things are happening this year!

I need to get back to more reading!

I hope those are good things happening!

>34 MissWatson: Some good, some bad.

We had several loved ones who have died so traveling to get to the funerals has eaten away time. We celebrated our 50th Anniversary and had many visitors and party activities, more time. Hurricane/Tropical Storm Debby paid us a visit so we had preparations to make, more time. This week and next, family visiting.

Not complaining about the good things, sure could have done without the bad.

An eventful year, indeed. Enjoy the family visit!

I hope you are enjoying your family visit, Chèli. You deserve a nice time considering all the other stuff that you have going on.