detailmuse LEAPs(year) through the TBRs

My main ROOT goal is to read 40 books from my TBRs, with an emphasis on those acquired prior to 2024. Likely filled with lots of contemporary nonfiction and fiction, I’ll keep a list in Msg 2.

ROOTs Read in 2024:

Fiction
40. One of Ours by Willa Cather (4)
36. The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe (3.5)
35. Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr (3.5)
30. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder (2, DNF)
29. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym (4)
28. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (4.5)
27. Earth's the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg (3.5)
24. The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (4.5)
12. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (5)
10. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (5)
8. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (4)
6. Nobody's Family Is Going to Change by Louise Fitzhugh (3.5)
5. Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut (4.5)
4(a). Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (4) (for rosalita's memorial ticker)

Memoir
25. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig (3, DNF)
22. Let's Go (So We Can Get Back) by Jeff Tweedy (4.5)
21. A Childhood: The Biography of a Place by Harry Crews (4)
13. Mother Noise by Cindy House (4)
7. Notebook by Tom Cox (3.5)
4. Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me by Bernie Taupin (3)
2. Two Women Walk into a Bar by Cheryl Strayed (3.5)
1. Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz (3.5)

Nonfiction
42. At Large and at Small by Anne Fadiman (4)
38. Sometimes You Have to Lie by Leslie Brody (4)
37. The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Kenneth Blanchard, William Oncken Jr. and Hal Burrows (3.5)
34. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson (3.5)
33. Letters to Words: A Supplement to Childcraft (5)
32. It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton (4)
23. Women and the Lakes: Untold Great Lakes Maritime Tales by Frederick Stonehouse (3.5)
11. White House by the Sea by Kate Storey (4)
9. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker (re-read) (5)

Other
41. A Velocity of Being edited by Maria Popova and Claudia Bedrick (3.5)
39. Random Acts of Kindness (3.5)
31. Bellevue Literary Review: Issue 45 (3.5)
26. Object Lessons: The Paris Review Presents the Art of the Short Story (2.5, DNF)
20. Smitten Kitchen Keepers by Deb Perelman (3.5)
19. Granta 111 (4.5)
18. The Little Black Book 2022 (3.5)
17. Bellevue Literary Review (Vol 11 No 2) (4.5)
16. Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi (3.5)
15. Bellevue Literary Review Issue 42 (3)
14. Bellevue Literary Review Issue 43 (3.5)
3. Granta Issue 109: Work (3)

Read in 2024 but newly acquired (in 2024)
Taylor Swift by Wendy Loggia, illustrated by Elisa Chavarri (4.5)
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra (from library) (2.5, DNF)
Ultra Processed People by Chris van Tulleken (from library) (4)
So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan (from library) (4.5)
The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman (2, DNF)
On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service by Anthony Fauci (4)
Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat and Tears by Michael Schulman (4)
Hope - How Street Dogs Taught Me the Meaning of Life by Niall Harbison (4)
50 Oscar Nights by Dave Karger (4)
Behind the Screens by Inaki Aliste Lizarralde (2.5)
Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott (3)
Who Could Ever Love You by Mary L. Trump (4)
What A Fool Believes by Michael McDonald and Paul Reiser (4.5)
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten (4)
The Wedding People by Alison Espach (3.5)
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop (4)
The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman (3)
How to Read a Book by Monica Wood (4)

About my reading last year
34 ROOTs + 6 non-ROOTs

Total books read: 40 (So few, as was the case for the prior three years)
• Fiction: 22%
• Nonfiction: 65%
• Other (e.g. poetry, lit journals, puzzle books): 13%

Original publication date:
• before 2000: 10%
• 2000s: 15%
• 2010s: 20%
• 2020s: 55%
• Of ROOTs, the mean duration as a TBR in my library: 4.7 years

• Paper copy: 40%
• e-Book: 57% (I never thought I would adopt the technology to this degree!!)
• Audiobook: 3%

• Male authors: 38%
• Female authors: 30%
• Mix of genders: 32%
• “Favorite”-ed authors in this year’s books: Michael Pollan, Patti Smith, Jesmyn Ward
• I’d like to read more by Lisa Genova, Heather Gudenkauf, Nathan Harris

• #TBRs Jan 1: 244 . . . #TBRs Dec 31: 254 … net +10 (net +4%)
• I rated 63% of my 2023 reads at 4 stars or above (i.e. “good” to “great”) and another 25% at 3.5 stars (“okay”). (Hmm, that looks better than I remember it being!)

Five books that have stayed in my mind:
My Name Is Barbra -- autobiography by Barbra Streisand with in-depth analyses of her vocal, theatrical and film projects

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive by Philipp Dettmer -- a re-read that I’m following up now with a full-fledged textbook on immunology

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation by Michael Pollan -- an exploration of traditional methods of cooking (grilling, braising, baking, fermentation) with Pollan’s trademark diversions into science, culture and history

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris -- novel set among Whites and Freedmen in rural Georgia at the end of the American Civil War

What's So Funny? A Cartoonist's Memoir by David Sipress -- a gentle and substantive memoir, plus cartoons

Welcome back!

Good to see you here again! Looking forward to seeing what you pick up this year.

Good to see you back. Best of luck with your ROOTing.

Hi MJ, Glad to see you back for another year of ROOTing.

Hooray, MJ is back! Looking forward to seeing what you're reading this year, and no doubt I'll get hit with several BBs.

Hi all, thanks for the hello's! Hope I do ROOT some BB-worthy books :)

Welcome back! Isn't it interesting to look at your stats and see how they compare with your impressions of the year? I have a lot of "oh yeah I forgot I read that book" moments (even though I read it literally that year).

>10 rabbitprincess: Yes, and time is not normal anymore!

Happy to see you again! Happy reading!

>12 MissWatson: Hi Birgit, it's amazing how a new year refreshes even things we've been doing all along.

I saw a Barnes & Noble ad featuring books with white covers...since we're finally entering a wintry weather period here, I gathered a pile of ROOTs with lots of white on their covers to inspire me over this month and next:

>13 detailmuse: That should make an interesting reading period! Very diverse!

1. Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz, ©2022, acquired 2023

Grief confuses us by spinning us around to face backward, because memories are all we have left, but of course it isn’t the past we mourn when someone dies; it’s the future.

This is a beautiful and gentle memoir of losing and finding -- with some philosophy/literature about the two experiences, but largely explored as a eulogy of her father as she comes to terms with his death (I grew fond of Schulz and everyone in her family), and as an homage to the woman who is now her wife.

What an astonishing thing it is to find something.
. . .
Overnight, I had become someone who wanted to hold someone’s hand on the way to breakfast.

2. Two Women Walk into a Bar by Cheryl Strayed, ©2024, acquired 2023 from Amazon’s First Look

{My mother-in-law} and I disagreed on almost everything and she let me know it.
. . .
Over the previous two decades, we’d come to love each other, but it was a particular, conditional sort of love, one based on circumstance and courtesy rather than connection and compatibility.

In an essay-length memoir, Strayed recalls her at-arms-length relationship with her mother-in-law, Joan; her discovery of Joan’s family past; and the vigil she and her husband provided during Joan’s last weeks of life. I liked it (and I liked Strayed’s memoir, Wild), but felt held at a bit of a distance, too.

>15 detailmuse: I've only read (I think) one of Kathryn Schulz's essays, but remember really liking it. I think I'm going to add this memoir to my wishlist.

>17 Jackie_K: I also liked her Being Wrong and, years later, still think about it. She sometimes includes material that makes me want to skim passages, and when I found myself doing that with this short book, I put it aside and started over with better attention.

It actually has three sections, Lost, Found and And, and it was news to me in the And section that, from the Latin and until the 1800s, the English alphabet ended with not Z but Et (And), which was visualized by "&" and evolved to be called "ampersand." When I looked that up online, I saw there were maybe even more dismissed letters, so now there's that rabbit hole...

3. Granta Issue 109: Work, ©2009, acquired 2010, one of my "white" covers from >13 detailmuse:

A work/workplace-themed issue (from 2009) of the respected literary journal. I especially liked this essay and short story, respectively:

“Ponte City” by Mikhael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse -- a photo-essay about a high-rise residential building near Johannesburg, South Africa, that had fallen into crime and ruin as residents fled to safer suburbs; it reminded me of Chicago’s Cabrini Green housing project; whereas Cabrini Green has been demolished, Ponte City has been restored

“Vacuum” by Brad Watson -- three young brothers navigate fraught times amid an exhausted mother and absent father; Watson has published novels and collections and I’ll read more by him.

4. Scattershot by Bernie Taupin, ©2023, acquired 2023

Just because I wrote it doesn’t mean I know what it’s about.
. . .
Writing songs and making music is always either partly cloudy or completely uncollectable. Why this is I’m not completely sure, but I imagine it has something to do with the concentration involved and the mental fatigue that follows. {…} The meaning of it, if not obvious, should be open to interpretation without any explanation from me. It’s like abstract art: you stand in front of it and use your imagination.

So yes, there is less about the music than I'd hoped for. Mostly, it’s a scattershot (of the title) of his life, largely outside music and largely outside Elton John. In a sense, his authorial voice is chatty; but who chats floridly (in complete opposite of the excerpts above), with so many adjectives and thesaurus-level words?! I skimmed bits.

4a. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn, ©2001, acquired 2008

The country of Nollop lives in homage to deceased (and fictional) Nevin Nollop, originator of the pangram, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” There’s even a memorial in stone tiles that spell out the pangram. But homage has morphed into deification, and when the tiles start falling and shattering, government leaders implement what they believe to be Nollop’s post-mortem command: ban each fallen letter from use, with swift and severe penalties to anyone who violates the ban.

Originally published in 2001, I was struck by how relevant to today are its threats of censorship, authoritarianism and political veneration. The story itself is clever, fun, a bit thin. I read it for the memorial to rosalita so it will be a ROOT for her ticker.

>21 detailmuse: I've read this book several times. Thanks for reading it for Julia.

5. Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, ©1997, acquired 1997?

On the surface, this is a sci-fi novel about a “time-quake” that sends everyone back to re-live, in exact detail, the prior ten years ... an unsaleable novel, and here the writer attempts a revision. But really, it’s Vonnegut’s use of novel-bits to inspire memoir-bits of his most important relationships and experiences, and I loved it. It tickled my brain with philosophy and sociology; it made me laugh; it was tender and bittersweet. This is my first by Vonnegut; I waited 25+ years to pull it from the shelf and am now so eager to read another by him.

>22 cyderry: Yes I bet it reveals even more on re-reading. And I read the last pages aloud to understand them :) !

6. Nobody's Family Is Going to Change by Louise Fitzhugh, ©1974, acquired 2023

A middle-grade novel about an African-American family in 1960s-70s Manhattan (New York City). Eleven-year-old Emancipation (“Emma”) wants to grow up to be a lawyer; 7-year-old William Jr. (“Willie”) earns a dance role in a Broadway show right now; Dad refuses both children’s goals and Mom accommodates Dad. It’s realistic fiction, gently delving into big emotions and it’s a little uneven, but I could not leave a novel by Fitzhugh (Harriet the Spy!) unread.

January
Beginning total TBRs: 254
ROOTs read: 6 (+1 for rosalita’s ticker)
Other books read: 0
Books acquired: 1
Ending total TBRs: 248
YTD ROOTs read: 6 (year-end goal=40)

>26 detailmuse: Excellent stats there - lots read, fewer acquired, fabulous stuff!

>27 Jackie_K: And the one acquired is A Year Unfolding via your thread!

>13 detailmuse: At the moment I'm just lurking, but wanted to mention that I find Donald Maass very inspiring as a writer about writing.

>28 detailmuse: Haha, even better!

>29 ReneeMarie: Hi Renee! I accumulated many writing books years ago and found it helpful to read one alongside the thought process of whatever writing project I had going. You've inspired me to pull out the Maass now.

>30 Jackie_K: And thanks for this BB from last year:



7. Notebook by Tom Cox, ©2021, acquired 2023

Sure, sex is great, but have you ever cracked open a new notebook and written something on the first page with a really nice pen?
…
I walked to Porlock, on the north coast. Stories in my head, my feet writing them. Stories I couldn’t write if I stayed still.

This was a pleasant first exposure to Cox -- a short collection of snippets from the notebooks where he records his observations about nature and interactions with people. I googled several of the English locations he mentions, to get a better idea of landscape. His excerpts about his dad are so funny, and it’s sweet that his parents contributed the occasional illustrations.

>31 detailmuse: Then I have achieved my goal!

>33 ReneeMarie: Made me laugh!

Hello MJ, I'm returning your visit. You've read some interesting books already this year, and made good progress on your ROOTs. And A Year Unfolding really intrigues me. I'll have to add it to the never-ending TBR list.

>35 atozgrl: Welcome, Irene! I acquired A Year Unfolding via a low Kindle price so will be reading it on my laptop (vs. Paperwhite reader) to be able to appreciate the illustrations.

8. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, ©2023, acquired 2023

A contemporary family saga of secrets and struggles from adolescence through middle age, set nominally in Chicago and primarily of four close-knit sisters and a husband. Everything that happens is earned (except location), and the close-in points-of-view of the several alternating narrators are interesting in their rich detail. I’d heard of this author in regard to Dear Edward, and look forward to reading that.

9. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, ©2017, acquired 2017

Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory and makes you more creative. It makes you look more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and the flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes. You’ll even feel happier, less depressed, and less anxious. Are you interested?

Yes, please! (It's sleep!) This re-read of what was eye-opening science (not the hype-y tone as hinted at in the excerpt above) for me in 2018 (see my review), was a good refresher after having made some changes and getting better (but not yet great) sleep.

>38 detailmuse: I'm a big believer in sleep. I can't function well unless I have 8 hours, and I aim for 9. My secrets include an iron-clad routine and a small dose of CBD. Does the author provide good tips?

>38 detailmuse: this book is excellent, I could probably do with rereading it as well!

>39 Cecilturtle: Hello! He would love your dedication to a sleep routine! His area is mostly research not therapeutics, and the book was published in 2017 before CBD popularity. He encourages a regular schedule; cool ambient temperature; dark room; don't lay awake long-term; avoid caffeine after noon and alcohol in evening. Regarding those: I can often drift back to sleep after allowing my body to significantly cool outside the covers...and I have found myself wide awake for 1-2 hours in the middle of the night after enjoying dark chocolate at dinner :0

He has lots of Apple podcasts and YouTube videos, not sure if the address for this episode with tips is accessible from Ontario:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-matt-walker-podcast/id1578319619?i=100...

>40 Jackie_K: I was interested in a practical refresher, so I skimmed some of the research that I'd been fascinated by on first read. It occurs to me that as your daughter grows up you might find the difference in sleep by age groups interesting on a re-visit.

>41 detailmuse: Thanks for the link, MJ.

Now I'm curious about the age group differences. My sleep patterns are definitely different from my time as a mom to a young child and now... as a mom to a cat - it's the cat who dictates when we go to sleep and when we wake up - lol!

>42 Cecilturtle: HA aren't cats famous for sleeping all the time? That's like the in-utero and newborn stage for humans, and then teens shift to late-bedtimes/late-rising, and now hello fragmented sleep that's more common in aging.

>43 detailmuse: I know all about fragmented sleep. It happens to me almost every night. I woke up at 03.30 am this morning. Went back to bed after an hour spending it downstairs making sudoku's. Slept till 05.30 am and gave up trying.

>44 connie53: Yep. That sounds like me. I was up and out of bed from 4:00 to about 5:15 myself last night. For some extra fun, get yourself a good dose of sleep apnea so that you have to strap into a c-pap mask every night. When it comes to getting older, the hits just keep on coming!

>38 detailmuse: - >45 rocketjk: You may also be interested in a book I read with my IRL history book group, At Day's Close by A. Roger Ekirch. Pretty sure this is where I read that it was quite normal for sleep to be divided in two parts for many or most people.

>44 connie53:, >45 rocketjk: Well the time zones might not line up, but I'll think a "Hello" to you in the middle of the night :) The awakenings have proven my Fitbit tracker to be extremely accurate, including times I knew I'd awakened from deep sleep or dreams. Now I keep my e-reader handy and always have a night-friendly book on the go -- something gently interesting and easy to read.

>46 ReneeMarie: I'd heard of cultures intentionally getting up for a prolonged middle-of-the night awake period. Happy to know of the book about it, thank you!

>47 detailmuse: I'll be thinking of you too. MJ.

I never take my reader or a book to my bedroom for reading-purposes. To cold to have my arms above the duvet. Maybe in summer.
I'm waiting for an order to arrive today with a weighted blanket and some new pillows. The blanket is supposed to do wonders for sleeping

>48 connie53: a weighted blanket and some new pillows
Those sound wonderful.

10. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, ©1962, acquired 2022

This was terrific! My response to the delicious opening pages, “What is happening here?!” morphed to a “Why is this happening?” as events proceeded masterfully, always intriguing and never cheaply teasing. I recommend that readers come to this novella naively.

11. White House by the Sea by Kate Storey, ©2023, acquired 2023

Spanning a hundred years from JFK’s grandparents to the generation of his grandchildren, this biography of the large Kennedy family is from the location-perspective of their summer home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Most of the events were very familiar but the emphasis on place and the small community of Hyannis is immersive.

12. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, ©2021, acquired 2023

Another terrific novella, this one literary, about an Irish man struggling to meet his family’s needs, and the reality of men’s power over women and authorities’ power over men.

13. Mother Noise by Cindy House, ©2022, acquired 2023

A memoir written to tell her son of her life before him, including heroin addiction and recovery. House studied writing under David Sedaris and has maintained contact with him for decades; now she opens for him on his book tours, and her portrayal of him is a man of kindness and insight. I could have read hundreds more pages.

{David} told me that my essays always had a narrator who was very smart and my stories seemed to have narrators who were more passive, just letting life happen to them.

When quizzed by a doctor about her degree of depression, she thought:

Don’t you understand? I can no longer read.

14. Bellevue Literary Review Issue 43, ©2022, acquired 2022

The short stories, essays and poems of this issue are themed on Recovery, and I am again struck by how long recovery can take, even forever.

February
Beginning total TBRs: 248
ROOTs read: 7 (+ 1 re-read)
Other books read: 2
Books acquired: 4 (+3 previously acquired but not entered into LT until now)
Ending total TBRs: 246
YTD ROOTs read: 14 (year-end goal=40)

15. Bellevue Literary Review Issue 42, ©2022, acquired 2022

Covid is creeping into these pieces that were likely written in 2021, including a touching essay by a doctor who can’t be at the bedside of either a beloved patient or her own father in their final days.

16. Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi, ©2020, acquired 2023

This is a beautiful book of recipes for small cakes (i.e. one square, round or loaf pan), and I marked 15 of the 50 entries as sounding interesting to eat. But I haven’t been motivated to bake any of them: the ingredients aren’t weird but I don’t necessarily keep them on hand; and I hesitate at the calories (per my rough calculations; there is no nutritional info). I will put the book aside for a while, and then maybe choose a recipe where I will substitute at least part of the fat with my go-to, applesauce.

17. Bellevue Literary Review (Vol 11 No 2), ©2011, acquired 2011

This longer, 10th Anniversary Edition is very good. Published 13 years ago, I wonder if the more recent editions are becoming less a fit for me…

There’s some history-of-medicine and history of New York City’s public Bellevue Hospital; a lovely essay by Paul Harding on the inspiration of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Tinkers; a young woman’s experience with a colostomy; a young woman’s experience in an iron lung; characters amid grief and desperation caring for disabled family members; a poem by a favorite poet, Hal Sirowitz; and a story made fascinating by its unreliable narrator.

18. The Little Black Book 2022, ©2021, acquired 2022

I have several more years’ editions of these Lenten daybooks to catch up on. Will edit this post if/when that happens...

19. Granta 111, ©2010, acquired 2012

This issue, themed “Going Back,” is one of the best literary journals that I recall. Some memorable entries:

• a Sudanese couple acclimating to London…or not;
• memories of the 1990s war years in Sarajevo;
• memories of a childhood visit to the infamous bridge and waters at Chappaquiddick;
• a cautionary tale (15 years ago!) of technology’s social manipulation and pathology (what he calls “acquired ADD”);
• Mark Twain’s recollections of childhood summers on his uncle’s farm in enslaved Missouri;
• Richard Russo’s recollections of growing up in the mill/tannery town of Gloversville, New York, so beautiful and poignant that I must soon read one of his novels.

20. Smitten Kitchen Keepers by Deb Perelman, ©2022, acquired 2023

I had the highest expectations for this collection (the third I've acquired by Perelman): 100 recipes so good that they’d all be “keepers”! Alas, I marked fewer than 20 to try, these four to try the soonest --

• caramelized cinnamon sugar French toast
• blueberry pancake cobbler
• big crumb pie bars
• whole lemon poppy seed cake

-- and (sigh) they weren’t the salads, soups, vegetables or main courses that I’d especially hoped for.

That said, I love to read cookbooks -- the silky pages, the food styling, the little essays that introduce each recipe, and the preparation tutorials.

21. A Childhood: The Biography of a Place by Harry Crews, ©1978, acquired 2023

I can’t remember how I came to know of this “grit-lit” novelist, or this short memoir of his childhood on tenant-farms in 1930’s rural Georgia and in more poverty in northern Florida. It’s a brutal recounting of the hardscrabble existence of that time. It’s also tender and contemplative of people and place:

My own daddy was easy to love, but he was often drunk and often gone, Willalee’s daddy was easy to love, too, because everywhere about the farm he was there, always steady, never raising his voice, making you feel good to be with him.
. . . . .
…how marvelous beyond saying it must be to spend the first ten or fifteen years of your life in the same house -- the home place -- moving among the same furniture, seeing on the familiar walls the same pictures of blood kin. {...} But because we were driven from pillar to post when I was a child, there is nowhere I can think of as the home place. Bacon County is my home place {...} If I think of where I come from, I think of the entire county. I think of all its people and its customs and all its loveliness and all its ugliness.
. . . . .
The world that circumscribed the people I come from had so little margin for error, for bad luck, that when something went wrong, it almost always brought something else down with it.

Plus, there’s a section on how to tell the age of a mule so you’re not swindled when acquiring one.

March
Beginning total TBRs: 246
ROOTs read: 7
Other books read: 1
Books acquired: 4
Ending total TBRs: 242
YTD ROOTs read: 21 (year-end goal=40)

>62 detailmuse: Plus, there’s a section on how to tell the age of a mule so you’re not swindled when acquiring one.

That's very handy ;-))

>62 detailmuse: >64 connie53: You never know when you might need to know that.

>64 connie53:, >65 Jackie_K: Haha! A mule is born with a full set of teeth but sheds them/gets new teeth in a predictable pattern and timeline until age five. Then there's predictable wear on the new teeth, and eventually "buck teeth" that worsens until age 13 or so. Then the telling signs are in gait, musculature and spirit. Swindlers can (or could, back in the day) hide most of these signs.

Thanks, I may need that sometime!

22. Let's Go (So We Can Get Back) by Jeff Tweedy, ©2018, acquired 2019

I received this memoir as a gift and had no knowledge of Tweedy, nor much interest in his genre of music (alternative rock/country). So it’s been sitting on the side for five years, destined for donation, and yet…

It was still here and it was lovely!

It’s 300 pages with the most normal guy, good-natured, responsible, clever and friendly. He recounts his family and childhood in rural Illinois near St. Louis; his very, very early interest in music (record stores and concerts first; then writing, composing and performing his own); marriage and fatherhood to two now-grown sons; recovery from alcohol addiction. The title comes from his dad, who liked to be home (as do I); but Tweedy likes it for its Let’s Go affirmation to try new things.

23. Women and the Lakes: Untold Great Lakes Maritime Tales by Frederick Stonehouse, ©2001, acquired 2013

It is realized that anywhere there is history, there is women’s history.

On a vacation, I acquired this compilation of women’s roles in US Great Lakes maritime history -- from cook to lighthouse keeper (including maintaining and operating the lens) to captain on cargo and salvage ships. It’s a lovely documentation and interesting to read.

24. The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, ©2015, acquired 2023

This is fine historical fiction about the relocation of children from London to live more safely in the countryside during WWII. It’s for middle-grade readers who can handle difficult content -- for example disability, discrimination, and astonishing maternal abuse and cruelty -- alongside optimism and resilience.

25. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, ©1974, acquired 2010

I’ve really enjoyed -- two or three times, I think! :( -- the first hundred pages of this novel/memoir that combines a father-son cross-country motorcycle trip with an exploration of philosophy. I might have stayed with it if on audio that could wash over me, but in print I now skimmed the remaining 300+ pages to read mostly about the father-son and let the philosophy go.

April
Beginning total TBRs: 242
ROOTs read: 4
Other books read: 0
Books acquired: 0! (+1 (the book in >68 detailmuse:) previously acquired but not entered into LT until now)
Ending total TBRs: 239
YTD ROOTs read: 25 (year-end goal=40)

26. Object Lessons: The Paris Review Presents the Art of the Short Story, ©2012, acquired 2012

A collection of 20 short stories from The Paris Review archives, each selected and introduced by a contemporary writer. Meh. The introductions (“the key to its success as a work of fiction”) were just 2-3 pages long, yet many seemed more wandering than incisive. And I just wasn’t interested in the stories except one by Raymond Carver (every story by Carver intrigues me).

>71 detailmuse: This is one of those books I always feel I ought to have read, but can't get excited enough about to try it.

>74 Jackie_K: It's a pleasant leisurely read, but after several starts over 14 years, I decided to skim. Plus, I was conflicted about the, "Is this fiction or memoir?" aspect.

>75 detailmuse: I think that, if you started a book several times over the years, it's not for you. I would abandon it all together. (hmm, that reminds me of the non-fiction book I have been 'reading' for the last 6 months and only reached page 40. Maybe I should follow my own advise)

>76 connie53: :) I still have a ridiculous struggle abandoning a book. It's much easier if it's not well written or to my taste. But if it's one I'm somewhat interested in and "want to have read" but then avoid reading it ... I have to remind myself that there are so many other books I "want to read" and there's not enough time to read everything!

27. Earth's the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg, ©2023, acquired 2023

Berg has published several novels about an aging man, Arthur Moses, and his small Missouri town. Here, she presents a prequel about Arthur’s adolescence, including how he came to his lifelong love, Nola. Berg is my go-to for comfort reading: she writes gentle characters who face troubles with open eyes.

28. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, ©2023, acquired 2023

In the early months of Covid (not specifically named), while sheltering in place with her husband and three twenty-something daughters on their Michigan cherry orchard, Lara tells the story of her long-ago acting career and romance with an actor who gained extraordinary fame. The novel’s pace is leisurely, and its structure of sharp cuts between past and present requires attention and patience. I really liked it; I will remember these characters.

May
Beginning total TBRs: 239
ROOTs read: 3
Other books read: 2
Books acquired: 3
Ending total TBRs: 237
YTD ROOTs read: 28 (year-end goal=40)

>79 detailmuse: I've heard really good things about this one. Also, the author is on TikTok, plugging her bookshop, and is an absolute delight!

>81 Jackie_K: It's my favorite by her after Bel Canto. Her bookshop sounds fun and active, I'd love to visit!

29. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym, ©1977, acquired 2013

This short, somber novel follows four aging office-mates in 1960s London -- two men and two women. As the women retire and become pensioners, and each of the four confront situations they hadn’t envisioned, they also confront whether they're co-workers or, maybe, friends.

30. The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, ©1927, acquired 2013

Considering:
1) the March collapse of the bridge in Baltimore causing the death of six bridge-workers, and
2) the prominence of Wilder’s stage drama, Our Town, in Tom Lake (>79 detailmuse:), then
3) it was time to pull out Wilder’s novella about the failure of an Incan rope bridge and the search for meaning in the deaths of five people crossing it at the time.

I probably acquired this for its character studies and philosophy of human value. But I couldn’t get interested now. I did enjoy the Afterword that examined a bit about Thornton and his writings.

31. Bellevue Literary Review: Issue 45, ©2023, acquired 2023

An anthology of short stories, essays and poems on the theme of “Taking Care.” Among the most memorable: an orthopedic surgeon experiencing gender discrimination and a secret early pregnancy during deployment to Afghanistan; a woman with long-Covid trying to fulfill any part of her roles as wife/mother/editor; a caregiver trying to coordinate medical needs of her own.

Not just after this collection, but I think I must explore my humor tag!

32. It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton, ©1996, acquired 2000s

A very readable 360-degree examination of what it takes to raise a child and how the “village” (i.e. society) assists (or should assist) with so much of it, particularly for children in need. There are some memoir bits about Bill’s and Hillary’s childhoods and their raising of Chelsea. Hillary’s authorial voice here surprised me a bit with its likeability, vulnerability and optimism…then I discovered it was ghost-written (the lack of any acknowledgement of which became a minor controversy). Published almost 30 years ago, it’s remarkably current because the 1990s issues remain today :( and are now topped with ubiquitous dangers of social media, ultra-processed foods and guns.

June
Beginning total TBRs: 237
ROOTs read: 4
Other books read: 1
Books acquired: 6
Ending total TBRs: 238
YTD ROOTs read: 32 (year-end goal=40)

This year I was going to allow any TBR of mine to count as a ROOT, but so far I have not counted books acquired after 2023. So here I take a moment to note two of my favorite non-ROOTs so far this year:

On Call: A Doctor's Journey in Public Service, Anthony Fauci’s memoir of the science, politics and humanity of his medical career in emerging infectious diseases: HIV/AIDS, smallpox, influenzas, Ebola, Zika, SARS/MERS/Covid-19; and

So Late in the Day, a collection of three memorable short stories about men and women by Irish writer Claire Keegan that a la the recent social-media meme -- which is more dangerous to approach, an unknown bear or an unknown man? -- will have some guidance :0. Two books now that I've loved by Keegan!

You've read some interesting books recently, MJ! I bet Dr Fauci's memoir was fascinating. I can't believe the abuse he's been getting.

>89 Jackie_K: He's been a presence my entire career. In so many areas now, I can't make sense of the world.

33. Letters to Words: A Supplement to Childcraft, ©2012, acquired 2016

I acquired this supplement to the World Book children’s encyclopedia at a trade show because it was about … words! Eight years later now, I find it’s about so much more, specifically history -- how cuneiform and hieroglyphic markings became letters and alphabets; how words came to English (England) via waves of invading armies and, later, global tradesmen; and then child-version snippets from centuries of English literature (Gilgamesh, Beowulf, a Canterbury Tale, Shakespeare, Dickens). And it finishes with some word games. Very fun and off it goes to the library sale to delight someone else.

34. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, ©1981, acquired ?? (looong ago)

The business classic: one-minute approaches to goal-setting, motivating and correcting. It’s intended for the workplace, but an example of guiding a toddler to walk shows that praise and correction come naturally and work so well. It was a good, quick re-read before donating, and I wanted to keep a few passages here:

Effective managers…manage themselves and the people they work with so that both the organization and the people profit from their presence.

Quality is simply giving people the product or service they really want and need.

Productivity is both quantity and quality.

If you {don’t like what is happening but} can’t tell me what you’d like to be happening…you don’t have a problem yet. You’re just complaining.

Help people reach their full potential: Catch them doing something right.

35. Memory Wall by Anthony Doerr, ©2010, acquired 2012

A collection of seven short stories (two are nearly novellas), beautifully and confidently written with exceptional attention to character (especially coming-of-age and old age, and mixes of generations) and setting (China, Lithuania, Holocaust-era Germany, South Africa, some USA). I didn’t like Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See (beloved on LT and everywhere), but attribute that to my being non-engaged with the audio version…would revisit it if there weren't so many other books.

36. The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe, ©1958, acquired 2023

Written and published in the 1950s, this novel follows half a dozen very young women as they establish careers and pursue friendships and romance/sex in New York City amid predatory male and competitive female bosses and soooo much alcohol. Surprisingly contemporary for being nearly 70 years old.

37. The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Kenneth Blanchard, William Oncken Jr. and Hal Burrows, ©1989, acquired 1990s??

Why is it that some managers are typically running out of time while their staffs are typically running out of work?

Answer: because they take on their subordinates’ problems ("monkeys") rather than helping them (or family members, committee members, etc.) to work their own problems.

As with >92 detailmuse:, this was a re-read of a very short book before donating. It's a good reminder against “doing more efficiently those things that shouldn’t be done in the first place” and (hmm) probably applies to some of the books I’m reading before donating them…

July
Beginning total TBRs: 238
ROOTs read: 5 (includes 2 re-reads not tagged as TBRs)
Other books read: 1
Books purged unread from TBRs: 1
Books acquired: 3
Ending total TBRs: 236
YTD ROOTs read: 37 (year-end goal=40)

>95 detailmuse: (hmm) probably applies to some of the books I’m reading before donating them…. Um. Yeah. *whistles nonchalantly*

>97 Jackie_K: LOL!!

38. Sometimes You Have to Lie by Leslie Brody, ©2020, acquired 2023

That Louise {Fitzhugh} wrote Harriet the Spy for middle-school readers, catching children before they settled into the powerful grooves of gender that would keep many of them on conventional tracks through adolescence, was radical.

Some people are one way and some people are another way, and everybody ought to get used to it.

A thorough and interesting biography of the author (and visual artist) Louise Fitzhugh, from her 1930-40s Memphis childhood in a wealthy family (but absent mother) to artist/lesbian conclaves in New York City and abroad, to an early death from an aneurysm in 1974. I think it’s time to re-read Harriet the Spy.

39. Random Acts of Kindness, ©1993, acquired 1990s??

A collection of 100+ short anecdotes of kindnesses given and received, and another 100+ quotations on kindness by famous people. It’s decades old, but the same kindnesses are happening today and these felt inspiring not preachy.

>99 detailmuse: Sounds fascinating! I loved that book growing up and it influenced so much of what I do today as a self-proclaimed Scribe who observes boardroom shenanigans :D You're right: time to re-read Harriet the Spy and for me to add the biography to my TBR.

>101 Cecilturtle: Boardroom shenanigans, indeed! I bet you have some stories.

I still have my spy notebooks. Probably time to dispose of them and I'm curious to read from them first.

40. One of Ours by Willa Cather, ©1922, acquired 2013

Young Claude Wheeler yearns to attend a Nebraska state university instead of the Christian college his mother allows ("According to {her} conception of education, one should learn, not think; and above all, one must not enquire"). But when his successful father expands the farming business out-of-state, Claude is forced to leave college altogether and run the local family farm.

His life was choking him, and he hadn’t the courage to break with it.

When the US joins forces in the Great War, Claude enlists and develops a sense of purpose and fellowship, particularly during an influenza outbreak on the overseas transport ship, during periods of leave in France, and on the battlefield. Cather’s writing evokes person and place with a gentle dreaminess.

And that meets my ROOT goal!

August
Beginning total TBRs: 236
ROOTs read: 3
Other books read: 2
Books acquired: 1 (+1 acquired long ago but not entered into LT/TBRs until now)
Ending total TBRs: 233
YTD ROOTs read: 40 (year-end goal=40)

>103 detailmuse: Oh well done, that sounds like a good one to hit your ROOT goal with!

>103 detailmuse: Congratulations!!

>103 detailmuse: Congratulations!

>105 Jackie_K:, >106 Cecilturtle:, >107 MissWatson: Thank you! - I'm enjoying the freedom to read non-ROOTs yet here's another ROOT:



41. A Velocity of Being edited by Maria Popova and Claudia Bedrick, ©2018, acquired 2023

{T}he words on the page are not a puzzle but a door to many worlds. --Mary Oliver

You can never read them all; there will always be wonderful new stories to explore, people to know and places to visit. --Anne-Marie Slaughter

There are times when dreams sustain us more than facts. To read a book and surrender to a story is to keep our very humanity alive. --Helen Fagin

People in Silicon Valley – where I live – like to say that you’re the average of the five people you associate with most. I believe you’re also the average of the five books you hold closest to your heart. --Tim Ferriss

An anthology of 100+ letters to inspire young people to read, penned by noteworthy writers, artists, and other smart people in all walks of life. Each is accompanied by a full-color, full-page illustration. Overwhelmingly, books are promised as portals to discover other lands, other people…and oneself! It’s a great gift book. For me, it grew a little tedious: most of the letters said mostly similar things, in straightforward prose without distinctive voices. A few essays were in comix/rebus format, and the book ended with a lovely appreciation of endpapers :)

>77 detailmuse:
I finally decided to DNF the book I was talking about. Zijn we slim genoeg om te weten hoe slim dieren zijn?
So you see it took me sometime to do so. I'm not good at DNFing at all and never have been.

>109 connie53: The fact that I want to say, "Yay Connie!" for DNFing says a lot about how much more I may try to do the same.

Good for you, MJ. I hope you will get the courage to do the same soon(ish).

>111 connie53: I've been able to cull (for donation to library book sales) books I'm no longer interested in ... next step is DNFing (or reading!) a bookpile I've targeted before the April book sale.

42. At Large and at Small by Anne Fadiman, ©2007, acquired 2023

Today’s readers encounter plenty of critical essays (more brain than heart) and plenty of personal -- very personal -- essays (more heart than brain), but not many familiar essays (equal measures of both).

I like this type of essay and liked this collection of 12 erudite entries that weave information + Fadiman’s experiences with that information. Among the topics:
• ice cream;
• coffee;
• postal services;
• night owls and morning larks;
• a tragic canoeing trip;
• the process of selling/buying/moving to a new home;
• the American flag;
• the writer Charles Lamb;
• collecting (particularly nature, particularly butterflies, and the need to kill the creatures collected), from which I liked this:

{K}ingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species (I can still rattle these off in the proper sequence, having learned the mnemonic “King Philip, Come Out For God’s Sake” at age twelve)

• writers whose reputations haven’t survived culture wars, from which these are common questions recently:

Should we read great books because of their literary value or because they provide moral lessons -- that is, because they teach us how to live? … Should the life of the writer affect our valuation of the work?

September, October
Beginning total TBRs: 233
ROOTs read: 2
Other books read: 7
Books acquired: 13
Ending total TBRs: 237
YTD ROOTs read: 42 (year-end goal=40)

>113 detailmuse: That sounds good, going to put it on my wishlist.

>113 detailmuse: I learned:
King Philip Comes Over For Greek Salad. (Spanakopita works better because SP- species)

I think I learned a couple other versions, but I forget, now

>115 Jackie_K: I loved her Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader even more -- was over the moon for her. Her The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, about the Hmong people and how not factoring in socio-cultural factors can create healthcare disasters, was also excellent.

>116 EGBERTINA: I don't remember learning any and now I have two, thank you!

Some more of my non-ROOTs deserve mention:

    

Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat and Tears by Michael Schulman -- an emphasis on the beginnings of the Academy itself and the early years of awards, and then deep thematic dives e.g. into the nominees in specific years, or some of the campaigns to win. I knew about but hadn’t appreciated the seismic change that came with “talking pictures,” and I’m very interested in learning more about Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

Hope -- How Street Dogs Taught Me the Meaning of Life by Niall Harbison -- the social media personality’s memoir of saving himself from addiction and now saving dozens (hundreds) of street dogs in desperate conditions in Thailand

What A Fool Believes by Michael McDonald and Paul Reiser
A very gentle (non-gritty) memoir of Michael’s childhood in Ferguson, Missouri; his early and life-long success in songwriting and background- and lead-singing; his long-term sobriety after heavy alcohol and drug use; and his later life apart from music. I read it over a couple of weeks and missed it after I finished.

Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
Memoirs of women whose self-knowledge takes them to high achievements.

(nothing to see here in) November
Beginning total TBRs: 237
ROOTs read: 0
Other books read: 1
Books acquired: 1
Ending total TBRs: 237
YTD ROOTs read: 42 (year-end goal=40)