FEBRUARY ROOT - Progress thread

MUSEUM OF THE MONTH - National Art Museum of China

In honor of the Chinese New Year (the year of the Ox), we will be visiting the largest museum in China.









The National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) is a national cultural landmark after foundation of the People's Republic of China. The main building, roofed with yellow glazed tiles and surrounded by corridors and pavilions, features the styles of ancient Chinese attics and traditional architecture. The building, with 21 exhibition halls in its 6 stories, covers an area of more than 18,000 square meters(59,000 sq. ft.). The museum boasts an exhibition area of 6,660 square meters(22,000 sq. ft.). There are a sculpture park covering an area of 3,000 square meters((9,800 sq. ft.) and a modern collection storeroom founded in 1995 covering an area of 4,100 square meters(13,500 sq. ft.). It is just a bit larger than the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

The museum houses more than 110,000 pieces of various collections, most of which are representative works of different periods and great artworks of Chinese art masters from ancient times till today, constituting art development history since the beginning of modern China. Collections also include some ancient paintings and calligraphy works, foreign artistic works as well as plentiful folk art works. The museum collects works of many Chinese great artists. If you would like to see more, here is the link to the museum collections. http://www.namoc.org/en/collections/

Password is ROOTS

The percentages will be calculated and a star awarded for those on target to reach their goals. More stars for farther toward their goal. If anyone's number is incorrect, please let me know and I will make the necessary adjustments. So go out there and dig those ROOTs.

The goal for February is 501.

Ameise1 0 / 12 0.0%
beach85 5 / 36 ★ 13.9%
benitastrnad 8 / 62 ★ 12.9%
bragan 9 / 85 ★ 10.6%
brakketh 4 / 30 ★ 13.3%
ca_dmv 1 / 12 ★ 8.3%
Caramellunacy 4 / 20 ★★ 20.0%
Carmenere 4 / 25 ★ 16.0%
cecilturtle 7 / 50 ★ 14.0%
clue 3 / 50 6.0%
Coach_of_Alva 0 / 25 0.0%
connie53 3 / 50 6.0%
crazy4reading 1 / 30 3.3%
curioussquared 5 / 50 ★ 10.0%
cyderry 45 / 84 ★★★★★ 53.6%
detailmuse 5 / 40 ★ 12.5%
DisassemblyOfReason 10 / 100 ★ 10.0%
enemyanniemae 8 / 60 ★ 13.3%
FAMeulstee 2 / 24 ★ 8.3%
Familyhistorian 3 / 65 4.6%
floremolla 4 / 40 ★ 10.0%
fuzzi 3 / 100 3.0%
HelenBaker 4 / 48 ★ 8.3%
Henrik_Madsen 5 / 50 ★ 10.0%
h-mb 3 / 20 ★ 15.0%
Jackie_K 7 / 60 ★ 11.7%
johnxlibris 2 / 20 ★ 10.0%
justchris 2 / 100 2.0%
kac522 7 / 50 ★ 14.0%
karenmarie 1 / 30 3.3%
Kristelh 8 / 50 ★ 16.0%
LadyBookworth 0 / 20 0.0%
lepensuer 0 / 51 0.0%
leslie.98 10 / 80 ★ 12.5%
lilisin 0 / 60 0.0%
lindapanzo 5 / 72 6.9%
LoraShouse 1 / 15 6.7%
Lynsey2 3 / 50 6.0%
madhatter22 6 / 50 ★ 12.0%
majkia 12 / 65 ★★ 18.5%
mandymarie20 0 / 25 0.0%
martencat 1 / 30 3.3%
misscleasia 0 / 20 0.0%
Miss_Moneypenny 7 / 80 ★ 8.8%
MissSos 0 / 25 0.0%
MissWatson 7 / 75 ★ 9.3%
nebula21 3 / 36 ★ 8.3%
Nickelini 4 / 26 ★ 15.4%
Quaisior 1 / 50 2.0%
QuestingA 3 / 35 ★ 8.6%
rabbitprincess 6 / 60 ★ 10.0%
readingtangent 10 / 25 ★★★★ 40.0%
Rebeki 1 / 18 5.6%
ritacate 1 / 24 4.2%
Robertgreaves 0 / 96 0.0%
rocketjk 4 / 30 ★ 13.3%
rosalita 7 / 48 ★ 14.6%
Sace 1 / 21 4.8%
sallylou61 3 / 40 7.5%
si 3 / 25 ★ 12.0%
sibylline 0 / 16 0.0%
susanj67 7 / 50 ★ 14.0%
This-n-That 4 / 14 ★★★ 28.6%
torontoc 4 / 30 ★ 13.3%
Val_Reads 5 / 75 6.7%
vestafan 7 / 60 ★ 11.7%
wandaly 3 / 18 ★★ 16.7%

Our leaders after the first month are:

cyderry 53.6%
readingtangent 40%
This-n-That 28.6%

So, sit back, and cuddle up with a good book and celebrate the year of the OX.

Oh, thanks for the Ox horoscope - I was born in the year of the ox :)

And I especially like the photo from the interior of the museum! Nice choice to take us (virtually) to China this month.

Lovely pictures, Chèli. And congrats on reaching your half way point reading ROOTs! You must have been reading a lot lately.

>1 cyderry: Great choice, Chèli!

Great photos and great pick for the month, Chèli! Thanks for all you do.

I am an ox too! I'm liking that horoscope.

OMG is it already February?! What happened to January?

Interesting choice for this month’s theme.

That building looks amazing!

Excellent choice of museum for this month! Thanks for crunching the numbers :)

Happy to report my first root for February, A Kindness Cup by Thea Astley. It was excellent.

After a dreadful start to this new reading year, I'm trying to turn the page (literally) so am reading the nonfiction The Trauma Cleaner as my book during my work lunch hour, and Atwood's The Testaments for home.

I love this homage to the Ox! My reading has slowed down a bit but still plowing away at my ROOTS!

I finished my first ROOT for February. It was Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. this is a good solid work of historical fiction about a little known matriarchical society on the Korean island of Jeju. It is about a history that we know little about and is set in a part of the world about which we know little, so I really enjoyed reading it. I have read several Lisa See books and have liked all of them. See generally writes about Chinese American women and so this is a little bit of a departure from her usual historical territory, but I thought it was very well done and told a story about a group of women about which little is known.

My first Root for February is my 5th for the year. I'm sorry I put The Last Season off for so long. Thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the National Park System out west.

>13 benitastrnad: I must try and get to this this year as I have had several positive recommendations. i, too, have enjoyed her other books.

I finished Notes from a Young Black Chef which I purchased on whim in September of last year and have been reading while eating.
I've also finished Half-Blood Blues which has been on my list since January 2012. Both are from Black authors; I've picked up another by Patrick Chamoiseau as part of my Black History Month reading challenge.

How gorgeous is this?


This "bookstore" (transformed decrepit 13th-century church) is in Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Have any of our members been there?

I finished another ROOT. This time it was Almost A Woman by Esmeralda Santiago. This is book 2 in the memoir trilogy published by Santiago. I really enjoyed When I was Puerto Rican when I read it a year ago and wanted to read the trilogy. I didn't enjoy this book as much as I did the first one, but I do plan to get the third book in the trilogy from the library and read it. I guess I am thinking that "in for a penny - in for a pound."

>17 cyderry: Yes, me of course, It's only half an hour drive from where I live!

You could have guessed that Chéli!

>19 connie53: I was thinking of you, Connie. Is it as impressive as the picture?

>17 cyderry: >19 connie53: Yes, the last time we visited Maastricht we went there.
Waanders in Zwolle, the Netherlands, is also a bookshop in a former church.

I have noticed that the percentage ticker has been changing to the same configuration appearance as the count ticker so I would like to ask that those who are updating the group ticker only do the counter. I will take care of the percentage ticker.

>17 cyderry: WOW. Now that's a bit special.

>17 cyderry: Gorgeous!

>20 cyderry: It's more impressive when you wander trough it

Here are some of my pictures, made in 2014

>25 connie53: WOW!

>25 connie53:
Look at all those people! I doubt there is a bookstore in the US with that many people in it at one time.

And that is just the middle of the church!

>25 connie53: That looks absolutely gorgeous!

The other year (in the before times) when we were up in the Scottish Highlands we visited Leakey's bookshop, which is in a converted church, but it's much smaller than this. My favourite though is still Barter Books, which is converted from a disused train station.

I've finally added ROOT #1 for February (#8 for the year) to my ticker and the group's counter (I've left the % ticker alone).

>25 connie53: That is AMAZING! They'd have a very difficult time getting me out of the building at closing time.

>25 connie53: That really is spectacular and I, too, am impressed with the number of people browsing.

Reporting ROOT # 4 Een duister vermoeden by Elizabeth George

My own tickers are updated.

I have finished The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and am still reading The Trauma Cleaner during my lunch hour at work. I'll be done with it either Tuesday or Wednesday I think.

I finished reading Jury: Trial and Error in the American Courtroom by Stephen J. Adler. This was a very worthwhile book and was even on the short side at 250 pages. The author looked at 5 different court cases and did post trial interviews with the jurors to determine what they thought and why the came to the decisions they came to. He then devoted the last two chapters to ways to reform the jury system so that it works better for the jurors. The biggest change he believes that the judicial system needs is to stop excusing potential jurors from jury duty. The object of the system is to get a cross-section of citizens and that is not happening in our current system. I recommend this book so that people understand how the system works and what can be done to reform it. I found it very insightful.

FINALLY added my first ROOT for February to my personal ticker: Air Bridge, by Hammond Innes. It's been a slow reading month for me.

I've just added my 2nd ROOT for the month (#9 for the year to date) to my own and the group ticker (% ticker left alone!).

My second root for the month, Incendiary by Chris Cleave

My 1st ROOT for February, All Creatures Great and Small. Personal ticker updated only.

1st Root for Feb. and #5 for the year- review is on my thread and no tickers updated.

First ROOT for February finished, Trading Jeff and His Dog (thanks Project Gutenberg!).

ETA: personal ticker updated.

I've added #3 for February (#10 overall, so currently on track for my annual goal) to my own and to the group total ticker. I've left the % ticker alone again!

I've fallen behind on listing my monthly ROOTs here. Let's catch up:

* This Is How I Lied was a so-so suspense/thriller from Heather Gudenkauf
* Olive, Mabel & Me: Life and Adventures With My Canine Companions was a delightful book by UK sports commentator Andrew Cotter about the joys of owning dogs that was spawned by a series of viral Tweets (no, really!)
* Whisper Me This was an above-average suspense thriller by Kerry Anne King about identical twins separated at a very young age
* Echoes is an old favorite by Maeve Binchy, a re-read prompted by the acquisition of an ebook version, which will allow me to send my paperback version to the library book sale (whenever those start up again)

I've updated my ticker on the ticker thread and my personal thread.

I've finished Sad Cypress, the second of my mysterious Christie ROOT to have appeared in my library.

I have started the 1st volume of the 5 volume Chinese Classic Story of the Stone by Cao Xuequin for my at home book and I'm excited because I'm already transported into the wonderful story. I was doubtful at first but I think that it'll take me only about as long as last year's The Water Margin to read.

For my at work book I'm reading Sanmao's Stories of the Sahara which is a travelogue by a Taiwanese woman in, well, the Sahara. I just started it today so I've only read the introduction, translator's note, and the first chapter, but this looks to be the perfect fast read that'll carry me to another land while I'm on my lunch break.

I've finished two books and have updated my personal ticker.

I finished another ROOT yesterday. Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker is for the Guido Brunetti/Bruno Courreges mystery read-along challenge here on LT. This is the first book in a new series for me. The series is the Bruno Courreges series and it is set in the French Dordogne region. This was a fun book because most of it was about living in that region of France and was full of food and wine. I immediately started reading the second in the series.

I love having these two days off because of the weather. It is perfect for sitting in my house looking out the front window and reading. I did bake cookies yesterday. They made the house smell so good while they were baking.

I finished Normal People by Sally Rooney which I didn't particularly like (mercifully it was short) and a collection of poems The Language of Flowers which I got for my birthday last year.

Reporting ROOT # 5 Verloren onschuld by Elizabeth George

My own tickers are updated.

I've added my second ROOT for February to my personal ticker: Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

I've added my 4th ROOT for February (#11 for the year) to my ticker and the group total. It was my first 5* book of the year, Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty.

Added two public-domain ebook ROOTs to my personal ticker: Ashenden, by W. Somerset Maugham; and The Inimitable Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse.

I have finished four ROOTs so far, one of them an 860 pages brick. Next one up is very short...

And that's #5 for February (#12 for the year) added to my ticker and the group's goal ticker.

Reporting ROOT # 6 Het Paradijs by Toni Morrison

My own tickers are updated.

Reporting ROOT # 7 for the year, # 4 for February

Een inktzwart hart by R.J. Ellory

My own tickers updated

ROOT#6 for the year and second for Feb. No tickers updated but the review is on my thread.

I finally finished my first ROOT for the year, but in my defense it was a 900-pager that had been sitting on my shelf for years! (The Quincunx by Charles Palliser) Ta-da!

I finished reading Beverly Cleary's memoir My Own Two Feet. I read the first one back in 2019 and wanted to read the second one. I started it after Christmas and just read a couple of pages at a time, but then I got more and more interested in it and finished it rather quickly. This one takes Cleary's life from leaving home (Portland, Oregon) and going to a community college in California, through her years at Cal-Berkley, and then to library school at U-Dub. It ends with the publication of her first book Henry Huggins in 1950.

To my surprise Cleary is still living. She is 104 and lives in a retirement center in California.

I am reporting 2 additional ROOTs for February (making 3 total for the month so far). Personal ticker updated. Thank you. :-)

Another ROOT: Katiba by Jean-Christophe Rufin. On my shelf since 2011.
Ticker on my thread is updated!

>59 benitastrnad: wow, thanks for the book bullet(s)!

I didn't discover Beverly Cleary's books until my children did, about the time a Ramona series was on television, 1989? I've read all the Ramona books, which I love, plus a few others by Mistress Cleary.

ETA: I've added 5 ROOTs to my total in February, so far, updated my personal ticker only.

>62 fuzzi:
Cleary actually has two memoirs. Girl From Yamhill is the first and My Own Two Feet is the second. Both are written for middle grade readers so they are easy reading. I found the second to be more interesting because it was about her college years and her early career. The first was about her first 6 years growing up on a farm in Yamhill, Oregon and then when they moved to Portland, Oregon. It covers her life up until she leaves for college in California. I actually grabbed the first one because the area around Yamhill, Oregon has become a prime Pinot Noir grape growing region and in fact is now a designated appellation. That means that the farmland that her family sold back in the 1930's is now worth hundred's of thousands of dollars per acre. At the time I read that book, I was planning a long weekend trip to the Williamette Valley to visit a couple of winery's there. After that I was interested in Cleary's life so had to finish the second memoir.

I never made that trip due to the Covid Crisis, but I will go as soon as it is safe to do that kind of traveling again. I hope that will be the fall of 2021.

I finished another ROOT - Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer. This is must reading for parents with kids in college. Simply a must. I read it because we had our own issues with rape here at the University of Alabama that resulted in the suicide of a student and a huge civil law suit which the University lost.

As I said, parents with kids in colleges should read this book. It is a reminder that even the nicest people rape and get raped. As Krakauer points out - there is no way to tell who is a rapist, or who will rape. It is also a reminder that decisions made while drinking are usually bad decisions and the results are tragic. Right now drinking excessively is something all college students do at one point or another. Parents need to have that talk about alcohol and sex with both their sons and daughters. It is so important.

TICKER CHANGES NEED TO BE MADE THIS WAY

If you are going to update the group tickers after you have updated your own ticker, please follow these steps:

1. When you have finished updating YOUR ticker, and clicked SAVE, click on NEW TICKER in the upper right corner. This will clear your style from the ticker memory so that the style of the group ticker will stay as is. Don't worry your ticker will not be lost.

2. After you have updated the group ticker and pressed save, again click on the NEW TICKER to clear the style before you update the percentage ticker.

IF YOU PRESS NEW TICKER AT THE END OF UPDATING ANY TICKER, THE STYLE MEMORY WILL BE CLEARED AND READY FOR THE NEXT UPDATE.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.

>65 cyderry: I think I will just leave updating the group ticker to you, Cheli.

I had been wondering why my own two tickers suddenly looked the same, but mystery solved, I guess!

>65 cyderry: >66 Henrik_Madsen: Yes, thank you, Chèli. I completely agree with Henrik. I could not figure out what was going wrong.

>66 Henrik_Madsen: My (multiple) tickers don't do that, I'm presuming it's because they have different passwords to each other.

>68 Jackie_K: Well, I’m too lazy for multiple passwords!

Reporting two more ROOTS on my personal ticker (I'm leaving the group tickers alone):

Falls the Shadow, by Sharon Kay Penman
A Legacy of Spies, by John le Carré (audio, read by Tom Hollander)

This puts me at 12 out of 60 -- 20% of my goal!

>68 Jackie_K: I have different passwords for my two tickers but now they both look the same. A bit frustrating. i will try your instructions next time Cheli. I wish they hadn't changed their systems.

>71 HelenBaker: I do wish that too.

I will add Chèli's comment to the 'How to make a ticker thread'.

>70 rabbitprincess: oh, wow. Falls the Shadow made me cry but I loved it so! Did you?

I knocked out another ROOT last night on the way home from work. My recorded book. This one was a work of historical fiction Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry.

Reporting ROOT # 8 for the year, # 5 for February

Een mooie dag om te sterven by R.J. Ellory

My own ticker is updated

After lots of rereading, I have finally gotten a ROOT done - the abridged full cast audiobook edition of Les Liaisons Dangereuses from Audible. I enjoyed it but still feel the need to read the full book sometime.

>73 fuzzi: Yes on both counts: loved it and cried!

Decided to bail on two books today. Not feeling them. Arsène Lupin contre Herlock Sholmès and The Celtic Twilight are ROOTS 13 and 14 on my ticker, respectively. I've updated my personal ticker but not the group tickers.

So excited to finally be reading one of my fiction ROOTs after two big nonfiction chonkers. Not sure I'll finish it by the end of the month. Might.

I'll leave group tickers to other folks. Just updating my own is challenge enough.

I finished another ROOT this week. This one was Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry. This one was a young adult historical novel set in the days of the Albigensian Crusade.

Things have been difficult in RL this month, so I concentrated my reading on YA/child ROOT books. As of last night I have finished 8 ROOTs in February, and have #9 awaiting me once I get done here.

Personal ticker has been updated.

Root #7 for the year and the third for Feb. No tickers updated but the review is on my thread.

Reporting ROOT # 9 for the year, # 6 for February

Duizend schitterende zonnen by Khaled Hosseini

My own ticker is updated

8 for the month for me- total of 16 for the year. Updating personal ticker.

Here is my report for January and February 2021:

UpROOTED books: 19
ROOTless books: 8
Added to the treebook TBR shelves: 1

The ROOTs were:

Freud: A Very Short Introduction by Anthony Storr
You Could Look It Up by Jack Lynch
The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
Summer Lightning by P. G. Wodehouse
The Prophet Murders by Mehmet Murat Somer
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin (DNF)
Tau Ceti by Kevin J. Anderson and Steven Savile
Paris For One by Jojo Moyes
Almost Like Being In Love by Steve Kluger
Instinct by James Patterson
Crime & Punctuation by Kaitlyn Dunnett
The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan
The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett
Hot Head by Damon Suede
The Three Kingdoms Volume 1: The Sacred Oath by Guangzhong Luo (DNF)
Eagles At War and The Arena by Ben Kane
Thrush Green by Miss Read

ROOTs in YTD: 19

I have only updated my personal ticker and have left the group tickers alone.

>85 Robertgreaves: nice job!

I have completed 13 ROOTs for February, not sure if I'll get another one completed today. Personal ticker updated.

>86 fuzzi: Thank you but it does represent two months' work

Three ROOTs read in February. Total for 2021: 5 of 24.

ETA: All tickers updated.

>65 cyderry: You can also click on "LOGOUT" after renewing the last page, before going to the next ticker.

I've added my final two ROOTs for February to my ticker only. That's 7 in total for February, and 14 in total for the year to date. I won't have any more to add for February, so that's my final tally for the month.

Hi all,actually managed to read 2 books this month!
Only my personal ticker updated.
Happy reading all! :+}

Four books completed this month - The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, The Only Story by Julian Barnes and, on audiobook, Milkman by Anna Burns and The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst.

That’s 8/40 for 2021. All tickers updated.

My final number for February is 7, my ticker is up-to-date, and I'll leave the group ticker to the experts.

On my weekend road trip I finished another ROOT. This one was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling.

I will do my monthly tally and get it posted. It might be tomorrow.

The March thread is up! https://www.librarything.com/topic/330221

I broke the opening post into two messages since the pictures and narrative of our destination this month was so long. Hope that's okay.

My February total is 8 ROOTS. no tickers updated.

Here is the breakdown of my ROOTS for the month.

Recorded Books
Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling

Nonfiction books
Almost A Woman by Esmerelda Santiago
Jury: Trial and Error in the American Courtroom by Stephen J. Adler
My Own Two Feet by Beverly Cleary
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer

Fiction
Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker