MAY ROOT - Progress Thread

LIBRARY OF THE MONTH - Biblioteca Vasconcelos, Mexico City

In honor of Cinqo de mayo we are visiting the Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City.





Mexico City's Vasconcelos Library is labeled by the press as the Megabiblioteca ("megalibrary"). It was dedicated to José Vasconcelos, the philosopher and former presidential candidate and former president of the National Library of Mexico.



Inside, central media stacks appear to float above the grand lobby. Their orthogonal plan is staggered in section, creating an intricate network of pathways and balconies that resemble a plant’s root system. The building itself is supported by an underground parking structure.

The library is spread across 38,000 square metres (409,000 sq ft) and had an initial planned cost of 954 million pesos (roughly US$98 million).
The library is located in downtown Delegación Cuauhtémoc at the Buenavista train station where the metro, suburban train, and metrobus meet. It is adorned by several sculptures by Mexican artists, including Gabriel Orozco's Ballena (Whale), prominently located at the centre of the building.



The site was inaugurated in May 2006, and offers free access to library services and various cultural activities; makes available to the reading public a bibliographic collection made up of 600 thousand books classified through the Dewey international system. In addition, it has collections of multimedia, children's, Braille and music material. Its general and reference collection is distributed in more than 40 thousand linear meters of hanging steel shelves open to the public.



The building was built on an area of ​​37,692 square meters; It has a construction of more than 44 thousand square meters and consists of 3 buildings aligned with six levels each.



The heavy concrete structure is lightened with an extensive glass enclosure. The facade’s horizontal strata provide ample shading for the reading areas beneath the transparent skin.

Inside the library is the work "Mobile Matrix" by the plastic artist Gabriel Orozco, who intervened a gray whale bone structure in an iconic piece that has become an icon of the library. The Mobile Matrix was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2009.



Outside the building you can enjoy a green space in which there are almost 60 thousand specimens of 168 tree, shrub and herbaceous species. This garden has an area of ​​26 thousand square meters.

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.

Ameise1 6 / 12 ★★★ 50.0%
beach85 10 / 36 27.8%
benitastrnad 33 / 62 ★★★ 53.2%
bragan 31 / 85 ★ 36.5%
brakketh 6 / 30 20.0%
ca_dmv 5 / 12 ★★ 41.7%
Caramellunacy 18 / 20 ★★★★★ 90.0%
Carmenere 11 / 25 ★★ 44.0%
cecilturtle 20 / 50 ★ 40.0%
clue 11 / 50 22.0%
Coach_of_Alva 5 / 25 20.0%
connie53 19 / 50 ★ 38.0%
crazy4reading 8 / 30 26.7%
curioussquared 23 / 50 ★★ 46.0%
CurrierBell★ 14 / 13 107.7%
cyderry★ 195 / 84 232.1%
detailmuse 19 / 40 ★★ 47.5%
DisassemblyOfReason 25 / 100 25.0%
enemyanniemae 25 / 60 ★★ 41.7%
FAMeulstee 17 / 24 ★★★★★ 70.8%
Familyhistorian 21 / 65 32.3%
floremolla 8 / 40 20.0%
fuzzi 26 / 100 26.0%
HelenBaker 16 / 48 ★ 33.3%
Henrik_Madsen 17 / 50 ★ 34.0%
h-mb 3 / 20 15.0%
Jackie_K 25 / 60 ★★ 41.7%
johnxlibris 7 / 20 ★ 35.0%
justchris 14 / 100 14.0%
kac522 21 / 50 ★★ 42.0%
karenmarie 12 / 30 ★ 40.0%
Kiwi_des_neiges 0 / 44 0.0%
Kristelh 19 / 50 ★ 38.0%
Kwharton 4 / 12 ★ 33.3%
LadyBookworth 11 / 20 ★★★ 55.0%
lepensuer 0 / 51 0.0%
leslie.98 43 / 80 ★★★ 53.8%
lilisin 17 / 60 28.3%
lindapanzo 15 / 72 20.8%
LoraShouse 5 / 15 ★ 33.3%
Lynsey2 16 / 50 32.0%
madhatter22 10 / 50 20.0%
majkia 35 / 65 ★★★ 53.8%
mandymarie20 1 / 25 4.0%
martencat 8 / 30 26.7%
misscleasia 6 / 20 30.0%
Miss_Moneypenny 26 / 80 32.5%
MissSos 3 / 25 12.0%
MissWatson 29 / 75 ★ 38.7%
nebula21 9 / 36 25.0%
Nickelini★ 27 / 26 103.8%
Quaisior 11 / 50 22.0%
QuestingA 21 / 35 ★★★★ 60.0%
rabbitprincess 21 / 60 ★ 35.0%
readingtangent 22 / 25 ★★★★★ 88.0%
Rebeki 7 / 18 ★ 38.9%
ritacate 0 / 24 0.0%
Robertgreaves 37 / 96 ★ 38.5%
rocketjk 9 / 30 30.0%
rosalita 21 / 48 ★ 43.8%
Sace 1 / 21 4.8%
sallylou61 13 / 40 32.5%
si 10 / 25 ★ 40.0%
sibylline 6 / 16 ★ 37.5%
susanj67 17 / 50 ★ 34.0%
This-n-That 7 / 14 ★★★ 50.0%
torontoc 12 / 30 ★ 40.0%
Val_Reads 0 / 75 0.0%
vestafan 23 / 60 ★ 38.3%
wandaly 8 / 18 ★★ 44.4%




We have some avid readers who have reached their goal! Joining cyderry this month are Nickelini and CurrierBell!

Our ★★★★★ readers or those closest to reaching their goals, are:
Caramellunacy 90.0%
readingtangent 88.0%
FAMeulstee 70.8%

The goal for May is 1,276.

Please remember when updating the tickers to click new ticker when you have finished.

I can honestly say that as unusual as the Biblioteca Vasconcelos in Mexico City appears to be, it is one library that I would never want to visit. The pictures alone scared the crap out of this Acrophobic!

>3 cyderry: But it makes for beautiful pictures, Chèli.

My numbers are correct although I finished ROOT # 19 today. But that doesn't matter much for me

ROOT # 19 was De nazaten van Shannara by Terry Brooks

My own tickers are updated.

That whale sculpture is so beautiful!

My numbers are correct up to the end of April.

>1 cyderry: Wow, you found a beautiful library, Chèli. I didn't even know of its existance.
I suffer(ed) from various phobias (some are gone now), luckely I never had acrophobia.

Whoa, that's a cool library! Thanks for sharing it!

Also whew, glad to see I still have 1 star even though I had a not-great ROOT month in April.

Ticker changed as requested. Sorry about that. I don't know why it was showing that font, I didn't ask for it.

That is a very interesting library and a very interesting choice for this month. thanks for posting it. It made me dizzy to even look at it. The outside of it looks just as industrial as does the inside and the design doesn't really appeal to me. However, I approve of all of the books and materials that it holds. I can imagine that the shelving is very efficient in its ratio of books to total linear feet of shelving.

That is an amazing library but somehow very daunting, too. I feel inspired to read something about Mexico...

Cool library and one i would definitely love to see one day. I had it in my head that I would see a star by my name this month and then realized I was only on track to read 48 books, not my goal of 50.
I will have to make an extra push one of these months so I get that star! :)

I've added my first ROOT for May (#26 for the year) to my own tickers. Group tickers left well alone!

ROOT # 20 for the year, # 2 for May

De druïde van Shannara by Terry Brooks

My own tickers are updated.

I've added my ticker to the ticker thread.

I clicked the option on Ticker Factory for it to be dark and though it looks okay on their site, it looks weird here (it doesn't have a dark background, for one thing). Let me know if you prefer me to change it back to light. I've changed it to light, so it looks better now.

I'm not even going to attempt the group tickers :0)

I got my first ROOT of the month. I finished listening to Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I started reading this one because I read the first three and liked them. Now that the TV series is out I wanted to read the other books in the series before I watch the show.

It is interesting that our library has 10 titles by Bardugo in our collection and at this point in time 9 of them are checked out. I suspect that the TV series has garnered lots of interest.

Three more reads:
1. Grown Ups by Marian Keyes bought in 2020 by curiosity
2. Sweetland by Michael Crummey bought for my book club
3. N'oublier jamais by Michel Bussi, mystery find in my bookshelves, most likely from one of my parents... or bought in an airport in France? I have to start tagging by books again!

Added to the ticker

I read number 13 for the year and the first ROOT for May. The review is on my thread and no tickers updated.

ROOT #2 added for May (#27 for the year) to my own tickers - group tickers left alone.

It was an excellent book - Charlie Hailey's The Porch: Meditations on the Edge of Nature which I got through the Early Reviewers programme. I've had some duds from ER, but this was a 5* read.

I finished another ROOT. Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan has been on my book shelves since I joined LT. I have liked the other books by Pollan that I have read, but I just never took this one off and read it. Well, I did and it was a great book with lots of food for thought in it.

First ROOT posted for the month. I'm trying to read more ROOTs this month and finally earn a star.

Second Root for May and number 14 for the year. The review is on my thread and no tickers were updated.

ROOT # 21 for the year, # 3 for May

De elfenkoningin van Shannara by Terry Brooks

My own tickers are updated.

I've added two more ROOTs today to my own tickers - these are #3 and #4 for May (#28 and #29 for the year). Group tickers left alone!

I'm almost halfway though my 50 goal. I Owe you one by Kinsella adds to number 24 on my list.

Group tickers updated.

Seven ROOTs so far, this month is great for reading. My own ticker is up-to-date, did not touch the group tickers.

The long drive from Alabama to Kansas allowed me to knock off another ROOT. I listened to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire while driving. I immediately started listening to another ROOT and hope to be able to report getting it read/listened this month as well.

No tickers updated.

I've just added #5 for May (#30 for the year, so I'm half-way to my goal for the year) to my own tickers. Group tickers left well alone :)

ROOT # 22 for the year, # 4 for May

De wakers van Shannara by Terry Brooks

My own tickers are updated.

And that's #6 for May (#31 for the year) added to my ticker.

I finished another ROOT last night. This one was Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds by Rachelle Bergstein. It was for the Nonfiction Challenge this month. The category was Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. This one was Mineral.☺️

Just added two more ROOTS to my personal ticker: American Utopia, by David Byrne and Maira Kalman; and Puppet on a Chain, by Alistair Maclean.

That's #7 for May (#32 for the year) added to my ticker. It was very short, so a nice easy one to boost my numbers!

Just saw this picture of library in Bucharest - wasn't on my list for this year so I thought I'd share now.

I finished another ROOT. Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. I read this one because I am going to participate in a book discussion group up here on the borderlands of Kansas and Nebraska. This one is a book discussion group out of Lincoln, NE. They added me to their list and since I won't be doing much else on Thursday night this week, I am going to participate in their discussion.

Oh - I almost forgot to tell you that the book was very good. It is historical fiction and I enjoyed reading it.

>35 cyderry: I want!

>35 cyderry: I want to go to there!

Up to 25/60 ROOTs now, with The Long Glasgow Kiss, by Craig Russell; and Death in the Tunnel, by Miles Burton. Having a week off has been good for my reading so far!

I finished #15 for the year and the third ROOT for May. The review is on my thread and no tickers have been updated.

>35 cyderry: Are you sure it’s a library? Looks to me like the Cărturești Carusel bookshop (https://www.librarything.com/topic/306779#6840127—see from post #14 down).

The point being, if you want it and can get to Bucharest, you can have it! Decent bookshop, with a reasonable selection of English-language books.

>41 haydninvienna: where I saw it, it said it was a library. Cărturești Carusel

Maybe in Bucharest library and bookstore are the same?

>42 cyderry: Don’t know. However, I do know that in French, librairie is a bookshop, not a library; and that Romanian is a Latin-based language like French. Maybe there was a slight mistranslation somewhere.

(Checks Google Translate): Yup. The Romanian for English “bookshop” is “librărie”. Incidentally, here’s Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cărturești_Carusel. I can confirm that there is a Cărturești bookshop chain in Bucharest, partly because I’ve been there and partly because my elder daughter is engaged to a Romanian bloke.

As I said, I’ve been there. It really is as beautiful as the picture suggests. Once COVID is done with, it’s worth the price of a trip to Bucharest just for that shop.

I have finished ten ROOTs this month and have surprised myself very much. And I even managed to read one set in Mexico: Die dritte Kugel. My own ticker is up-to-date.

My ROOTs reading has improved this month. In the first months of 2021 I was reading 5 ROOTs a month, just in line to meet my goal of 65 for the year but not enough to earn a star. I'm still working my way through my write ups for this month but I've already posted 5 of them. I might earn a star yet.

ROOT # 23 for the year, # 5 for May

De helden van New York by R.J. Ellory

My own tickers are updated.

finished my 8th ROOT this month

Another ROOT gone away. I finished reading Mauve: How One Man Invented A Color That Changed the World by Simon Garfield. I hope to finish another one this weekend.

Ooh, if we're doing beautiful bookshops (alright - exceptionally beautiful, since anything with books in it is inherently beautiful), how about Daunt's in London?

I had a very good reading month in May. With 11 ROOTs read I have passed my goal!
Giving a personal total 28 of 24 planned ROOTs.
All tickers updated.

>49 humouress: I love browsing in there as this section is arranged by setting/country rather than genre so you can find something literary, travelogue, history, mystery set in, around, about Malta or Austria or Brazil...

>49 humouress: WOW!

I finished ROOT #3 for May, personal ticker updated. 😊

>35 cyderry: Now that's a bit special.

I have managed to catch up this month and have completed three more roots, Another Country by Anjali Joseph
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott and Lola by Elizabeth Smither, taking my tally to 21/48. I feel very relieved and can now read my two library books for book groups.

I've added #8 for May (#33 for the year) to my own tickers; group ticker left alone. I think this will be my final ROOT for the month as I have a library book which will be disappearing from my kobo in a couple of days and I'm only a quarter of the way through!

Also, yes Carturesti is a bookshop in Bucharest. It's one of those false friends so common in Latin languages, and as said above, is very similar to French - librarie means bookshop. The word for library is biblioteca.

Hi all. So for the this month I read a total of 7 books.
Only my personal ticker updated. 18/20
Happy reading all!
ps Cyderry, love your pictures! I now have so many places to visit.:+}

I read 8 ROOTs this month out of 12 books total. The ticker on my personal thread and in the ticker thread is updated.

7 this month for a total of 41. Updating personal ticker only.

Have I even posted once in May? I don't believe so.

This month I read 5 manga and the four following books:
Thant Myint-U : The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and Democracy in the 21st Century
Fumiko Enchi : Masks
Cormac McCarthy : Blood Meridian
Keizo Hino : Isle of Dreams

I've added 3 books to my personal tickers (only) for May.

I finished my recorded book Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley. I hope to finish another book tonight so will post my May totals tomorrow.

I miscounted earlier in the month so am up to 26 ROOTs toward my goal of 60. Only my personal ticker has been updated.

Here is my report for May 2021:

UpROOTED books: 13
ROOTless books: 5
Added to the treebook TBR shelves: 4

The ROOTs were:

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
This Poison Will Remain by Fred Vargas
Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Simon Critchley (DNF)
A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Classics: A Very Short Introduction by Mary Beard and John Henderson
Seeking the Dead by Kate Ellis
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Past Poisons edited by Maxim Jakubowski
The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps by Michel Faber
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
Time Travel by James Gleick
The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville

ROOTs in YTD: 50

(Group tickers not touched)

I read 9 ROOTs in May for a count of 30/65.

I am trying to get the numbers together for May, however, the following people's tickers are not working in the Ticker thread. Could you please repair your ticker by editing the message that your ticker is in. Please do not create a new message, please edit the current message. You may need to create a new ticker but just copy over the new code in the old message.

Sace msg 13
This-n-That msg 22
nebula21 msg 25
h-mb msg 31
floremolla msg 38
Val_Reads msg 39
ritacate msg 42
mandymarie20 msg 58
lepensuer msg 66

I have 8 ROOTs for May. No tickers updated.

I had a very good month of reading. It helped that I spent a great deal of time driving and that enabled me to listen to 3 books this month and finish up one mystery series.

Recorded Books
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley

Fiction Books
Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Crowded Grave by Martin Walker

Non-fiction Books
Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World by Simon Garfield
Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds by Rachelle Bergstein
Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

June thread is up!

https://www.librarything.com/topic/332636#