Welcome to Leaves, Branches & Roots
Hello, my name is Edward Karn and I’m the curator of these sites.
Books and music have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up spinning my mother’s 45s in the late 1950s and reading anything I could get my hands on. I was an only child and although there were neighborhood kids to play with, I still spent a lot of time by myself. The wonderful thing about books and music is that you never have to experience them alone.
Through elementary school, high school, college, and adulthood, both reading and music remained constant companions.
For over thirty years I worked for a civil engineering company in New Jersey evaluating soils for septic systems and drainage basins. Much of that work was done alone in the field, traveling from site to site throughout the state. Those long drives became filled with music, and the quiet moments between tests often became reading time.
By 1987 I had become deeply involved in reading mystery and thriller series. Authors like Clive Cussler, Tony Hillerman, Loren D. Estleman, and Parnell Hall turned me from someone who simply read books into someone who cared deeply about recurring characters and long-running series
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A Book Lover’s Journal the Roots of Leaves Branches & Roots
To keep track of what I was reading, I began keeping journals with dates, short comments, and notes about series order. I continued doing that until 2004 when Goodreads eventually took over the job.
In 2010, during a difficult period involving both work and family stresses, I started a blog called Me, Myself, Music & Mysteries. Originally it focused on the books I was reading and the music I was listening to at the time — mostly mysteries, folk, blues, bluegrass, and other forms of Americana and roots music.
But over time my musical interests expanded. Encouraged by my son Andrew, I dove deeper into progressive rock. Jazz listening moved far beyond artists like Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith, and eventually New Age music entered the picture as well.
Because so much of this music involved discovery, I eventually created another site: FreeWheelin’ Music Safari — a place built around the joy of finding new artists, forgotten albums, and unexpected musical connections.
So where does “Leaves, Branches & Roots” come from?
It’s the way I think about both my reading life and my musical life.
Leaves Branches & Roots : Books
Roots Authors are the writers who laid the foundation for my reading life between 1987 and 2003. These are the authors who transformed reading from a casual hobby into a lifelong passion for characters and series.
Branches Authors are the writers I discovered between roughly 2004 and 2016. These authors expanded my reading into new directions and genres while deepening my appreciation for long-form storytelling.
Leaves Authors are the newer voices I’ve discovered during the last decade or so — writers whose careers and characters are still growing and evolving.
Leaves, Branches & Roots : Music
Music follows the same pattern.
The Roots are the artists and albums that formed the foundation of my musical life in the 1960s, 70s, and beyond.
The Branches are the musicians who expanded my listening horizons into new genres and styles.
And the Leaves are the newer discoveries — the artists, albums, and musical journeys that continue to keep discovery alive today.
In the end, these sites really aren’t about reviews.
They’re about how books and music have shaped the roots, branches, and leaves of my life.
Hello and Welcome to Me, Myself, Music and Mysteries. Let me introduce myself …. well I’m not a man of wealth (unless you don’t mean material wealth) or taste (or a least that what my wife says about my musical listening sometimes) but I am 63 years old and have been happily married for 39 years. We have with four great kids. I live in Riverside New Jersey and have been an avid reader and music listener for a long time! Most of the time I’m either reading mystery series or thrillers and often the thrillers are series, too. I read authors like Vince Flynn, Brad Thor and Alex Berenson. The music I listen to is usually Folk or Americana in nature, with a little Jazz, Blues, and New Age mixed in. The purpose of this blog is to write about the books that I ‘m reading and have read and the music I listening to and have loved over the last 40 years! I used to write little blurbs to myself in journals, where I kept track of book titles and dates that I read the book, but this seems like more fun and I hope that maybe someone will find a new author or new musician that they will enjoy or maybe not!
