MissWatson's ROOTing is divided into 3 parts, part2

June is almost over, and I have managed to read 2 of the 3 fat books I planned for the year. My ROOTing is on track for this year, yay!

In memoriam

Every time a well-known or well-loved author dies I feel an urge to search my shelves, but they didn't fit current reading plans. This year I will make time for books by authors who died in the last five years, including 2017.

1. The way through the woods by Colin Dexter

Amnesia in litteris

This is a useful phrase I found attributed to Patrick Süskind. It means you know that you have read a particular book, but cannot remember what it's about. So this is where I list my re-reads.

1. Sanditon and other stories by Jane Austen
2. Der Mantel by Nikolai Gogol
3. The dragonbone chair by Tad Williams
4. Rest in pieces by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown
5. Das Märchen vom herrlichen Falken und andere russische Märchen
6. Vor dem Sturm by Theodor Fontane
7. Schulmeisters Marie / Die zwölf Apostel / Blaubart by E. Marlitt

Ad libitum

Anything goes, as long as it was acquired before 2017.

1. Robert van Gulik by Janwillem van de Wetering
2. Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit by Sten Nadolny
3. Maigret et les braves gens by Georges Simenon
4. The hare with amber eyes by Edmund de Waal
5. Why Frau Frohmann raised her prices, and other stories by Anthony Trollope
6. Lotta Schmidt, and other stories by Anthony Trollope
7. Blade Runner by Philip K. Dick
8. Homeworld by Harry Harrison
9. Die Kinder des Prometheus by Hermann Parzinger
10. Wheelworld by Harry Harrison
11. Starworld by Harry Harrison
12. Cover her face by P.D. James
13. Auf den Spuren der Indoeuropäer by Harald Haarmann
14. Demelza by Winston Graham
15. The long way to a small, angry planet by Becky Chambers
16. Muerte súbita by Álvaro Enrigue
17. Rulaman by David Friedrich Weinland
18. William the Silent by C. V. Wedgwood
19. Grießnockerlaffäre by Rita Falk
20. Castle Rackrent / The absentee by Maria Edgeworth
21. Habsburgs verkaufte Töchter by Thea Leitner
22. Die Herrinnen der Loire-Schlösser by Sylvia Jurewitz-Freischmidt
23. Das ewige Leben by Wolf Haas
24. Dear life by Alice Munro
25. Lichter setzen über grellem Grund by Renate Feyl
26. Briarpatch by Ross Thomas
27. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
28. Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell
29. Villette by Charlotte Brontë
30. Die Unterwerfung der Welt by Wolfgang Reinhard
31. Mädchen in Uniform by Christa Winsloe
32. Die Verlobung by Ludwig Tieck
33. Der weise Gründling by Michail Saltykow-Schtschedrin
34. Gold by Dmitrij Mamin-Sibirjak
35. Nouvelles contemporaines by Alexandre Dumas
36. The three-body problem by Cixin Liu
37. Storm Front by Jim Butcher
38. Murder at Monticello by Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown
39. Prager Tagblatt by Max Brod
40. Auferstehung der Toten by Wolf Haas
41. English Passengers by Matthew Kneale
42. Der Weg aus dem Dunkel by Nikolai Leskow
42. Onnen Visser, der Schmugglersohn von Norderney by Sophie Wörishöffer
44. Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro
45. Fürstinnen by Eduard von Keyserling
45. Bruno Chief of Police by Martin Walker
47. Das Nordseegrab by Tilman Spreckelsen
48. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
49. Die zwölf Apostel by Eugenie Marlitt
50. Russkie narodnye skazki by A. Afanas'ev
51. Fletcher's Fortune by J. C. Edwards
52. Loco by Lee Hoffman
53. Mitteilungen aus den Memoiren des Satan by Wilhelm Hauff

Every time I go to visit my sister I find a few books among the donations for her library. And I have given in to temptation at the bookstore. I really need to get a grip on this. From now on, two books must be read before I may buy a new one.

I'm gonna 'fess up and put up another ticker tracking Mount TBR.



I'm starting out on 1 July with 1047 and want to get down to 500. I sincerely hope to reach my goal within the next five years. The camel will look a bit odd walking backwards, though.

ETA

Happy ROOTing in your new thread!

>5 MissWatson: hmm, yes, I might have to join you in that pledge. At the end of this month I'll be reviewing ROOTs read v. acquisitions. I don't think it's going to look good.

>6 floremolla: Thanks. I've been reviewing my books and noticed that in the early days I didn't always put them into the "To read" collection. Now that I have done so, I'm staggered by the amount. At least this year I have bought fewer books in every month than I did last year – until June. But I keep telling myself that there are worse habits than hoarding books.

>7 MissWatson: yes, there are much naughtier things we could be spending our money on! If books are our worst vice then I don't think we're doing too badly, all things considered!

June was a very acquisitive month for me too (thanks to birthday gifts, mainly, but even still...). Will try harder next month (not least because August is probably going to be acquisitive too!).

>7 MissWatson: yes, it's sobering to see actual quantities of To Read - for me it's 144 fiction, including new acquisitions. The non-fiction is a scary unknown quantity!

Happy new thread! Glad to hear your ROOT reading is on track.

>5 MissWatson: I'm trying out that strategy as well, in an effort to be less grabby at library/charity book sales. So far I've "earned" two and a half of the 12 books I bought at the last sale.

I'm allowing myself 5 at Christmas and 5 on my birthday, UNTIL I'm down to less than 300 TBR..which should be about 2-3 years if I keep this pace. I think I can "survive" on 10, that's almost 1 new book per month. However, I don't think I will keep this pace (100 per year last 3 years) because all that is to be read quickly and easily are disappearing leaving me with large tomes! Last year I tracked my pages and read 30,000 plus pages. If I read 50 books of 500-600 pages next year, that will be a magnificent feat! And some of those larger ones I will of course have to research as I read and take notes;)---I can't help it!

Hi Birgit!

Your ROOTing looks to be way ahead of schedule. Congratulations.

>5 MissWatson: Good luck with your pledge.

>8 Jackie_K: Books are my only vice, so I think I'm being reasonably good.

>9 floremolla: Mine is way beyond that, absolutely scary.

>10 rabbitprincess: I've decided to start now, and I am eyeing two short ones that I can finish before The witchwood crown is published which I desperately want. I can see subtle ways of cheating ahead.

>11 Tess_W: Good system, Tess.

>12 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen.

Ad libitum

It's summer and there are so many other things to enjoy that reading has slowed down a bit. Plus having to stay on top of my chunkster didn't leave much room for other books.
But I finished another short one with two days to spare before the month's end: Der weise Gründling is a collection of satires that Saltykow disguised as fairy tales. Last Saturday, the FAZ had a big article on Saltykow that made me want to read something by him immediately, and I had this on my shelf. This is why I have a large TBR: instant gratification if curiosity hits. I hadn't realised he was a contemporary of Dostojewskij, and was sent to Siberia at the same time, so after re-reading that article I went to take Aufzeichnungen aus einem toten Hause from the shelf. Just to read the afterword, though, summer is no time to tackle Czarist prison camps.

I was tempted to cull the book, because it is one of those drab GDR paperbacks with bad paper, but I have since realised that none of his books are available in German right now, so I'll hang onto it.

ETA

The final tally for June is 5 ROOTs. I've got another chunkster on the go, but I'm seriously thinking of putting it on hold to read another Russian. Not Dostojewskij, though. There's another very obscure book on my TBR set in Siberia, about the gold mines...

ETA

Yes, summer reading calls for something lighter than prison camps! Given our disastrous weather here today (a wet 11C, but only 8C with the wind chill factor) I'm in need of something set in the Mediterranean...

Agreed. Our heating came on this morning, and has just come on this evening too! I hope July is an improvement on June, weather-wise!

On the plus side I've stayed on the sofa all afternoon reading, so will be able to record another ROOT dispatched!

Just marking the new thread

Hi, everyone!
We're having heavy rains, which means the open-air flea market on Sunday will probably drown. They're having such bad luck this year, weatherwise. And there is supposed to be a handicraft market in Laboe, on the other side of the firth, which I mean to attend, but it will be no fun if we need umbrellas. So I may stay at home reading...Gold turns out to be quite interesting.

Oh dear, oh dear. It's only the second of July and I've fallen off the wagon already.
But two of them are instalments in series that I have been waiting for with bated breath: The witchwood crown and The legion of flame.
The other was a very lucky find at the fleamarket today (picked up just in time between two rain showers), a hardcover containing three essays on authors by other authors, and one of them is Rosemary Sutcliff writing about Rudyard Kipling. I couldn't pass this up. And then I found a handwritten letter inside, from one of the authors, Leonard Clark, to some woman he met in Kiel. I've never heard of him before. So I'll be busy looking him up, as soon as I have finished my current ROOT, and then there will be some non-ROOTing. And then I'll get serious about reducing the TBR.

>21 MissWatson: lol, but yes, absolutely justified!

>20 MissWatson: is the touchstone for Gold correct?

>21 MissWatson: Just some things you can not pass up! I don't count any installments after book 1; they are like a necessity! How serendipitous to find a hand written note from the author. I bought a used book from Amazon and I found he had written a note to somebody on the cover page and signed his name. Ecstatic for $1!

>22 floremolla: The touchstone goes to my copy, yes.

>23 Tess_W: Those are the pleasant surprises of secondhand books. I once bought a fictionalised biography of Fanny Burney on impulse and found it was signed by the author. Not very famous, though, so I won't make a fortune selling it after reading.

Ad libitum

And on the reading front: I have finished Gold.
This was a very enjoyable read. We meet a bunch of former prisoners who were sent there when mining was still done by forced labour, now it's a state company, and there are also free miners who prospect for themselves but have to sell to the state. The foreman at the state mine deplores all the changes and the modern lack of discipline, and I found it hard to believe that he is eighty years old at the end of the book and still working. Lives are hard and crude, women are treated like cattle and there's a lot of misery, in that respect it's typically Russian. But a much easier read than the "great" authors.
The focus on the working people means that it was highly praised by Lenin and much read in Soviet times. The book was published in the GDR and has a very hardline socialist afterword, of course, but it provides lots of information about the author who was virtually unknown to me. I have lately bought quite a few books from the publisher, because they are very well made compared to other GDR books and they have published a lot of Eastern European authors not well known in the West.

>25 MissWatson: The book sounds lovely but alas I can not find it in English!

>26 Tess_W: I also looked him up when I was halfway into the book and as far as I recall, only his debut novel has been translated into English, The Privalov fortune. That's on my to-buy list now. He was a prolific writer of stories, as far as I can tell, many of them for children, so maybe he wasn't considered interesting.

Hi Birgit and happy Tuesday to you!

>21 MissWatson: How exciting to find a handwritten letter by an author inside a book! That would be one of the highlights of my catalog, I think.

Hi Karen, the same to you! It was exciting, I haven't fully deciphered it yet. Very small handwriting.

Hi Birgit. Haven't "seen" you around for a bit so thought I'd stop by!

Hi Tess!
We've had a few eventful days: the G20 meeting in Hamburg concerned us all, as my library has a branch there, and one of the fringe events was held there, so we spent a lot of time watching the news about the riots. Nothing happened to our colleagues, but we're still shocked at the damage done to some quarters.
My sisters and my best friend spent the weekend with me. We went to Hamburg on Sunday for our concert at the Elbphilharmonie, and I have never seen the city so quiet. There was talk before the G20 that many Hamburgers chose to leave town for the weekend, and it showed. The Elbphilharmonie is located in the Speicherstadt which normally hums with tourists. Not so on Sunday. A wonderful concert, though, and the concert hall is impressive.
And work has been unusually busy, too. Our library will be evaluated for funding in September, and this week they test-drove the presentations that the various departments have to give, which involved a lot of work. It is interesting to see what the others do all day long.
But I think that calmer days are ahead now and I hope to finish The witchwood crown soon.

>31 MissWatson: Oh my, the riots, sounds like here! So what were they protesting? Trump? Capitalism? That aside, the concert sounds wonderful. Good luck with your audit and with finishing your book!

>32 Tess_W: There were lots of perfectly peaceful and legitimate protests against the sidelining of the developing countries at these events, globalisation, rising inequality etc. And then there was this large group of people who pretend to be on the left side of the political spectrum or anarchists who just came to riot. Torching cars and looting shops is not a political statement. One of the more scarier things was seeing the onlookers standing on the kerb and waiting for the police and the rioters to fight, as if they were watching a video game.
Ah well, it's over. and my book is coming along nicely.

ETA

>33 MissWatson: We seem to have those rioting just because, also!

The big fantasy book is finished, and next one up is a ROOT, Nouvelles contemporaines, just to take a breather before tackling another new biggie.

Hello & happy new thread & also congrats on being so close to your ROOT goal!

Hi Birgit! I had a wonderful long weekend with my mother traveling. I hope yours was pleasant, also. We drove about 4 hours to see a Biblical proportioned "ark." It was amazing! Estimated crowds between 4-10,000 per day. We should not have gone on a Saturday! We spent 5 hours there and only saw about 50% of the displays but my mother (84) couldn't walk anymore for the day. Boy, we don't realize how big a cubit was!

Hi Tess! That must have been an interesting excursion. I just pottered around with a little housework and a new recipe (not bad, but not worth repeating either). And the rain on Sunday was a perfect excuse for staying at gome and reading.

>36 avanders: Thanks, Aletheia!

And I have been tempted into buying two books. Okay, so one of them had been on my wishlist for years and I have now found a pristine hardback copy at a third of the original price. The other was, well, self-indulgence. So now I am off to finish my ROOT.

>40 MissWatson: I have thought those exact same words to myself previously!

>41 Tess_W: We'll never run out of excuses for indulging our book-buying habit, I'm afraid.

Ad libitum
On the reading front: I have finished Nouvelles contemporaines. I love Alexandre Dumas and once entertained notions of reading all his books in chronological order. That's how this little volume found its way to me, it contains his first prose works, three novellas set in the recent past (at the time of writing). They also included some later novellas, and two of these are re-writings of earlier ones. It was interesting to compare them directly. And Claude Schopp did a very good job of analysing them in his foreword, especially in the way he put them in the context of Dumas' life and the political situation.

Hi Birgit, I'm trying to catch up on threads and find you started a new one! And an organized one too!

And you almost reached your goal! Wow.

Hi Connie! I'm currently reading a non-ROOT, so I'm not sure I can make my goal this month, but definitely in August, before summer gets really busy.

Hi Birgit. I'm reading on my Kobo and those will not count as ROOTS on my challenge terms. And I'm reading one paper book that isn't a ROOT too. So no progress here.

That's cool that you're so close to reaching your goal, well done! I'm still on track for my revised goal to be met in December, but I will confess to a couple of library book distractions currently too.

Hi Birgit!

Congratulations on being so close to your ROOTs goal for the year. It turns out that our goal is the same - 40 - but 22 isn't nearly as good as 39. (I've read 55 books so far this year, still on target for my goal of 100 books.)

>45 connie53: >46 Jackie_K: >47 karenmarie: Thank you! I never expected to get in so much reading besides the planned chunksters! The last of these will have to wait until autumn, though, summer is getting really busy with other things. If only it wouldn't rain so much!

Not a ROOT, but one off the recently-increased TBR: The legion of flame. Well, well, things have taken an interesting turn. And we have a revolution!

>49 MissWatson: I'm reading the first one in that series, Birgit.

>50 connie53: Are you enjoying it? I'm really hoping the third book will be published soon to find out what happens next.

I treated myself to a day off yesterday and went to Hamburg to see a special exhibition at the International Maritime Museum, a show of the Guangdong Museum about trade between China and the rest of the world. It was a little smaller than I expected, but it showed some specatacular pieces found in shipwrecks. And I was surprised to find that the greenware (celadon) pieces from the Song period were so much more exquisite than the blue-and-white from the Ming.
Of course I went by the museum shop and came home with a new book, but at least it won't add to the TBR pile: I started reading it on the train ride back: Teori about the voyage Georg Forster made with Captain James Cook. It's nothing to do with the China exhibition, that will be next on deck.

I like the sound of that exhibition. It's nice to have day off and wander around a museum or art gallery by yourself - one of my favourite things to do if I have a day on my own and no pressing business to attend to. Plenty of time to linger over things that interest me - and hopefully tea and a scone to complete the experience.

>53 floremolla: oh yes, no museum trip is complete without a visit to the bookshop and the teashop!

>53 floremolla: >54 Jackie_K: I quite agree! And there's lots to discover in this particular museum, but I refrained from visiting the café because I had my eyes on a Breton restaurant in the vicinity which serves proper galettes (that's crêpes made with buckwheat flour).
I have also looked up the website of the publisher of my latest acquisition, because I was very surprised to see their edition of Sabatini's Captain Blood on the same shelf, I didn't know it was available again. It turns out they have a very interesting series of adventure stories, and a great selection of novels by Middle eastern authors. I took notes, for the time being. But if I ever find them at my charity shop...

>55 MissWatson: Never met a museum I didn't like!

>53 floremolla: Yes! My family still talks about the scones at the V&A, as if that were the highlight of our last visit there ;)

>57 rabbitprincess: I love scones - I've been on a mission this year to find the best ones, and guess what? They've attached themselves to my waistline. Reluctantly I need to forego them for a while :(

We don't eat many scones here in the midwest US, well none actually! However, when I teach the unit on Queen Victoria we have scones with clotted cream and jam and tea. We make the clotted cream in class ourselves and I bake the scones from scratch. They are always a hit!

>51 MissWatson: Yes I am. It was a bit strange at first but now I read 1/4 of the book is getting interesting enough to read on.

>60 connie53: I find it often difficult to get into a book when the storyline jumps around between too many people and places.

>57 rabbitprincess: >58 floremolla: >59 Tess_W: Scones! You make me nostalgic for Clarinda's Teashop in Edinburgh, where my best friend and I once spent a rainy afternoon working our way through the cake tray...

>61 MissWatson: Yes, I see what you mean. I can handle the jumping in this book with only three story-lines.

Soooo, my sister's on her way back home, we've had two wonderful concerts, the weather could have been better, and now I'm back to reading ROOTs – until our next outing. Summer sure is chock-full with non-reading activities. And how can it be August already??

>64 MissWatson: Just thinking the same myself!

>65 floremolla: Yes, it's ridiculous how time rushes by.

Hi Birgit! Yes, August already. Amazing.

>64 MissWatson: preparing to go back to school and I can't believe I've been off 11 weeks! Time certainly does fly!

Ad libitum

And I have reached my goal with The three-body problem. I freely admit that the science went a little over my head, especially the subatomic bits, but I loved the characters. It also gives a glimpse into the amazing changes that have taken place in China over the last decades. I'm looking forward to the next books.

Congrats!

Congratulations! Well done!

Are you going straight on to parts 2 and 3?

Congratulations too!

I'm glad you liked the first book. I'm sure that when I read it the science will go over my head too, but that's never stopped me before.

>70 Tess_W: Thank you, Tess!
>71 Robertgreaves: I have just ordered them and hope to squeeze them in between all the other challenge books.
>72 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen. My copy has an afterword by the author where he explains how he "sees" things that are merely huge numbers to us. He does a great job of explaining them, even if I didn't fully grasp them.

Well done, Birgit! :)

>69 MissWatson:

Thank you, Donna and Connie!

Ad libitum

I had planned to spend the weekend just reading, but somehow I got distracted into buying a new plant for the balcony and potting it. And I got tempted into a bookbuying again, sigh.
But: I finished one ROOT: Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Not entirely my cup of tea, I'm afraid. And now I have to make up my mind whether to continue ROOTing or reading one of the new ones. Decisions, decisions.

>77 MissWatson: Glad your life isn't more complicated that deciding which book to choose, for the moment, anyway! Have a wonderful weekend.

>78 Tess_W: Yes, I'm enjoying a quiet weekend!

Congratulations on meeting your goal! :D Hope your next ROOT is a good one.

Hi Birgit!

Congratulations on surpassing your goal!

Have fun picking out your next book.

Amnesia in litteris

And the next book was a mystery that spent twenty years on the shelf: Rest in pieces, a mystery where the pets of postmistress Mary Minor Haristeen are instrumental in solving a murder. Halfway through I realised that I had read this before, but couldn't remember the killer. But it's the kind of series you read for the atmosphere and the characters. I think I'll pass them on now.

Ad libitum

Murder at Monticello is the next one in the series and less than stellar. Plus much overtaken by events following the DNA test among Jeffersons's and Sally Hemings' descendants. I'm taking a break from the series for the time being, this one was a bit too cutesy for me.

The sequels to The three-body problem have arrived (plus a couple of others). See you soon!

Well done on reaching your goal! Great work :)

>85 Jackie_K: Thanks, Jackie!

Amnesia in litteris
Another quick re-read before the big new ones was Das Märchen vom herrlichen Falken und andere russische Märchen, four Russian fairy tales, heavily abridged, alas, but I bought it for the gorgeous illustrations by Ivan Bilibin.

>87 MissWatson: Thanks, I didn't think I would manage so many besides the planned big ones, but it is such great motivation to be here.

Just dropping in to say I have not vanished off the face of the earth, but RL is full. We went to two more concerts this weekend, so no reading done during two days. And now I'm starting preparations for our summer holiday, it's the North Sea and Föhr island again. I'll be taking my Kobo, no paper books. I sure hope I can finish The dark forest before we leave, the first 100 pages are very good.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday, Birgit!

Thanks, Karen. I expect it to be above all relaxing. Just swimming, sitting on the terrace watching the sea, knitting and reading.

Sounds lovely, have a relaxing time!

Sounds like a great holiday, enjoy yourself.

Have a great holiday, Birgit. It sounds real relaxed!

I just want to stop by to say hi... I couldn't possibly catch up, though I wish I could (explanation in my thread)! I hear that you feel like you have a little more time again at some point after having a kid... here's to hoping ;)

& Enjoy your holiday! It sounds amazing!!

>95 MissWatson: Hi!

Still no ROOT to report, but I have finished The dark forest and it is an amazing series. I wasn't overly fond of Lao Ji's romance, and I missed a strong female character like the first book's Ye Wenjie, but Da Shi is still around, so that's good. The very different viewpoint that the Chinese author brings to the story makes it stand out. And I thought his version of the big battle was brilliant.

>96 Robertgreaves: I must admit a year later I have only the vaguest memory of the characters but the story and the ideas, especially the whole idea of the dark forest, are wonderful.

>97 MissWatson: Yes, most of the characters do not make a deep impression, and for me the Chinese names are hard to tell apart. But the policeman is very memorable!

>5 MissWatson: I would love to see that camel do the moonwalk! ;)

>69 MissWatson:

>99 MissWatson: Thanks!
And now I'm really logging off for my seaside holiday. I'll be back in two weeks. I hope you all have got great books waiting!

Belated congratulations on reaching your goal and I hope you have (maybe had by the time you read this) a great holiday.

I hope you're having a wonderful holiday!

Been missing you on the boards! Hope you vacation is wonderful!

Haste ye back, Birgit - after your holiday, of course!

>101 Jackie_K: >102 Tess_W: >103 floremolla: >104 MissWatson: Thank you, ladies! It has been a wonderful holiday doing almost nothing, except for the daily swim (twice a day, if the tides were favourable) and a little reading. No ROOTs, though, and I still bought more than I finished.

Coming back was a bit of a letdown: the landline phone is dead and needs to be replaced (just the handset, thankfully), the elevator is out of order and I had to carry my suitcase and three bags up to my fourth floor apartment, and the city looks like one big building site, buses are re-routed. Not to mention the instant madness at work. I'm keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the long weekend for our national holiday on 3 October.

Catching up on threads now...

I was just checking on a map where your city is - I'm so envious of your location. I'm sure Kiel itself is lovely - despite the building works! - but you are so well situated for travelling overland throughout Europe. Nonetheless, I can understand the need for holidays from work and getting out of the city! :)

Good to hear your holiday was relaxing. Glad you are back, Birgit.

>106 connie53: Hi Donna! It's a great location, we have a gorgeous view of the firth at my library. The train connections could be better, though!

>107 MissWatson: Hi Connie! Are you in the path of the big storm today? If so, I hope it won't hit too hard. We are having lashings of rain.

>108 connie53: We were, but not as bad as I suspected. And it slowed down in the afternoon and got sunny again. So I spend an hour or so in the sun with my book.

>109 MissWatson: Good to know!

The dratted camel is still walking in the wrong direction. Blame the remainders bins, I found a nice copy of Eco's Die Insel des vorigen Tages. Now I'm off to read my first ROOT since the holiday.

Heh, I know that feeling - I've acquired another 3 this evening too! Lovely, lovely books .... Is there any hope for us? :)

Jackie, I would be more worried if I couldn't get excited about books anymore.

Hi Birgit!

>111 Jackie_K: LOL. I found 4 books at the thrift shop the other day. So far this year I've acquired 207 books and only gotten rid of 153.

Lovely, lovely books as Jackie says - the excitement is totally separate from reading them, isn't it?

>114 MissWatson: Hi Karen! Yes, finding books is a kind of excitement very different from reading.

Ad libitum
Especially when the reading turns out to be a bit of a disappointment, as it did in the case of Prager Tagblatt. I thought this would be mostly about the eponymous newspaper, but instead we have a narrator talking about his fractious relationship with a night club girl. One for the cull. The good thing is that it moves the camel in the desired direction.

>114 MissWatson: You are right about books being more than just reading. I feel very happy when I sit in my livingroom surrounded by all the colors of the covers. I even like dusting and rearranging my books. And Of course I get excited when searching for new books and buying them.

Ad libitum

I found Auferstehung der Toten in the donations box of my sister's library and thought it would pass the time on the train ride home, only to discover that I already owned a copy. Ah well, it's one more off the TBR.

I probably won't spend much time on LT this week. My mum died on Saturday and we've got things to take care of. She was 85 and her condition had deteriorated when we returned from our vacation. So it didn't come as a complete surprise. I'm just glad I could be there and that she didn't suffer any pain.

>117 Jackie_K: I'm really sorry to hear about your mum, Birgit. Take all the time you need, we'll still be here when you get back. I'm glad you were able to spend some time with your mum before she died. Take care x

>117 Jackie_K: So sorry to hear about your mom but glad you could be with her.

>117 Jackie_K: I'm sorry about your mum, Birgit, but being free from pain and having family around her must have been a comfort.

Sorry to hear such sad news, Birgit. I hope and pray you will find the strength you need.

Oh no! I'm so sorry about your mum. Thinking of you. Take care.

Dear Jackie, Tess, Donna, Robert, RP: thank you so much for your kind words and thoughts. I'm very grateful.

Oh, Birgit, I'm sorry to hear about your mum. I, too, am glad that you had a recent vacation with her, were with her and that she didn't suffer.

Sending hugs.

So sorry to hear about your mom's passing away, Birgit! Good to hear you were with her when she passed. We will be here when you have time and are in the mood to come here again.

Sending hugs and strength!

Thank you, Karen and Connie.

Ad libitum

Just keeping track: finished another ROOT, English Passengers.

So sorry to hear about your mother, Birgit. Glad you were able to be there for her, though.

Thank you, Henrik.

Ad libitum

My internet browser was a bit cranky last night and didn't let me update my tickers, but it is done now. The TBR has grown again, sigh.

On the bright side: I finished another ROOT Der Weg aus dem Dunkel, a selection of stories by Nikolaj Leskov. I finished another collection recently (a non-ROOT) and it was interesting to compare translations. Leskov loves to play with language and that's quite a challenge for translators. The stories themselves are very different in content and style, but I loved them all. Much more enjoyable than Tolstoj or Dostoevskij.
And this copy is definitely a keeper, it contains a very informative introduction by Rudolf Marx, who published the GDR edition of this book. He shares the last name with Leskov's first publisher in Russia, and I couldn't help wondering if they were related. He doesn't say so, and I haven't been able to find out much more about either of them...This sort of sleuthing seriously distracts from ROOTing.

>130 floremolla: the title translates as 'The Way Out of the Dark' but I don't see a book of that title on the author's page - hmm, some sleuthing required here too before I can wishlist that book!

>131 MissWatson: None of the stories in this volume bear that title, and I think English editors will make their own, different selection among the many stories he wrote. The most famous in this volume is probably "Lady Macbeth of Mzensk" (recently made into a movie) and "Lefty and the steel flea from Tula". I also liked "On the edge of the world".

Ad libitum

Another ROOT is finished: Onnen Visser, der Schmugglersohn von Norderney. An adventure story for boys written in 1885, much maligned by critics and pedagogues of the time. The fact that the author was a woman was also concealed. The unabridged version of 582 pages was a bit of a slog, the style is repetitive and pathetic, and events rely far too much on coincidence and luck, but her description of the destruction Napoleon's armies wrought across Europe are basically true.
Still, I'm not going to reread this, so off it goes.

Just popping in to say hello and see what you're reading. I'm also feeling a bit of a slog with my current read Brighton Rock, by Graham Greene. The characters are unlikable so far - the main one is a malevolent psychopath so it's not very cheery - I'll be glad when it's done!

Hi Donna! I've got Brighton Rock on the TBR myself. Looks like it needs a special mood!

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Never let me go is not an ideal book for dark autumn nights, it's one of the darkest I've read in a long time. It stays with you. Great writing, and the main characters are so believable. Ruth especially reminded me of a girl I knew in childhood.

It's a very chilling story, isn't it? I love Ishiguro's prose but I also admire how he veers off into diverse subject areas with his novels and always find them thought-provoking. I have The Unconsoled and The Buried Giant on my TBR shelves- ROOTs for 2018, if I can wait that long.

Yes, indeed. Chilling, but also beautifully written. I'll be looking for his other books.

Have not read any Ishiguro, but have some on my wish list. Maybe those Christmas gift cards..........

Hi Birgit!

I haven't read any Ishiguro either, but have several on my shelves..... No huge urge to read him right now, though.

Hi Tess and Karen!
It was a good read, which I can warmly recommend, but I wouldn't run around pressing it on people. Enjoy it in your own time.

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Taking a break from my chunkster with Fürstinnen, a short and lovely book published in 1917. The dowager princess of a small statelet retires to the country with her three daughters, two of them are soon engaged and married off, one into the imperial family of Russia, the other to her cousin who is heir to their father's princedom. A glimpse into a very different, strange mindset.

Ad libitum

I've decided to try and finish my Bingo over in the Category Challenge, and after reading Bruno Chief of Police I have only one square left. This was a major disappointment, though. Still, it is one ROOT more and one more book off the shelf and out of the house.

I've been buying books recently like there's no tomorrow. The charity bookshop on my way home is a daily temptation which I often cannot resist. Today I found Como agua para chocolate and Une histoire de la Loire while looking for something else entirely, which they didn't have, thankfully.
I hope to finish a book during the long weekend coming up: I'm visiting my best friend and that involves several hours worth of train travel.
I'll also be offline for a few days, so I'll see you next week, hopefully with a ROOT or two under my belt.

>145 floremolla: have a good trip, Birgit, and a lovely time with your friend. I'll be doing some DIY and listened to some audiobook ROOTs which is not as fun as a trip but at least gets some stuff done! :)

>145 floremolla: Have a great trip, and enjoy the train reading! That's why I like to take the train home to my parents even though I could fly there :)

>145 floremolla: Have a great time, Birgit!

Have fun with your friend Birgit, and of course reading to and back!

Hope you're having a fun trip, Birgit!

Belated and continuing condolences about your mom, Birgit. Hope your getaway with your best friend is perfect.

Thank you so much, ladies! We had a very quiet, relaxing time, mostly indoors, as the weather was unfriendly. Wednesday was my youngest sister's birthday, so we had a small family reunion and could settle a few things regarding my mom's estate.
And we did take our planned trip to an outlet selling knitting yarns, and of course we embarked on new projects, so no ROOTs to report, alas. But at least I'm now up-to-date with the Economist, thanks to the train rides.

Amnesia in litteris

Vor dem Sturm was Fontane's first novel after many years as a journalist, a historical novel about Prussia at the time of Napoleon's retreat from Russia. He is an author better suited to older readers who enjoy leisurely pacing, conversations and anecdotes. I found a train ticket used as a page marker inside, dating from 1988. Hard to believe so much time has passed. I'd love to get a hardcover edition of this, but since footnotes are indispensable (no one could memorise alle those obscure Prussian generals and politicians), it would have to be a critical one, and those are quite expensive...

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Theodor Storm's bicentenary was a few days ago and it seemed a suitable occasion to read Das Nordseegrab, first in a series of historical mysteries starring Storm in his breadwinning job as a lawyer. The case is not presented very clearly, but the description of life in Husum in 1843 makes up for it. And the narrator Peter Söt, newly hired as a scribe, has a very mysterious past which is revealed with a few lines of dialogue toward the end, which means I missed it the first time around. (I must have been half asleep during the final pages.)
I'm going to borrow the next inmstalments from my friend, because I need to control my book-buying. I'm getting nowhere with my resolution of 2 for 1, alas.

ETA

Good to hear, you had a relaxing weekend, Birgit.

Hi Connie, nice to see you!

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I finished Throne of Jade last night, another delightful adventure with Laurence and his dragon Temeraire. The Chinese have come to claim Temeraire for the Imperial Court, and we spend most of the time at sea. The descriptions of the voyage are wonderful.

Hi Birgit! I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday.

>154 connie53: ...because I need to control my book-buying. I'm getting nowhere with my resolution of 2 for 1, alas. I can relate.

Hi Karen! Thanks, the weekend turned out better than forecast, almost no rain, so I cleaned up the balcony to prepare for winter. And finished a book, a non-ROOT.

How can it be the last day of November already? Only 3 ROOTs this month, but I'm currently busy with non-ROOTs.

I so agree with you. At this time of the year I'd like things to just slow down a bit - Christmas preps so far have been negligible. Maybe this weekend....

Hi Birgit!

I'm like you, only less so - 2 ROOTs this month, but lots of non-ROOTs. I've got 40 pages more to finish another non-ROOT for the month.

>161 karenmarie: Hi Donna, I'm spending Christmas at my sister's, so hardly any preps for me. Just buying and wrapping gifts. Oh yes, and a small advent calendar for the countdown to Christmas Eve.

>162 MissWatson: Hi Karen! Two of my November ROOTs are set during the Napoleonic Wars, so I'm currently reading up a little on this. I'm hoping to finish one book tonight, and next is a non-fiction book about the Russian campaign...

It has been a while since I checked your thread, Birgit. Condolences about your Mum. I hope you have a relaxing weekend coming up. I had to laugh when I read >154 connie53: I'm getting nowhere with my resolution of 2 for 1, if you mean 2 bought for each 1 read that sounds almost doable.

>164 MissWatson: Hello Meg, and thanks for your kind words. Things are slowly getting back to normal again.

And yes, 2 books bought for 1 read is the reality, whereas the plan was to do it the other way round. Maybe bookbuying is another way of giving yourself treats when you're a little down, there's nothing better for perking me up than the idea of having a fascinating story on the shelf whenever I want it. Next year. Next year I'll try again.

And this weekend I'll try a few new recipes from a recently acquired cookbook. It's a good thing I don't count those as TBRs.

ETA

>165 Jackie_K: 2 for 1 is close to where I've ended up too (I was aiming for 1.5 for 1). Like you say, there's always next year.

>165 Jackie_K: I think binge book buying and binge eating are my therapies (unfortunately for the eating part).

>166 Tess_W: >167 MissWatson: Hi Jackie and Tess! I am proud to report that I entered a bookstore and didn't buy those two tempting cookbooks. Now if only I can keep this up...

>168 Tess_W: Funny you should say that, Birgit! I worked at our school fundraiser on Saturday for an hour wrapping presents at Barnes & Noble yesterday. As a "reward" I got one free book and chose a cookbook!

>169 MissWatson: Hi Tess! What kind of cookbook? I find them nearly irresistible, as long as they have sensible recipes in the sense of not messing up your kitchen with four pots.

Hi Birgit!

>168 Tess_W: I admire your strength.

>169 MissWatson: Aren't books as a reward simply the best?

>170 karenmarie: I love reading recipes. I won't read a cookbook cover to cover, but like to pull them out if I'm going to try something new and want to find the 'best' recipe.

>170 karenmarie: This was actually a Keto Diet Recipe Book.....it was $39.99 and I got it for free! I've been wanting to try that diet...it's more common sense than not, low carbs, high proteins and fats,.....but I needed some recipes other than just the chicken and vegetable route.

Hmm. Not sure what my rate is of getting to new books bought (within the year, say?) but it certainly is better than my rate of getting older books off my shelves. I would hazard that the chances of getting read the first year are several times higher!

I have not read your entire thread but I am sorry to learn your mother passed away. Hard times, that.

>171 Tess_W: Hi Karen! To be honest, I'm waiting for the price to be reduced. One of them had some very interesting-looking recipes for potatoes. And yes, I quite often just leaf through them just for inspiration and then adjusther one I like best for what's in the larder.

>172 sibylline: Sounds like a very sensible approach. Only chicken and veg can get boring.

>173 MissWatson: Thank you for your kind words. It's still hard to believe she's no longer with us.

>168 Tess_W: Good for you for resisting the cookbooks. I don't buy many of them anymore because I got rid of lots of them before I renovated my kitchen at one point and I realized that there were very few of them that I had actually opened and used recipes from.

>175 MissWatson: This would make for a good New Year's Resolution: take them off the shelf one by one, cook at least five recipes and discard them if they don't work...

>176 floremolla: you've reminded me that I bought a Moleskine recipe journal in a sale a few years ago intending to write up family favourite recipes for my daughter, but it's languishing in a drawer, not even started.

If I were to pick favourites it would probably amount to only a small handful from each cookery book! I must get on to this project over the winter for her birthday in March - but first I have to relearn how to write neatly; reliance on keyboards has reduced it to an ugly scrawl.

>176 floremolla: Oh my, what a good idea!

>177 karenmarie: Bad handwriting, oh my. I often can't read my scrawl myself.

>178 MissWatson: I've made a little start on this with my most recent acquisition, a book which focuses on green vegetables. The first recipe I tried was a winner, because it is so variable: Dice potatoes, boil them together with whatever leafy green veg you want to use, drain, put into a buttered oven dish in layers, alternating with slices of cheese, end with the potato mix, put some grated cheese on top and put it into the oven at high heat until the cheese is melted and/or browned, whatever your preference. They use salt, pepper and nutmeg for seasoning, which I love, but the variations could be endless. Since the potatoes are pre-boiled it doesn't take very long, unlike most gratins I've tried.

I took a load of cookbooks to Barter Books the last time I went there - they didn't take many, as apparently they get so many they have a warehouse full of that sort of thing, but did take a few of the more unusual ones, and the charity shop got the rest. We still have more than we ever use (particularly since my husband is a very intuitive cook and tends to just try things and they tend to just work), but the ones I kept have some sort of sentimental value, or I want to keep for if I ever have time to think about doing some fancy cooking. Most of the ones I gave away were either left here by the previous owners of the house, or I had discovered over the years were just very meat-focused (we are all vegetarian).

>179 Jackie_K: Gratin is the dish that my mum first learnt to cook when I decided I was going to be vegetarian, and it still transports me straight back to a sense of home and security and comfort! I never cook it myself, but I really should!

>179 Jackie_K: that sounds nice! One of our favourite veggie dishes is baked potato sliced and alternated with cherry tomatoes, spinach and blue cheese. Season and put in the oven to heat through, serve sprinkled with toasted pine nuts. Yum, love cheese!

>180 floremolla: I haven't tried culling them yet. There are so many shortlived fashions in cooking now, so they probably look outdated much sooner.

>181 MissWatson: Now I'm hungry.

I love reading cookbooks, even cover to cover. They're usually beautiful books and I love imagining the whole process ... more so than actually doing it. I'm thinking of culling some cookbooks that I don't cook much from ... actually, I'm thinking of pulling out the pages I'll use and collecting those into a loose-leaf book which will make the recipes more accessible. It's painful to think of destroying the books tho.

>183 Jackie_K: Can you scan the pages? That way you still have them as is, but don't have to pull out the pages (which I agree would be very painful!) and can give the books away whole.

Ad libitum

First ROOT of the month is a short novella by Eugenie Marlitt, Die zwölf Apostel, whose birthday is today. I've had this on my Kobo for quite some time, and I am not sure if it is a complete version, the action is rather jumpy. A romance in Marlitt's typical style, sweet, but with some hidden barbs.

ETA

>184 MissWatson: I've been thinking on this and am overcoming the guilt of altering these books vs keeping them as-is in a way that doesn't serve me well. Thought of scanning and then being able to flip through images on a tablet/etc and print when I want to make a recipe. But I love paper! and a hard copy seems more inspirational. Along that line, I've decided not to scan and then print the pages because the quality would be so poor compared with the books' beautiful pages. I'll see what happens when I approach the first cookbook :0

Amnesia in litteris

Turns out I have a printed version of the romance mentioned above in Schulmeisters Marie / Die zwölf Apostel / Blaubart where the text is the same. So it's the author's problem, the short form doesn't really suit her. I also read the other two stories in the book, the first was published only posthumously, because it was her first and she thought it wasn't good enough. I've read worse, though.
My copy has a very ugly modern cover and I'm going to ditch it for a decent hardcover as soon as I find one. I have a very soft spot for her.

Ad libitum

I bought Russkie narodnye skazki, a selection of famous Russian fairy tales, because of the large format which does justice to the gorgeous illustrations by Ivan Bilibin. As it turned out, my Russian is even rustier than I thought, and if I hadn't known these tales so well I would have been in serious trouble. It got easier towards the end, so I'll just have to practise.

edited to correct touchstone

You're rattling through your books this week!

I hadn't heard of Eugenie Marlitt and there's not much info on her on Wikipedia - what misfortune to go off to study music and then become deaf. I found an article about her in a 'dictionary of deaf people and the arts' which had a bit more detail. I can see why you might have a soft spot for her, she didn't have a charmed life yet seemed to find purpose in her writing.

Amazingly enough, most of her novels were translated into English in the late 19th century, but probably not very faithfully. She wrote for a popular magazine, "Die Gartenlaube", which is almost synonymous with kitsch. But I always liked her because she stands up for women's right to be educated and have a mind of their own, even if there's a marriage at the end of the book. She showed a keen interest in social questions, she vividly describes the poverty of the Thuringian statelet she lived in, and one of her books has a hero returning from the Americas as a rich man and investing in modernising his home town.

Hi Birgit!

You've done so well this year with ROOTs, but I just realized how big your tbr is! It certainly gives you a good choice for every mood.

>183 Jackie_K: When I was going through my mother's house this spring I took most cookbooks that were in good shape to the Good Will Thrift Stores. I kept a few and paid to have them shipped home with other things. There's a cookbook I remember from my childhood which was entirely too heavy and big to mail back home and was in such bad condition that it would only have been thrown away at the Good Will, so I ripped out the page that had the Hot-Oven Method for cooking turkey and threw the book away. My mom and I both have used that method for 50 or more years, I know how to do it blind, but that page came home with me. >186 MissWatson: I do get some recipes from the internet now, but I always copy them to a word document or even type them in manually if I have to and use the printed copy in the kitchen.

>191 detailmuse: that page came home with me
Beautiful, I love this.

Hi Karen!
That giant TBR, oy veh. Yes, back in the day before internet shopping I bought everything that looked interesting whenever I found myself in a used bookstore in London, but I haven't read them all yet. And nowadays, with all those fascinating books on my fellow LTers shelves, and that overeasy access on the net, it has grown even bigger.

>192 MissWatson: Yes, that's a lovely story.

Yikes, that really is a big TBR, Birgit! I feel almost relieved that I had a long spell of not being in the mood for reading because I hardly bought any books at all. A good proportion of my ROOTs are decades-old Penguin classics of my husband's which I feel I ought to read anyway. Now I've broken through the 100 acquisitions mark already this year...

>191 detailmuse: love that you brought home the important page - what a lovely link with your mother!

Mine couldn't have been less interested in cooking so all I learned from her was how to make a cheese sauce and one soup recipe! I don't think she even possesses a cookery book. Still, she's very smart and creative in other ways and I wouldn't change her a bit!

Hi Birgit!

>193 MissWatson: It was harder to know what to look for before LT and the Internet. When I joined LT ten years ago, I had about 2000 books. Now I have about 4500. I've changed from being a reader to being a collector/reader.

>195 karenmarie: My mom cooked because women were supposed to cook and bake. She did it fairly well, all things considered. She was a good 'plain' cook - meat, potatoes, vegetables from her farm/Czech heritage, but didn't like to cook intrinsically. She started using cake mixes as soon as they became easily available, which was when I was quite young, and never made a scratch pie crust or anything ambitious in that way. I started going for scratch recipes in my early 20s and haven't looked back. However, I do remember fun times in the kitchen as a child and teenager with her. The biggest thing I've ever learned about cooking and baking is that if you don't have a good recipe, it doesn't matter how skillful you are. I have a treasury of 'good' recipes in addition to all the cookbooks to find new 'good' ones from.

I never had any interest in cooking. I 'had' to do it when I was really young, 14 or so, when my mother died and my dad had to work, of course. And then in the first few years of my marriage, because that's what mothers do. But for the last fifteen years or so Peet has cooked every day.

Hi Connie! My mum never insisted on us helping with the housework (except for tidying our rooms), so I didn't start any serious cooking until I left school and had to feed myself at university. I like to cook when I have the time and leisure for it, but I'm sure it would be a chore and very boring if I had to do it every day and at a set time. Does Peet still enjoy it or has it also fallen under the cloud of his depression?

Ad libitum

Another very old ROOT has left the house: Fletcher's Fortune. I saw a book with the title by accident on LT, noticed it had a different author's name on it and investigated. To my surprise I found it's the same book, republished under a new name, John Drake. I cannot really recommend it, the author tried to do something in the style of Flashman and fails.

>199 connie53: How strange to change the name of the author!

I think he was disappointed with the lack of success the first time around and decided to try again. What I find most weird is that he makes no mention of it.

Hi Birgit!

>199 connie53: At least it's read and.... gone? What do you do with books that you don't want to keep on your shelves?

Hi Karen!
I try to find a new home for it on my German bookswapping site, but since I am only lukewarm about it myself, I won't have any qualms about putting it into the wastepaper bin some day. I probably would have liked it much better in 1993 when I bought it, but since then I have found O'Brian's Jack Aubrey series, and it's hard to compete with that.

>203 floremolla: oooh, no binning, no matter how bad! Someone will love that disappointing book. Won't they? No...?

>204 MissWatson: Nobody has shown an interest, so far. But there's still hope.

>204 MissWatson: Haha, my thoughts exactly! Do you have charity/thrift shops in Germany, Birgit? That's where I'd take unwanted books that nobody (or Barter Books) had claimed.

>204 MissWatson: My thoughts too, No binning.

>206 connie53: Yes, Jackie, we do, and in fact I walk along one of their branches every day on my way to the bus. They do take foreign-language books (and I acquire quite a lot myself there), but they prefer newish books. I'll give them a go if nobody bites on the swapping site.

>207 MissWatson: Well Connie, if a book is falling to bits because the paper is brown and the glue has cracked (as invariably happens with American mass market paperbacks) there is no alternative but the bin.

>208 connie53: Yes, you have a point there, Birgit. Nobody wants to have such a book. I can understand it going into the bin.

>208 connie53: It occurred to me when I was asking the question that although I've been to urban Germany (specifically Munich) several times, I don't recall ever seeing a charity shop there. I'll keep my eyes peeled next time!

>210 MissWatson: They are mostly small, local affairs in rather out-of-the-way places. My charity bookstore is an offshoot of a local foundation which provides work for people with disabilities, and that is still their main concern. The Red Cross usually runs a charity shop, but everything else lacks visibility.

Hello... sorry for such a long absence! I kept seeing that "unread" number get higher and higher and was completely intimidated... Finally, I figured it's better to just stop by and say HI. :)
I wish I had time to go through these threads and read all about what you've all been doing and reading! But, alas, I very much do not. But I think of you often!! And my "hello" is heartfelt and repeated often in my own head ;)

I'm not sure how I will remain involved next year, but I will be around in some fashion!
xo

Hi Aletheia! How nice of you to drop in and say hello when you're so busy!

Of course! I miss you all! {3

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I was looking for something short and undemanding and picked Loco, a western I've owned for decades. This was the first of her books I bought in English (back in the 1980s, originals were far harder to come by) and I find the language sadly dated. That is one of the problems with genre literature, they are much more children of their time.

This brings me to 60 ROOTs this year, 20 beyond my goal. Yay!

Yay! Very nicely done!

Thanks, Tess! I've just been told that my new notebook has arrived, so I'll probably spend the next few days grappling with the new OS instead of reading. It's so much easier at work where the IT guys do all that stuff.

>217 Tess_W: But once you get set up, you will love it!

>215 Tess_W: 20 beyond, Wow! Enjoy your shiny new notebook!

Good work, Birgit - you deserve a new notebook!

Thanks ladies! I brought it home but haven't switched it on yet, because I spent too much time on the phone with my sisters. The premiere is set for tonight...

My adventures in computing are still ongoing (I'm taking it very step by step) and I don't know if I'll be ready to surf tonight, so I'm using the lunch break at work to say my goodbyes.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

to all my fellow ROOTers. I'm on the last page of my current ROOT and will add it sometime next year, when I'm back from my break. See you all in January at the latest.

Have a very merry Christmas, and we'll see you in the new year!

Merry Christmas to you too Birgit - I hope you have a happy and peaceful holiday!

Happy Holidays, Birgit. See you next year!

Hi Birgit!



Stopping by to wish you and yours all good things this holiday season.

Hi Birgit! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas & Happy New Year!

Ad libitum

I managed to finish one last ROOT before Christmas, but didn't add it before leaving for my Christmas break: Mitteilungen aus den Memoiren des Satan. Quite funny, actually, with some sarcastic sideswipes at the literary giants of the time.

And now I'm officially signing off for 2017. Thanks for the good company.