Robertgreaves ROOTS his way through 2021

Continued from 2020



My target for 2021 is 96 ROOTs. At the moment all books I own are ROOTs and any books I obtain after today will become ROOTs on 30 September 2021.

My ROOTs as of today consist of 39 treebooks and 132 ebooks, making a total of 171 ROOTs, down from 199 ROOTs last year. The big drop was in treebooks, for which we can blame/thank Covid since I had more time to read last year and no big Christmas/New Year splurge.

Since ebooks are always available and always tempting I am as usual going to limit myself:

1. 2 books as a reward for each kg I lose;
2. next in a series (if I am up to date on the 8 books per month needed to reach my goal);
3. bookclub/reading group books.

My ticker:

Currently reading The Glimpses of the Moon by Edmund Crispin.

Reading plans for January 2021:

Welcome back and happy new year!

Hi Robert, Happy New Year and Happy ROOTing in 2021.

Happy New Year, Robert, and good luck with all your goals!

Thanks for dropping by, rabbitprincess, connie, and floremolla

Welcome to another year, Robert - I hope 2021 is a good one for you. Of your proposed January reads, I have the Jon Ronson one on the TBR, and my husband has the Field Guide to English Clergy (although I can't remember what he thought about it, it was a few years ago he read it).

My No. 1 in 2021 is A Field Guide to the English Clergy by Fergus Butler-Gallie. I'm reading this now because I assume it will fit the RandomCAT. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of The Glimpses of the Moon:

Gervase Fen is not particularly interested in a local murder until another decapitated body is found at the village fête.

Some of the humour has not worn well but other parts still had me laughing till it hurt. The mystery was good fun but it was the surrounding repartee and chaos that really made it worth reading.

Glad you're back!

I read Night Circus several years ago and found it very entertaining. Hope you enjoy it!

Happy new year and reading!

Thanks for dropping by >7 Jackie_K:, >9 cyderry:, and >10 Kristelh:

Starting my No. 2, Freud: A Very Short Introduction by Anthony Storr. This my first ROOT for 2021. It fits the GenreCAT and possibly the RandomCAT. The treebook TBR stays the same as I decided to re-read Adam Bede by George Eliot at some point after it got several mentions in The Glimpses of the Moon.

My review of A Field Guide to the English Clergy:

Brief character sketches of Anglican clergyman notable for various reasons.

Some I howled with laughter, some my jaw just dropped, and some I would like to know more about, and some all three!

Starting my No. 3, You Could Look It Up by Jack Lynch. This ebook is my second ROOT of 2021 and fits the GenreCAT.

My review of Freud: A Very Short Introduction:

After a brief account of Freud's early life the author traces significant developments in Freud's thinking over the rest of his life.

There were some points where I felt a bit lost in the technical terms but for the most part this was a reasonably accessible account of Freud's thinking with commentary throughout on how well the ideas had stood the test of time and further discoveries in anthropology as well as psychology. The author particularly stresses Freud's contribution to psychotherapeutic method over his theoretical ideas.

Welcome back, Robert, and happy reading!

>13 MissWatson: Thanks for dropping by, Birgit.

Starting my No. 4, The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. This ebook is my third ROOT of 2021 and fits the RandomCAT.

My review of You Could Look It Up:

A history of reference books and other materials from ancient Sumerian vocabulary lists down to Wikipedia highlighting some outstanding examples of different types in rough chronological order.

Lots of interesting information here, but, perhaps, like its subject matter best dipped into rather than read through.

Starting my No. 5, Summer Lightning by P G Wodehouse. This is my fourth ROOT of 2021. It fits the RandomCAT.

My review of The Sirens of Titan:

Malachi Constant is told that it is inevitable that he will travel from Earth to Mars to Mercury, back to Earth and then to Titan. Despite his best efforts to avoid this prophecy it does come true.

The first chapter had some funny scenes, but although I could see that the rest of it was meant to be funny, it just didn't tickle my funny-bone.

Starting my No. 6, The Prophet Murders by Mehmet Murat Somer. This ebook is my fifth ROOT of 2021. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Summer Lightning:

The Empress has been pignapped, there is an imposter on the loose, and various young couples need to overcome relatives' objections. Where could we be but Blandings?

It wasn't really laugh out loud funny, but it definitely kept a smile on my face all the way through.

Starting my No. 7, Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin. This is my sixth ROOT of 2021 and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 38.

My review of The Prophet Murders:

An IT security consultant and nightclub owner believes that there is a serial killer behind the apparently random and accidental deaths of Turkish transvestites. As not even his boyhood friend who is now very high up in the police believes him, he decides to investigate the deaths himself.

The un-named narrator and other characters were fun to spend time with and many of them have potential as recurring characters in the series. However, although this was the first published it was actually the second written in the series, so I don't know if they do recur.

It became fairly obvious quite early on who the murderer was, so the emphasis was more on the investigation, which proceeded for a long time based on nothing much more than the narrator's hunch.

I definitely felt the lack of a pronunciation guide for the Turkish names and there were far too many misprints.

I did get the first written/second published in the series to read another time, but not just yet.

Laurus needs more concentration than I can give it at the moment, so I put it aside for later and read Tau Ceti by Kevin J. Anderson and Steven Savile as my No. 8 and my seventh ROOT for 2021.

Now starting my No. 9, Paris for One by Jojo Moyes. This is my eighth ROOT and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 37.

My review of Tau Ceti:

200 years after a generational ship left Earth to travel to a planet orbiting Tau Ceti, a newly-invented faster than light ship is sent by a military dictator to claim the planet first.

The first part was fairly predictable, but the second was an interesting twist with a nice resolution.

Currently reading my No. 10, Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger. This ebook is my ninth ROOT for 2021.

My review of Paris for One:

A collection of one novella and eight short stories.

The title story was delightful but the one I liked the most was "Holdups" about a robbery in a jeweller's.

To summarise my reading while I was unwell:

No. 11 (tenth ROOT) Instinct by James Patterson - author seems incapable of actually bringing the book to a close. Pity, because I enjoyed the TV series.

No. 12 (eleventh ROOT) Crime & Punctuation by Kaitlyn Dunnett. DNF. Freebie worth about what I paid for it.

No. 13 (twelfth ROOT) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Book club choice I don't think I would have read otherwise.

Currently reading No 14 (thirteenth ROOT) The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan Reading Group choice.

Ohh, Robert. I hope you feel better now. Since I see you felt good enough to read I'm hopeful it was nothing serious!

I'm glad you could read and things are improving.

Good to see you back :)

Welcome back, Robert! I wasn't mad on The Alchemist either, I'm mystified as to what the fuss is all about. The only other book of his I've read was The Pilgrimage, which is the closest I've ever come to hurling a book against the wall.

My No. 15 is Farewell To The East End by Jennifer Worth. This ebook is not a ROOT. It fits the GenreCAT and HistoryCAT.

My No. 16 is Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Farewell to the East End:

Final volume of memoir/oral history of midwives working in slum areas in the East End of London in the 1950s and earlier. Stories of incredible courage and endurance and also of ignorant cruelty.

Starting my No. 17, The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett. This is my fourteenth ROOT and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 35. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions:

The narrator's aunt retires to Sicily to drink herself to death in beautiful scenery but changes her mind when she finds her handyman's body on the beach and decides to take part in the investigation.

It sounded like it would be fun in a screwball comedy sort of way but turned out to be a bit of a mess. It took me till chapter IV to work out who in the extended family moving about between Sicily and Bavaria was what relation to who. The romantic element was over the top. All in all, I don't think I will continue with this series.

Starting my No. 18, Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of The Last Hero:

The First Hero stole fire from the gods. Now the Last Hero and his Silver Horde want to undo that theft, even if it means the end of the world.

As enjoyable as ever. Not perhaps as satyrical of our world as some but plenty of parodies and references to enjoy. The illustrations really fit and add to the text.

I like the Pratchett books but not to many in a row. Glad to read you are enjoying them.

>30 connie53: I read 2 or 3 a year and have nearly finished the Discworld series.

Starting my No. 19 Hot Head by Damon Suede. This is my fifteenth ROOT.

My review of Unseen Academicals:

Organised football with rules comes to AnkhMorpork.

Lots of interesting ideas about the roles sport play and the sub-plots about celebrity and fashion also made this a really good entry to the Discworld series.

Starting my No. 20, The Three Kingdoms Vol 1: The Sacred Oath by Luo Guanzhong. This is my sixteenth ROOT and brings the treebook shelf down to 34. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Hot Head:

Griff Muir is somewhat perturbed when his best friend decides to do porn to supplement his income as it stirs up feelings he would rather not acknowledge.

It is a tribute to Damon Suede's story-telling powers that I kept reading this all the way through as I had taken a decided dislike to both the main characters by the end of chapter 1.

I'm just not getting on with The Three Kingdoms Vol. 1: The Sacred Oath, so I am putting it on one side and starting my No. 21, Eagles At War by Ben Kane. This is my seventeenth ROOT for 2021 and it fits the AlphaKIT.

>34 Robertgreaves: I always hate it when that happens, Robert. I hope your # 21 book is more to your liking.

Starting my No. 23, Hunting the Eagles, the second in the trilogy of novels. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Eagles At War:

A novel about the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest told from the view points of the (fictional) Roman centurion Lucius Cominius Tullus and the (real) German leader Arminius.

Some details in the prologue did make me wonder just how gory the description of the battle was going to be but there was only one scene (testified in the ancient sources) that I had to pass over quickly.

There were times when I thought the author was trying to build up some suspense which didn't really come off since I knew what had to happen historically, but all in all it was a great read.

I also read the novella The Arena, set between the two books in the main sequence, which was my No. 22 and my eighteenth ROOT.

My review:

Good slice of life novella, when soldiers go to a gladiator show on payday.

I see your # 23 book was a better read, Robert.

Starting my No. 24, the last in the trilogy, Eagles in the Storm. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Hunting the Eagles.:

Germanicus puts down a mutiny on the death of Augustus and then crosses the Rhine in search of revenge on Arminius.

Again, we alternate between the viewpoint of the Romans and that of the Germans, which sometimes led to a loss of focus. I found the PTSD on the part of some of the survivors from the previous book touching. Ancient soldiers must have had to contend with it, but it's not something we hear about much.

Starting my No. 25, The Monteverdi Manuscript by Joseph Allen. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Eagles in the Storm:

Another year, and Germanicus leads the Romans across the Rhine again.

I must admit the military action did all blur together even as I was reading it. Still it was a fitting ending with some sad parts and some glad parts, and I shed a tear or two in both.

Throughout the series, I did appreciate the nods towards PTSD and the raw physicality of the soldiers and the action quite apart from the mayhem.

Starting my No. 26, Thrush Green by Miss Read. This ebook is my nineteenth ROOT of 2021.

My review of The Monteverdi Manuscript:

A famous harpsichordist falls to his death from his apartment window above Carnegie Hall. Did he jump while under the influence of drugs or was he pushed?

The narration of the mystery was very fluent and certainly kept me turning the pages. However, we are specifically told in the first few pages that the events occurred in 1998, but the book is full of anachronisms to the point that spotting them became more enjoyable than the actual
story. People were using iPods and smart phones, had access to wifi on a transatlantic flight, using Gmail, looking things up on Wikipedia, and looking a suspect up on Twitter and Facebook, none of which existed in 1998.

I don't think I will continue with the series despite the entertaining story since the author cannot do basic research.

Starting my No. 27, Winter in Thrush Green by Miss Read. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Thrush Green:

On Mayday the annual fair comes to Thrush Green. Both in Thrush Green and at the fair a new generation gets ready to take over.

Gentle rose-tinted nostalgia now.

Starting my No. 28, News From Thrush Green, the next in the series.

My review of Winter in Thrush Green:

A mysterious stranger, pilfering and robbery, romance, and illness make up the incidents in this winter.

Another nostalgic trip back to the countryside in 1961.

Possible reading for March:

>43 Robertgreaves: I've read the Wimsey mystery, recently reread and it was enjoyable.

>44 fuzzi: Yes, this is going to be a re-read for me.

Starting my No. 29, Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar. This is my twentieth ROOT of 2021. I am reading it now for my Reading Group.

My review of News From Thrush Green:

Thrush Green gets a new inhabitant in the form of a woman with a young son - widow, divorcee, or separated is a mystery.

Another nostalgic trip back to the 1960s to catch up with the lives of the inhabitants of Thrush Green.

My No. 30 is The Trilisk Ruins by Michael McCloskey. This ebook is not a ROOT, but I think it will fit the GenreCAT and SFFKIT since it seems from the blurb to be a sort of Indiana Jones in space. It also fits the AlphaKIT.

Starting my No. 31, the next in the series, The Trilisk AI. This ebook is not a ROOT.

Telisa Relachik is a xenoarchaeologist but since only the UNSF, the military wing of an oppressive Terran government, has access to alien artefacts, she joins a group of relic smugglers who find themselves way over their heads when they find an alien military station and a single alien who has taken shelter there.

The first encounter scenario, seen as much from the alien's perspective as the humans', was very well done and I will keep reading in the series to see if there is more about the alien. However, the main human characters were mere cyphers so unless there is some development there, I doubt I'll read much further without alien races playing an even bigger role.

Starting my No. 32, Cromwell, Our Chief of Men by Antonia Fraser. This is my twenty-first ROOT of 2021 and brings the treebook TBR pile down to 32.

My review of The Trilisk AI:

Tesila and Magnus re-unite with Shiny to extract artefacts from his home world since the war machines there will not react to Terran technology (in theory, anyway). Tesila's father, wanting to reconcile with her, forms a team to find her.

The humans are less cypher-like than in the previous book and I still like Shiny, but there are only so many loving descriptions of alien and futuristic Terran weaponry I can take. I might continue this series in dribs and drabs at a later date.

21 ROOTs! Wow, Robert. You are really moving along fast.

I've got some real tomes coming up, which will slow me down :-)

That might be the case with BFB (Big Fat Books)

Cromwell, Our Chief of Men being a bit of a tome, I couldn't take it out with me, so I read my No. 33 The Wine Boy by L. J. Trafford, which was my twenty-third ROOT for 2021.

My review:

Satisfying prequel to The Four Emperors series, showing how Epaphroditus got his start in the Imperial household.

I'm halfway through Cromwell, Our Chief of Men, but putting it on one side to read my No. 34 Savage Harvest by Carl Hoffman because it is my book club choice for March. This ebook is my twenty-fourth ROOT for 2021.

My No. 35 is Help, One of Our Eunuchs is Missing by L. J. Trafford. This ebook is my twenty-fifth ROOT for 2021. I read this short story/novella because Cromwell, Our Chief of Men was too big to carry with me.

My review:

Yay, more Sporus

>55 Robertgreaves: That title is hilarious!

>56 connie53: The story made me smile

>57 Robertgreaves: Two birds! Good title and good story.

Starting my No. 36, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. This ebook is my twenty-sixth ROOT for 2021.

My review of Cromwell, Our Chief of Men:

Thorough bio of Oliver Cromwell. She acknowledges his good points and his bad in what seemed to me a reasonable attempt at being even-handed.

Starting my No. 37, Sad Cypress, also by Agatha Christie. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of And Then There Were None:

Eight guests are invited to an isolated island where they and the two servants start dying, but since they are the only people on the island, who is killing them?

I can see it's very clever, but it really didn't do much for me and by the time I reached the end, I found the death by hanging and the murderer's confession strained credulity a bit too much.

Starting my No. 38, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, another Agatha Christie. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Sad Cypress:

Elinor Carlisle is on trial for the murder of Mary Gerrard. There doesn't seem to be anybody else with a motive or who could have done it. But the local doctor asks Poirot for help proving her innocence.

I must admit I fell for the red herring and thought I'd done well to guess who it was early on. But of course I was wrong and Poirot's little grey cells were more than a match for mine.

>61 Robertgreaves: Sad Cypress is the one that leans on the whole red rose/white rose thing, isn't it? When I read this one as a kid, that was the first time I learned anything about the Wars of the Roses and was utterly fascinated.

>62 Caramellunacy: Yes, they played red roses v white roses as kids

Sounds interesting, Robert! And I got the translation and put it on my reader! Thanks for the BB.

Starting my No. 39, Evil Under the Sun. This Agatha Christie ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of One, Two, Buckle My Shoe:

Poirot is at the dentist's for his regular check-up. Shortly after, the dentist's body is found. Did he shoot himself or was it murder?

This Poirot story has a terrific opening, introducing the characters at the dentist's surgery. I found it lagged a bit afterwards (I generally find the stories involving spies and criminal masterminds Poirot's least interesting cases).

Starting my No. 40, In A Free State by V. S. Naipaul. This ebook is my twenty-seventh ROOT for 2021.

My review of Evil Under the Sun:

Classic Poirot story of a woman whose body is found on a beach on an island only hotel guests had access to. She was strangled but by who?

At least I managed to solve one of the minor mysteries, even if not the main one.

>65 Robertgreaves: I too am not wild about Christie's spy-related novels. Passenger to Frankfurt is my least favourite of hers for that reason.

Starting my No. 41, The Female Man by Joanna Russ. This is my twenty-eighth ROOT for 2021. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of In A Free State:

A gay English aid worker and the wife of a colleague return home from a conference in the capital of an unnamed African country by road - a trip that takes two days during a time of political upheaval.

Unless you are particularly interested in descriptions of African scenery, I wouldn't bother. It turns out this is a novella from a book of thematically linked short stories. I don't know if reading the whole thing would have improved my appreciation.

Starting my No. 42, So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. This is my twenty-ninth ROOT for 2021 and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 31.

My review of The Female Man:

Thanks to technology that allows travel between different alternative realities, four versions of the same woman meet. One is from more or less our reality, one is from a reality in which WWII didn't happen because Hitler died, one is from a reality where males died out in a plague centuries ago, and one is from a reality where there is quite literally a war between the sexes.

It's an intriguing premise, but unfortunately the result is a mess. It's told in a mixture of third person and first person but the first person keeps changing with it frequently being totally unclear who the narrator is or which of the alternative realities we are in.

Starting my No. 43, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers. This ebook is my thirtieth ROOT for 2021. I forget why I decided to re-read it but it fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of So You've Been Publicly Shamed:

Jon Ronson looks at people who've been the object of social media hate-fests and how they've recovered from the experience -- or not. Rather rambling but his tendency to hare off on tangents is a little more controlled than in the others of his books I've read.

I've got So You've Been Publicly Shamed on my TBR - I do like him, although I haven't actually read any of his books, just seen or listened to some of his documentaries.

Starting my No. 44, This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review from my previous reading of The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club:

An elderly member of the Bellona Club is found dead of heart failure in a chair at the club. But did he die before or after his sister? Who inherits his sister's fortune of half a million pounds depends on the answer.

Good mystery. The obvious (and correct) answer only gets you half way to the solution. Lord Peter's silly ass dialogue did get on my nerves at times.

Reading my No. 45, Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. This is my thirty-first ROOT for 2021. It brings the treebook TBR shelf down to thirty.

(ETA note to self: miscounted ROOTS - this actually my thirtieth ROOT)

My review of This Is How You Lose the Time War:

Two agents on opposite sides in the time war start corresponding and eventually fall in love. Now all they have to do is to find a way they can be together.

It took me a while to get my bearings but once I had, I skipped and skimmed my way through the rest of it. Not really my cup of tea. And not a Dalek or Time Lord in sight.

Kinokuniya, Plaza Senayan is closing down today, so I thought a pilgrimage was in order last night. I came away with four books:

Still Me by Jojo Moyes
The Last Human by Zack Jordan
Black Tudors by Miranda Kaufmann and
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales From the Cafe by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Possible reading for April:

>75 Robertgreaves: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold was my first and only John le Carré read. It was very, very good.

>76 fuzzi: It's not a genre that has much interest for me, but it is a book club choice

It's good to stretch to another genre now and then.

I did read a horror novel once, by John Saul. I'm done!

Hi Robert. Excellent choices for April.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Easter!

Starting my No. 46, Libraries in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson. This is my thirty-first ROOT for 2021. I am reading it now for my online reading group, but it also fits the AlphaKIT and HistoryCAT.

My review of Dragonfly in Amber:

We follow Claire and Jamie's further adventures up to Culloden.

If as the framing narrative in this volume implies, the first person narrative here represents Claire telling the story to her daughter, blush, blush, blush.

>80 Robertgreaves: I second those blushes!

>80 Robertgreaves: I've got the first and third Outlander books on the TBR pile, but I really can't be doing with books that make me blush. Once I've finished my current reads I might give the first one a try, but if I'm blushing by p49 it's being Pearl-ruled!

>82 Jackie_K: It depends on your tolerance for sexual explicitness but it's only the thought that this is a mother-daughter conversation that took me aback.

>82 Jackie_K: I don't blush that easily although watching the series with my brother was a bit uncomfortable at times.

Starting my No. 47, Word by Word by Kory Stamper. This is my thirty-second ROOT for 2021. It fits the AlphaKIT and RandomCAT.

My review of Libraries in the Ancient World:

Libraries from the beginnings of writing in Mesopotamia down to the time of Isidore of Seville (late 6th/early 7th centuries AD).

Interesting information and yet somehow it feels a bit flimsy.

>83 Robertgreaves: >84 connie53: I know I'm probably in the minority, but I just don't like reading sex scenes! (with one or two honourable exceptions) I'd be quite happy with a coy closing of the bedroom door, and the next chapter starting with them in the kitchen the next morning making a cuppa. I'm just really not that interested in what people get up to in their sexy times! :D

>86 Jackie_K: I'm in that minority with you! I will flip past and fast-forward through sex scenes, depending on the medium. I don't want to intrude on their privacy!

>87 rabbitprincess: count me in the minority. I just read a subtle invitation in Riviera Gold that I loved.

Minor spoilers below:

Russell and Holmes have met up in Monaco, where they are enjoying a dinner at Holmes' hotel. Russell mentions something about heading back to her own lodging...

Holmes waited until he {the waiter} was out of earshot before saying mildly, “As you like. Although when I checked in, I did mention that my wife might be joining me.”

Nothing about him suggested that it mattered one way or the other to him—nothing but the quiet humour in the back of his eyes that traced a feather-light finger all the way down my spine. ...

...He held his table napkin to his moustache and laid it down definitively beside his plate. When his eyes met mine, I realised—vaguely, in an unoccupied corner of my mind—what it was that drove people to gamble. “Are you finished?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Oh, most certainly yes.”

About Sex scenes. They don't bother me that much and I will skim them if they are to explicit or to long.

Starting my No. 48, If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino. This ebook is not a ROOT. It fits the GenreCAT and the AlphaKIT.

My review of Word by Word:

Combination of memoir, history of lexicography, and explanation of what it is modern lexicographers actually do.

Consistently informative and well-written enough to keep the reader turning the pages. I loved every page of it.

My No. 49 is False Value by Ben Aaronovitch. This is my thirty-third ROOT for 2021 and brings the treebook shelf down to 34. This book fits the AlphaKIT, the SFFKIT, and the RandomCAT.

My review of If On A Winter's Night A Traveller:

Through various unfortunate events and mix-ups, two readers never seem to get past the first chapter of a series of books. Within the various extracts from the books and in the parts addressed to the two readers the author reflects on different ways of reading and writing, and on translation.

I can recognise that it is something of a tour-de-force and I know it is loved by many but, although it has made me more aware at least for the moment of how I read, ultimately this book didn't really do it for me.

>91 Robertgreaves: Never read that book but now I don't tend to do that too. A pity it did not work for you, Robert.

Starting my No. 50 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. This my thirty-fourth ROOT for 2021. I have read it before, but am re-reading it now because there are so many references to it in False Value. It also fits the SFFKIT, AlphaKIT, and RandomCAT.

My review of False Value:

Peter Grant investigates goings on at an IT start up in London.

I found the first part of this rather confusing due to the frequent flashbacks (even though the timeline is clearly marked in the chapter headings). Once I got past that, however, it was all good fun in the usual way. I'm not a great fan of criminal masterminds/supervillains, so I am a bit concerned that we are being set up for that in future books.

Starting my No. 51, The Restaurant At The End of the Universe. This is my thirty-fifth ROOT for 2021, and also fits the SFFKIT, AlphaKIT, and RandomCAT.

My review of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe:

I last read this in pre-LT days, so somewhere between 15 and 20 years ago. Even though much of it has become cultural touchstones, it still seems fresh and tremendously imaginative in both its SF and its humour. It deserves all the stars.

Starting my No. 52, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John Le Carré. This is my thirty-sixth ROOT for 2021 and I am reading it now for my book club.

My review of The Restaurant At The End of the Universe:

Fun but the early parts don't stick in the memory like the first one. I had completely forgotten about the Frogstar scenes. I only remembered the scenes in the restaurant and the B Fleet coming to Earth.

Starting my No. 53, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the SFFKIT and AlphaKIT.

In honour of World Book Day also reading my No. 54, David Mogo, Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa. This ebook
is my thirty-seventh ROOT for 2021.

>93 Robertgreaves: I've read some parts of this series and liked them, but I got a bit unsettled by the 'I have to be funny' feel it gave me.

My review of The Spy Who Came In From the Cold:

Spy fiction isn't really my thing, so I doubt I would have picked this up if hadn't been a book club choice. I can recognise that it was groundbreaking at the time, and the supplementary material in this edition was interesting but the book still left me feeling rather meh. I'm certainly not running out to get any of his other books.

>98 connie53: Yes, the humour can get a bit relentless, can't it, Connie?

You're right about that, Robert.

My review of David Mogo, Godhunter:

After a failed coup in the realm of the gods, the losing side are tossed out and come down to occupy Lagos, trying to make it their base to take over this world.

I really wanted to like this and it kept feeling like it was on the verge of becoming something really good but in the end even the climactic battle was just tedious.

Wow, I finally caught up with your thread. Great, fun, reading list. Thanks for all the comments. By the way, regarding Hitchhikers' Guide, I highly recommend the BBC radio production, aired in half-hour installments, which was actually the original version, even before the books were published.

>103 rocketjk: Yes, I remember listening to it with friends when it was first broadcast

Apparently it is the anniversary of Terry Pratchett's birth today, so in honour of the occasion, I am starting his last book, The Shepherd's Crown as my No. 55. This ebook is not a ROOT but it does fit the SFFKIT.

My review of The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents:

The Discworld's version of the Pied Piper of Hamlin was unexpectedly creepy and at one point did bring a tear to my eye.

Currently also reading my No. 56, N or M? by Agatha Christie. This ebook is not a ROOT, but fits the AlphaKIT.

Possible reading for May:

Starting my No. 57, Agatha Christie's The Body in the Library, a re-read from an omnibus edition of Three Miss Marple Mysteries. This is my thirty-eighth ROOT of 2021.

My review of The Shepherd's Crown:

A very fitting end to the Discworld series but I do NOT recommend reading Chapter 2 in public or anywhere there are not plenty of tissues available

My review of N or M?

Thomas and Tuppence are back, foiling Nazis on England's south coast.

It's such a jolly jape it can be difficult at times to remember how serious this was at the time. And my theory as to who the ringleader was was of course totally wrong.

Currently reading my No. 58, This Poison Will Remain by Fred Vargas. This is my thirty-ninth ROOT of 2021 and fits the MysteryKIT and GeoKIT.

My review from The Body in the Library from last time I read it:

Mrs. Bantry is woken by her maid who tells her that there is a body in the library. Neither Mrs. Bantry nor her husband the Colonel know who the corpse is. They call the police and Mrs. Bantry's friend, Miss Marple, steps in to help to make sure the killer is caught and the Bantrys are not subject to unjustified suspicion.

Interesting how the story starts off quite sympathetic to the victim but shifts as time goes by to disdain for her as a gold-digger.

ADD: Despite having read it before (admittedly 7 years ago) I still couldn't work out/remember who did it.

Starting my No. 59, Marius's Mules II: The Belgae by S. J. A. Turney. This ebook is not a ROOT but it does fit the HistoryCAT. I am reading it now for my online reading group.

My review of This Poison Will Remain:

Three old men die in quick succession, apparently bitten by poisonous spiders. But the bites are rarely if ever fatal so is there something more sinister going on?

I found some of the psychological musings most unlikely (arachnophobia has its origin in childhood sexual abuse, seriously?) but despite that I did manage to finger the culprit fairly early on.

I clicked on that spoiler and are seriously thinking the same way you did! That can not be the way that kind of things work!

Starting my No. 60, Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction by Simon Critchley. It is my fortieth ROOT for 2021, and brings the treebook TBR shelf to 38. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Marius's Mules II: The Belgae:

It took me a while to tie this book to the previous book in the series as opposed to other books with similar themes but once I had done so it was a fascinating portrait of Caesar during the conquest of Gaul, and by no means a complimentary one.

However, the character of Fronto bothers me. Despite frequent binges, he is never, ever, wrong, which is starting to get on my nerves a bit.

>112 Robertgreaves: Fronto would bother me too.

Starting my No. 61, A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor. This ebook is my forty-first ROOT for 2021. I am reading it now for the SFFKIT.

My review of Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction:

DNF. Not an introduction. Far too much of "The differences in X and Y's views on Z were exacerbated in the next century by A and B" where I've heard of X, Y was introduced a couple of pages ago, and I've never heard of A and B -- and no clue is given as to what any of them thought about Z.

Starting my No. 62, Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of A Trail Through Time:

Maxwell finds herself in an alternative timeline's version of St. Mary's.

It was fun and there were times I really did laugh out loud, but it's been 2 years since I read the previous books, so I found I'd forgotten too much to really follow everything.

Starting my No. 63, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This is my forty-second ROOT for 2021. There are now 39 books on the treebook TBR shelves. This book fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Star Maker:

The consciousness of a man from 1937 England wanders off into space and he explores the universe.

You have to admire Stapledon's imagination and ideas but don't expect anything like a plot or characterisation. Most of the book is descriptions of life-forms. The descriptions get more and more abstract as we move up the cosmological evolutionary scale and the book became more and more of a struggle to get through but I'm glad I persevered.

Starting my No. 64, Classics: A Very Short Introduction by Mary Beard and John Henderson. This is my forty-third ROOT for 2021 and brings the treeboook TBR shelf down to 38. It fits the AlphaKIT and possibly the HistoryCAT.

My review of The Night Circus:

Two duelling magicians each pits a chosen student against the other's student with the Night Circus as the arena for the game to play out.

Wonderfully atmospheric storytelling, pulling the reader along easily to the point that even the occasional anachronism really doesn't matter. All the stars.

Starting my No. 65, Seeking the Dead by Kate Ellis. This ebook is my forty-fourth ROOT for 2021.

Starting my No. 66, the next in the series, Playing With Bones. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Seeking the Dead:

Is a serial killer on the loose in Eborby (aka York)? Two naked victims have been found dead in churchyards, one female and one male. Joe Plantagenet is the police detective investigating.

The creepy atmosphere due to the slight supernatural element in parts of the book (Is Carmel's flat haunted? What are the would-be Satanists up to?) is very well done. Similarly the author generates a high level of tension towards the end as we wonder if Carmel is going to be the next victim. I was all ready to proclaim this as even better than the author's already excellent Wesley Peterson series until we got to the solution, which ruined my enjoyment and left a very bad taste in my mouth because the killer turned out to be the mentally-ill character whose meds had been replaced with placebos by his doctor's secretary who then proceeded to manipulate him into committing the murders.

Starting my No. 67, Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Playing With Bones:

A teenager is found strangled with a toe amputated. Has a serial killer from the 1950s struck again or is it a copycat?

The ending is more satisfactory than in the first in the series, but it doesn't achieve the creepy atmosphere or the thrills the first had.

Starting my No. 68, Plainsong by Kent Haruf. This ebook is my forty-fifth ROOT for 2021. I am re-reading it now for my book club and it also fits the RandomCAT.

My review of Before I Go To Sleep:

Christine wakes up each morning unable to remember anything that has happened to her for years due to a brain injury. Each day she has to be reminded of who she is and who the people in her life are.

Good thriller with an exciting finale. Although I had glimmerings of the truth, it was still unexpected.

Unfortunately, I had the American edition of this ebook. Having people in North London talking about sidewalks and the hoods of cars and using other American terms rather jerked me out of the story at various points.

>121 Robertgreaves: I know that feeling! I was reading Philomena the other day and the author's depicted conversations ofan American law student sounded so British that it took me straight out of the narrative (good book thus far otherwise, though).

Starting my No. 69, Past Poisons, an anthology of historical detective stories edited by Maxim Jakubowski. This is my forty-sixth ROOT of 2020 and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 38. It fits the GenreCAT.

My review of Plainsong:

This was my second read of the book because it was a book club choice and I didn't feel I remembered enough of it to discuss it sensibly. This time around I felt I had a better grasp of what the author was doing with his prose style and how it fitted the place and people he was describing. It didn't mean I actually liked it or would search out his other books but I'll add half a star for effective style.

Starting my No. 70 The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps by Michel Faber. This ebook is my forty-seventh ROOT of 2021 and fits the GenreCAT.

My review of Past Poisons:

An anthology of historical detective short stories, some by well known authors, others by authors new to me. There were a couple of stories I'd read before. None of the stories were actually bad, but of the stories by authors new to me, only one was so good that I looked her up to find more of what she'd written.

Starting my No. 71, The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. This is my forty-eighth ROOT for 2021 and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 37. It fits the SFFKIT.

My review of The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps:

A conservator turned archaeologist working on a dig in Whitby is troubled by nightmares.

Excellent novella taking elements from different genres.

Starting my No. 72, Time Travel by James Gleick. This is my forty-ninth ROOT for 2021. It fits the SFFKIT.

My review of The Time Machine:

The creation of a subgenre, if not a genre. The tale does suffer a bit from over-familiarity - this must be my third or fourth reading and if I remember rightly I've seen the film version at least twice. Having said that, it can still be recognised as an achievement.

Starting my No. 73, Northern Winters Are Murder by Lou Allin. This ebook is not a ROOT. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Time Travel:

In the century or so since H. G. Wells's novel, philosophers, physicists, and SF writers have reflected on time and time travel and have reacted to each others' ideas. This book looks at all three groups' contribution to the cultural conversation in that period.

Some of the philosophy and physics was a bit over my head but a new section of my wishlist/TBR has opened up.

I didn't get very far with Northern Winters Are Murder before I decided it was not for me. Three chapters in and I felt no interest at all.

Starting my No. 74, The Last Days of New Paris by China Miéville. This is my fiftieth ROOT for 2021. The treebook TBR shelf now stands at 36. It fits the AlphaKIT.

>128 Robertgreaves: Excellent work on the trebook TBR shelf! 36 books sounds amazing! Imagine only having that many to read! :D (I know you have some ebooks too)

>129 Jackie_K: I think it's a Covid effect. I didn't go back to the UK for my usual Christmas/New Year jaunt, which usually involves lots of stocking up at bookshops.

Possible reading in June:

The Last Days of New Paris was another one that I couldn't get into.

Starting my No. 75, The Crediton Killings by Michael Jecks. It fits the GenreCAT and the AlphaKIT.

Starting my No. 76, Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of The Crediton Killings:

A band of mercenaries arrives in Crediton on their way to the coast to embark for Gascony. Some silver plate is stolen from their leader and during the investigation of the theft the body of a serving maid at the inn where they are staying is found stuffed in a chest. Further murders follow.

Very good mediaeval murder mystery with excellent world building from an author who seems to me to know his period well.

Starting Music: A Very Short Introduction by Nicholas Cook. This is my fifty-first ROOT for 2021 and brings the TBR shelf down to 35. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Tales of the City:

Lives of a group of characters in 1970s San Francisco.

I've read this before round about 1980. I found it a frustrating read then, and I did again this time round. It started life as a column in a San Francisco newspaper and there is a lot which probably made perfect sense to its first readers in the city and which I'm not picking up on. There are just too many in jokes or brand names, shops, and districts used in descriptions which obviously mean SOMETHING but I have no idea what. It feels like a party where I don't know anybody or anything about what they're talking about.

Starting my No. 78, Caligula by Allan Massie. This is my fifty-second ROOT for 2021 and fits the AlphaKIT and GenreCAT.

Starting my No. 79, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This is my fifty-third ROOT for 2021 and fits the AlphaKIT, GenreCAT, and HistoryCAT.

My review of Caligula:

A fictionalised account of the life of Caligula.

Broadly sympathetic to Caligula, denying some of the more outlandish stories from Suetonius but allowing that he was dangerous to the senatorial class. It was rather more plodding than the author's other fictionalised biographies I've read. The author had obviously run out of steam, especially as some of the scenes were quoted almost verbatim from his Tiberius.

Starting my No. 80, Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood. This ebook is my fifty-fourth ROOT for 2021. It fits the RandomCAT.

My review of A Tale of Two Cities:

The novel's opening and closing words are famous. Although I remembered the broad outlines of the plot in between, there was a lot I'd forgotten which made it well worth a re-read.

Starting my No. 81, Mythology by Edith Hamilton. It is my fifty-fifth ROOT for 2021 and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 34. I am reading it now for my online reading group.

My review of Hag-Seed:

The deposed director of a drama festival takes up a position as a literacy tutor in a local prison, teaching the inmates by having them update and stage Shakespeare's plays while he waits for a chance to get his revenge.

The tension mounts as we wonder whether the action of the novel is going to follow the plot of "The Tempest" as planned or whether it is all going to go horribly wrong. Unputdownable.

Starting my No. 82 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. This ebook is not a ROOT but I am reading it now for my book club.

>139 Robertgreaves: I'll be interested to see what you think. I struggled to read the first 2 chapters of The Shadow of the Wind and gave up, but I have kept it to give it another go sometime. It has such good reviews that it's entirely possible the problem was with me rather than the book!

>140 Jackie_K: I am about a third of the way through it, and am enjoying it. At first I found the language rather florid but I have got used to it.

Starting my No. 83, the next in the series, The Angel's Game. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of The Shadow of the Wind:

As a boy Daniel Sempere finds a book called "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julián Carax. His copy may well be the only one in existence because it seems somebody is tracking down and burning all copies of Carax's books. Daniel is determined to find out more about Carax and why his books are being burnt.

It's a book where everything is important. I thought I knew what was going on and so wasn't paying enough attention to certain details which meant I was completely at sea later with certain scenes being told again from another character's point of view and I had trouble relating the two scenes. Maddening.

Starting my No. 84, The Siege of Krishnapur by J. G. Farrell. This ebook is not a ROOT. It fits the GenreCAT.

My review of The Angel's Game:

David Martin, a writer of penny dreadfuls who aspires to writing literature, is approached by a mysterious publisher offering him a very lucrative commission to write a novel. But is the offer too good to be true?

Deliciously spooky.

Hi Robert, skipping all new posts. I'm just trying to visit every ROOTer. I've only posted in my own thread due to Peet's situation but I want to try to visit other threads again in the future.

So 'Hi' for now.

Starting my No. 85, The Cornish Trilogy by Robertson Davies. This is my fifty-sixth ROOT for 2021 and brings the treebook TBR pile down to 34. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of The Siege of Krishnapur:

The British and mixed-race inhabitants of the fictitious town of Krishnapur are beseiged by the sepoys and their allies in 1857.

It didn't quite go in the direction I was expecting it to but it was interesting as an account of life under siege.

My No. 86 is something I've been re-reading over the past month or so in bouts of insomnia, Vita Brevis by Jostein Gaarder. It counts as my fifty-seventh ROOT for 2021.

Possible reading for July:

My review of The Rebel Angels, the first part of The Cornish Trilogy:

Disreputable goings-on among Renaissance scholars at a Canadian university told in alternate chapters by a woman research assistant and a male Anglican priest.

Exuberant fun with underlying seriousness inspired by alchemical and gnostic symbolism to be enjoyed on many levels.

My review of What's Bred in the Bone, the second part of The Cornish Trilogy:

The Recording Angel and Francis Cornish's personal daimon review his life in this richly symbolic but easily readable novel.

Starting my No. 87, Taft by Ann Patchett. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of The Cornish Trilogy:

The Cornish trilogy consists of three novels: the first is mainly about academics and how they are affected in the immediate aftermath of the very wealthy Francis Cornish; the second looks at Cornish's life, while the third looks at the completion and staging of an opera which was made possible by money left by Cornish and during which some of the secrets of Cornish's life come out.

There are some parts which have not aged well since the 1980s but Davies's prose still pulls the reader along in a story of characters coming to terms with different ways of thinking and feeling and the construction of their own personal legends based on the Tarot, alchemy and other symbolism. If that makes the books sound very heavy they are also very funny in places.

Also reading my No. 88, Man & Beast by Michael Jensen. This is my fifty-eighth ROOT for 2021.

>150 Robertgreaves: Glad you liked the Cornish trilogy!

>152 rabbitprincess: I also have The Salterton Trilogy, which is probably due for a re-read. I lent my sister-in-law The Deptford Trilogy but it has never been seen again.

>153 Robertgreaves: Deptford is next on my list of Davies reads, assuming I don't get sidetracked by the essay collections of his I own and haven't read yet.

Starting my No. 89 "Man & Monster" (no touchstone), the second in the Savage Land series. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Man & Beast:

Having been caught in a relationship with another man, John Chapman flees from Lower Canada to western Pennsylvania, which in the 1790s whites have only recently started moving into.

The interest in most of the first half lies in the detail about life in that time and place and the skills needed for survival. Apparently Pennsylvania has bloody awful weather and butchering a moose involves some interesting experiences.

The second part shows the character was not taught one vital skill: ALWAYS check the body to see whether the bad guy is still breathing.

All in all, it was entertaining enough to keep me turning the pages and to want to read the second half of the duology.

My review of Man & Monster:

After his father's death, Cole Seavey travels to the isolated community of Hugh's Lick in western Pennsylvania where his elder brother was last heard from only to find his brother has died and the whole community on the verge of panic.

A good quick read, even if at one point thoughts of a certain cartoon dog did come to mind. These thoughts were quickly dissipated, however, by what happened next as we moved to the climactic struggle and a satisfying epilogue.

Hi Robert! Reading a lot of books again. Excellent!

Starting my No. 90, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. This is my fifty-ninth ROOT for 2021. It brings the treebook TBR pile down to 33.

My review of Taft:

John Nickel, the manager of a restaurant in Memphis, hires a new waitress, Fay Taft. Her brother Carl seems to be part of the deal but they bring complications in their wake.

There were times when I wondered where Ann Patchett was going with this and why I should be interested in any of this. I was confused in the parts involving Fay and Carl's late father, unsure whether this was what happened or whether this was what Nickel imagined their life before coming to Memphis was like. I still hadn't reached any conclusion by the end of the book, but it did feel much more cohesive and I wanted to know what happened next to Nickel, his son, the Woodmore sisters, and Fay.

My review of The Starless Sea:

Zachary did not open a magic portal as a little boy but now as an adult he is given another chance when he discovers a book in a university library that tells the story of his missed opportunity.

I am not at all sure I managed to connect all the dots in this one as inter-twined stories unfurled not always in chronological order. Still it was quite a ride. Extra kudos to the author for making Zachary gay without it being the focus of the story, he just was.

Starting my No. 91, The Radium Girls by Kate Moore. This ebook is my sixtieth ROOT for 2021. I am reading it for the HistoryCAT.

My review of Mythology:

Quick run through Greek and Roman myths with some Norse myths somewhat surprisingly tacked on at the end.

In a bout of insomnia last night I read my No. 92, Camp Carnage by Elliot Arthur Cross and Joshua Winning. This ebook is my sixty-first ROOT for 2021.

My review:

YA horror story set in a mid-1980s summer camp for gay teens whose parents want to convert them to heterosexuality.

Although the premise sounds grim, this was actually quite light-hearted and fun in a "Scary Movie" kind of way, though it might not have been the BEST choice to get me through a 1 a.m. bout of insomnia.

Delurking here. I've been reading your posts and wishing I were as good as you at getting ROOTs read.

>162 fuzzi: Good to see you. Work is not really keeping me busy atm. There is enough so I don't think my job is in jeopardy but I definitely have more reading time.

Starting my No. 94 A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order by Judith Flanders.

My review of The Radium Girls:

The fight for compensation for radiation poisoning suffered by women employed in the 1910s and 1920s to paint numbers on watch dials and other instrumentation dials with radium-laced paint to make them luminous.

Exasperating. The techniques used that caused most of the trouble were only used in the US. Why can't countries learn from each other? And as usual the original fault was made much worse by the cover up.

Also reading my No. 95, Turing Test by E. M. Foner. This ebook is my sixty-second ROOT for 2021.

Hi Robert, I hope you are doing fine and waving at you!

>164 Robertgreaves: One thing that really enraged me about what happened to the girls was the fact that the management had access to their medical records, but wouldn't tell THEM about the contents.

>167 rabbitprincess: It's not that long ago (certainly within my lifetime) that doctors really didn't think it was necessary that patients understood anything about their treatment and just had to do as they were told.

Just popping in because I’m new to LT and to this group and I’m trying to catch up with everyone’s threads. I have The Starless Sea on my to-read list, so it was good to hear your take on it. I really loved The Night Circus, so it’s always good to know what to expect from a follow-up performance from her.

So sorry you didn’t enjoy Sirens of Titan. One year the man who would become my husband and I unpremeditatedly gave each other that book for Christmas, so it’s always been close to my heart.

>166 connie53: Thanks for popping in, Connie. I hope things are getting easier for you now.

>169 Charon07: Welcome to LT, Charon. I hope you enjoy your time here.

>170 Robertgreaves: Yes, they are Robert. Peet was not that confused any more and we talked about little stuff which was really nice.

My review of Turing Test:

Fun novel about a team of AI entities on an observational mission to Earth who find out a group of interstellar scammers are on their way to con Earthlings into purchasing an expensive and unnecessary FTL drive.

Starting my No. 95, Villette by Charlotte Brontë. This is my sixty-third ROOT for 2021 and the treebook TBR pile is now unchanged at 33 because I added The Emperor's Babe by Bernadine Evaristo to re-read.

My review of A Place for Everything: The Curious History of Alphabetical Order:

Although the alphabet has more or less maintained its order even across different scripts, it took a surprisingly long time for alphabetical order to become the standard basis for storing and retrieving information. Judith Flanders describes that faltering process in this book, which it must be said turned out to be rather drier than I was expecting.

Started my No. 96, A Fatal Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum by Emma Southon. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Villette:

I got about half way through and just couldn't take any more. The lengthy descriptions of people's character which add up to I'm not sure what, the minute descriptions of rooms which are so detailed I couldn't visualise them. Not for me.

Possible reading for August:

>175 Robertgreaves: I read The Secret Life of Bees many years ago and loved it.

>176 Jackie_K: It's my book club's choice for this month. I'm not sure I would have picked it up otherwise

>177 Robertgreaves: Same here - it was a book group book for me too! But it was definitely one of the better ones we read!

Hi Robert, just passing by and waving!

>179 connie53: Hello, Connie. I saw Peet may be moved to somewhere more convenient for you to get to. I hope that works out for you.

Starting my No. 97, Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction by A. C. Grayling. This is my sixty-fourth ROOT for 2021 and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 32. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum:

The book starts off with an introduction pointing out that just as modern day societies, even those with very similar legal systems, differ over what counts as murder, so the Romans thought about it differently.

The author then begins with the most famous murder of them all and discusses various murders and killings collected together based on who was killing who and in what context. It is by and large very entertainingly written but the author does not shy away from or gloss over the ways in which the Romans were quite horrifyingly different from us and how much (from our perspective) cruelty and suffering their social system involved.

>181 Robertgreaves: I liked A Fatal Thing... as well, although I had to speed-read it a couple of days before it was due back at the library, and it was rather a lot to take in like that.

>180 Robertgreaves:. Hi Robert. Tomorrow is the day that's going to happen! In biking distance.

>184 connie53: Good news

Starting my No. 98, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. This ebook is not a ROOT but I am reading it now for my book club.

I have also started an audiobook, You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney as my No. 99.

My review of Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction:

I did come away with at least the illusion I understood something of what Wittgenstein was talking about in the Tractatus and in his later works. How much I will retain and how much I could explain to anybody else are two very different matters.

>186 Robertgreaves: I hope you enjoy The Secret Life of Bees. I read it quite a few years ago and I remember enjoying it very much. Cheers!

Starting my No. 100, If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of The Secret Life of Bees:

In 1960s South Carolina, a white girl runs away from her physically and emotionally abusive father and is taken in by three black sisters who are beekeepers and have thriving a honey and beeswax business.

There were a couple of minor things which bothered me far more than they should have done but which I won't mention here as they were probably my issues rather than the book's. Something which I did think was a flaw was the heavy foreshadowing at certain points which was unnecessary because I was already feeling this isn't going to end well. Apart from that, some interesting descriptions of beekeeping and an intriguing religious atmosphere in a book which I'm going to let percolate in the back of mind for a while.

Starting my No. 101, The Emperor's Babe by Bernadine Evaristo. This is my sixty-fifth ROOT and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 31.It fits the GenreCAT and the HistoryCAT.

My review of If Only They Could Talk:

Very funny memoirs of a vet in 1930s Yorkshire.

Starting my No. 102, Less by Andrew Sean Greer. This is my sixty-sixth ROOT for 2021. It fits the RandomCAT.

My review of The Emperor's Babe:

Zuleika, the daughter of Sudanese/Nubian immigrants to Londinium, becomes a child bride and then the mistress of the emperor Septimius Severus.

A brash bawdy romp, this is basically a "Carry On Cleo" type of mixture of Roman stereotypes with knowing winks to the audience through references to modern place names in and around London and modern fashions. The cover gives the game away with Zuleika sporting a heart shaped tattoo enclosing the words "SEV IV ME". I loved it, but those who take their historical fiction seriously will hate it.

Starting my No. 103, Nebula Awards Showcase 2019. I picked up this anthology because it contains the first Murderbot story, All Systems Red by Martha Wells, and I have heard so many good things about this series, I thought I'd give it a go. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Less:

Arthur Less sets off on a series of professional and personal trips that will take him right round the world in order to mark his fiftieth birthday and avoid his ex's wedding to someone else.

The comedy is mainly of the hapless traveller abroad type, but the author tells it well so there were lots of genuine LOL set pieces. It helped that I found Arthur very likeable, though I can see he would get on some people's nerves, and I was pleased for him at the ending.

Currently reading my No. 104, Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. This ebook is not a ROOT. I enjoyed All Systems Red and am continuing with the Murderbot series, which so far deserves all the love it gets. I am keeping the rest of Nebula Awards Showcase 2019 in reserve for those moments in and around my main books when I want a short story or novella.

I have read the other novellas in the Murderbot series:

Rogue Protocol (my No. 105) and
Exit Strategy (my No. 106)

I am now starting my No. 107, the full-length Murderbot novel, Network Effect. None of these ebooks are ROOTs.

No. 108 was Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory (short story)
No. 109 was Fugitive Telemetry (novella)

My review of the complete Murderbot series:

Murderbot (aka SecUnit) is an android security guard constructed out of robotic and human elements which has managed to override its governor module, giving it the capability of independent action without having its circuits fried if it does not follow orders.

Having read the whole series one after the other, it is the narrative voice of Murderbot that really stands out: snarky and baffled by the motivations and reckless behaviour of human beings. Its strongest desire is simply to be left alone to enjoy the soap operas it downloads.

For the most part, the actual stories are only interesting as a vehicle for Murderbot to the point where they have mostly merged together in my mind. The second novella in the series, in which Murderbot investigates the incident from which it took its name for itself, left me totally unclear as to what had actually happened. For me, the best story was the most recent one, "Fugitive Telemetry", where Murderbot helps investigate a murder on a space station.

Now starting my No. 110, The Sandman: Fables and Reflections by Neil Gaiman. This is my sixty-seventh ROOT for 2021 and brings the treebook shelf down to 30.

Starting my No. 111, The Sandman: Brief Lives. This is my sixty-eighth ROOT for 2021 but the treebook shelf remains at 30 as I found myself passing a bookshop yesterday. This fits the GenreCAT.

My review of The Sandman: Fables and Reflections:

The fonts varied quite a bit in this collection and I found some of them difficult to read. The palette of colours was quite different in the final story, Ramadhan, very bright primary colours like illustrations in a children's story. The longest story, The Song of Orpheus, was also the one I liked best, sticking for the most part to the myth as it has come down to us.

Starting my No. 112, The Sandman: Worlds' End. This book is not a ROOT, but brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 29. It fits the GenreCAT

My review of The Sandman: Brief Lives:

Delirium and Dream go looking for Destruction, who doesn't want to be found.

I loved Delirium's reactions to our world and am intrigued by the headstone on the island. I remember her from the French Revolution story in "Fables & Reflections" but do we know anything more about her?

Also starting my No. 113, Purged by Peter Laws. As an audiobook this does not count as a ROOT.

Starting my No. 114, The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan. This ebook is my sixty-ninth ROOT for 2021. It is my most deeply rooted virtual ROOT, having been waiting on my Kobo since 2016.

My review of Sandman: The Worlds' End:

A group of strangers (some of them very strange strangers) stranded in an inn during a storm pass the time by telling stories. And we have stories within stories within stories. Something of a tour-de-force with each story having its own style of illustration. We are left with questions which hopefully will be answered in the next volume.

My No. 115 is another audiobook, The Humans by Matt Haig

My review of Purged:

I listened to about an hour and then gave up. I don't like spending too much time in the bad guy's head. The detective's stream of consciousness while driving was uninteresting. The book was sloppily edited. If you leave at 3 pm, you're not going to arrive home, get changed and ready to leave again by lunchtime. DNF

>198 Robertgreaves: Hope you enjoy The Silk Roads - I thought it was great, very refreshing to have an alternative to the Anglo-US-centric view of world history.

>199 Robertgreaves: The Humans is a ROOT of mine too, so I’ll be interested to hear what you think of it.

Hi Robert, Such a lot of books read already and still 4 months to go!

>202 connie53: Thanks for dropping by, Connie.

Possible reading for September 2021:

You got some nice books planned for September, Robert. I liked the book by Shirley Jackson. A bit weird but nice. And Ursula Le Guin is a good one too.

Starting my No. 116, The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough. This is my seventieth ROOT for 2021 but it leaves the treebook TBR shelf at 29. I am reading it now for my online reading group and it also fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of The Silk Roads:

A history of the world focused on what the author describes as the heart of the world, the area stretching west from the Mediterranean to the Himalayas and across Central Asia to China.

It was interesting and enjoyable seeing the history told from a different perspective. It was not as different a perspective as the hype for the book made it appear as is shown by the way the timescale slowed right down for the 19th and 20th centuries, a period of greater European and American involvement in the region, with decades given more space than earlier centuries. Nevertheless, this a book I would like to come back to at some point in order to mull over some of its insights further.

Also reading my No. 117, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. This ebook is my seventy-first ROOT for 2021. I am reading it now for my book club and it also fits the AlphaKIT.

Starting my No. 118, The Liars' Gospel by Naomi Alderman. This ebook is my seventy-second ROOT for 2021. I am reading it now for the AlphaKIT and am hoping that it will fit the HistoryCAT as well.

My review of We Have Always Lived in the Castle:

Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" has stayed with me since I read it at school, so I had high hopes of this going in. It didn't have quite the same impact (maybe because nearly 50 years has gone by) but it was still very enjoyable with the off-kilter viewpoint of the narrator and the slow reveal of just how off-kilter it was plus the disruptive influence of the cousin's intrusion.

Starting my No. 119, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and Other Lessons From The Crematorium by Caitlin Doughty. This ebook is my seventy-third ROOT for 2021.

My review of The Liars' Gospel:

Stories of Yehoshuah/Jesus from Miryam/Mary, Iehouda/Judas, Caiaphas, and Bar-Avo/Barrabas.

The stories are firmly rooted in the Jewish context of a land occupied by the Romans but show a figure different but recognisably extrapolated from the stories in the New Testament. Fascinating.

Starting my No. 120, A Dirty Death by Rebecca Tope. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematorium:

This book read like binging on somebody's blog posts, but the author had interesting experiences to relate and an interesting viewpoint to reflect on them so that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I would read her other books.

>210 Robertgreaves: I’ve seen some of Caitlin Doughty’s YouTube videos; I really like her down-to-earth explanations about current funerary practices.

My No. 121 is the next one in Rebecca Tope's West Country series, Dark Undertakings. This ebook is not a ROOT.

Guy Beardon is found dead in the slurry pit on his farm. It seems to be an accident (surely nobody would commit suicide like that) until a few days later one of the two brothers next door is murdered and the other badly injured while they were sleeping.

A good quick read.

My No. 122 is the next in the series, Death of a Friend. This ebook is not a ROOT but it does fit the AlphaKIT.

My review of Dark Undertakings:

When Drew Slocombe, an undertaker's assistant, is called out to collect the body of a man who apparently died of a heart attack in his sleep, something about it doesn't feel right, a feeling that is reinforced when the man's dog also dies.

There were times I thought the way everybody knew/was related to everybody else was being stretched a bit far, but I did enjoy this one. Since it has no characters in common with the first book I'm not sure what makes it a series. Although it's called the West Country series, there isn't much of a sense of place. It could have been any town.

My No. 123 is the next in the series, Grave Concerns. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Death of a Friend:

An anti-hunt activist's body is found in a ditch apparently having been trampled to death by a horse and rider.

I admit I fell for the obvious red herring. Deviously done, Ms. Tope.

My review of Grave Concerns:

Drew Slocombe's natural burial ground had barely opened before an extraneous body was found in a shallow grave. But who was she and who buried her there?

Nice and twisty, and rather difficult to keep all the hinted-at connections between the characters in mind at the same time. Great fun.

Starting my No. 124, Hegel: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer. This is my seventy-fourth ROOT for 2021 and brings the treebook TBR shelf to 28. It fits the HistoryCAT.

Wait, your paper TBR shelf is TWENTY-EIGHT?! That is amazing, I can only dream of a two-figure shelf!

>217 Jackie_K: does it make you feel better if I confess my ebook TBR shelf is 134 books and my wishlist is 155 books?

>218 Robertgreaves: Yes, although those numbers are still smaller than mine on all counts!

Starting my No. 125, Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin. This ebook is my seventy-fifth ROOT for 2021. It fits the GenreCAT and AlphaKIT.

My review of Hegel: A Very Short Introduction:

I got through this book with an uneasy feeling that I hadn't really understood any of it.

Starting my No. 126, Swallowdale by Arthur Ransome. This ebook is my seventy-sixth ROOT for 2021. It fits the GenreCAT.

My review of Tehanu:

Tenar has been living on Gont, where she takes in an abused child who had survived a fire.

Annoyingly obscure. People give each other significant looks or come to sudden realisations with no indication to the reader of what the significance or realisation is. I don't know if I want to continue with this series.

Also reading my No. 127 The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. This ebook is not a ROOT. I started it during a bout of insomnia - though I'm not sure whether after a while the insomnia was a cause or effect.

My review of The House in the Cerulean Sea:

Linus Baker, a DICMY (the Department In Charge of Magical Youth) inspector, comes to Marsyas Island to inspect the orphanage there.

There were times when I thought the AUTHOR'S MESSAGE was getting a bit heavy-handed, but the characters worm their way into your heart enough to overcome that and make this book a delight.

Part 2 is here

>208 Robertgreaves: That was exactly what i was thinking about that book, Robert.

>223 Robertgreaves: And that happened to me too.

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