Familyhistorian's ROOTs read in 2023

The Writer's Museum, Edinburgh

ROOTs



Acquisitions

I'm keeping my goal the same as last year because it served me well. I exceeded it by 19. Maybe I can do more this year. As in years past, I'll post my acquisitions and books culled. This year I'm aiming to have the books that leave the house equal or exceed the ones coming in. Fingers crossed!

1. Ask Me No Questions by Shelley Noble



I began whittling down the stacks (hopefully) by picking a promising looking mystery. Ask Me No Questions was set in 1907 with most of the action in New York. Involving the upper echelons of society as the amateur sleuth was the young Dowager Lady Dunbridge, the mystery showed the corruption in the police department as well as the high stakes world of horse racing. It was a good one and my first ROOT for the year.

2. Sunshine on Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith



I don’t remember where most of my ROOTs come from but with Sunshine on Scotland Street I know that I picked it up in a Little Free Library. I wanted to know why readers loved the books of Alexander McCall Smith. I think I see the appeal but I’m not sure that I would go out of my way to pick up another of his books.

3. The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley



LT is a dangerous place for avid readers. We get to hear of so many wonderful books. One of the books I found out about on the threads was, The War that Saved My Life. The story of a young crippled girl in WWII was one to warm your heart.

>1 Familyhistorian: Excellent choice of thread topper! I've been there :D

>1 Familyhistorian: I am so fond of this little museum! Happy to see you back.

Embarrassingly, given how close I live to Edinburgh (especially compared to both of you) I've never visited that museum! Glad to see you back, and good luck with the ROOTing and reducing the stacks!

Welcome back! That's a fabulous picture in your topper.

Welcome back, Meg. Good to seen you here again. Enjoy your reading in 2023. (Although 200 is a big number I will never reach.)

4. Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby



I’ve picked up some good mysteries over the years. A more recent acquisition was Mindful of Murder. It was a fun puzzle involving three butlers, four potential heirs to an estate and the laid back folks dwelling on an island off the BC coast.

>7 rabbitprincess: It was a fun museum to visit, RP. I especially liked the stairs!

>8 Caramellunacy: It's good to be back. That museum was a great find.

>9 Jackie_K: That's what happens, though. It's people from away who usually visit places like that museum while the people who live there don't get around to it.

>10 MissWatson: It's good to be back ROOTing. Thanks re the topper - it did seem to fit.

>11 connie53: Hi Connie, now if I could just turn 200 read into 200 rehoused maybe I'd be getting somewhere.

5. The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz



I decided to stick with a good thing and pulled another mystery off the shelf. This time it was The Word is Murder, the first in a series with Anthony Horowitz and disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne investigating a murder. It was a bit of a slow go for me but I have more of the books in the series on my shelves. I hope the series grows on me.

>14 Familyhistorian: You are zipping along, Meg! I'm avoiding reading your review of the Horowitz because I have the first two books on my "read soon" pile.

>15 rosalita: The ROOTs are going down easy right now, Julia, but that was because my library holds were coming in slowly. Things will probably settle down soon.

Hi familyhistorian, happy reading in 2023. I look forward to following your thread again this year.

>16 Familyhistorian: Ha, that's the same for me! I suspended holds over Christmas while visiting my parents and have been reactivating them as slowly as I can. But yesterday I ended up with 6 to pick up...

Happy New Year -- a little late considering how you're motoring along on the books!

>6 Familyhistorian: Making a note of this one, I'm fond of the juvenile/YA ages.

>17 QuestingA: Good to have you following along, QA.

>18 rabbitprincess: I regularly have about that many holds to pick up, RP. My library allows us to have 50 holds at a time. I try to pause a bunch and time them so they'll come in a steady stream but that rarely happens. It's also frustrating because I get to the 50 book ceiling regularly!

>19 detailmuse: The War That Saved My Life is a good one and there's also a sequel to it but I haven't read that.

6. A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting by Sophie Irwin



Lately, some historical romances have come in nicer packaging signaling good reads within. One of those, A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting somehow ended up in my personal library and grew ROOTs. It was a good read.

>23 Familyhistorian: That is a really lovely cover!

>24 Jackie_K: It's a nice cover, although not the one that's on my book, Jackie. I didn't want to take the time to take a photo of my book and upload the cover. Mine's the Amazon cover which I like even better but which I can't put here because it just disappears.

7. The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffith



I remember picking up The Stranger Diaries when I was in England in 2019. In fact I was living out of a suitcase and not paying attention and picked up two copies. Only one remains in my collection. It was an interesting read and quite Gothic while still staying true to the mystery genre.

8. The Devil to Pay by Liz Carlyle



I’m falling behind in writing about the ROOTs I’ve been reading and a bit in taking them off my shelves. My library holds are starting to arrive in bunches. A recent ROOT read was The Devil to Pay, a romance that I bought at the shop beside the library. They had a deal when you bought three. According to LT I had already read it but I didn’t remember the tale of a woman with a secret identity and the man, a dissipated and deadly noble, who takes too much of an interest in her.

9. A Case of Doubtful Death by Linda Stratmann



I follow a number of historical mystery series. The Frances Doughty series is one of them. My most recent read in the series was the third book, A Case of Doubtful Death. I found this one a bit slow going and don’t think I will continue pursuing the other books.

10. The Evening Chorus by Helen Humphreys



I was rooting around on my shelves for a book to fit the Reading Through Time category for January which was birds. It took the longest time for me to find something but I eventually came up with The Evening Chorus. It was a story of WWII and there were birds! It was also a good tale.

I seem to have acquired a lot more books than I tried to in January. They are:

Two for Sorrow by Nicola Upson
Remember Love by Mary Balogh
Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas
Something to Hide by Elizabeth George
The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
Desperation in Death by J.D. Robb
Cold Case BC by Eve Lazarus
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco - from the little free library
Ancestors: The Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials by Alice Roberts - Santa Thing book
On the Waterfront by Mike McCoy - ER book
Color Capital of the World: Growing Up with the Legacy of a Crayon Company by John W. Kropf - ER book received as a PDF due to high postal rates to Canada

>30 Familyhistorian: Oops! How did that happen?

>31 connie53: Hmm, yes funny how much book acquisitions pile up in a month. In February at least I have the excuse of my Thingaversary.

>32 Familyhistorian: I always forget my Thingaversary (maybe on purpose?).

>30 Familyhistorian: I was feeling quite depressed by your seemingly effortless success in ROOT-ing until I reached this post.

(You'll note I don't list acquisitions on my thread!)

>33 connie53: I often forget mine too, but as it's in August, by the time I reach it I've already acquired way more books than the number of years I've been on LT, so I just choose to count those already bought books for the Thingaversary.

Good point! My birthday is next month so it won't work for me.

>33 connie53: Maybe it's better to forget thingaversarys, Connie. It's kind of awkward for me because I buy about the same amount of books in a month unfortunately.

>34 charl08: Listing acquisitions can be scary, Charlotte, but it helps explain the stacks of books that are taking over my bedroom. The effortless ROOTing came to an end once I hit February and all my library holds started coming in. You'd think with all the library holds I wouldn't have a steady book acquisition habit, but no, that's not in the equation at all.

>35 Jackie_K: Good plan for dealing with your Thingaversary, Jackie, and I probably could do that too even if my date is in February. I don't forget mine either because I know it's the day after my birthday.

>36 connie53: You must be much more disciplined than I am when it comes to getting books, Connie.

>39 Familyhistorian: I did hardly buy any books this year. I won some in a lottery and I got a gift card and I bought 3 books with that card. I only bought 2 myself. I surprised myself with that.

>40 connie53: You've done really well, Connie. Keep up the good work!

11. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton



One of that more weighty tomes in my shelves, The Forgotten Garden, has now been ROOTed out. It was a good story but a trifle long and involved with three different timelines.

12. The History of England: Foundation by Peter Ackroyd



I have a number of volumes of Peter Ackroyd’s History of England series growing ROOTs on my shelves. It is high time that I read them. (I also have a few of his other books as well which I need to get to.) I started the series at the beginning with The History of England: Foundation, volume 1 in the series. Its chapters took me from the Stone Age to the first Tudor King.

>43 Familyhistorian: My mum's been collecting these books and I keep meaning to read them. I've read one of them from the library but want to read the rest!

>44 rabbitprincess: Hi RP, I've had a few of the histories on my shelves for a while now but decided to actually read one when I found out Paul from the 75ers was planning on reading the series. Now it looks like I'll be reading the rest. It was good but it took a while to read. The next one is Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I a shorter period than covered in the first one but it takes up a whole volume.

13. Lady Violet Finds a Bridegroom by Grace Burrowes



I’m falling behind on writing up my ROOTs. They are getting read though. A recent read was Lady Violet Finds a Bridegroom, the third entry in the Lady Violet mystery series. The bridegroom in question was another lady’s missing beau. There was deception afoot and Lady Violet was there to search it out.

14. Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia



Billed as a Harlem Renaissance Mystery Dead Dead Girls looked like it would be a thrilling page turner that delivered both history and mystery. It didn’t really work for me. Great cover though.

15. Trespassers in Time: Genealogists and Microhistorians by Anne Patterson Rodda



I picked Trespassers in Time: Genealogists and Microhistorians to read from my genealogy shelves. A well researched book, it covered the various classifications of history and explained and demonstrated the most useful for genealogists.

>30 Familyhistorian: What a nice selection of new roots!

>49 Carmenere: Thanks but those are only the books I acquired in January. I haven't posted February's yet.

16. While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams



I don’t read thrillers very often but I recently picked one off my shelves, While Justice Sleeps. The plot and characters were very au courant making it a fun and almost believable story.

>46 Familyhistorian: I am enjoying this series a lot - nice to have company!

>52 charl08: I bought the first 3 and then had to splurge in the rest that are out so far. Good to know someone else who is reading them too, Charlotte.

17. The Somme Legacy by M J Lee



There’s a subgenre of mysteries that I enjoy, genealogy mysteries in which a sleuth/genealogist brings to life a mystery in the past while dealing with complications in their own life so that the action takes place in two different eras. One that touched on WWI was The Somme Legacy. The historic details were well done and I enjoyed the read.

18. The Duke's Disaster by Grace Burrowes



I have been reading and there are some ROOTs included amongst the library books. A recent read was The Duke’s Disaster, a fast read to make me actually finish a book while slowly making my way through some heftier tomes.

19. Tudors: The History of England from Henry Viii to Elizabeth I by Peter Ackroyd



Another series that I’m working my way through is Peter Ackroyd’s History of England. My latest read in this series was Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I. I learned some new things about this time period.

20. Wild Romance: The True Story of a Victorian Scandal by Chloë Schama



With a title like Wild Romance you might think that it was a romance novel but this story was about a Victorian scandal, a he said/ she said relationship. She said they were married and he said they weren’t. It was an interesting view of history.

21. Condemned: The Transported Men, Women and Children Who Built Britain's Empire by Graham Seal



I finished another nonfiction ROOT. This time it was Condemned: The Transported Men, Women and Children Who Built Britain’s Empire. The British transported people beyond their shores for centuries and this book looked at the various groups affected in depth. It was very good.

I was adding up my acquisition numbers or attempting to when I realized I hadn't posted the books I obtained in February on this thread.

Acquisitions in February 2023

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Artists in Crime by Ngaio Marsh
Bait by Karen Robards
Affair by Amanda Quick
Maureen by Rachel Joyce
Revolution: The History of England From the Battle of the Boyne to the Battle of Waterloo by Peter Ackroyd
Dominion: The History of England from the Battle of Waterloo to Victoria's Diamond Jubilee by Peter Ackroyd
The Wyndham Legacy by Catherine Coulter
Marion Lane and the Deadly Rose by T.A. Willberg
It Won't Always Be Like This by Malaka Gharib
Georgia O'Keefee by Maria Herroros
To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey
The Midnight Hour by Elly Griffiths
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict

22. An Embarrassment of Witches by Sophie Goldstein & Jena Jordan



Even graphic novels grow ROOTs on my shelves. I recently plucked one off, An Embarrassment of Witches. It was a story about two young women sharing an apartment as they figured out their place in the world. As the world was full of magic, it was a bit different than ours.

These are my book additions for March:

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The London Séance Society by Sarah Penner
Bookworm by Robin Yeatman
The Widow's Club by Amanda Brooke

The ones above are purchases. The following are from Little Free Libraries:

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
A City of Strangers by Robert Barnard
Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
Feline Fatale by Linda O. Johnston
Little Book of Vintage Love by Tim Pilcher

>61 Familyhistorian: Nice haul! I bought Behind the Scenes at the Museum when it first came out and loved it, I remember it as a book which made me laugh out loud.

>62 Jackie_K: I have a feeling I might have read Behind the Scenes at the Museum before, Jackie, but it was just sitting there in a Little Free Library and I wasn't sure, so I took it home.

23. Sexton Blake on the Home Front stories by Anthony Parsons and John Drummond edited by Mark Hodder



I pulled Sexton Blake on the Home Front from my WWII mystery stack. There were a couple of stories in it by different authors all purporting to be from the files of Sexton Blake himself. They reminded me of adventure stories from an era shortly after the war.

Your acquisitions in February and March look very healthy! I am still not brave enough to list my purchases and other acquired books on my thread. Maybe next year.

>65 charl08: The idea of listing the acquisitions is that maybe I'll bring in fewer books. So far it's not working but I live in hope!

>66 Familyhistorian: Yes, I'm failing spectacularly on that this year too! But I think it does keep me in check and there'd be twice as many acquisitions if I wasn't listing them!

>67 Jackie_K: I know you are always trying to keep your acquisitions down, Jackie. I'm always impressed by how aware you are of the book accumulation. I really need to do something about the books piling up around here.

24. A Spoonful of Murder by J.M. Hall



In A Spoonful of Murder three friends who were retired school teachers set out to investigate the death of a fellow former teacher. It was an entertaining mystery.

25. Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas



My usual habit is to pick up historical romances as quick reads. Worth Any Price was one of the Bow Street Runner series. Not the first one and I found the characters a bit flat. Maybe that was because I was coming in cold to the series.

26. The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood



One thing about travel, I take my own books along to read and they are invariably ROOTs. On my trip to Salt Lake City I didn’t read many books, my time was taken up with research but there were flights and a long wait in Seattle airport both ways (I know most of the shops there now and, yes, they actually have a book store!)

On the trip down I read The Marlow Murder Club, another in the mystery genre with sleuths of a certain age. This one starts when our 77 year old heroine comes across a body while out for her swim in the river. The police don’t take what she says seriously and she and some other women she gathers along the way end up solving the case.

27. Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson



I have a tendency to pick up books at writers festivals. After listening to Eden Robinson, I bought Son of a Trickster and it’s taken me years to finally pluck it off my shelves. I was the coming of age story of an indigenous teen in Northern BC. It’s gritty and real and yet not as there is a bit of magic or maybe too many drugs or something like that.

28. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy



I have a few of James Elroy’s books on my shelves bought after posts about his work on various LT threads. The books sounded good but it took me a while to work my way through The Black Dahlia which seems to be a classic. I guess I’m just not the intended audience.

29. Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths



Elly Griffiths has a few mystery series out but her Magic Men one doesn’t seem to be as popular as the others. I enjoy the books which are set in Brighton in the ‘50s. The second in the series, Smoke and Mirrors was about the search for the killer of two children and there was a theme of grizzly fairy tales. It was a good one.

Before I get too far into my May ROOTs, here are my acquisitions for April:

A Pen Dipped in Poison by J.M. Hall
Two for the Road by Chantel Guertin
American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today by Robyn Chapman
A Spinster's Guide to Danger and Dukes by Manda Collins
When She Dreams by Amanda Quick
Zotero for Genealogy by Donna Cox Baker
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

30. Lady Violet Enjoys a Frolic by Grace Burrowes



I’m still enjoying the mysteries involving Lady Violet and her two men friends. This time it was the fourth in the series, Lady Violet Enjoys a Frolic and involved guests at a house party with shared military pasts.

31. Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine by Olivia Campbell



I was about to post a review of a book I had just read before I returned it to the library only to discover that I had Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine on my shelves. It was a history of women breaking into the medical field in the US and UK. It made me wonder what was going on with women in medicine in countries that weren’t covered in this history.

32. Scones and Scoundrels by Molly MacRae



Scones and Scoundrels was the second of the Highland Bookshop series. It was a bit convoluted but an okay cozy mystery.

I just walked through my townhouse to make sure, but I only bought one book while I was travelling this month. That must be a first for me. While at Sun Studios I picked up Devil's Music, Holy Rollers and Hillbillies: How America Gave Birth to Rock and Roll by James A Cosby

My other acquisitions for May were:

Trust by Hernan Diaz
Mummy Darlings by Emily Hourican
The Private World of Georgette Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge
The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory was picked up an an LFL

33. City of Endless Night by Preston & Child



Catching up on my ROOTs reads finally with beginning of the pile that I put aside while off travelling. The first write up is of the thriller City of Endless Night. It was a page turner in which even the investigators’ lives were in peril.

34. Feline Fatale by Linda O. Johnston



Cozies are a good bet to take on the road when there are so many other distractions. Feline Fatale was a Pet Sitter Mystery. A first in the series for me but not for the series. It was okay for what it was but I probably would have liked it better if I was more invested in the characters.

>79 Familyhistorian: Impressive self control there. Do you travel with physical books and bring them home, or ebook it?

>82 charl08: That self control is way out of character for me, Charlotte. I'm not a reader of e-books. I have a Kobo but I've never read a book to the end on it and it's way out of date. I usually take physical books when I travel and leave them behind when I finish them which leaves room for the books that I buy while I'm travelling. This time I took the books with me and brought them home.

35. The Widows' Club by Amanda Brooke



It was a thriller/mystery that I plucked from my stacks to take travelling. The Widows’ Club was a good read that kept me guessing at what was really going on until the end.

36. Doctored Evidence by Donna Leon



I’ve been lured in by another mystery series. I picked up Doctored Evidence in the Little Free Library – my intentions were good, I dropped some off. I’d read about the Guido Brunetti mysteries but never tried one. It was a good read. I wonder if anyone will drop any more off at my local LFL?

>85 Familyhistorian: Argh, the lure of a new series! I'd tell you to be strong and resist the temptation, but in your shoes, if I found another one I'd totally get it!

>86 Jackie_K: I love and hate finding new series, Jackie. I just looked it up and there are 32 books in the Brunetti series. Not sure if I should be happy or sad at that.

37. Northwest Coast Indians by Mira Bartok and Christine Ronan



I pulled Northwest Coast Indians from my collection of First Nations books. It was a good and easy read.

38. The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro



The various challenges on LT are a good excuse to pull books off my shelves. I read The Perfume Collector for this month’s Reading Through Time challenge. It was a book told in a few time periods all converging on Paris during and after WWII.

39. The Face Pullers: Photographing Native Canadians 1871-1939" by Brock V. Silversides



From my collection of books about Canadian First Nations I read The Face Pullers: Photographing Native Canadians 1871-1939. It’s interesting how the photos showed changing attitudes over the years.

40. The Bee's Kiss by Barbara Cleverly



I was looking for a book to fit a challenge and picked The Bee’s Kiss, not realizing that it was actually really my next book to read in the Joe Sandilands mystery series. It was good to see him back on British soil although he seemed a bit of a fish out of water after spending so long in India. It was a good mystery too.

41. Bait by Karen Robards



Although Bait hasn’t been on my shelves since 2022 I’m still going to count it as a ROOT because it would have become one. It was sitting in a stack of them! It was a romantic suspense story and a real page turner as the woman and the FBI agent trying to keep her safe were trying to bring a serial killer into the open.

>90 Familyhistorian: It’s interesting how the photos showed changing attitudes over the years.
Oh that's intriguing! (And hopefully encouraging.)

>93 detailmuse: Unfortunately, not much on the encouraging side, MJ. Attitudes weren't very enlightened in the 1930s when the last photos in the book were taken.

42. Affair by Amanda Quick



Another off my own stacks that would have grown ROOTs, Affair was one of Amanda Quick's earlier books that I picked up second hand. It was a fast paced historical romance/mystery.

In June I made up for the relatively few books I brought home in May. At one point I took 3 books to the Little Free Library and came back with a different 3 that I picked up there! Kind of defeated the purpose.

My acquisitions for June were:

From the LFL:
Golden in Death by J.D. Robb
Agent Running in the Field by John le Carre
Something Wicked by Jo Beverley

Also from the LFL:
The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief by Dorothy Gilman

Purchases:
Lady Derring Takes a Lover by Julie Anne Long
The Accidental Medium by Tracy Whitwell
Clara at the Door with a Revolver by Carolyn Whitzman
The Last Heir to Blackwood Library by Hester Fox
Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson
Princess Elizabeth's Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

>96 Familyhistorian: That tale of the LFL made me smile. It usually happens to me when I donate books to our charity bookshop.

>97 MissWatson: I thought I might not be the only one that happened to, Brigit. So much for good intentions.

43. Remember Love by Mary Balogh



Looks like another book that I bought this year made it into my ROOTs category. At least my stacks are going down a bit. (Not really but they will if I keep it up.) This time the book was Remember Love, a story of a couple that had almost reached an understanding but then he was banished from his home. Then he returned six years later, changed and trying to find his way in a family that sent him away.

44. A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell



The mystery A Trace of Smoke was the first in the Hannah Vogel series. It was set in 1930’s Berlin, an interesting and dangerous place for a woman alone.

45. Romance is My Day Job: A Memoir of Finding Love at Last by Patience Bloom



It wasn’t quite what I expected, but Romance is My Day Job was an interesting memoir that showed perseverance was key.

46. State of Terror by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny



I finally managed to get to another of my ROOTs. This time it was State of Terror, a page turning thriller with nods to inside knowledge of how the US government works.

47. The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild



I plucked The Improbability of Love off my shelves. It was an interesting, if involved adventure in the world of fine art bringing in the present state of that world as well as its history as well as romance and deception.

July additions to my book stacks:

From the little free library:

The Private Patient by P.D. James
The Ideals Guide to American Civil War Places by Julie Shirely

From bookstores and Costco:

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay
Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey
A Night Like This by Julia Quinn
Bookshop Cinderella by Laura Lee Guhrke
The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy by Julia Quinn

48. the Hot Ladies Murder Club by Ann Major



I’m not sure if it was the eye catching cover or the title that caused me to pick The Hot Ladies Murder Club from the local Little Free Library. I finally got around to reading it and it delivered a thriller type mystery with a dash of romance.

49. Her Heart for a Compass by Sarah Ferguson



A romantic story that brought the events that involved an ancestor to life, Her Heart for a Compass was a fun and interesting read that show cased life in the upper echelons of both English and New York society in the latter part of the 19th century.

50. The Lady has a Past by Amanda Quick



I’ve been reading lots of library books but every once in a while I pick up one of my ROOTs. Usually it’s something fast and easy to read. That’s how The Lady has a Past was for me. A fun page turner of a romantic historic mystery.

Hi Meg, it's impossible to read all your posts. I have been neglecting most threads this year. Now I'm doing some catching up. I hope you are doing fine, not just with your book!

>108 connie53: Hi Connie, good to have you visit. I haven't been keeping up with the threads either this year. I'm not sure what it is. I hope you are doing well and have been reading lots of good books.

>109 Familyhistorian: I'm fine and the books are good too. I think more people have the same problem with keeping up as we have.

>110 connie53: Maybe it has something to do with being able to see people in person a lot more now and trying to juggle that with the online lives that picked up when we were in isolation.

>111 Familyhistorian: You've got a point there. I think that will be one of the reasons.

51. We Were Strangers Once by Betsy Carter



Another book off my shelves read due to a reading challenge was We Were Strangers Once which related a story of Jewish immigrants from Germany who fled to New York while the US was still neutral towards the beginning of WWII.

52. The Verifiers by Jane Pek



The Verifiers was an up to the minute mystery as it involved a company, Veracity, which investigated the matches of online daters. Add in a young Asian American female heroine who was flouting her mother’s expectations by working for such a company and not dating good Asian boys because boys weren’t her thing. She preferred girls. So a quirky protagonist who was willing to risk it all to get to the bottom of the mystery. It made for a page turner of a book which left me wanting to read more but the second book in the series hasn’t been written yet.

And now for my acquisitions from the past month.

From the little free library (I did drop off more than I picked up)

The Vicar's Knickers by Vince R. Ditrich
Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson
Prickly Heat by Louise Candish
the (im)perfect girlfriend by Lucy Anne Holmes

From commercial sources

Charlotte Illes Is Not a Detective by Katie Siegel
Death in Disguise by Caroline Graham
To Track a Traitor by Iona Whishaw
Encore in Death by J.D. Robb
Recipe for a Good Life by Lesley Crewe

53. This Side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber



The first Verity Kent mystery, This Side of Murder, took place at a house party on an island. Sound familiar? It was a good one set just after the end of WWI. The men there had all been involved in the war and the women were glad it was over, but some things linger, including murder.

54. Gabriel: Lord of Regrets



Gabriel: Lord of Regrets was an historical romance. It is now read and will be off to the Little Free Library soon.

55. The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner



The next book off my shelves was The Lost Apothecary, an engrossing story told in two time periods with a natural link between the two. I enjoyed the read.

56. Shameless by Anne Stuart



Shameless grew long ROOTs on my shelves but this romance didn’t lose its charm.

57. Murder 101 by Richard Boyer



I snapped up Murder 101 a while back, charmed that I would be able to read a mystery set in my own neck of the woods. It was an interesting mystery in an academic setting with a likeable everyguy sleuth.

58. Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L.A. Meyer



I like it when I can find ROOTs on my shelves that will meet challenges. Such was the case with Curse of the Blue Tattoo. It was the second in the Bloody Jack series and a rollicking adventure.

59. Where are the grown-ups? by Ruth Badley



My next book was also read for a reading challenge. "Where are all the grown-ups?" was a story that combined memoir and family history which had been sitting on my shelves collecting dust for a while.

60. The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin



The Last Bookshop in London was actually a September read for me but I didn’t get around to posting about it until now as I was away for two weeks. It was a heartwarming story set in London during WWII. It, of course, included a bookshop and the young woman who ended up running it.

61. On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn



Another September ROOT that wasn’t yet posted was On the Way to the Wedding. A Bridgerton book, this time it was Gregory’s story. He fell for a popular girl only to find out that it was her friend he really wanted to wed. It was a fun read.

62. The Hidden Thread by Liz Trenow



Much of my September was filled with travel so posting on LT got neglected. Another September ROOT was The Hidden Thread. It was a story about silk weavers in London in the mid 1700s many of whom were French Protestants, a fact that caused friction with the English majority. It was a very interesting read.

My acquisitions for September came from various places as I was on the move for much of the month. They were:

From airport bookshops

Agent Josephine by Damien Lewis
Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

From Little Free Libraries

The Main Line is Murder by Donna Huston Murray
The Butler by Danielle Steel

ER give away

Livingsky by Anthony Bidulka

Book store purchases

Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown
The Tarot Journal by Peter Pauper Press

63. The Blackcat by Martha Grimes



I looked through the stacks to find a mystery that wouldn’t take up much room in my suitcase and came up with The Black Cat. It was a decent read in a series that I hadn’t read in a long time.

64. Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders by Tessa Arlen



I have a collection of mysteries set in WWII which I delve into from time to time. A recent read from this collection was Poppy Redfern and the Midnight Murders. I liked it so much that I tracked down its sequel at the library and hope to get to it soon.

65. Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal



My next ROOT was another mystery set in WWII England. Mr. Churchill’s Secretary hit most of the right notes for a spy/mystery book of this era and, as the next book in the series is growing ROOTs on my shelf, I will get to that one soon.

66. Persuader by Lee Child



Persuader was a book that I picked up at a local Little Free Library. It had grown ROOTs on my shelves. I finished it and it will be going back to the LFL. I’m not sure that Jack Reacher books are for me.

67. Conan Doyle for the Defense: How Sherlock Holme's Creator Turned Real-Life Detective and Freed a Man Wrongly Imprisoned for Murder by Margalit Fox



I can tell how long I’ve owned Conan Doyle for the Defense from The Strand sales tag on the back cover. The one and only time I was at that book store was in September of 2019. I pulled it from the shelf to read this month and enjoyed the history in which Conan Doyle was involved and was shocked by how the police conducted investigations back in the day.

>131 Familyhistorian: I was saddened by the case discussed in Conan Doyle for the Defense but really enjoy Fox's writing.

>132 Caramellunacy: It was well written but left a bad taste about how crime was solved back at that time.

68. Breadcrumbs and Bombs by Susan Finlay



I’m always interested in genealogical mysteries so picked up Breadcrumbs and Bombs a while back. It was an interesting story told in two timelines, one based in present day US and the other during WWII in the Sudetenland.

A bit late, but here are my October acquisitions:

Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth by Holger Hoock
Colonial Comics: New England 1620-1750 by Jason Rodriguez
Death has Deep Roots by Michael Gilbert
The Wife of Willesden by Zadie Smith
Molly Miranda: Thief for Hire by Jillianne Hamilton
It Began with the Marbles by Jane Ross Potter
ma meilleure amie by Jean-Nicolas Vallee
Immersion and Emotion: The Two Pillars of Storytelling by Michelle Barker & David Griffin Brown
Mastering Plot Twists: How to Use Suspense, Targeted Storytelling Strategies, and Structure to Captivate Your Readers by Jane K. Cleland
Writing 21st Century Fiction: High-impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling by Donald Maass
I Only Read Murder by Ian Ferguson
We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky by Emma Hooper
Sunset and Jericho: A Wakeland Novel by Sam Wiebe
White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver by Henry Tsang

69. Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic Groups, and the State by David Maybury-Lewis



Some of the nonfiction books growing ROOTs on my shelves should have been read when they were more relevant. A case in point was Indigenous Peoples, Ethnic Groups, and the State, a text from the early 2000s. It was an interesting overview.

>136 Familyhistorian: I definitely relate to this, I have books bought 15-20 years ago which would have been much better read then than now. However, I am still committed to reading them at some point!

>137 Jackie_K: Some books are still good later, this one was an interesting world view of its time. It talked about Russia figuring out what to do after the Cold War for instance. Well, we know how that went! Good luck getting to the books aging on your shelves, Jackie.

My acquisitions for November were a bit toned down from other months, which is a good thing. They were:

A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre
Great-Uncle Harry: A Tale of War and Empire by Michael Palin
Build Better Settings by Eileen Cook + Chrystal Hunt
Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll
Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons by Charlotte Gray
Live at the Commodore: The Story of Vancouver's Historic Commodore Ballroom by Aaron Chapman

>139 Familyhistorian: I plan to acquire the Charlotte Gray for my mum for Christmas (and then I will read it when she's finished).

>140 rabbitprincess: That either shows great restraint or too many other books on the go, RP. I hope you enjoy it when you get to it.

>141 Familyhistorian: We have an agreement on who collects which authors so that we don't duplicate each other's book-buying efforts. She collects Charlotte Gray and Ian Rankin, for example, and I collect Nigel Tranter and Chris Brookmyre.

>142 rabbitprincess: Those are varied authors, RP, and great book-buying practice from the looks of it.

70. Geared for the Grave by Duffy Brown



From my cozy mystery selection I chose Geared for the Grave. Maybe I wasn’t in the mood but the humour in this one didn’t strike me well. At least it is done and will soon be out of here.

>136 Familyhistorian: I definitely relate to this! Too many shiny new books from the library (in my case). I'm trying to think of ways I can read more from my shelves in 2024.

>145 charl08: That's my problem too, Charlotte. I read lots of library books, more of them than the books that I own but it doesn't stop me buying new ones. I need to get a handle on that and I think the only way it would work is if I read more of what is on my shelves because not buying as many is a pipe dream.

And at the end of the year, these were my last book acquisitions for 2024, all from the month of December:

The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance Comic Book by Gord Hill
Rabbit Hole by Mark Billingham
Sugar and Salt by Susan Wiggs
The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore
The Roaring Days of Zora Lily by Noelle Salazar
A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin
What July Knew by Emily Koch

The books I was gifted by my Christmas Swap Santa:

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah
A Romantic Education by Patricia Hampl
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

And a planner I'm hoping to incorporate into my writing life:

Get It Together with Sarah's Scribbles by Sarah Andersen

I've missed out on the first 4 months but it should be good for the coming year.

>147 Familyhistorian: Nice haul! I had the Sarah's Scribbles planner in 2023. I love her cartoons!

>148 rabbitprincess: They're fun cartoons. Did you make good use of the planner, RP?

>149 Familyhistorian: Off and on, although that's more a me problem than a planner problem! I liked the spiral binding that allowed it to lie flat. I did wish it could be a page a day planner, but not many companies make those. Managed to find a Moleskine one for 2024.