Robert Greaves is ROOTing again in 2025

2024 was here

My target for 2025 is 72 ROOTs. All books acquired up until 31 January 2025 will count as ROOTs during 2025.

My potential ROOTS as of today (02 January 2025) consist of 38 treebooks and 49 ebooks, making a total of 87 ROOTs, down from 93 ROOTs this time last year.

I reached my numerical goal last year but it felt like the lowest percentage of ROOTs in a long time. It's just a feeling because I haven't actually kept an eye on the percentage in previous years. So this year I am also going to keep an eye on the percentage of ROOTS.

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 6 ROOTs per month needed to reach my goal);
3. bookclub/reading group books.

My 2025 ticker:

Currently reading my No. 1 Murder Most Actual by Alexis Hall. This book is not a ROOT.

Hi Robert, good to see you again for 2025. I hope you have a good reading year, be it ROOTs or non-ROOTs. Happy new year.

Welcome back, Robert, and Happy ROOTing!

Happy ROOTing Robert and happy new year.

Glad you have returned! Happy 2025 reading.

Thank you for dropping by, Connie, Jennifer, Barbara, and Chèli.

Starting my No. 2, Clear by Carys Davies. This is not a ROOT but fits the CultureCAT.

My review of Murder Most Actual:

A true crime podcaster and her wife are snowed in at a Scottish hotel they'd gone to for a long weekend to rekindle their relationship. A guest falls or is pushed from a turret balcony, the first of many deaths on this less than idyllic getaway.

Great fun as a parody and a good mystery as well. The more familiar you are with Cluedo, the more puns you will appreciate. I smiled and groaned and gave the little grey cells a good workout.

I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Clear. I added this book to my never-ending library wish list last year.

Enjoy this year's reading. And yay for books as motivational rewards!

Thanks for dropping by, Cécile

>10 Robertgreaves: Hi Robert - I'm Cécile ;) but yes, absolutely, I do want to drop by if I may! I'm always curious about your reading and I'll be following in the CAT group as well as I navigate that new world.

Best wishes for some fine reading in '25!

Happy New Year and happy reading in 2025. I find your turtle ticker humorous. Your reading pace is generally more hare-like. Cheers!

Thanks for dropping by MJ, Luanne, and Jerry.

Starting my No. 3, The Secret of Bow Lane by Jennifer Ashley. This ebook is my first ROOT for 2025. It fits the AlphaKIT and the RandomKIT.

My review of Clear:

In 1843 John Ferguson travels to a remote island north of Shetland to evict Ivar, the only inhabitant for the last 20 years, so that the island can be turned over to sheep grazing. The two men have no language in common and John's notes and documents in Norn are destroyed in an accident soon after his arrival.

Fascinating exploration of how the relationship between the two men develops through illness and language learning. The ending was unexpected and I want to know what happened next.

Looks like you're off to a great reading start!

Thanks for dropping by, RP.

Next in the series is Speculations in Sin as my No. 4. This is my second ROOT for 2025 and fits the AlphaKIT and the MysteryKIT.

My review of The Secret of Bow Lane:

Kat Halloway's husband's real wife comes to her for help tracing what really happened to Joe, having been told that he did not die at sea as they had been told but had come back to England with a considerable amount of money.

We get to hear a lot of Daniel's backstory as well as Kat's. Coupled with the increasing closeness of their relationship, it gave this installment in the series a valedictory feel, but there is at least another novel and a novella still to come.

You’re off to a good start with your ROOTing, Robert. Happy reading!

Last in the series so far is A Measure of Menace, which is my No. 5. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Speculations in Sin:

Kat's friend Joanna's husband, Sam, is suspected of embezzling from the bank where he works. Kat swings into action with her friends to prove Sam's innocence.

The real embezzler was fairly obvious almost from the start but the mystery of Dan's origins gets deeper. And we definitely need more of an epilogue - it's not clear whether Sam was reinstated.

A novella from earlier in the series is The Price of Lemon Cake, which is my No. 6. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of A Measure of Menace:

A moneylender is found dead and Lord Clifford, Lady Cynthia's father, is a suspect. Mrs. H and the gang to the rescue!

Again, it feels like a farewell to the series, but apparently there is another one coming out this Spring.

My No. 7 is another novella which I missed because they weren't in LT's database, Mrs Holloway's Christmas Pudding. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of The Price of Lemon Cake:

A quick read mainly focussed on Bobby and Judith, who help Mrs Holloway investigate a young aristocrat's unsavoury companions. Mrs Holloway herself only appears in cameos at the beginning and end of the story. I enjoyed this, and hope some of the other side characters get their turn in the spotlight.

Starting my No. 8, The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. This book is not a ROOT.

My review of Mrs. Holloway's Christmas Pudding:

When a guest is taken ill and Mrs. Holloway is accused of serving tainted food, only finding out who is poisoning him will clear her name.

A good quick Christmas-y read.

Starting my No. 9 A Snapshot of Murder by Frances Brody. This ebook is my third ROOT for 2025 and fits the AlphaKIT and ColourCAT.

My review of The Martian Chronicles:

A series of vignettes from the short-lived human exploration and colonisation of Mars and its effects on the Martians.

I'm not sure how up-to-date the author's knowledge of Mars was even for when it was written (1951) and at this distance the way the colonists reproduced the popular image of small-town USA seems unlikely, despite the hand-waving explanation of why this might be so. Having said that, the book was very enjoyable, especially the native Martians' reaction to the first expeditions, with very poetic writing.

I read The Martian Chronicles just a year or two ago and loved it. Especially Usher II.

Starting the next in the series as my No. 10, The Body on the Train by Frances Brody. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of A Snapshot of Murder:

Kate Shackleton and other members of her local photographic society go on a trip to Haworth to witness the handing over of Haworth Parsonage to the nation as the Brontë Museum. Seven went but only six came back because one had been murdered.

There were times when it reminded me a bit too strongly of Cold Comfort Farm, but it was still a good mystery.

Starting my No. 11, Six Tudor Queens: Jane Seymour The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir. This is my fourth ROOT for 2025 and fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of The Body on the Train:

A man's body clad only in underwear is found in a cargo of rhubarb on a goods train running from Yorkshire to London. Scotland Yard asks Kate Shackleton to put her local knowledge to use as they suspect the deceased may have been involved in a Soviet plot to cause unrest in the mining industry.

Although Kate and her helpers are all in good form I could have done without the political intrigue aspects. I liked the new character PH and hope we see more of him in future books.

Also reading my No. 12, Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman. This is my fifth ROOT for 2025 and it fits the AlphaKIT.

Starting my No. 13, The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey. This is my sixth ROOT for 2025 and it fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Heartstopper Volume 1:

Since the TV series has now caught up with the graphic novels I can safely read them without fear of spoilers. It does feel slightly weird - some pages immediately call TV scenes to mind, others are new to me. And of course as usual when reading graphic novels I am mainly text focused and I have to remember to slow down and look at the pictures.

I've never heard anyone say "treebooks" before but I love it!

Thanks for dropping by handshakes.

Starting my No. 14, Heartstopper Volume 2. This is my seventh ROOT for 2025.

>22 Robertgreaves: I am currently reading Martian Chronicles - I'm really enjoying it. Enjoy the rest of your reads

Thanks for dropping by, Anisha.

Starting my No. 15, Heartstopper Volume 3. This is my eighth ROOT for 2025.

My review of Heartstopper Volume 2:

Some of the more iconic lines make more sense on the written page than they did on TV, but Charlie and Tao's confrontation in the bowling alley loos seems to me better motivated on TV, despite Imogen never having been a favourite character of mine. And although I like the focus on Nick and Charlie, I do miss Isaac.

My review of Six Tudor Queens: Jane Seymour The Haunted Queen:

Fictional account of Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour. I liked the portrayal of Jane herself, even if I'm not sure about the soubriquet the author has given her - it's based on incidents that she seems to have made up.

Starting my No. 16, Heartstopper Volume 4. This is my ninth ROOT for 2025.

My review of Heartstopper Volume 3:

A lot of incidents seem to have happened in a different order in the book.

Starting my No. 17, Heartstopper Volume 5. This is my tenth ROOT for 2025.

My review of Heartstopper Volume 4:

Not as heart-rending as the TV version in the first half of Season 3

Starting my No. 18, This Winter, a novella which takes place 1/2 way through Heartstopper Volume 4. This is my eleventh ROOT for 2025.

My review of Heartstopper Volume 5:

I felt this, the latest and planned penultimate entry, was the weakest - but then I thought the period it covers was not so interesting in the TV series as well. The book did at least nod in the direction of explaining some of the scenes I found unsettling in the TV series.

My review of The Ship Who Sang:

As I came to the fourth and longest chapter in this book, I realised I really didn't care enough to go on. DNF

Good. one more active DNFer.

My No. 19 is Solitaire, the novel that started off the whole Heartstopper universe. This is my twelfth ROOT for 2025.

My review of This Winter:

Charlie's very bad Christmas after he gets home as told by him, Tori, and Oliver. As a novella, it was a very quick read, made even more so by the large spacing between lines. I enjoyed it, though.

Wow! How are you reading so many books so quickly?!

>38 handshakes: The Alice Osman ones are all graphic novels or quite short, so each one really only takes a couple of hours, the length of a trip into town or my after-work coffee shop visit, if that.

I cannot find the post in which you mention Martian Chronicles - but I read your brief review. Do these stories all connect? Or are they independent of one another?

>40 EGBERTINA: They are scenes from the history of humanity's interaction with Mars. Some refer back to events in previous stories but after the first 3 or 4 they could mostly be read as standalones set in the same universe.

>41 Robertgreaves: Thank you.. I think I'll try that, slowly.

Starting my No. 20, In the Company of Others by Julie E. Czerneda. This ebook is my thirteenth ROOT for 2025.

My review of Solitaire:

The novel about Tori Spring that inspired Heartstopper.

Is Tori suffering from general teenage angst or actual depression? I'm not sure. I'm also not sure how compatible the book is with Heartstopper, certainly not with the TV but even with the books.

Starting my No. 21, Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of In the Company of Others:

Humanity has been confined to the Solar System and a few severely overcrowded space stations by the Quill. It is rumoured that there was a single survivor of a Quill attack but was there really such a person?

Good world building with an intriguing and exciting story. Two minor complaints: the way the story was slowed down by the romance between Aaron and Gail. I wish the author had chosen a different name for the aliens - I kept imagining people being massacred with obsolete writing implements till she explained the name about half-way through.

>29 Robertgreaves: >the length of a trip into town or my after-work coffee shop visit
This type of reading sounds lovely.

Possible reading plans for February 2025:

Starting my No. 22, The Zero Stone by Andre Norton. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Last Night at the Telegraph Club:

Lily's self-discovery as a Chinese-American lesbian in early 1950s San Francisco.

A map of San Francisco would definitely have helped. Location obviously had an important effect on how Lily was feeling at various points in the story but the street names didn't really help me locate myself in relation to Chinatown or anywhere else. But still an interesting and engaging story. I did spend quite some time unsure whether the title meant yesterday evening or the final appearance/performance.

>46 Robertgreaves: Ooh, I have that same edition of the Kalevala!

Starting my No. 23, Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune. This is my fourteenth ROOT for 2025. It brings the treebook TBR shelf to 33. It fits the CoverCAT and is my book club's choice for February.

My review of The Zero Stone:

Apprentice gemmologist Murdoc Jern's master is killed as a sacrifice. Can Murdoc escape from Koonga and find out who was behind the killing and why?

A strange mixture of fantasy faux-mediaeval tropes (guilds, apprentices, arcane rituals, quests, rings of power) set in a science fiction world of spaceships, spacesuits, interstellar travel, and aliens. There were too many threads left hanging and unexplained. They may be clarified later in the series, but I'm not sure I will bother.

>49 Robertgreaves:

I hope you enjoy the Klune book just as much as I did.

>50 connie53: I've found him a very hit or miss author. I loved The House in the Cerulean Sea (is there anybody who didn't?) but found Wolfsong tedious. The Extraordinaries was good, but the others in that series didn't live up to the promise of the first one.

>51 Robertgreaves: I didn't overly enjoy the Cerulean Sea. I desperately wanted to, but felt all the characters were surface characters. i felt everything was being explained to me; rather than the writing reaching down into me and permitting me to experience it and identify with it. I've had that issue with many modern books and i dont know how to pinpoint the issue - i just recognise it. If I were a better writer, I probably could "peg" it.

Starting my No. 24, The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovitch. This is my fifteenth ROOT for 2025 and brings the treebook TBR shelf to 32. It fits the ColourCAT.

My review of Under the Whispering Door:

After Wallace Price's sudden death from a heart attack he is taken to a tea shop which also serves as a way station preparing ghosts to move on to their next existence.

I laughed. I cried. It didn't quite have the warm fuzzies factor of Cerulean Sea (though cerulean still seems to be one of the author's favourite words) but it was still a delight to read.

Starting my No. 25, Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction by Timothy Gowers. This is my sixteenth ROOT for 2025 and brings the TBR shelf to 31. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of The Masquerades of Spring:

Nightingale on a mission in 1920s New York seeks help from a Wooster-ish school chum.

Great fun. I would like to read the probably fictional books mentioned in the endpapers.

Starting my No. 26, You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction:

The author says in the preface that the book should be accessible to anybody with a maths GCSE. Apparently a maths GCSE is more difficult than a maths O Level. I kept my head above water (I think) till Chapter 6 when we hit geometry, which was my downfall with school maths as well. I did my best but I still don't understand what hyperbolic geometry might be. I just skimmed Chapter 7 on estimates and approximations but re-surfaced with the FAQ in the final chapter, which was more about mathematicians than mathematics.

Starting my No. 27, Gossip from Thrush Green by Miss Read. This ebook is not a ROOT but does fit the AlphaKIT.

My review of You Made A Fool of Death With Your Beauty:

I read the first chapter, explicitly describing Feyi's first sexual encounter since the death of her husband in an accident five years before. Didn't care enough to continue. DNF

My No. 28 is the next in the series is Affairs at Thrush Green. This ebook is not a ROOT but again fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Gossip from Thrush Green:

Life goes on as charmingly as ever in Thrush Green. Modern life inserts itself with the temporary presence of four members of a rock band, two of whom use drugs, but we only hear about it 2nd or 3rd hand. Major changes are ahead though, with two characters talking about retirement and another no longer able to take care of herself.

Starting How To Think Like A Roman Emperor by Donald J. Robertson. This ebook is not a ROOT. I am reading it now for my online reading group.

My review of Affairs At Thrush Green:

Another year passes in Thrush Green. The big changes I was expecting didn't happen but there were some surprises with old cast members returning and new cast members being added.

Also reading my No. 30, The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe. This is my seventeenth ROOT for 2025 and the treebook TBR shelf now has 30 books. It fits the NatureKIT and CoverCAT.

My review of How To Think Like A Roman Emperor:

A biography of Marcus Aurelius interspersed with thoughts of a modern Stoic psychotherapist.

The historical parts were interesting, the self-help ideas of the author less so. The author REALLY doesn't like Hadrian and seems to read the Historia Augusta less critically than most historians.

Starting my No. 31, Dead Man's Folly by Agatha Christie. This ebook is my eighteenth ROOT for 2025. It fits the MysteryKIT.

My review of The Romance of the Forest:

While fleeing Paris, conman La Motte is forced to take under his wing Adeline, on the run from her father, who is trying to force her into becoming a nun.

Although the effects of scenery on people's moods are important all through the book, the author really goes overboard with the travelogue sections of the third volume, apparently based on travel books of the time. This striving for geographical realism is odd given how unrealistic the people are.

Starting my No. 32, 4.50 From Paddington, also by Agatha Christie. This book is not a ROOT. It fits the MysteryKIT.

My review of Dead Man's Folly:

Ariadne Oliver is planning a murder mystery game for a fete and feeling the situation is being manipulated calls on Poirot for help.

Despite the setting being based on Christie's own house and Ariadne Oliver being a self-insert, this story feels rather perfunctory and doesn't stand out.

Starting my No. 33, Arcadia by Iain Pears. This ebook is my nineteenth ROOT for 2025. I'm hoping it will fit the RandomKIT.

My review of 4.50 From Paddington:

Miss Marple's friend Elspeth McGillicuddy actually witnesses a man strangling a woman from her train window but despite her alerting the conductor and the railway authorities no corpse is found until Miss Marples hires her former home help to find the body. The woman is unidentified so who killed her and why?

Looking back I should have known who the murderer was but of course I didn't.

>63 Robertgreaves: I love that Christie is still as fun to read! I started when I was 13 and 40 years later, I still enjoy her and - still can't figure it out!

>64 Cecilturtle: She always manages to surprise me. Occasionally I've worked out who, but had no idea why or how.

Starting my No. 34, The Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot. This ebook is my twentieth ROOT for 2025. It fits the CultureCAT.

My review of Arcadia:

In 1960s Oxford, Henry Lytten, a younger colleague of Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, is amusing his friends with the worldbuilding for Anterwold, the setting for the Story. Then his cat sitter finds what looks like a portal in his cellar. Meanwhile in the 2220s a research station on Mull has made a discovery but is it a way to travel back in time or a way to travel to alternative universes?

Good mental workout following the discussions about the nature of time travel and/or alternative universes and keeping track of all the narrative threads. Even when you think it's all come together there is still one last pleasing revelation.

>65 Robertgreaves: added Arcadia to my reading list. I don't read much fantasy these days, but this sounds really good.
I always enjoy seeing the differences in how we all approach things. You seem so very orderly in your reading whereas I always have a quick and easy book, book club book, interesting but not moving as quickly book, serious informative but moving a lot slower book and one to three others!

>66 ritacate: I do sometimes have more than one book on the go but one is usually short stories or something else easy to pick up and put down. Much more than that and I'll have forgotten what happened by the time I get back to a book.

>67 Robertgreaves: an old boyfriend of mine explained this was a characteristic he saw in his Bohemian female relatives: Saturday morning they'd pick up exactly where they left off Friday evening, no catch up needed despite the 14 hour lapse!

Also reading my No. 35, Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. As a re-read of a book I own, this is my twenty-first ROOT for 2025. I am reading it for the SFFKIT.

I see no reason to change my review of Dead Until Dark

Possible reading for March:

Starting my No. 36, Architecture: A Very Short Introduction by Andrew Ballantyne. This is my twenty-second ROOT for 2025 and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 29. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of The Kalevala:

Finnish national epic telling the story of Väinämöinen, a shaman-type figure, Ilmarinen, a smith, and Lemminkäinen, whose defining feature is his promiscuity, and their trips to the Northland seeking wives and fighting wars.

Thank goodness for the Wikipedia summary of the story because I spent far too much time trying to work out how the episodes all fitted together. It was interesting and I'm glad I've read it but I don't think I would do so again.

Starting The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway. This ebook is my twenty-third ROOT for 2025.

My review of Architecture: A Very Short Introduction:

Building + Culture = Architecture.

The author takes some buildings he sees as iconic (emphasising this is a personal choice which would be different for somebody from a different cultural background) and how the cultural meanings they accumulate make them architecturally significant. An interesting book which could be improved with better pictures as the photos don't really illustrate the points the author is making.

Starting my No. 38, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. This is my twenty-fourth ROOT for 2025 and brings the treebook TBR shelf to 28. I am reading it now for my book club.

My review of The Gone-Away World:

The unnamed narrator is a firefighter in a post-apocalyptic world. In the first chapter he and his crew are called out to a fire, but before they actually get there we switch to the pre-apocalyptic world and move forward to bring us up to where we started and then continue onward.

Up until the big reveal about 2/3 of the way through, we followed some very, very funny detours down various rabbit holes but I don't think the actual story was enough to carry the reader on by itself, particularly as I kept losing track of who was who.

Starting my No. 39, Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith. I am re-reading this ebook but it is not a ROOT.

My review of Remarkably Bright Creatures:

Marcellus, a Giant Pacific Octopus exhibited in an aquarium near Puget Sound, is bored, while Tova , the night cleaner at the aquarium, is working as a form of grief therapy. Together they may be able to resolve each other's problems.

I didn't hate it. I thought it was too obvious too soon who Cameron was, and I wasn't convinced by Marcellus. An octopus POV should be a lot stranger than Marcellus's musings. The story was cute enough to keep me going but it didn't enthuse me.

>70 Robertgreaves: You're so right there, Robert. Charlaine Harris is a fun writer. I loved all her books as far as I read them.

Starting my No. 40, The Vienna Connection by Dick Rosano. This ebook is not a ROOT but it fits the MysteryKIT.

My review of Other Minds, repeated from when I read it before 6 or 7 years ago:

Since celaphods like octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish are about as far from us as you can get in the animal kingdom, Peter Godfrey-Smith uses the differences between them and us to explore the nature of sentience and consciousness and how far back in evolution they can be traced.

I must admit I found the Precambrian and Cambrian a bit of a slog to get through but other parts were fascinating and thought-provoking.

However, there is no excuse these days for an ebook not providing links between the endnotes and the portion of the text being discussed further.

>75 Robertgreaves: >I wasn't convinced by Marcellus. An octopus POV should be a lot stranger than Marcellus's musings
Excellent point! What an interesting aspect that might have added, and a nice pairing with Other Minds.

Starting the next in the series, The Etruscan Connection as my No. 41. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of The Vienna Connection:

Darren Priest, formerly an elite interrogator with the US Army and now a writer for a wine magazine, is asked to look into nefarious goings-on connected with a bank in Vienna.

For almost every bite of food and sip of a drink we are told where Priest was eating or drinking, who the server was, and the precise origin of the wine, beer, or coffee. Even allowing for a drug having been slipped into his morning espresso, this verged on the obsessive. I actually picked up the second in the series first because the setting sounded interesting so I will continue but I'm not sure I would have based on just this story.

Reading Bless Her Dead Little Heart by Miranda James as my No. 42. This ebook is my twenty-fifth ROOT for 2025.

My review of The Etruscan Connection:

While Darren and Alana are on holiday in Italy they get a call from Aggie, whose girlfriend is working on a dig where the archaeologist in charge has been found dead in a trench. Did he fall or was he pushed?

The author obviously has not done his homework about pre-Roman Italy. A relationship between Etruscan and Turkish is a stretch, to put it mildly, and what are wild turkeys doing in Italy some 2000 years before Columbus?

Starting the next in the series, Dead With The Wind, as my No. 43. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Bless Her Dead Little Heart:

An old friend turns up on the Ducote sisters' doorstep, convinced her family are trying to kill her. Unfortunately, the family soon figures out where she's gone and follow, straining the sisters' hospitality to its limits, and that's before the deaths start.

First in a spin-off series. I could definitely have done with a family tree to keep Rosabelle's family straight in my mind.

Next in the series is Digging Up The Dirt as my No. 44. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Dead With the Wind:

The Ducote sisters (and Benjy and the animals) visit their cousin whose granddaughter is getting married but the girl dies during a storm the night before the wedding.

There was a totally unexpected twist near the end but also a trope repeated from the previous book. I'm curious to see if it appears again in the next book.

>81 Robertgreaves: I'm glad I started strong on my ROOTs as every time I catch up on posts I add more (non-ROOT) books to my list! This series sounds right up my alley. Thank you.

>83 ritacate: It's a spin off from the Cat in the Stacks series, which is still going strong, while this Southern Ladies series only ever had 4, the last of which was published in 2017.

>84 Robertgreaves: thank you for telling me there are only four. Knowing up front should prevent some of the disappointment when I get to the end!

Moving on to Fixing To Die, the last in the series, as my No. 45. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Digging Up The Dirt:

Soon after Hadley Partridge inherits the family home from his brother Hamish, a skeleton is found in the grounds. Could it be Hamish's wife, Callie, who disappeared about the same time Hadley left the neighbourhood, and allegedly ran away to join him?

Yet another breathtakingly handsome man causing chaos. We do get to meet a certain feline and his human after being teased with the possibility through most of the book.

Starting my No. 46, All the Horses of Iceland by Sarah Tolmie. This book is not a ROOT but it fits the AlphaKIT and the CoverCAT.

My review of Fixing to Die:

The Ducote Sisters are asked to investigate spooky goings-on at a friend's home. When a fellow-guest is found dead in his bed, was his death caused by the spirit world or something more mundane?

This seems to have been the last in the series, but I have questions about what happened later. Did the Sisters adopt Benjy? Did he go to study at Athena College and meet Charlie and Diesel? (Or were we told in the main series and I've just forgotten?)

Starting my No. 47, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. This is my twenty-sixth ROOT for 2025. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of All the Horses of Iceland:

Novella about an Icelandic trader who travels to Mongolia in the 8th century and returns with a herd of horses led by a white mare.

A fascinating story and great fun exploring the people and places referred to.

Starting my No. 48, On the Enemy's Side by Hamour Baika. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the ColourCAT.

My review of Childhood's End (unchanged since I last read it):

The Overlords take over Earth, ushering in a golden age. But what is their purpose?

Classic SF novel. Obviously dated in some respects, but still a great story.

Also reading my No. 49, Posted To Death by Dean James. This ebook is not a ROOT.

Next in the series, Faked to Death, is my No. 50. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Posted To Death:

An American vampire moves to a small English village. Thanks to medication which reduces his "condition" to a mild allergy to garlic and sunlight and eliminates the need to drink blood he can fit in with his new surroundings. Then the local postmistress is murdered and he is drawn into the investigation.

It had its moments, but not as good as the author's books set in the American South. Perhaps you need to be part of a culture yourself for this kind of humour to work.

Next in the series, Decorated to Death is my No. 51. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Faked to Death:

Simon and Giles (still not a couple) attend a literary conference where an imposter turns up claiming to be the person behind one of Simon's pen names. When the imposter is murdered, Simon and Giles investigate.

Fun, but I'm continuing mainly because I want to know when Simon and Giles will get together and when Simon will tell Giles the truth about himself.

My review of On the Enemy's Side:

Two gay men find love during the Iranian Islamic Revolution.

Difficult to read at times because the stakes if they were caught were so high. Another thing that stuck out to me in the flashbacks to the men's earlier lives was what a violent society Iran was even before the Revolution. The author has a playlist for the book on YouTube with some surprising choices, which was interesting to listen to while reading.

Starting the last in the Simon Kirby-Jones series, Baked to Death as my No. 52. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Decorated to Death:

A very unpleasant TV home makeover star comes to Blitherington Hall and is not surprisingly murdered. Unfortunately the only person without an alibi is Lady Prunella.

It had its amusing moments but the ending was a bit too Agatha Christie-ish, with a denouement as the suspects gather in the drawing room to hear the detective solve the case. Why read a pale imitation when you can read the original?

Also read The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin as my No. 53. This was my twenty-seventh ROOT for 2025 and brings the treebook TBR shelf to 28. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review:

Interesting and thought-provoking essay by Ursula K. Le Guin accompanied by a foreword by Donna Haraway that I didn't understand at all.

Currently reading Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune as my No. 54. This book brings the treebook TBR shelf to 27 and fits the CultureCAT.

My review of Baked to Death:

When a group of re-enactors turns up for a week-long festival one of the candidates for their leader is murdered by eating a poisoned fig pastry. Meanwhile Simon has his own problems with the arrival of his academic and vampiric mentor, who may be a suspect.

Nice final novel wrapping up various plot lines, though some threads are still left hanging. But I gather there are some short stories out there so maybe we do get some answers. Oh, and I'm pleased to say I got the who right even if i didn't get the why.

After reading the first couple of chapters of Somewhere Beyond the Sea, I decided to re-read The House on the Cerulean Sea as my No. 55, and my twenty-eighth ROOT (with SBYtS as my twenty-ninth ROOT).

Possibilities for April reading:

Starting my No. 56, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan. This is my thirtieth ROOT for 2025. I am reading it now for my online Reading Group.

My review of Somewhere Beyond the Sea:

In the guise of concern for their welfare, DICOMY makes use of another inspection to try to take control of the children in Marsyas.

More heavy-handed and preachy than its predecessor but this doesn't quite overwhelm the whimsical tone which kept me reading.

Starting my No. 57, Hunger by Knut Hamsun. It is my thirty-first ROOT for 2025 and brings the treebook TBR shelf to 26. It fits the AlphaKIT, the CoverCAT, and the ColourCAT.

My review of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters:

Starting my No. 58, Romancing the East by Jerry Hopkins. This is my thirty-second ROOT for 2025 and brings the treebook TBR shelf to 27. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Hunger:

An unnamed narrator wanders the streets of 1880s Kristiana (Oslo) as an impoverished freelance writer suffering hallucinations and physical and mental weakness while on the verge of starving to death.

Personally, I would have given up long before I got to that stage, but that may explain why the author won the Nobel Prize for Literature and I didn't.

>101 Robertgreaves: Love your comment!

Starting my No. 59, The Weapon Shops of Isher by A. E. Van Vogt. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Romancing the East:

Brief sketches of Western writers who have set books in Asia over the last 150-odd years. Each one has a quick bio, a summary of their main works and the setting and whether a literary pilgrimage to the setting is still possible.

It wasn't horrible but there were disappointingly few books to add to my wishlist. The book was poorly edited with what appeared to be lines missing and sentences that should have been simple but had to be read several times to be understood.

Starting my No. 60, Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of The Weapon Shops of Isher:

The weapon shops are the only recourse against the tyranny of the Isher empire although the weapons they sell can only work as a defence against physical attack on their owner.

I was a great fan of the author as a teenager - especially the Null-A books - so I must have read this before, but I had no memory of the story although the title sounded vaguely familiar. I expect I enjoyed it then, mainly because I was unaware of certain controversies it seems to be playing into. Now, not so much.

Starting my No. 61 Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan. I am reading it now for my online reading group.

My review of Love In The Big City:

From his mid/late 30s Young looks back on his relationships as a young-ish gay man in Seoul.

Rather rambling narrative that frequently left me waiting for something to happen but even when it did, it didn't make much impact and was referred to so obliquely that it took me a while to realise what he meant.

No idea why it was longlisted for the International Booker.

Starting my No. 62, The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. I am re-reading this ebook for my book club, but it is not a ROOT.

My review of Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse from last time I read it:

Percy Jackson finds the Garden of the Hesperides in San Francisco.

He's not very bright, our Perce, is he?

>106 Robertgreaves: Best review ever 🤣

Starting my No. 63, The Serpents of Harbledown by Edward Marston. This ebook is not a ROOT. I am reading it now for the RandomKIT.

My review of The Crossing Places from the last time I read it (in 2018):

Starting my No. 64, A Capitol Death by Lindsey Davis. This ebook is my thirty-fourth ROOT for 2025. I'm reading it now for the RandomKIT.

My review of The Serpents of Harbledown:

When the Domesday Commissioners arrive in Canterbury they find that a charitable young woman has been found dead, apparently from a snake bite. A monk who ministers to lepers insists she was strangled first and then bitten afterwords. Then the monk himself is found poisoned.

I was nearly right. My choice of murderer turned out to be the murderer's chief henchman. The book was rather slow at first but the last third was very exciting.

Starting my No. 65, Smoke in the Wind by Peter Tremayne. This ebook is my thirty-fifth ROOT for 2025. It fits the AlphaKIT and the RandomKIT.

My review of A Capitol Death:

When the transport organizer for Domitian's Triumph falls to his death down the Tarpeian Rock, a witness comes forward and claims somebody was with him at the time he fell. The case is passed to Flavia Albia to investigate.

I had forgotten just how funny Albia's internal monologue can be.

Starting my No. 66, Fascism: A Very Short Introduction by Kevin Passmore. This is my thirty-sixth ROOT for 2025 and brings the treebook TBR shelf to 29. It fits the AlphaKIT and the ColourCAT.

My review of Smoke in the Wind:

A monastery seems to have been deserted by its monks in the middle of their evening meal, with no sign of what happened or why they should have done so. Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf, driven ashore in South Wales on their way to Canterbury are asked to investigate while the local Brother Meurig investigates the nearby rape and murder of a young woman.

Again, I fingered an accomplice as the murderer quite early on, but I had no idea how all the different events were tied together.

Starting my No. 67, The Cruellest Month by Hazel Holt. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Fascism: A Very Short Introduction:

The author admits in the first chapter that fascism is difficult to define and that different characteristics will be emphasised depending on what definition one chooses. The characteristics he chooses to highlight have some uncomfortable resonances this year (2025) considering this book dates from 2014.

He then looks at what might be considered proto-fascist movements before WW1 before moving on to the classic Italian fascism of the interwar years and its similarities and differences with Nazism and authoritarian movements in other parts of Europe. Lastly he considers whether right wing movements after WW2 and into the 21st century really count as fascist and whether it is a meaningful pejorative.

>112 Robertgreaves: my husband is an avid student of history and has mentioned to me that it's interesting fascists were initially said to be slightly right of Nazis, and somehow that has translated to fascism is far right.

And in general...I need to stay away from your page. Every time I read your posts, my TBR grows exponentially!

>114 ritacate: {evil villain cackle}

Starting my No. 68, Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger. This ebook is my thirty-seventh ROOT for 2025. It fits the SFFKIT, the RandomCAT and the ColourCAT.

My review of The Cruellest Month:

Staying with an old friend in Oxford, Mrs Malory finds that her godson is more upset than his family realises about having found a body, crushed under falling bookshelves, because he believes it was no accident. She decides to investigate.

I would have loved the setting and characters in this cozy when it first came out around 1990 but now I found it rather meh, especially in its characterisation of gay men.

Starting the next in the series, Manners and Mutiny as my No. 69. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the SFFKIT.

My review of Waistcoats and Weaponry:

Siddheag receives distressing news about her pack and Sophronia and the other girls put their training into practice to help her and incidentally foil the latest plot of the Picklemen.

It's been 3 years or more since I read the previous installments so I was a bit hazy on the details of what had happened. Fortunately there is fan wiki to remind me who was who. Great fun.

Starting my No. 70, One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. This ebook is my thirty-eighth ROOT for 2025. It fits the AlphaKIT and the RandomKIT and possibly the NatureCAT.

My review of Manners and Mutiny:

After a pre-Christmas trip to London, staying with her sister, and Christmas itself, Sophronia and friends return to the school for the New Year Tea only to find that it has been infiltrated by Picklemen.

A satisfactory wrap-up to the series with quite a few surprises on the way.

Next in the series is my No. 71, When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. This ebook is not a ROOT. It fits the AlphaKIT, the April RandomCAT and the May RandomCAT.

My review of One Good Turn:

Jackson Brodie steps in to help defuse a road-rage incident in Edinburgh. He, the rager and the ragee, and another witness bounce off each other in a variety of ways over the next few days as various storylines come together.

Funny in places and a few too many flashbacks to characters' early lives, but still good to see how it all fitted together. Martin was the character I identified with most strongly and I wish his story hadn't concluded quite the way it did.

Today (April 30) is my 19th LTversary and 10 May is my 8th Litsyversary.

In celebration, I bought the following books:

The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
Look Up Handsome by Jack Strange
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
Split Second by David Baldacci
Stone's Fall by Iain Pears

Possible reading for May 2025:

Happy Thingaversary, Robert! Enjoy your book haul.

>121 MissWatson: Thank you, Birgit.

Starting my No. 72, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. This is my thirty-ninth ROOT for 2025. It fits the RandomCAT and the AlphaKIT.

My review of When Will There Be Good News?:

16 year-old Reggie drops out of school after her mother's death but is still studying for her A levels with tutoring from a retired teacher while she's working as a part-time mother's help (aka nanny) for a doctor. But then her employer disappears. Meanwhile, a train crashes on the line just behind her tutor's house, leaving an injured Jackson Brodie with amnesia.

Rather darker than the earlier books in the series, especially in the middle part when the title just about summed my feelings up. Although I was rooting for Reggie, it was impossible to shake off a feeling of inevitable catastrophe.

Starting my No. 73, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. This brings the treebook shelf to 28 and is my fortieth ROOT for 2025.

My review of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow:

While visiting her sister in hospital in 1987 Sadie meets Sam, who is recovering from a car accident. They bond over computer games and we follow the ebbs and flows of their friendship over the next quarter of a century.

Enjoyable even for someone like me who knows almost nothing about computer gaming. I recognised some of the names of the earlier games but that was about as far as I could go.

Also reading my No. 74, The Long List Anthology Volume 7, edited by David Steffen. This ebook is not a ROOT.

Also reading my No. 75, Death on Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo. This ebook is not a ROOT. It fits the MysteryKIT, the ColourCAT, and the AlphaKIT.

Starting my No. 76, The Village of Eight Graves, also by Seishi Yokomizo. This ebook is not a ROOT but does fit the MysteryKIT.

My review of Death on Gokumon Island

Kosuke Kindaichi comes to Gokumon Island in the aftermath of WWII with the news of the death of Chimato Kito on board a vessel repatriating Japanese soldiers. The village is then rocked by the murders of Chimato's sisters and as a stranger in town, Kosuke finds himself one of the chief suspects.

The background of immediate post War Japan was interesting but although the how and the who was ingeniously worked out by Kosuke I found out the motivation too implausible. I wonder if it struck the original Japanese readers that way.

Next in the series is my No. 77, The Inugami Curse. This ebook is not a ROOT but does fit the MysteryKIT and the ColourCAT.

My review of The Village of Eight Graves:

Tatsuyada, whose mother died when he was 7 and who was brought up by his stepfather, discovers that he is a member of a rich family. Now his bio-family want him to come and claim his rightful position as the heir.

Secret passages, a hidden treasure, and a family curse all have a part to play in this intriguing mystery. This book reads more like a 19th century novel than the author's other books I've read, but I don't know if that's because of the change to first person POV, a reflection of a different style in the Japanese, or due to the different translator.

Currently reading my No. 78, The Social Life of Books by Abigail Williams. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the ColourCAT.

I finished The Inugami Curse while I was in hospital having my appendix out as it was pretty close to bursting and had already badly infected my colon. My review:

Immediately after the end of WWII, the patriarch of a rich Japanese family dies leaving a will designed to set his three grandsons and their mothers at odds with each other. The bodies of members of the family start piling up. Can Kosuke Kindaichi solve the case while there are still some heirs left?

There is a family tree supplied but long before I got to that point I'd resorted to making one myself to keep everybody and their relationships straight in my head. Attitudes in 1940s Japan were of course very different from the 2020s Anglosphere so at some points one just has to accept them as they were. But it's worth it for this look at a society with different family structures, speech patterns, and relationships to what we may be used to.

>128 Robertgreaves: Well, that's scary! Good to know you're on the mend.

>128 Robertgreaves: yikes Robert, I'm glad you're recovering, that doesn't sound pleasant at all!

>128 Robertgreaves: wishing you a quick recovery.

Thank you all

>128 Robertgreaves: I hope everything is well now!

>128 Robertgreaves: Yikes! Hope you're feeling much better soon!

>101 Robertgreaves: hahaha i love this.

Starting my No. 79, Under Vesuvius by John Maddox Roberts. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of The Social Life of Books:

The author uses diaries, library records, and other papers as well as elocution guids to reconstruct who was reading what in the 18th century and how. Reading was much more of a shared activity with people reading aloud to each other from newspapers, periodicals, non fiction, joke books, and religious works, and a good reading voice was essential. Even with the rise of the novel during this time, reading was much more fragmentary with people reading extracts to elicit emotional responses rather than complete novels such as Behemoths like "Clarissa" or the more reasonably sized "Tom Jones".

Fascinating.

Starting the next in the series, The Year of Confusion as my No. 80. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Under Vesuvius:

When a priest's daughter is murdered in the luxury resort of Baiae, local opinion fixes on the son of a Numidian slave trader as the culprit. Decius Caecilius Metellus thinks the young man is innocent but he only has a couple of days before the trial, which is certain to find him guilty.

As usual great twisty fun much enhanced by Metellus's comments on the action as asides in the narration.

Possible reading for June:

>128 Robertgreaves: Glad to know you are better.

>139 mnleona: Thanks mnleona.

Starting my No. 81, The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. This ebook is not a ROOT. I am reading it now for my book club and it fits the NatureCAT.

My review of The Year of Confusion:

One of the astronomers helping Julius Caesar with his reform of the Roman calendar is found murdered. Caesar takes this personally and orders Decius Caecilius Metellus to investigate.

Liberal use of famous names as red herrings made this, the last book in the series, even more fun. I accidentally skipped the penultimate volume so I still have that to look forward to as well as some short stories.

Starting my No. 82, Schopenhauer: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Janaway. This is my forty-first ROOT for 2025 and brings the treebook TBR shelf to 27. I am reading it now for the AlphaKIT.

My review of The Island of Sea Women:

We follow the ups and downs of the relationship of two haenyeo (sea women) played out against a backdrop of Korean history from 1938 to the present day (2008).

As someone with only vague knowledge of the barest outline of Korean history (Japanese occupation, Korean War, brutal dictatorship, democracy), I found that aspect of the book very interesting. I don't think I'd ever heard of the April 3rd Incident, which plays a pivotal role in the book. The look at the traditional way of life of the haenyeo was also fascinating. In fact, for me, the background information was so interesting it overshadowed the main story of the two main characters' relationship, which I'm not sure I would have read if it had been transposed into a more familiar social and historical environment.

Starting my No. 83, Other Worlds, Other Gods, edited by Mayo Mohs. As a re-read this is my forty-second ROOT for 2025 and fits the SFFKIT.

My review of Schopenhauer: A Very Short Introduction:

I knew nothing about Schopenhauer going in, and if asked I would probably have guessed that he was a composer. I didn't really understand the explanation about Schopenhauer's theory of the Will as the meaning seemed to slip and slide about and just as I thought I was beginning to understand it the concept changed. I don't know who was at fault, me, the author, or Schopenhauer.

So glad you received treatment and are better!

They didn't keep me in hospital for long - I was discharged within 48 hours of the actual operation. They just told me to go home and rest for a week. Then I had a follow-up appointment and they said I could go back to work, but just take note of what my body tells me. I get the odd twinge and I feel sleepy all the time but otherwise as good as new.

Starting my No. 84, Foundation by Isaac Asimov. As a re-read, this is my forty-third ROOT for 2025.

My review of Other Worlds, Other Gods:

A book of SF short stories with religious themes written between 1940 and 1970. It has one of my favourite of such stories, Arthur C. Clarke's "The Nine Billion Names of God", which I still think has one of the best last sentences ever. All of the stories were interesting enough to hold my attention without being too demanding. Just what I was looking for.

Of course it is noticeable from a 2020s standpoint what or rather who is left out of this collection of 13 stories, but I don't know which of these stories I would omit to make room for other voices.

>144 Robertgreaves: Good news! Your immune system is doing hero's work in fighting infection and healing tissues.

>144 Robertgreaves: So glad to hear this!

Starting my No. 85, Since My Last Confession by Scott Pomfret. This ebook is not a ROOT but it does fit the ColourCAT and the AlphaKIT.

My review of Foundation (repeated from the last time I read it):

Hari Seldon uses the statistical techniques of psychohistory to foresee the coming collapse of the Galactic Empire and starts a Foundation which will help shorten the coming period of barbarism since the collapse of the Empire is now inevitable. We observe the course of history through a series of snapshots in the first couple of centuries of the Foundation's existence.

A very quick read. 60 years on some features of Asimov's galactic civilisation are more obviously firmly rooted in the America of the 1940s and 1950s when the Foundation trilogy was written. Asimov's debts to Gibbon are also obvious. Nevertheless, he expertly sucks the reader in for the ride. Great fun.

Starting my No. 86, Deep Wheel Orcadia by Harry Josephine Giles. This is my forty-fourth ROOT of 2025. The treebook TBR shelf now sits at 26. It fits the CoverCAT.

My review of Since My Last Confession:

The author's account of how as an adult his Catholicism re-asserted itself and what that meant as the Church hierarchy threw itself into the fight against even secular civil gay marriage in the mid 2000s.

In the beginning I thought the author was trying a bit too hard to be witty but once he settled down, this became an interesting and readable account of a tumultuous time. The book dates from 2008 and it does show sometimes with its cultural references to celebs I'd forgotten about if indeed I was ever aware of them. I would read another edition with a retrospective afterword as a properly edited ebook - this one had far too many OCR mistakes.

Starting my No. 87, Blood Code by Neil S. Plakcy. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the MysteryKIT.

My review of Deep Wheel Orcadia:

This Orcadian verse SFF novel with accompanying standard southern English version tells the story of a student returning to a space station from her art studies who forms a relationship with a visitor to the station.

While it was fun matching up the two versions and listening to the audiobook on Everand, there seemed to be a lot missing from the actual story which suddenly just stopped in the middle of the action. A disappointment.

Starting my No. 88, The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho. It fits the AlphaKIT and the CultureCAT.

My review of Blood Code:

The CEO of an AI start-up specialising in translating medical research into Asia-Pacific languages is found murdered outside his office. Did somebody object to the business or was it something more personal? Kimo and Ray investigate.

I put two and two together very early on and got somewhere in the region of four and a half. Kimo's personal life is interesting without straying into soap opera territory or bashing us over the head with politics.

Starting my No. 89, Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. This ebook is not a ROOT. I am reading it now in memory of my uncle who died last week. This is the earliest book which I remember as being my own and was a present from him. I probably had books before this (school readers and such), but if I did have ones before this I don't remember them. Since this is an ebook, it's obviously not the one he gave me.

My review of The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water:

A nun joins a group of "roving contractors" who are on their way to make a delivery while avoiding bandits and mata (some sort of paramilitary secret police?).

I enjoyed this stand alone novella, though it did feel more like an incident taken from a much longer work. If that longer work exists, I would definitely read it.

Starting my No. 90, When The Saints Go Marching In by Anthony Bidulka. This ebook is not a ROOT but it does fit the MysteryKIT.

My review of Five on a Treasure Island:

Children plus dog explore the island in the cove where one of them lives and look for treasure.

Pure nostalgia with the book which is my earliest memory of owning a book.

I'm a little late to the party but I'm glad you're doing OK now! Your ability to read as much as you do is highly admirable! How do you do it?!

>153 handshakes: Thanks for dropping by. I am fortunate in that I have a lot of time at work when I am on call but there isn't much happening.

My review of The Long List Anthology Volume 7 edited by David Steffen.

An anthology for dipping into rather than reading right through. Like most anthologies, the stories vary in quality but there were definitely some whose authors I'd like to read more by.

Starting the next and presumably the last (2014) in the series, The Women of Skawa Island as my No. 91. This ebook is not a ROOT. Again, it fits the MysteryKIT.

My review of When the Saints Go Marching In:

Intelligence agent Adam Saint returns from a mission to devastating personal news. He resigns from the agency but finds he needs to put his skills to work again.

At the beginning I thought this was going to be a bit of a cliche with a deus ex machina at the end, but then it took off in all sorts of unexpected directions. Lots of fun.

Starting my No. 92, Six Tudor Queens: Anna of Kleve Queen of Secrets by Alison Weir. This is my forty-fifth ROOT for 2025. It fits the AlphaKIT and the ColourCAT.

My review of The Women of Skawa Island:

Three women and a boy are found shipwrecked on a small island in the South Pacific. They refuse to leave without someone from the CDRA. Adam Saint takes on the mission with the help of his sister and his nephew.

Plenty of twists and turns in another thriller. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger but since the book was published 11 years ago, I don't suppose we'll find out what happens next.

Starting my No. 93, The Vanishers' Palace by Aliette de Bodard. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Six Tudor Queens: Anna of Kleve Queen of Secrets:

Fictionalised biography of Henry VIII's fourth wife.

Since Anna was only married to Henry for about six months, there doesn't seem to be that much about her in the historical record so the author ekes it out with a love affair which she admits in an afterword is purely fictional. The author does go on to say that based on some remarks Henry made something of the sort could be a possible reason for his distaste for her as a wife despite their generally friendly relations after the marriage was annulled. There is a huge cast, so I was glad of the list of characters at the back of the book, though listing them in order of appearance rather than alphabetically made it less user-friendly than it could have been.

>152 Robertgreaves: >Pure nostalgia with the book which is my earliest memory of owning a book.
Oh that's wonderful. I've recently thought to re-read one in the Bobbsey Twins series, which are probably the first books I owned.

Starting my No. 94, The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman. This ebook is my forty-sixth ROOT for 2025. It fits the ColourCAT and the AlphaKIT.

My review of In The Vanishers' Palace:

A sapphic retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in a Vietnamese culture in a world plagued with mutant viruses unleashed by the Vanishers.

Disappointing. I spent too much of the time trying to understand what was actually happening while the author concentrated on physical descriptions and emotional states.

Starting my No. 95, Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel. This ebook is my forty-seventh ROOT for 2025. I am reading it now for my book club.

My review of The Case Against Reality:

Arguments from evolutionary biology and quantum physics that we do not perceive reality anything like as it is.

I managed to keep my head above water till we got to the use of game theory and statistics to show that evolution drives us towards useful perceptions (what increases or decreases our genes' chances of making it into the next generation) rather than accurate ones and in fact eliminates accurate perception. At that point, I just had to take the author's word for it. But given that as an assumption, the rest of the book was reasonably plain sailing. Our brains apparently create not only the obvious candidates such as colour and taste but even the basic framework of time and space and the objects they contain. What we see is not the actual things in themselves but something more akin to the icons on a desktop which we can manipulate to get the results we want.

The author does have an excessive penchant for TLA and there are references to a colour insert which doesn't seem to be included in the ebook version but I found the book enjoyably stimulating and was inspired to view his TED Talk.

Possible reading for July 2025

Starting my No. 96, Instant Karma by David Michie. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the ColourCAT.

My review of Eight Months on Ghazzah Street:

Frances Shore flies to Jeddah to join her husband who is working there as an architect in the 1980s. Isolated by the strictures Saudi Arabia places on women and the lack of anything in common with other expat wives and her neighbours, she descends into paranoia - but perhaps they really are out to get her.

Beautifully descriptive writing but I didn't really feel engaged by it apart from a few chuckles at the beginning as I recognised a few situations and characters from living abroad in the 1980s.

Starting my No. 97, Hobbes: A Very Short Introduction by Richard Tuck. This is my forty-eighth ROOT for 2025 and brings the treebook TBR shelf down to 24.

My review of Instant Karma:

What would happen if the karmic effects of our actions appeared almost immediately? When this becomes a reality, Lama Tashi, who lives in a small town in Colorado where he runs meditation classes, guides those ready to hear his message through the consequences.

A quick and easy read, taking pot shots at some obvious targets. However, it never approached the central question, do I get the karmic benefits if my motive for giving to eg a homeless person is to obtain the benefits for myself rather than out of compassion to help the homeless person? By not dealing with this point, the author gives the impression that I would get the benefits, which seems unsatisfactory.

Starting my No. 98, Daughters of Rome by Kate Quinn. This ebook is a re-read and therefore my forty-ninth ROOT for 2025. I am reading it now for my online reading group. It also fits the ColourCAT.

My review of Hobbes: A Very Short Introduction:

It does what it says on the tin, with a first chapter on Hobbes's life and times putting him in his intellectual context, followed by an exploration of his thought, and then how some other philosophers have reacted to him.

The first chapter was interesting and easy to follow but I did struggle a bit more with the second and third chapters.

Starting my No. 99, Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. This ebook is my fiftieth ROOT for 2025. It fits the CultureCAT and the ColourCAT.

My review of Daughters of Rome from last time I read it (2017):

Four female cousins and their relatives endure the Year of Four Emperors.

Thrills and spills as the four cousins navigate personal and political turmoil during this tumultuous year. Absolutely unputdownable.

Starting my No. 100, Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames by Lara Maiklem. This ebook is not a ROOT. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Heat and Dust:

In the 1970s, an unnamed narrator goes to India, using diaries and letters to follow in the footsteps of her grandfather's first wife, who caused a 1920s scandal.

The dual timeline with the present mirroring the past was effective. The book wasn't terrible by any means, but I can't see why it won the Booker.

Hi Robert, so sorry I have been neglecting lots of threads. Trying to make up for that and popping in to see what you have been reading. A LOT I see. Good Job!

>168 connie53: Thanks for dropping by, Connie.

Starting my No. 101, Finna by Nino Cipri. This ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Mudlarking: Lost and Found on the River Thames:

Travelling downriver from the Tidal Head at Teddington Lock to the Estuary, the author reminisces about her experiences as a mudlark and memorable pieces she has found, with their historical context in so far as it can be known or imagined.

Interesting but not as gripping as I hoped. It confirmed that I don't like lists.

Starting my No. 102, The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith. This ebook is my fifty-first ROOT for 2025. It fits the AlphaKIT and the MysteryKIT.

My review of Finna:

An IKEA-esque store contains wormholes/maskhål which may carry unwary shoppers into alternative universes from which hapless junior staff must then retrieve them - or a reasonable equivalent.

In the first chapter or so I found it too reminiscent of Horrorstör but then it took off in its own direction and the story turned out to be great fun. I wasn't so keen on Jules and Ava's continual rehashing of their recently ended relationship but I will definitely be keeping an eye open for the next in the series.

Starting the next in the series, The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection, as my No. 103. This ebook is not a ROOT. It fits the MysteryKIT.

My review of The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party:

Mma Ramotswe takes on the case of a farmer whose cattle are being mutilated, and Mma Makutsi prepares for her wedding to Phuti Radiphuti.

I always enjoy visiting Botswana in the company of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

I always enjoy MMA Ramotswe's Botswana too. They're my guilty pleasure.

I always enjoy MMA Ramotswe's Botswana too. They're my guilty pleasure.

>172 Jackie_K: I don't feel the slightest bit guilty about them :-)

Starting my No. 103, The Year's Best Science Fiction 26th Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois. This ebook is my fifty-second ROOT for 2025.

My review of The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection:

A generous donor to the orphan farm is putting unacceptable conditions on his donations. Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi investigate his reasons. One of the Speedy Motors apprentices is arrested for handling stolen goods. And the ladies get the chance to meet a very famous person.

I did worry just how disappointed Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi were going to be by their special guest.

Starting my No. 104, The Last Word by Elly Griffiths. This is a library book and so not a ROOT.

Starting my No. 105, Shylock Is My Name by Howard Jacobson. This is a library book and so not a ROOT.

My review of The Last Word:

In Shoreham, Edwin and Natalka are asked to look into the deaths of writers by relatives unsatisfied by the official explanation of death by natural causes. Are these cases related to some of Harbinder Kaur's cases up in London?

Harbinder was very much taking a back seat in this one, with just a few perfunctory appearances. Big changes in the Shoreham characters' lives gave the book an air of a wrapping up of the series.

Starting my No. 106, Long Way Down: the Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds and Danica Novgorodoff. This ebook is not a ROOT. I am reading it now for my book club, and it also fits the AlphaKIT.

Currently reading my No. 107 (I miscounted, actually 108), Dog of Thieves by Neil S. Plakcy. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the AlphaKIT and the MysteryKIT.

My review of Long Way Down:

In the lift down to the ground floor a boy intent on revenge for the death of his older brother meets the ghosts of figures from his past and explores the chain of violence that led him to this point.

Bleak.

>180 Robertgreaves: That sounds not nice to read. A bit tedious I would think.

>182 Robertgreaves: I wouldn't have chosen it but it's for my book club. It had a lot of good reviews and won various awards, but it didn't really have that much of an impact on me.

>182 Robertgreaves: I would do that for my book club too, Robert.

My review of Dog of Thieves by Neil S. Plakcy:

Steve Levitan finds problems brewing at work when booty from a museum robbery is found during a demonstration of sniffer dogs' capabilities and at home when the complex's HOA has to deal with encroaching tree roots.

Another enjoyable romp with Steve and Rochester. The murder doesn't happen until almost 3/4 of the way through, so very cozy.

Possible reading for August:

Starting my No. 109, Hiding the Past by Nathan Dylan Goodwin. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Shylock Is My Name:

Modern re-telling of "The Merchant of Venice" transposed to Cheshire explores antisemitism but I was never really sure whether Shylock was really there or just a mental construct of Simon Strulovitch's.

Starting the next in the series, The Lost Ancestor. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Hiding the Past:

A client engages Morton Farrier's services in the morning but is dead by nightfall, apparently from suicide. The client's ex agrees to continue with Morton's services on behalf of their son. But how did the deceased, who lived in comparatively humble circumstances, come up with the enormous fee, way beyond any amount Morton could have reasonably expected?

It didn't really pull me in so it took a while to finish this one. But it was interesting enough to want to make me want to read on, more for the side characters than the main duo.

Starting my No. 111, Family Bashings by Joseph R. G. DeMarco. This ebook is not a ROOT but fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of The Lost Ancestor:

Morton Farrier is hired to find out what happened to a dying man's great-aunt, who disappeared in 1911 only to reappear briefly at his grandmother's funeral in 1962.

I worked out the basics of what had happened in 1911 quite early on but the details of the present-day coverup were beyond my little grey cells. The side characters I enjoyed in the first story were offstage for this installment. The next in the series is going on my wishlist.

Part Two is here