KWharton has been ROOTing in spite of not posting!

Kia ora koutou, hello everyone!

I have been ROOTing but have failed to post here! I have read:
India Gray which gives extra background to Sujata Massey's Perveen Mistry series and follow-up on The Sleeping Dictionary
Lessons in Chemistry which I loved - for some reason I thought it was autobiographical, but it didn't take me too long to figure out that was wrong!
Realms of Glory to add to the Lindchester Chronicles in my ROOT list. I then bought the next book in the series - will it be on my ROOTs next year?

The biggest ROOT of all will take me all year, because I've joined a "slow read" which I'm really enjoying. It's War and Peace! I've joined the slow read on Simon Haisell's excellent Footnotes and Tangents https://footnotesandtangents.substack.com/p/join-a-slow-read, where he gives background and character bios and a reading schedule. I'm quite tempted to do the Wolf Hall slow read at the same time, but I haven't started yet.

Happy reading, everyone.

>1 KWharton: Ambitious and interesting! Welcome, Katherine

Happy reading to you, too.

Welcome to the ROOTers, Katherine. Better late then never.

I was getting a bit behind, but then I went on holiday and had some time to read.

Before my holiday, I read Pedagogy of the Oppressed which I found very hard going, even though it was short.
In May, I read The Heart of a Woman which was brilliant, like all of Maya Angelou's work. I was fascinated to read about her work with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and also her various romances.

During my holiday, I read The Road from Midnight which I thought would be a nice, fluffy read, but it turned quite serious and was also in desperate need of proofreading and someone to work on the flow of the language.

I started reading Sing, Unburied, Sing but then discovered that it was the third in the Bois Sauvage series, so I had to read Where the Line Bleeds first (which wasn't on my ROOT list). I decided that they were more like parallel books than a series going from start to end, so I finished Sing, Unburied, Sing. It was pretty grim, but I enjoyed it. I will probably read book 2 Salvage the Bones next year.

Then I read Et si c'était vrai (also known as If Only it Were True) which was a bit too light and fluffy for me. I decided that I needed to just enjoy it as if it was a silly romcom, and then I found that it has actually been made into a Reese Witherspoon movie! I will still read Vous revoir because I like to find out what happens.

Finally, I read An Equal Music which I enjoyed, but not as much as the critics who wrote the blurbs for it. I was surprised to find out that I hadn't heard of A Suitable Girl the sequel to A Suitable Boy, which I loved, only to find that Vikram Seth is still working on A Suitable Girl.

I left all those books behind at second hand shops or bookshelves along the way, so my husband should be pleased, except that I bought about 9 books along the way! Oh well...

Now I will go and update my ticker, or make a new one if the old one isn't working.

Happy ROOTing, everyone, and congratulations to those who have reached their goal! I'm up to 9 out of 12 now, and I will finish War and Peace at the end of the year, so I think I'll make it.

>5 KWharton: I agree with you about Et si c'était vrai. I read it so long ago, however, I had no idea it was made into a movie and that there is a sequel! Lévy is always nice for a relaxing read.

Hi Katherine. Finally reaching your thread. Your Ticker doesn't show at least I do not see it.

Good to know you are still ROOTing.

I did read Vous revoir... and I don't think I need to read any more Marc Levy for a while! I loved Ou es-tu? when I read it years ago, but most of his other books I've read have had me rolling my eyes. There was a touch of "breasting boobily" in his writing about Lauren (read this if you're not familiar with the expression https://thecurrentmsu.com/2023/07/07/breasted-boobily-to-the-stairs/).

I have just finished More Home Cooking by the wonderful Laurie Colwin. I am not much of a cook, but I can imagine spending time cooking and eating with her would have been a wonderful experience. She's so encouraging and funny as well. I felt sad when I read her thought about spending future Thanksgiving with her child, knowing that Laurie died before the book was published.

I'm on track to finish War and Peace but I'm sticking to a chapter a day, so I'm not there yet.

Thanks for ROOTing with me, friends! See you in 2026.

I'll see if I can get that ticker fixed.

Hi Katherine, Happy Days for you and your family!

I have finished War and Peace and I highly recommend joining the slow read! I'm going to do the Wolf Hall on in 2026.