MissWatson ROOTs again in 2025, part 2

Hello, I am Birgit and I want to try again to reduce my enormous TBR. I managed to read much more in my first year in retirement. I am aiming for 100 ROOTs in 2025.

Here’s the list of ROOTs read this year:

1. Stoner by John Williams
2. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
3. The Looking Glass War by John Le Carré
4. Burmese Days by George Orwell
5. Der Gin des Lebens by Carsten Sebastian Henn
6. Notre-Dame by Thomas W. Gaehtgens
7. Transit by Anna Seghers
8. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
9. Armance by Stendhal
10. The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré
11. Mord im Filmstudio by Beate Maly
12. Die Toten vom Lärchensee by Joe Fischler
13. Die Fieberkurve by Friedrich Glauser
14. Der Wald by Hansjörg Küster
15. The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman
16. Die goldene Stadt by Sabrina Janesch
17. Auf der Suche nach dem Goldenen Mann by Victor Von Hagen
18. Schlumpf Erwin Mord by Friedrich Glauser
19. Der wunderbare Massenselbstmord by Aarto Paasilinna
20. Arsène Lupin, gentleman cambrioleur / Les confidences d’Arsène Lupin by Maurice Leblanc
21. Wellen von Eduard von Keyserling
22. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
23. Die Stimme der Violine by Andrea Camilleri
24. L’homme au ventre de plomb by Jean-François Parot
25. Montezuma’s Revenge by Harry Harrison
26. Peony by Pearl S. Buck
27. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
28. Ungeduld des Herzens by Stefan Zweig
29. Smiley’s People by John le Carré
30. Die Reise nach Petuschki by Wenedikt Jerofejew
31. The Light of Day by Eric Ambler
32. Cause for Alarm by Eric Ambler
33. Der Schachautomat by Robert Löhr
34. Flashman and the Dragon by George MacDonald Fraser
35. Vor dem Spiegel by Wenjamin Kawerin
36. Der amerikanische Traum by Ernst Augustin
37. What Maisie Knew by Henry James
38. Venedig sehen und stehlen by Krischan Koch
39. The wisdom of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton
40. The School at the Chalet by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
41. Cinq-Mars by Alfred de Vigny
42. Die Schatten von La Rochelle by Tanja Kinkel
43. A view of the harbour by Elizabeth Taylor
44. The natural way of things by Charlotte Wood
45. Bretonisches Leuchten by Jean-Luc Bannalec
46. Slow Horses by Mick Herron
47. Claudine à l’école by Willy et Colette
48. Die Gelbe Straße by Veza Canetti
49. Wilde Reise durch die Nacht by Walter Moers
50. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
51. The Life of a Stupid Man by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
52. Weil der Mensch erbärmlich ist by Jeroen Olyslaegers
53. Maurice by E.M. Forster
54. Der abenteuerliche Simplizissimus by Grimmelshausen
55. Die Könige von Köln by Tilman Röhrig
56. Der Sonnenfürst by Tilman Röhrig
57. All Systems Red by Martha Wells
58. The trail of the serpent by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
59. Das Mozart-Mysterium by Christoph Öhm
60. Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
61. La Tapisserie de Bayeux by François Neveux
62. 1066 : Englands Eroberung durch die Normannen by Dominik Waßenhoven
63. A Man and his Cat 8 by Umi Sakurai
64. Das schwebende Schachbrett by Louis Couperus
65. Der Schatz des Preußenkönigs by Christoph Öhm
66. Une vie by Guy de Maupassant
67. The buried giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
68. Les vacances du petit Nicolas by René Goscinny
69. Der Flakon by Hans Pleschinski
70. Töchter by Lucy Fricke
71. Tschick by Wolfgang Herrndorf
72. Selbs Justiz by Bernhard Schlink and Walter Popp
73. Das verbotene Notizbuch by Alba De Céspedes
74. Die Ottonen by Helmut Beumann
75. König Artus by Heinz Ohff
76. Mord im Böhmischen Prater by Beate Maly
77. Pot-Bouille by Émile Zola
78. Modesty Blaise : The Black Pearl by Peter O’Donnell
79. Die Akte Marx by Stephan Brakensiek
80. Mord im Nord-Ostsee-Express by Krischan Koch
81. The silence of the girls by Pat Barker
82. Frau Helbing und der Casanova aus Winterhude by Eberhard Michaely
83. Waxwork by Peter Lovesey
84. Arc de Triomphe by Erich Maria Remarque
85. The Silver Mistress by Peter O’Donnell
86. L’homme de Londres by Georges Simenon
87. Calypso by Ed McBain
88. Irving’s Delight by Art Buchwald
89. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
90. L’île de feu by Alexandre Dumas
91. Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock
92. La femme au collier de velours by Alexandre Dumas
93. The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
94. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
95. Tödliche Oliven by Tom Hillenbrand
96. The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
97. The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
98. Mon ami Maigret by Georges Simenon
99. Au Bonheur des Dames by Émile Zola
100. The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by EA Poe
101. Das Dorf der acht Gräber by Seishi Yokomizo
102. Überfluss by Martin Andersen Nexö
103. Murder in the snow by Gladys Mitchell
104. The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald
105. The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery
106. Mord im Planetarium by Beate Maly
107. Small things like these by Claire Keegan
108. Sunset by Klaus Modick
109. Under a calculating star by John Morressy
110. Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge by Rainer Maria Rilke
111. Empress Dowager Cixi by Jung Chang
112. Die Verschwörung der Krähen by Markus Gasser
113. Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt by Olga Grjasnowa
114. The longest afternoon by Brendan Simms

So, here we are, 11 ROOTs in September and I am close to my goal. The hunt for a new apartment is still ongoing, and it’s a slog. I had no idea the market for rented apartments had become so tight...sigh.

But for now I am looking forward to spend some time with my sister. See you all next week!

Happy new thread Birgit!

Enjoy your holiday. Best of luck with the apartment hunt. You're doing well with the ROOTs!

Happy new thread, Birgit. Hope you enjoy the break with your sister.

You're crushing your goal, Brigit! Good luck apartment hunting!

>4 humouress: >5 Robertgreaves: >6 Cecilturtle: Thank you!

Happy new thread, Birgit! I also wish you well with the apartment hunting. I hope you can find what you like soon.

>8 atozgrl: Thanks, Irene. I viewed one apartment, but it wasn’t suitable. Not enough space for my books. It’s going to take a while.

ROOT #86 is L’homme de Londres by Georges Simenon

This is a very unusual mystery, as it tells the story from the POV of the eyewitness. Short, but it really draws you in.

ROOT #87 is Calypso by Ed McBain

This was an unintentional re-read, as I had forgotten the plot completely. Never mind, time spent with Steve Carella and Meyer Meyer is never wasted.

ROOT #88 is Irving’s Delight by Art Buchwald

I took this down for a re-read becauzse I caught a nasty cold and needed something light, and warm, and short, and this fits the bill perfectly.

ROOT #89 is Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

I picked it up because Cornelia Funke cited from it several times in her Tintenherz. And it helped with the cold, of course.

ROOT #90 is L’île de feu by Alexandre Dumas

This one was heavy going at times because it is incredibly verbose and melodramatic. The young lovers fall ill at the slightest setback and weep like willows, the bad guys are nasty but strangely vague in their motivation, and he often gets carried away in describing his exotic locale, the island of Java. Not one of his better books.

ROOT #91 is Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock

I don’t remember where I read this was Gothic, it doesn’t really have that vibe for me. It is a very readable and enjoyable satire on literary fashions at the time of writing (1818), though, and the characters are mostly based on Shelley and his circle. This may be surprising, given that the author was a close friend of Shelley, but it is not overly harsh or hateful, and Shelley seems to have liked it. And you don’t need to be familiar with the poetry of Keats or Coleridge or Byron to enjoy it. I found this highly entertaining and I am looking foreward to read more by Peacock. He seems to have been a very interesting man himself, but little is known of him, other than his career in the East India Company.
I started reading this in a pretty little hardback copy from 1923, but unfortunately some of the pages have mold on them and I regretfully parted with it. My Penguin edition of it also has Crotchet Castle and a very useful introduction, so that’s a keeper

ROOT #92 is La femme au collier de velours by Alexandre Dumas

This is proper Gothic and a nice, short novel which shows Dumas at his best. He sends young ETA Hoffmann to Paris in 1793, the Terror rules the city, and he has a thoroughly scary adventure there. Of course it’s all invented, but Dumas does it very well.
I found a cash receipt inside which tells me I bought this in June 2001 in Brittany. My oh my.

>16 MissWatson: Sounds delightful!
The last book I picked up, I noticed the receipt was from a bookstore that no longer exists... funny how time flies.

>17 Cecilturtle: It is delightful. Yes, time does fly. Here we are with the clocks turned back and summertime over again...

>12 MissWatson: Wow. I haven't thought of Art Buchwald in a long time!

>19 rocketjk: Hi! I thought I would part with the book after this re-read, but is is still too close to my heart, I find.

>20 MissWatson: I can understand that. My father loved Art Buchwald. I seem to remember that he had a daily column in one of the NY papers, and my father read it with great relish.

>21 rocketjk: I bought this on my first ever trip to the US, a long time ago, and back in those days we didn’t have easy access to the US papers, so I have never seen those columns. Would be interesting to see them...

ROOT #93 is The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

This has been on my shelves for seven years, and now I ask myself why I waited so long? This is historical fiction just as I like it: well researched and well written, full of believable characters and teaching me things I didn’t know before. Now I want to read up on the Dutch East India Company. Two books within a fortnight that are set in Dutch colonies resp. a factory are surely a sign?

>23 MissWatson: I've got Max Havelaar by Multatuli on my treebook TBR shelf. It looks as if it's going to be heavy going so I keep putting it off.

But yes, I really enjoyed The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet as well.

>24 Robertgreaves: Yes, that is one I keep reminding myself of. Probably not a good read in dreary November.

Went to see my youngest sister on her birthday, stayed with my best friend, and then we came north for an end-of-season sale at a Hamburg yarn factory. That’s always dangerous territory! Acquired far too many books along the way, but at least I am now set for long winter evenings.

Only 7 ROOTs left to read, that should be doable this month.

ROOT #94 is Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling

This was a spontaneous re-read. I briefly considered parting with the whole series, but now they have been given another chance. Yes, I could borrow them from the library, there’s little chance they will be decommissioned any time soon, but it is nice to have them standing by on my own shelves for such impulse reading.

ROOT #95 is Tödliche Oliven by Tom Hillenbrand

Another quick read which I had packed for the train ride but didn’t finish. I really likre this series about a restaurant owner/cook in Luxembourg who gets involved in cases of food adulteration. In every book we learn about some product and how it is adulterated or ruined by the food industry, and it can actually be a bit depressing. This time it’s about olive oil, and how some of the fraud is perpetrated.

>28 MissWatson: I'm glad you enjoyed this book too 😃.

>23 MissWatson: hi Birgit. I read that book in 2016 and gave it 4,5 stars.
All books by Mitchell were great reads for me.

Nice to read you had a good holiday with your sister and friend.

I hope you find a fitting appartement soon. I have been thinking of finding one too. But I will postpone that for a few years since I will not part with my books right now.

>29 Ameise1: This will not be my last book by Mitchell.
>30 connie53: Thanks, Connie. The market for rented apartments is pretty tight at the moment, too many people looking. But something will turn up eventually.

>31 MissWatson: I refered to Hillenbrand 😉

>32 Ameise1: Oops, my mistake! Sorry! But you are right, that series is very enjoyable, too. I have liked everything that I have read by him, so far. But I haven’t tackled his forays into SF yet.

>33 MissWatson: Neither do I. I'm not a science fiction fan.

>34 Ameise1: I have seen a new Xavier Kieffer book in the shops, Verhängnisvoller Champagner, I hope he will not completely spoil my enjoyment of the bubbly.

ROOT #96 is The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy

I have owned this for ages, bought on a trip to London when we spent hours browsing second-hand bookshops. Good quality paper, too, unlike paperbacks today, so I regret parting with it – but I can’t see myself re-reading this slowmoving tale of crossed lovers who hardly acknowledge that they are lovers. Their moral dilemmas are hard to understand nowadays. The truly impressive and lasting enjoyment I got from the book was Hardy’s description of nature, of the woods in particular. He must have observed the world around him very closely.

>36 MissWatson: When I was a teenager and read voraciously, we were given a collection of 4 Thomas Hardy's but I couldn't manage to finish any one of them. I skimmed through them but, especially after 'Tess', I've never wanted to pick up another Hardy since.

>36 MissWatson: >37 humouress: We had to read The Mayor of Casterbridge at school. I have a deep loathing of him and all his works.

>37 humouress: >38 Robertgreaves: I relate to that. We read one of his books in my senior English class in high school, and another one in college. I didn't like either book, probably because I didn't like most of the characters in them. I haven't wanted to pick up another Hardy since then.

>37 humouress: >38 Robertgreaves: >39 atozgrl: If I had had to read this in school, it would have put me off the author forever, too. At my advanced age today, I felt a bit mellower towards his convoluted style, but I still won’t make him a favourite author. I may give him another try with Far from the Madding Crowd because I quite liked the movie. The one with Carey Mulligan.

ROOT #97 is The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

Well, this was way more fun! It’s an early Poirot, and I haven’t read many of those, and I was pleasantly surprised. Although I think there’s a bit too much of high society life going on with all this flitting around the Riviera. It often had the vibes of the gentleman-thief Lupin about it.

>41 MissWatson: I remember loving this one and feeling very posh when I travelled on the Blue Train :D

>42 Cecilturtle: Oh, luxury train travel! I loved my first trip on the Eurostar from Cologne to Paris!

Something that struck me rather uncomfortably in this early Poirot novel is the upper classes’ attitude to their servants. Such as renaming a maid Ellen because Helen, her birthname, is "not suitable for someone of her class."

ROOT #98 is Mon ami Maigret by Georges Simenon

It is May in Paris and it’s raining, and Maigret is stuck with an inspector from Scotland Yard (a work exchange) who shadows him, and he is feeling grumpy. Then local police ask his help for a murder on the small island of Porquerolles, on the Riviera, and he and his English colleague board the Blue Train to travel to Nice.
Reading this immediately after Christie’s novel, I had the distinct feeling that Simenon is playing with national stereotypes and detective fashions here, which added a lot of fun. And of course, reading about the sunny Riviera, playing boule and drinking white wine on a café terrasse, considerably brightened my rainy November.

Two more books to reach my goal! Let’s see how long it takes me to finish this...

ROOT #99 is Au Bonheur des Dames by Émile Zola

This one has 622 pages, including notes and preface etc. The story of a department store in Paris in the 1860s, and the economics of this were fascinating. The romance between Denise and Octave Mouret was less so, and I got the distinct impression that Zola wasn’t very interested in that, either.

ROOT #100 is The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe

I found this strange, weird and ultimately very baffling. I didn’t know much about Poe going into this story, and the introduction and notes didn’t help much with it. Other than that the critics and literature studies expert love to play intellectual games with it. So let’s put this down as an interesting experience, but nothing I want to explore deeper.

The good thing of course is that I have now reached my goal!!

>46 MissWatson: Well done!

I haven't read 100 books in all this year, let alone ROOTs (in fact, I don't think I've ever read 100 books in a year).

>47 humouress: Well, I am retired now and have sufficient time for reading. I never came close to this number when I was working.

>46 MissWatson: Congratulations Birgit. Well done

Thank you, Robert!

ROOT #101 is Das Dorf der acht Gräber by Seishi Yokomizo

I picked this up as soon as the paperback was published, as I find the setting (in Japan after the Second World War) unusual. This one is told from the POV of the main suspect in a series of killings, and there is a family secret buried at the heart of it. I am not keeping it, but I am looking foreward to the next one in the series.

ROOT #102 is Überfluss by Martin Andersen Nexö

The author is Danish and best known for Pelle the Conqueror which I would like to read now, after finishing Überfluss. It is a slow-going story about an unhappy young man who is weak and sickly and goes to live in a small town to die, as he believes. We meet some of the inhabitants and watch their lives, and not all of it is misery and alcoholism. Not neary as depressing as I expected.

ROOT #103 is Murder in the snow by Gladys Mitchell

Something completely different, this mystery featuring psychiatrist Mrs Adela Bradley. She visits her nephew at Christmas, a body is found, and then we spend several months finding out what happened. Slow-going, and Mrs Bradley can be enormously irritating.

ROOT #104 is The last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I bought this in London ages ago, and the book has definitely seen too many summers: the pages are brown and the glue is cracking. It slowly disintegrated while I read it. There must be many more like this hidden behind the new ones...
I had no idea that Fitzgerald died before he finished this novel about Hollywood, and it shows. But what is left was quite interesting.

Congrats on reaching your goal, Birgit!.And such a large goal too.

>55 connie53: Hi Connie! Yes, I am feeling quite proud to have achieved my goal. And even more proud that I have parted with quite a few books! I need space...

ROOT #105 is The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

This was a wonderful surprise, and I read it in one go because the pages just flew by. A lovely romance, with a predictable plot, of course, but the characters are simply perfect. I am going to keep this as I can see myself re-reading it whenever I need to brighten my day.

This means I read 11 ROOTs this month, which puts me safely past my goal. On to the next month!

>57 MissWatson: sounds great, Birgit.

>58 connie53: It was, Connie, especially because I didn’t know anything about it. Everything was fresh and new.

>57 MissWatson: I love this book too.

>60 humouress: It is a small jewel, I think.

ROOT #106 is Mord im Planetarium by Beate Maly

The lastest instalment in a series of cozy historical mysteries, set in Vienna, one of my favourite cities. I can’t resist those gorgeous art nouveau covers! But when I have read it, I can happily part with it. They are not very demanding, and as a regular mystery reader you can guess early on what the solution is going to be. Still, they are written competently, and the author does her research.

ROOT #107 is Small things like these by Claire Keegan

This was a five-star read for me. Such a slender book, and yet so full of carefully observed humanity. Just marvellous.

>57 MissWatson: How lovely! It's on my TBR so I may just bump it up for some Christmas reading.

Now I have two more books on my wish-list. The Montgomery and the Keegan book.

>64 Cecilturtle: It is a good book to read in this season.
>65 connie53: I hope you enjoy them as much as I did, Connie.

I went to the bookshop today to buy the one my sister wants for Christmas, and oh, so many enticing new books piled sky-high! I am very proud of myself for having bought only one for myself! I’m afraid I will never run out of ROOTs. They just keep sprouting.

ROOT #108 is Sunset by Klaus Modick

To compensate for the new book, I finished this one. We are in 1956, and Lion Feuchtwanger has just learned that his friend Bert Brecht has died, so he wanders about the house and reminisces about the past. Most of it is about the community of German refugees who washed up in Hollywood, and there are some unexpected comments. I’m not sure if it’s the author or his protagonist who doesn’t like the Manns, especially Erika. For myself, I found Brecht – as he is painted here – obnoxious. And I would really love to learn more about these authors’ wives. It is astounding what they put up with from these primadonnas.

>67 MissWatson: I try to avoid bookstores all the time. But the store I buy my bird-food from is on the same sidewalk as my favorite bookstore. ;-).
So it may happen that I stumble in no matter how hard I try not to.

>69 connie53: "So it may happen that I stumble in no matter how hard I try not to."

This is entirely not your fault.

>70 rocketjk: Thank you, Jerry.

There's something about the paving slabs around bookshops, isn't there? I stumble into them all the time too.

Bookshop owners probably pay council maintenance workers to go away so that they remain a trap for the unwary.

Thanks for the bookstore comments!

ROOT #109 is Under a calculating star by John Morressy

I have owned this for at least forty-five years, probably overlooked because it is a very slim volume. Fun-packed SF adventure that I enjoyed and can now part with.

ROOT #110 is Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge by Rainer Maria Rilke

The first time I tried this, I gave up half way through. This time the weather outside matched the morbidity of the story, and it was a little easier – until I ran against a wall of incomprehensible allusions to French medieval history and poetry. The narrator is a Danish aristocrat, nervous, decadent, given to fears, imaginings and fantasies, and I simply couldn’t relate to this. This is simply not my kind of book.
Now I need something rude and brash!

edited for touchstone

ROOT #111 is Empress Dowager Cixi by Jung Chang

The main facts of Chinese history from the Opium War to the abdication of Puyi were known to me, but of course only through the lens of the (mostly British) Western eyes, and they gave the woman behind the throne a very bad name. Now, with Chinese archives open, the author turns most of these received notions on their heads, and the empress emerges as a most remarkable woman.

>77 MissWatson: Wow; that looks like a good book.

>78 humouress: I liked it immensely.

ROOT #112 is Die Verschwörung der Krähen by Markus Gasser

A novel about the life and times of Daniel De Foe, and if only half of this is true, it makes for an amazing life. I don’t know much about the reign of Queen Anne and must rectify that. De Foe’s wife comes across as another strong, remarkable woman.

ROOT #113 is Der Russe ist einer, der Birken liebt by Olga Grjasnowa

This was an uncomfortable read. The narrator, Mascha, is a young woman who studies to be an interpreter. Her parents immigrated to Germany when the USSR fell apart, as Russian Jews they had priority. But they never truly arrived in their new country, and Mascha feels lost between several cultures and languages. The family survived the violent clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and she has witnessed mobs and killings that have left her traumatised. When her (German) boyfriend dies after a botched operation, she spirals downwards in a way that is painful to see.
There is much in here that is unsettling, it reminds readers how different life is for minorities, and in the present time, things seem to get only worse.

ROOT #114 is The longest afternoon by Brendan Simms

This is a non-fiction account of the action araound La Haye Sainte at the battle of Waterloo. It was a re-read, and I suppose there are future re-reads in store, because I can’t keep all those minute details in my head.

ROOT #115 is Küstenstrich by Benjamin Cors

Second in a series of mysteries set in Normandy. I bought these in the summer we travelled there, and it’s lovely to revisit some favourite places in print. Although the main protagonist, an off-duty bodyguard, irritates me frequently with his psychological problems. In this book, it becomes apparent that the author plans a long story arc covering several books, there is a deep secret waiting to be unburied, so I’ll stick with him to find out what it is.

Congratulations Birgit; you've had a good run of ROOTs. Enjoy your holiday.

>84 humouress: Thanks! Happy holidays to you, too!

115 is an outstanding number! Season's Greetings from Canada, Birgit

Hi Birgit. Happy Days for you and your family!

Hello Birgit, please forgive me for “cluttering up” your thread with a few photos, but I thought that as a fan of Xavier Kieffer, you might like to see where this fictional chef works and lives. So I found his letterbox and the place where he illegally parks his car. The fact that you shouldn't park your car there became clear when we were there, as a bus drove around the tight bend after the narrow bridge. His restaurant “Die drei Kirchen” (The Three Churches) doesn't exist, but where it should be there is “Die dre Eechelen”, which is a former fort. We also saw the Belvedere restaurant, where he eats with his friend from the EU, and I can highly recommend the MODAM. I really hope you get to visit Luxembourg one day.

    

Congratulations on reaching your ROOTs goal and going so far beyond it, Brigit! Best of luck finding an apartment with enough room for your books.

>86 Cecilturtle: Thank you, Cécile, I hope you had lovely holidays!
>87 connie53: Thank you, Connie! Did your granddaughters get lovely books from Santa?
>88 Ameise1: What a lovely Christmas present, Barbara! I am still suggesting Luxembourg for a holiday destination to my fellow travellers...
>89 Familyhistorian: Thankjs, Meg. It is difficult, but I remain optimistic. Something will turn up.

>90 MissWatson: Of course they did and grandma did too.