TBR@56 Robertgreaves's challenge for 2013/4 part 2

Part 1 was here.

I currently have 70 books on my physical TBR shelves and 24 books on my e-TBR shelves.

I am currently reading:
Space Junk by Rory Barnes
The Eighth Science Fiction Megapack

My challenge is to read at least 50 ROOTs in 2014. Anything bought before 13 January 2014 counts. They can be ebooks or physical books and from any shelf, not just from the TBR shelves. Books count towards the target when I start them.

Welcome to the group in 2014!

Hi Robert, I'm glad you are joining us again.

Thank you both.

Glad you're back with us!

Hi Robert, nice to see you here again. Happy reading :-D

Thanks, Cheli.

Starting my No. 40, which is also my 1st ROOT for 2014, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold. This brings the TBR pile down to 69.

My review of Space Junk:

On the run, Ned, a juvenile delinquent falsely accused of arson, falls in with a group of illegal immigrants from the planet Newharp. Disguised as the mentally deficient brother of Em and Harri, he joins them in a detention camp and then the illegal immigrant areas of Jackson's Port, working as a bootleg organ salesman.

Somewhat heavy-handed satire on Australia's immigration policies. I did like the cameo of the cat burglar (not what you think it means) though. The short story sequel, "The Gizzard Wizard", was much more fun.

Welcome back and good luck!

Thank you, Rabbit.

Now starting my No. 41, my second ROOT for 2014, Alice Munro's Dear Life. This is an ebook, so doesn't affect the TBR pile.

My review of Chronicle of a Death Foretold:

When Angela Vicario is taken back to her father's house just hours after her wedding on the grounds that she was not a virgin, her twin brothers murder the man she names as her deflowerer. As the unnamed narrator tries to piece together what happened, it appears that her brothers were hoping that somebody would prevent the murder but as a result of misunderstandings and unfortunate circumstances found themselves forced to go through with it.

Interesting reflection on how bad things can happen through cultural inertia without anyone particularly wanting them to.

Starting my No. 42, Fred Vargas's Have Mercy On Us All. This brings the TBR pile down to 68 and is my third ROOT for 2014.

Good job, Robert!

Just curious: when did you start on your ROOT pile? Was ROOT #1 read January 2013?

I'm not Robert! But i know!!!!

Robert reads from birthday to birthday for his own challenge. And this was his third Root for 2014.

That's right. Before I got my Kobo e-reader, my two big book buying opportunities each year were my birthday and Christmas/New Year. I first discovered the whole idea of LT challenges just before my 50th birthday and then got caught up in the ROOT adventure only later. So I keep a running total of the number of books I've read each year from birthday to birthday and the number of ROOTs for each calendar year.

That's very interesting. So, either we will be wishing you a happy birthday soon, or you read quite quickly, to have over 40 done already. :)

My birthday is in September. I usually read about 100 books a year, so I'm a bit ahead of myself at the moment. There are some chunksters sitting in the TBR pile, though.

Starting my No. 43, Nicholas Cook's Music: A Very Short Introduction. This is my fourth ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 67.

My review of Have Mercy On Us All:

Joss Le Guern has revived the ancient profession of town crier in a small square in Paris in 2000. He starts receiving strange messages which seem to point to the return of the Black Death. Mysterious signs are daubed on all the apartments except one in various apartment blocks. And then the residents of the unmarked apartments start to die off -- and flea bites are found on their bodies. Commissaire Adamsberg investigates.

Taut thriller. Impossible to put down. Interesting to get a French view of the Black Death, subtly different from the English view.

I've got that Vargas on my shelves somewhere. Looks like I should put it closer to the top of the TBR.

Have Mercy On Us All sounds really intriguing (plus I recently read Connie Willis' The Doomsday Book so I kind of have plague on my mind - I'll have to put it on my wishlist.

Starting my No. 44, G.T. Herren's Fashion Victim. This is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile, but does count as my fifth ROOT for 2014.

Robert, I love Fred Vargas books.

I do too. They're not readily obtainable here, but I'm slowly making my way through them.

I have finished Fashion Victim and also the next in the series Dead Housewives of New Orleans, which was my No. 45 and my sixth ROOT for 2014.

I am now starting my No. 46 Lindsey Davis's The Ides of April. This brings the TBR pile down to 66 and is my seventh ROOT for 2014.

My review of Fashion Victim:

A New Orleans fashion designer is found dead the morning after her first big post Katrina show. Magazine editor and former crime reporter Paige Tourneur investigates.

Entertaining first entry in a spin off series.

My review of Dead Housewives of New Orleans:

The stars of a new reality show, Grand Dames of New Orleans, are being killed off even before the show premieres. In a town where everyone knows everyone, Paige Tourneur tries to figure out what connection there was between the women apart from the show.

Uneasy combination of entertaining comedy-detection and menacing notes off stage from Paige's past.

I love Zwarte winter! I've never read any Vargas. So now I'm dodging Book Bullets! But I seem to have 8 of her books as ebooks. Wow!

Connie, that's wonderful. I love her books 😃

*waves* Robert 😊

Miertje-- what are those squares at the end of your sentences? Are they smilies, If so, i can't see them.

yes, they are, sent from my smartphone

So that does not work real well ;-))

Connie, I guess it depends which browser you are using. With firefox I can see them.

I'm using firefox!

Now starting my No. 47, David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day. This brings the TBR pile down to 65 and is my eighth ROOT for 2014.

My review of The Ides of April:

Falco's adopted daughter Flavia Albia has taken up his trade of private informer. When an unsavoury client dies during a case, Flavia is glad to throw up the case only to find there have been others who have died in the same mysterious way.

I wanted to like this book, but once I'd realised who the murderer was, it got a bit tedious until the exciting (and very funny) chase sequence at the end.

Robert, you are moving right along. Hoping you are enjoying all these old books.

I am enjoying them. I'm moving much faster than I thought I would. I may have to adjust my target.

Great reading! I may actually see someone finish a TBR stack!

The wish list is long enough to keep me going in that somewhat unlikely event.

Merryann! Don't say such scary things! Finishing a TBR stack?

It's okay - it would be like finishing all the ice cream...and then going out and getting MORE ice cream.

As opposed to me - I just buy a new freezer for all the cartons of ice cream. Sigh.

Where do you get those adorable smileys?

All over the www!

Starting my No. 48, Davide Ribella's Travelling in the Middle Ages. This an ebook so does not affect the TBR pile, but is my ninth ROOT for 2014.

My review of Me Talk Pretty One Day:

Rather hit and miss collection of pieces by the American humorist.

Starting two books, one of which is my No. 49, David Grace's "Sci Fi Stories Vol. 1" (no touchstone). This is an ebook and not a ROOT. I like to have one ebook of short stories to read when I finish a book while I'm out and the next book I want to read is at home.

The other is my No. 50, S.J. Parris's Heresy. This brings the TBR pile down to 64 and is a ROOT, my tenth for 2014.

My review of Travelling in the Middle Ages:

Travel in mediaeval times, looking at the routes, accommodation, and lastly pilgrims as the quintessential travellers.

Some interesting content, but difficult to read due to a bad translation by someone who does not seem to be very familiar with English and bad formatting. I'm not sure whether the bad formatting is due to Kindle or whether the author has simply never heard of paragraphs.

Onto the next in S.J. Parris's series, Prophecy. This is my No. 50, but is not a ROOT. It is an ebook, so doesn't count towards the TBR pile either.

My review of Heresy:

On the run from the Inquisition, Giordano Bruno arrives in Elizabeth I's England as a pet philosopher of the King of France. On his way to Oxford to take part in a formal disputation in defence of the Copernican system, he is recruited by Walsingham to act as a spy to check up on Catholic sympathisers in Oxford. On his first night in Lincoln college, one of the Fellows of the college is killed by a wolfhound in a locked garden. The college authorities try to cover up the murder pretending that it was simply an accident involving a stray, but Bruno is not so sure. And then more mutilated bodies start turning up.

Very atmospheric look at the seamy side of Elizabethan England, fraught with mutual suspicion and fear. As all I knew about Giordano Bruno was that he was burnt as a heretic and believed that the stars were suns with planetary systems, I would have liked to see an author's afterword giving details of the historical background.

Thanks for that review, sounds like a very good read.

Thanks for dropping by, MissWatson.

Your tenth ROOT! Yeah!!!

;-)

The next one in the series is Sacrilege. This is my no. 51. It's an ebook but not a ROOT. It doesn't affect the TBR pile, which has grown by one extra book to 65 because I was listening to "In Our Time" discussing The Symposium, and thought I'd better re-read it some time.

My review of Prophecy:

Plots are afoot to replace Elizabeth I with Mary, Queen of Scots. She is communicating with supporters in France through the French embassy in London, where Giordano Bruno is staying as a protege of the French King, and secretly as a spy for Sir Francis Walsingham. One of Elizabeth's ladies in waiting is found murdered. Is there a connection with the plots swirling round the French Embassy or with Dr. Dee, Elizabeth's astrologer, or was it just a tryst gone horribly wrong?

This was an exciting read but with enough time spent on giving sympathetic portraits of the characters, especially the much put upon French Ambassador and Dr Dee.

Starting my next book of short stories for odd occasions, David Grace's Sci-Fi Stories - Volume 2 (no touchstone). My No. 52. Not a ROOT, and does not affect the TBR pile as it's an ebook.

Starting my no. 53 Robert Colton's Pompeii: Hazard At Bay (no touchstone). This is a new book, and so not a ROOT and does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of Sacrilege:

When Sophia Underhill re-appears in Giordano Bruno's life, asking him for help in clearing her from suspicion of murdering her brutal husband, he agrees to help find the real killer and they journey to Canterbury together. The case proves much more complicated and dangerous than he could have imagined.

This book didn't keep my interest as much as the earlier books. The story seemed to take a lot longer to get started and there were too many elements repeated from the earlier books.

Welcome and what an ambitious goal! Good luck!

Thanks for dropping by, Tess.

Starting two books, No. 53, The Randall Garrett Megapack, another book of short stories to fill in gaps with (a new ebook, so not a ROOT and not affecting the TBR pile) and No. 54, Ben Aaronovitch's The Rivers of London, which is my eleventh ROOT for 2014. It comes from the TBR pile, which has grown by two and now has 66 books.

My review of "Pompeii: Hazard At Bay" (still no touchstone):

Marcellus and Tay's cover is at risk when figures from their past arrive in Pompeii. Then one of the new arrivals is found murdered and another is accused of murdering him. The accused is innocent but how can Marcellus and Tay prove it without blowing their cover?

Another enjoyable outing for Marcellus and Tay as they successfully negotiate the treacherous waters of small-town politics. As usual their combination of Jeeves and Wooster and Holmes and Watson is a joy to watch and we get some tantalising hints about Tay's past.

On to my no. 54, the next in the series Moon Over Soho. This is my twelfth ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 65 books.

My review of The Rivers of London:

Approaching completion of his police probation, Peter Grant is assigned to guard a crime scene where a headless corpse was found. A witness to the crime approaches him but turns out to be a ghost. Peter is assigned to a little known branch of the police force that deals with magic and supernatural goings-on and gets to meet the spirits of various rivers in London.

Good in parts. It took me a while to get into it and my interest was beginning to flag a bit round about 3/4 of the way through. But I'll continue with the series and see if the author manages to pace things better.

Next in the series is my No. 55, Whispers Underground. This is my thirteenth ROOT for 2014, and brings the TBR pile down to 64 books.

My review of Moon Over Soho:

A statistically unlikely number of jazz musicians are dropping dead during or straight after a gig and a number of men have been found with their penises bitten off. Peter Grant, half of the Met's magic squad, is investigating these incidents. Are they related?

Better paced than the first in the series. I'm not sure whether the evil black magician is going to be a recurring character or an ongoing story arc through the books. Either way, although I'm quite happy to have the world built up over a series of books with more and more background revealed, I'd prefer each story to be complete in itself.

WOW Robert, you are really doing great!!

Lots of quick reads. The trouble with challenges is that bigger books keep getting postponed.

#56....that is why this year for my ROOT...I choose a small number of bigger books. My bigger books are physically bigger. Some of them are more like coffee table books. However, I felt 2014 was the year of the big book! I didn't join any other challenges but this one, specifically to clear a bottom shelf of the "big" books!

>56 Robertgreaves:,57 I'm trying to alternate: one big, one small, but it doesn't always work out that way. Something entirely different manages to sneak in...

ETC

>56 Robertgreaves:, 57, 58, Yes, I decided to join the TBR group for just that reason, as I found I was only reading my short ROOTs to make my goal last year. In TBR, I posted 12 big books that had to be read this year. I am happy to say that 2 are done, 1 abandoned part way through (so it counts), so 3 down, 9 to go. Though now I am about to tackle some short ones to get my ROOTs quota up to where it should be!

Starting the next (and latest so far) in the series, my No. 56, Broken Homes. This is not a ROOT, but is a newly-purchased ebook and so doesn't affect the TBR pile. However somewhere along the way, the physical TBR pile and my list have come adrift, so when I counted the TBR pile there were only 61 books.

My review of Whispers Under Ground:

In the middle of the night the victim of a stabbing staggers out from a Tube tunnel and dies on the station platform. He is the son of a US Senator, so Peter Grant not only has to navigate the tricky waters of dealing with the normal police but also has an observer from the FBI to contend with.

This series gets better and better as it goes on, with good pacing and more and more world building as Peter learns more about the magical world.

Starting Jason Goodwin's The Janissary Tree. This is my No. 57. It is an ebook and so doesn't affect the TBR pile, but is my fourteenth ROOT for 2014.

My review of Broken Homes:

Blood that shouldn't be there in the wreckage after a car accident. An atypical suicide on the Underground. a bookseller alerts the police that someone is trying to sell a stolen rare German book about magic. What if anything is the connection?

Further adventures of Peter Grant and the other inhabitants of the Folly, the members of the Met's magic investigation branch. Shocker of an ending leads to a cliffhanger.

Those Aaronovitches sound really interesting, Robert.

I bought myself a copy of Broken Homes for my Thingaversary and am really looking forward to it!

I really enjoyed them and can't wait for the next in the series. Have you read the earlier books, rabbit? I suspect Broken Homes won't make much sense if you haven't.

Indeed I have, in a glorious binge last year. After I read Broken Homes I might reread the whole series.

There's another one coming out in July.

Excellent! Thanks for the information!

Starting my No. 58, the next in the Inspector Yashim series, The Snake Stone. This is a new ebook and so is not a ROOT, nor does it affect the TBR pile.

My review of The Janissary Tree:

A harem girl has been murdered, the Valide Sultan's jewels have been stolen, and four guardsmen have gone missing. Is there any connection between these events?

Combination detective story and political thriller set against a backdrop of Sultan Mahmud II's attempts to modernise the Ottoman empire in the 1830s. Fascinating evocation of an exotic time and place I for one knew very little about. Because I am so ignorant, I would have appreciated a map of the City and some sort of afterword from the author about the historical background, though a lot of it was covered very naturally in the text.

Oh dear, your last 2 mystery descriptions have sent me running for my local library's e-resources. Both are on hold, yet I've already distracted myself from ROOTS reading with 7 library books this month. And so it goes.

I've been trying to restrict my library reading to 2 books a month. Sometimes it's not easy.

Robert, my e-books are even growing ROOTs!

Yes, I've reached the stage where I've given up trying to differentiate between physical books and ebooks. They're all books ;-).

I was thinking about that one too, Robert. But I really want the old books read. So My ROOTs will be books only!

#71, Robert, same here! Ebooks are so easy to accumulate-they don't take up physical space!

Continuing the eunuch theme, I am now starting my No. 59, Helen Berry's The Castrato and His Wife. This is an ebook, so does not affect the TBR pile, but does count as my fifteenth ROOT of 2014.

My review of The Snake Stone:

As the Sultan lies dying of tuberculosis, a French archaeologist arrives in Istanbul. He hasn't been there long before he approaches Yashim in a very frightened state and asks him to help him leave. Yashim books him a passage to Palermo and puts him on board a caique to take him to the ship. The next morning, the archaeologist's body is found outside the French embassy, torn to pieces by feral street dogs.

Another fascinating glimpse of1830s Istanbul and especially its waterworks. I must admit I was a bit puzzled by the ending. If it was foul play on the gangplank, rather than an accident, why?

My daily Lenten reading this year comes fromTom Wright's Lent for Everyone: Matthew. This is my book No. 60. It counts as my sixteenth ROOT of 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 60.

You are doing great!

Thanks, Cheli.

Starting my no. 61, Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea. This is the seventeenth ROOT for 2014 and brings my TBR pile down to 59.

My review of The Castrato and His Wife:

Fascinating account of the 18th century castrato singer Giusto Tenducci, who eloped with one of his fans and married her. Later she left him for another man and sought an annulment of the marriage on the grounds that the marriage could not have been consummated since he was incapable of siring a child.

The author brings in a potted history of opera and castrati, as well as a discussion of the changes in attitudes to marriage from it being seen as purely a means of procreation to an institution based on mutual love and companionship.

You have stepped over a magical border, Robert. Under 60!

I've been here before. It's like some dieters. They lose the same pounds/kilos over and over again.

#80 LOL, so true!

The Jojo effect! I know! I just got a magazine from the bookclub urging me to buy at least one book before the end of march or get an € 25,00 coupon. And I don't want that because a book costs about € 20,00 and you have to spend the whole coupon in one time. So you order two books and pay an additional €15,00 **Sigh**

So I am now choosing a book to order and with that I will have bought more books then read ones.

Starting my No. 62, Kenneth Minogue's Politics: A Very Short Introduction. This brings the TBR pile down to 58 and is my eighteenth ROOT for 2014.

My review of Wild Sargasso Sea:

1960s prequel to "Jane Eyre" tells the story of the first Mrs. Rochester.

Very believable as a story of how Mrs. Rochester came to be as she was, but curiously uninvolving.

Robert, you are inspiring us all to work to get the TBR pile in the double digits. Alas, even if I bought no new books and read 70 ROOTs a year, it would still take me at least 5 years to reach that goal. :-(

I want to get it down and keep it down to less than 52 books. However, that doesn't count the ebooks. Creative accounting!

More Lenten reading: Stephen Cottrell's How to Pray Alone With Others At Any Time, In Any Place. This is my No. 63. It is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile but is my nineteenth ROOT for 2014.

Starting my No. 64, John Williams's Augustus. This is a new ebook and so is not a ROOT.

My review of Politics: A Very Short Introduction.

Unexpectedly interesting consideration of the nature, history, practice and future of politics.

After a brief explanation of what he means by politics, in particular contrasting it with despotism, the author takes us through a quick history of politics in the West from the Greeks to the twentieth century, followed by chapters on how politics is practised and speculation on whether what the author defines as politics can survive in a time when the personal is considered political.

Starting my No. 65, John Riches's The Bible: A Very Short Introduction. This is my twentieth ROOT for 2014, and brings the TBR pile down to 57.

Starting my No. 66, David Crystal's Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language. This is my twenty-first ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 56.

My review of The Bible: A Very Short Introduction:

This book starts with a couple of chapters on the origins of the Biblical books and the formation of the Jewish and Christian canons, and then looks at how the Bible has been used to uphold and subvert the status quo in various times and places. The story of Abraham and Isaac and Jewish and Christian responses to it are used as an example. The author then looks at the cultural influence of the Bible in literature and art. After a quick look at how the Bible is referred to in late 20th century political arguments, a conclusion wraps things up.

Some interesting nuggets, but overall it didn't really grab my attention.

21 ROOTs, wow Robert!

I'm slightly over where I should be to reach my target this year of 75 ROOTS. But I've got some big ones waiting and I will have to get some new books for my book clubs.

So you'r building on a security wall of ROOTs, LOL

Starting my No. 67, Tim Dowley's The Christians: An Illustrated History. This is my twenty-second ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 55.

My review of Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language:

David Crystal looks at how words and phrases from the King James Bible/Authorised Version have become part of the English language as words and idioms in their own right rather than as quotations.

Some you might think of come from other early translations or already existed in the language before King James commissioned the translation. Other "biblical" expressions are actually paraphrases.

Although I read this straight through, it might have been better just to read the prologues and the epilogue and then keep the rest to dip into every now and again.

>80 Robertgreaves:, like dieting...perfect way to describe reading the books! :)

Starting my No. 68, Martin Goodman's Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations. This is a new ebook and so is not a ROOT and does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of The Christians: An Illustrated History:

Quick survey of the history of Christianity with pretty pictures.

It does have a glance at Eastern Orthodoxy but basically follows the standard model of early Christians > medieval Catholicism > Reformation > European and American Protestantism > modern churches. Not much about negative influences of Christianity.

Starting my No. 69, Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard's Killing Jesus: A History. This is a new ebook and so is not a ROOT and does not affect the TBR pile.

I ready O'Reilly's book Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever and just loved it! I have his Killing Kennedy on my wish list. Hope this one is good for you!

To be honest, so far it's a terrible disappointment. I'm reading it for a book club so will persevere but otherwise I would have deleted it from my ereader after the first chapter.

Starting my No. 70, Peter Carey's The Chemistry of Tears. This is the twenty-third ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 54.

What a nice, steady progress. Enviable.

Wow, good going!

Thank you, Miss Watson and Tess.

A friend who's leaving Jakarta for Australia has given me some books she doesn't want to take back with her, so that brings the TBR pile up to 60.

My review of Killing Jesus: A History:

I have just finished this book for my RL book club.

I found it to be sloppy (the authors think Herod's mercenaries couldn't speak with 1st century Jews because they didn't know Hebrew, they say the Northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Philistines rather than the Assyrians, Philo is described as a historian, etc etc.).

The historical parts are full of errors and unsupported statements, the parts directly about Jesus are simply re-hashed Sunday School versions of Bible stories. It's neither historically nor spiritually enlightening.

Yes, I'm sure a lot of the snark to the book comes from people's disagreement with the big name author's political positions and public persona. Not being an American I don't have a dog in that fight. But also a lot of the criticism of the book is entirely well-deserved.

#104, Robert, I just finished Killing Lincoln The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever by the same author. The book also had the same criticisms, the research was not genuine and lifted from other sources. I don't think, at least in the case of my book, that the intent was new information, but telling it as a historical narrative, sort of a day in the life. I actually liked Killing Lincoln and have the Killing Kennedy on my TBR list.

I've no objection to a new re-telling as such (except when the authors claim that nobody's ever done this before). I wasn't expecting a work of scholarship, but I did hope for competent accuracy in the historical parts.

I guess it's all in the what is "competent accuracy." And in the case of your book, I defer to you!

Starting my No. 71 Rumi's Selected Poems (Penguin Classics). This is the twenty-fourth ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 59.

My review of The Chemistry of Tears:

When Catherine Gehrig's 13-year affair with a married man is terminated by his death, her boss assigns her a conservation project away from prying eyes. Working on the restoration of a 19th century mechanically operated swan she comes across the travel journal of the man who commissioned it for his dying son.

The journal was interesting but I couldn't really get involved with the portrayal of Catherine's grief.

Well, I couldn't get on with Rumi at all and have given up. So my new No. 71 is Mary Beard's The Roman Triumph, which is the twenty-fifth ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 58.

>109 Robertgreaves:, Steely determination! I can't imagine getting my TBR down so far. You're an inspiration.

I feel uncomfortable if it's more than 52, with the starving children in Africa argument.

Why exactly 52 and not 50 or such?

Number of weeks in a year. If I've got enough unread books that they would last all year at a rate of one a week, do I really need more?

Oh my, is that a trick question?!

Hmm, so at this rate, I should not buy anything for many years to come. I'm not that strong, but I can certainly keep this in mind the next time I am tempted. Thanks.

>115 ipsoivan: I'm with you, Maggie.

That's the theory. I don't live up to it, but I do feel guilty about the number of unread books I've got. It's even worse now that I've got an ereader.

Yes, Robert, my number of unread books is even greater since I got my ereader--they don't take up space...........

Oh, me too. And they're cheaper! Always so much easier to justify. Bad.

Starting my No. 72, David Malouf's The Great World. This is a new ebook I'm reading for my RL book club, so does not count as a ROOT or affect the TBR pile.

>117 Robertgreaves:, >118 Tess_W: and >119 ipsoivan:, I could not agree more! It doesn't help at all. And I've gotten a lot of ebooks since I have a kobo.

Starting my No. 73, John Stow's A Survey of London, a sort of historical guidebook to London written in 1598. It's a new ebook, so does not affect the TBR pile and is not a ROOT.

Stowe looks interesting. I really like books about the topography of London. I used to have a professor who had a giant map of London on the wall of his office, and each week we would trace the paths of the characters in the 18th century novels we read with him. Especially fascinating for Defoe'sJournal of the Plague Year.

>123 ipsoivan: What a great idea! That would really help bring the books to life.

I love it when those historical books have maps to follow what the main characters are up to.

This does have a Tudor map included but I'm reading it on my Kobo and unfortunately the map is too small to see any detail.

Love books with maps and family trees!

>126 Robertgreaves: Too bad!

>127 Tess_W: familie trees are nice too!

Starting my no. 74 Charles R. King's Defenders of Europe: The Byzantine Army 610-1071 A.D.. This is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile. It is my twenty-sixth ROOT for 2014.

Starting my No. 75, Edmund Crispin's Swan Song. This brings the TBR pile down to 57. This is my twenty-seventh ROOT for 2014.

My review of Defenders of Europe: The Byzantine Army 610-1071 A.D.:

A short overview of the Byzantine army and strategy from the accession of Heraclius to the battle of Manzikert.

Way to go, Robert!! Half way your goal!!

Thank you, Connie. Unfortunately, I've got a lot of chunksters sitting on the shelves, so I will be slowing down a bit.

Starting my No. 76, H. I. Marrou's A History of Education in Antiquity. This brings the TBR pile down to 56 and is my twenty-eighth ROOT for 2014.

My review of Swan Song:

A thoroughly unpleasant opera singer is found hanged in his dressing room. He also seemed to have ingested a lethal dose of sleeping pills found in a bottle of gin. Although nobody is particularly sorry about the singer's death, Professor Gervase Fen is not convinced it was suicide.

A very funny mystery, which would probably be even more so if I knew anything at all about Wagner's Meistersingers.

Starting my No. 77, J. K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy. This is a new ebook and so is not a ROOT and does not affect the TBR pile. It is my RL book club's choice for May.

Enjoy your reading, Robert!

I am not sure 'enjoy' is the right word for this book. The characters are all equally unpleasant, but one can feel compassion for some of them as never having had a chance to be anything else.

I'm not a fan of Rowling, but hope you enjoy the read!

Starting my No. 78, R. S. Gompertz's The Expat's Pajamas. This is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile but is my twenty-ninth ROOT for 2014.

My review of A History of Education in Antiquity:

H. I. Marrou explores how children and young adults were educated from the time of the Iliad and Odyssey down to the time of St. Augustine and beyond.

Full of fascinating insights and information. Marrou starts with what educational system the Iliad and Odyssey seem to presuppose (training in a chivalric warrior and courtier's code).

He then explores education in different parts of classical Greece and the different impacts of education seen as a precursor to philosophical enquiry and education as the production of someone with a well rounded culture in both of what we would now call arts and sciences. Although this seems to have been an ideal which was aimed at nevertheless in practice the literary education seen as necessary for producing orators and administrators gradually squeezed technical training in mathematics, music, and astronomy out of general education, leaving them for specialists.

These Hellenistic trends continued into Roman times with the addition of law as a peculiarly Roman contribution. Marrou concludes with a discussion of the changes due to Christianity (not as many as you might think despite the fulminations of Tertullian and others) and he continues the story in a brief epilogue.

Although the book was written in 1946, I found many resonances for debates in educational theory and practice today and for better or worse the influence of ancient education can still be felt now.

Starting my No. 79 Forty-Two Tales, an anthology of stories by Edgar Allan Poe. This brings the TBR pile down to 55 and is my thirtieth ROOT for 2014.

My review of The Expat's Pajamas:

A collection of mildly amusing pieces from an American suffering from culture shock in Catalunya.

Forty-Two Tales is too big to carry around, so I am also starting John Brockman's This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works. This is my No. 80, bringing the TBR pile down to 54 and counts as the thirty-first ROOT for 2014.

Lots to report.
I've finished This Explains Everything: Deep, Beautiful, and Elegant Theories of How the World Works.

My review:
Each year Edge.org asks contributors a question. The question for 2012 was "What is your favourite deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation?" This is a compilation of the answers, varying in length from a couple of lines to three or four pages.

Always interesting. Some answers were things I vaguely knew about but certainly not well enough to be able to explain. Some answers I'd never thought about. Some answers were way over my head. I'll definitely be looking out for other compilations of answers to Edge questions.

I read Tash Aw's "Tiger" (no touchstone) last night. This was an ebook which I've had for a while. It's my No. 80 and counts as my thirty-second ROOT for 2014 but does not affect the TBR pile.

My review:
Mrs Liu, recently widowed, goes on a trip to India, falls ill and stays in a hill station hotel just outside Bombay. while recovering.

Pleasant enough but very short freebie -- it only took about 10 minutes to read.

My no. 81 is my latest ebook of short stories for odd moments when I don't have my current books with me is The H. Beam Piper Megapack.

Now starting my No. 82, Alexander McCall Smith's The Charming Quirks of Others. This is my thirty-third ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 53.

You're making admirable progress!

Starting my No. 83, Alexander McCall Smith's The Perils of Morning Coffee. This is a new ebook and so is not a ROOT and does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of The Charming Quirks of Others:

When the chairman of the board of governors of a school receives an anonymous poison pen letter about the candidates for the headmastership, his wife asks Isabel Dalhousie to investigate discreetly.

I felt myself relaxing more and more as Alexander McCall Smith's Edinburgh atmosphere worked its magic again. The first chapter had me giggling all the way through and then just basked in the minutiae of Isabel's life and gentle, kind, musings.

Starting my No. 84, Alexander McCall Smith's The Forgotten Affairs of Youth. This is a new ebook (the series junkie kicks in again) and so is not a ROOT and does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of The Perils of Morning Coffee:

A novella in which Isabel Dalhousie is accused by the wife of a philosophy professor of having an affair with her husband.

Starting my No. 85, the next Isabel Dalhousie novel, The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds. Again it's a new ebook and so is not a ROOT and does not affect the TBR pile.

My review of The Forgotten Affairs of Youth:

An Australian professor of philosophy visiting Edinburgh on sabbatical asks Isabel Dalhousie to help her trace her Scottish birth parents.

Another gently humorous amble through Isabel's life as she ponders moral dilemmas thrown up by ordinary circumstances and her desire to help people where she can.

Starting my No. 86, Allan Massie's Caesar. This is the thirty-fourth ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 52.

My review of The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds:

Isabel Dalhousie is approached to offer support for the owner of a stolen Poussin which is being held for ransom.

As ever the events in the lives of the regular characters and Isabel's musings are far more interesting than the actual mystery of the stolen painting.

Starting my No. 87, Alfred Russel Wallace's The Malay Archipelago. This is the thirty-fifth ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 51.

My review of Caesar:

Rather disappointing novel which is supposed to be the memoirs of Decimus Brutus, one of Julius Caesar's supporters who later became one of his murderers.

The Shakespearean and other echoes got irritating after a while. I was also irritated by the references to Octavius as Caesar's nephew rather than great-nephew (even to the point where it explicitly states Octavius's mother was Caesar's sister). The book should have been more interesting than it was, but I suppose that is the risk when you write from the point of view of a rather pedestrian character confronted and puzzled by genius.

Wow, great potential there with Caesar.

Starting my No. 88, Natalie Haynes's The Ancient Guide to Modern Life. This is the thirty-sixth ROOT for 2014 and I'm starting it now although I haven't finished the other books I'm reading because it's my RL book club's choice for June.

It comes from the TBR pile but since I added Barbara W. Tuchman's A Distant Mirror to the pile as a re-read after a discussion about it on FB, the TBR pile is unchanged at 51.

Starting my No. 89, Carol Fisher Saller's Moonlight Blogger. This is an ebook, which does not affect the TBR pile, and is my thirty-seventh ROOT for 2014.

My review of Forty-Two Tales:

The stories in this collection can be divided into comedies, horror stories and detective stories. I didn't find the comedies funny and the horror stories didn't give me any frisson of horror. The only two I really enjoyed were the two detective stories starring Dupin. Poe's supposed to be a good writer, but if he can't arouse the emotional effect he's after, how good can he be? Is the fault in me or in him?

My review of The Malay Archipelago:

Alfred Russel Wallace was a co-discoverer with Darwin of evolution through natural selection. This book is his account of his travels collecting specimens of animals, birds and insects in what is now Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

I have to admit my eyes did glaze over from time to time at the descriptions of the birds and beetles, but his actual travels and his description of the people and societies he met were fascinating.

Starting my No. 90, Rob Goodman's Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Caesar's Mortal Enemy. This is a new ebook and so is not a ROOT and does not affect the TBR pile.

Go, Robert, Go!!

Currently reading my No. 91 James Ashton and Sarah Wood's "The Frequent Flyer". This is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile, but is my thirty-eighth ROOT for 2014.

Starting my No. 92 David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas. This brings the TBR pile down to 50 and is my thirty-ninth ROOT of 2014.

My review of The Frequent Flyer:

Bluey is the barman at a snowed-in airport. He asks a series of passengers about their life stories and what they've learned. Most of them seem to have some sort of animus against one of the bar's customers, Harrie.

Trite parable. The eye-dialect got very irritating at times.

Starting my no. 93, Michael Cook's The Koran: A Very Short Introduction. This brings the TBR pile down to 49 and is my fortieth ROOT of 2014.

My review of Cloud Atlas:

Six related stories set in different time periods (the 19th century, the 1930s, the 1970s, the present, two future times).

I saw the film first and came away baffled, but was told that the book was much better. It was certainly more comprehensible as the relationships between the different stories became clearer.

Starting my No. 94, John Crowley's Little, Big. This is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile but does count as my forty-first ROOT for 2014.

My review of The Koran: A Very Short Introduction:

A very informative and interesting little book about how Muslims approach the Koran, illustrated with modern and traditional examples.

Starting my No. 95, Charlaine Harris's "The Harper Connelly Collection" (no touchstone). This is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile, but does count as my forty-second ROOT for 2014.

My review of Little, Big:

Smoky Barnable marries Daily Alice Drinkwater, whose family owns a mysterious house called Edgewood. The story of their marriage and descendants is told with flashbacks to earlier generations as the family's part in the Tale becomes clear.

This is a wonderful fantasy novel which follows a completely different track to the usual sub-Tolkeinesque worlds. The ending is heartbreaking.

Starting my No. 96, Michael Arditti's The Celibate. Again this is an ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile, but does count as my forty-third ROOT for 2014.

My review of The Harper Connelly Collection:

The four books featuring Harper Connelly, who after being struck by lightning has the ability to sense the presence of nearby dead bodies and what they died of, and her stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, who acts as her business manager.

Grave Sight
First in the series. Harper and Tolliver are hired to find a missing teen who may have been killed by her boyfriend, who then committed suicide.

I'm not usually very good at working out whodunnit but the who and why were obvious very early on so the big reveal at the end fell pretty flat.

Grave Surprise
Harper is called to Memphis to give a demonstration of her powers before a professor eager to debunk her. She finds more than the professor bargained for when she finds the body of a little girl she had failed to find in Nashville.

This worked much better as a mystery. It kept me in the dark right to the end. I hope we see more of Xylda, a former prostitute turned psychic, and her grandson Manfred.

An Ice Cold Grave
Harper is called in to find a missing teenager his grandmother believes is dead rather than a runaway and uncovers a serial killer's victims.

Horrific story relieved by the romantic developments in the characters' lives.

Grave Secret
Called in to sense the cause of death of a client's grandfather, Harper also uncovers the fact that his housekeeper had died in chilbirth. But how does that relate to the disappearance of Harper's sister Cameron eight years ago?

Harper really needs to learn that when a client invites her home after a case is supposed to be closed she shouldn't go.

Starting my No. 97, Ruth Rendell's The Saint Zita Society. This brings the TBR pile down to 48 and is my forty-fourth ROOT for 2014.

My review of The Celibate:

The unnamed first-person narrator is an Anglo-Catholic ordinand who has had a nervous breakdown in the middle of Mass and has been sent to a psychiatrist. Each chapter begins with part of his spiel as a tour guide for Jack the Ripper sites in the East End and in the second part of the book for the plague village of Eyam.

The chapters then continue with his monologue addressed to the also unnamed psychiatrist detailing first his refusal to acknowledge his sexual nature and his consequent loss of faith as his sexual needs break through to the surface and then his subsequent re-gaining of his faith as he comes to accept his sexual nature.

First published in 1993 and set in the late 1980s, this book powerfully intertwines themes of religious faith, doubts and reflections; gay sexuality and its expressions; Jack the Ripper and prostitution in the 19th and 20th centuries; the Great Plague of the 1660s and HIV/AIDS in the 1980s and responses to them. A feast for the mind, the soul, and the heart.

Robert, you are doing very well clearing those ROOTs.
I hope you are enjoying the books as well.

I was slightly under where I should have been at the month's end (I needed to have upROOTed 43 3/4 books but only got as far as 43).

However, I have just started my No. 98, Robin Fleming's Britain After Rome. This brings the TBR pile down to 47 and is my forty-fifth ROOT.

My review of The Saint Zita Society:

Intending simply to literally kick him out of the house, Preston Still accidentally kills his wife's lover. Montserrat Tresser, their au pair, who had been abetting Lucy Still's affair with a medical soap opera star, persuades Preston to cover up the death.

Disappointingly not up to Rendell's usual high standards. There was no real suspense, just one thing after another in the lives of the Stills and the other upstairs and downstairs inhabitants of their street. I felt the characters were a bit over the top and didn't really have much to do.

Starting my No. 99, Tim Leach's The Last King of Lydia. As an ebook, this does not affect the TBR pile but is my forty-sixth ROOT.

My review of Britain After Rome:

A look at what life was like in Britain during England's Anglo-Saxon period and how life changed over the six centuries or so.

By and large the author eschews the approach which focuses on what texts tell us of the doings of kings and high-ranking nobility and clergy, and tries to use archaeology to write a history of social life. Despite her best efforts, though, however interesting this is, it does not constitute the narrative history she wants it to be as we move forward in time from the breakdown of Romano-British infrastructure to England's prosperity just before the Norman conquest.

Hi Robert, just passing by and waving!

Hello, Connie. Long time no see. Glad to hear your surgery was OK and that you are recovering.

I got The Great Book of Amber, which is an omnibus of all 10 of Roger Zelazny's Amber stories, though I probably won't read it for a while. It brings the TBR pile back up to 48.

Starting my No. 100, Jung Chang's Empress Dowager Cixi.

I'm reading this for my RL book club. It's a new ebook and so does not affect the TBR pile and is not a ROOT.

My review of The Last King of Lydia:

Novel about King Croesus, the king of Lydia defeated by Cyrus of Persia after he invaded Persian territory in the belief that he was going to 'destroy a great empire', not realising it was his own empire that was destroyed.

Disappointing. For the most part it was competently written, just rather bland.

It was accurate as far as the known facts about Croesus were concerned, but the frequent use of actors and the theatre as metaphors for the king and his appearances in the throne room and other places grated -- theatre as an art form hadn't been invented yet! The story didn't really get interesting till after Cyrus captured Sardis and we got to see Croesus now living as a slave, but even then it was only interesting enough not to be actively boring.

I hope you enjoy Amber just as much as I did, Robert. Several of my bookclub friends did differ from me. They were intrigued by it, but they were not very happy with the writing. So I'm looking forward to your opinion (whenever you decide to read it ;-)) )

Starting my No. 101, George Eliot's Daniel Deronda. This brings the TBR pile down to 47 and is also my forty-seventh ROOT for 2014.

I am enjoying Daniel Deronda, but it's quite a heavy book and I've got a bad back at the moment, so when lying down I prefer something physically lighter. So currently reading two ebooks, my Nos. 102 and 103 (new, so not ROOTS):

The Boy who Lived with Ghosts by John Mitchell

Genie For Hire by Neil Plakcy

(no touchstones for any of them????)

My review of Genie For Hire:

A genie is working as a PI in Florida. A photographer asks for his help in retrieving some photographs of the wife of a member of the local Russian mafia.

I really liked the author's Mahu series, but this was a disappointment. Quite apart from the fact that it really really needs a proofreader, to be convincing the main idea needs a lightness of touch that just wasn't there.

Actually The Boy Who Lived With Ghosts has been lurking in the depths of my tablet long enough to count as my forty-eighth ROOT for 2014.

My review:

John Mitchell tells the story of his childhood in the 1960s, growing up in a poverty-stricken household in Southern England with an alcoholic father who "went out to see a man about a dog after Churchill's funeral and never came back" and an older sister whose juvenile onset schizophrenia was undiagnosed until she was 18 because of its extreme rarity.

It should have been an unrelievedly bleak story but it wasn't thanks to John's testimony to the courage and ingenuity of his mother and way of capturing other people's speech patterns through his younger self's thoughts about what is going on around him.

Starting my No. 104, Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction by John Monaghan and Peter Just. This is my forty-ninth ROOT for 2014 and brings the TBR pile down to 46.

Starting my No. 105, Nicholas Hilliard by Karen Hearn. This is not a ROOT but brings the TBR pile down to 45.

My review of Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction:

After a brief introduction on ethnography as practised by anthropologists, the authors discuss the concepts of culture and society and then go on to discuss the different ways people sees themselves as members of social groups, such as families, classes, tribes and nations, and their relations to the physical and spiritual worlds.

Starting my No. 106, A Man of Misconceptions by John Glassie. This is an ebook so does not affect the TBR pile, but it is my fiftieth ROOT for 2014.

My review of Nicholas Hilliard:

Nicely illustrated short introduction to the Tudor/Jacobean limner and his work.

>171 Robertgreaves: That sounds great. I really like those Very Short Introduction books, and have quite a few. I don't have that one though.

I enjoy most of them, though I find it helps to know something about the subject matter beforehand. For me, they don't work so well if you come at a subject cold.

Starting my No. 107, The Philosopher Prince by Paul Waters. It's a re-read to remind myself of it for an online book club discussion. So, it's not from my TBR shelf, but is a book I've had long enough to count as the fifty-first ROOT for 2014.

My review of A Man of Misconceptions:

A biography of Athanasius Kircher, the 17th century polymath and prolific author who amongst many other things tried to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs and invent a universal language.

Drily humorous account of Kircher's life. Unfortunately so much of the book is spent on describing the intellectual milieus Kircher was working in, other people's reaction to him, and his indirect legacy that Kircher himself and his thought remain rather elusive.

Even more unfortunately, although the endnotes in the ebook link back to the text, the text does not link to the endnotes.

Starting my No. 108, History: A Very Short Introduction by John H. Arnold. This brings the TBR pile down to 44 and is my fifty-second ROOT for 2014.

Starting my No. 109, God's Philosophersby James Hannam. This is an ebook so doesn't affect the TBR pile but is my fifty-third ROOT for 2014.

My review of History: A Very Short Introduction:

After a discussion of how history developed from Nabonidus's archaeological excavations and Herodotus's writings down to Ranke at the end of the 19th century, we look at historians in action: how they approach sources and choose what sources to approach. Lastly the book considers why people want to do history.

Starting my No. 110, Inferno by Dan Brown. This is a new book which my RL book club chose so doesn't affect the TBR pile and is not a ROOT.

My review of God's Philosophers:

A fascinating debunking of the myth that the church held science back in the more than 1000 years between the fall of the Western Roman empire and Galileo.

In fact medieval philosophers pioneered the union between logic, mathematics and natural philosophy to understand the world as a revelation of God and the church had no problem with this so long as the boundary between philosophy and theology was respected. It was the Renaissance with its desire to return to classical models that nearly deprived of us advances in mechanics, physics, mathematics, and astronomy.

>178 Robertgreaves: That sounds fascinating. Dear oh dear, where will I ever find the time?

So many books, so little time. A common problem.

Starting my No. 111 Akar Pule by Oka Rusmini. This brings the TBR pile down to 43 and is my fifty-fourth ROOT for 2014. It is a collection of Indonesian short stories. The title means 'Roots of the Pule'. Pule is the name of a tree, but I don't think it has a simple English name. I will need a dictionary to read it, so will only be able to read it at home or during my lunch break at work.

At other times I will be reading my No. 112 The Sirian Experiments by Doris Lessing, which has been sitting in my virtual TBR pile since I bought it to mark her death last year. It therefore counts as my fifty-fifth ROOT for 2014.

Starting my No. 113, Murder Most Convenient by Robert Colton. This is a new ebook and so does not count as a reduction in the TBR pile or as a ROOT.

My review of The Sirian Experiments:

Ambien II, one of the Five real rulers of the Sirian Empire, describes the Empire's experiments on Rohanda (later known as Shikasta) and her growing awareness, fostered by Canopus, that Sirius is not all that different from Shikasta after all.

Spiritual growth in a science fiction setting as a comment on man's inhumanity to man.

Starting my No. 114, The Crossroads Brotherhood by Robert Fabbri. This is an ebook, so does not reduce the TBR pile, but does count as my fifty-sixth ROOT for 2014.

My review of "Murder Most Convenient" (touchstone has disappeared):

Mrs. Xavier Stayton, a rich young widow at something of a loose end in the 1920s, decides to write a detective novel in an attempt to displace a certain other novelist in the public's affections. She goes to stay with members of her late husband's family in Bedfordshire to soak up the requisite atmosphere but fiction and reality unfortunately collide.

The reader is truly privileged to see this delightful work straight from Mrs. Xavier's pen, or rather her companion's typewriter, before the publisher makes the changes which Mrs. X herself admits may be necessary to ready it for the public. I am looking forward to her next effusion.

Starting my No. 115, Marcus Mettius: The Collected Stories by Alan Johnston. This is a new ebook and so does not count as a ROOT.

My review of The Crossroads Brotherhood:

Marcus Salvius Magnus solves the rivalry between a brothel owner under his protection and a rival under the protection of the gang from a neighbouring area in 1st century AD Rome in such a way as to also do a favour for Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony and sister-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius.

This story of mafia style gangs in the lower reaches of Roman society paints a rather harsher picture than I'm used to, but once I got used to the style the story grabbed my attention and was quite impossible to put down.

Starting a new topic for a new year of my life.

Congrats on 115 books read!

Thank you, Connie.

Congrats, that is quite a bit of reading!

Thank you, Tess.