TBR@60 Robertgreaves's challenge for 2017/2018 part 1

Continued from this thread.

The struggle enters a new and more desperate phase on my 60th birthday.



Number of books on the physical TBR shelves 54
Number of books on the virtual TBR shelves 118

The physical TBR books are up a little from last year, but there has been a massive increase in the virtual TBR (almost double from this time last year).

All books purchased up to today count as ROOTS from now on.

In an atttempt to bring the burgeoning TBR shelves (physical and virtual) (not to mention my burgeoning weight) under control I decided earlier this year that I would only buy books as follows:

1. 2 books as a reward for each kg I lose;
2. next in a series;
3. bookclub books.

Let's just say I did not lose enough weight to justify the books bought. Try again after the birthday celebrations

Currently reading:

The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits edited by Mike Ashley
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch

Possible books for reading in October:

Happy birthday and a happy reading year! I really liked SPQR. Hope you do too!

Starting my No 1 for the new year of my life, The Last of the Vostyachs by Diego Marani translated by Judith Landry. It is my seventy-third ROOT of 2017. I am reading it now in honour of International Translation Day.

My review of The Hanging Tree:

Lady Tyburn's daughter Olivia is present at a party when her friend Christina Chorley dies after taking contaminated drugs. Lady Tyburn wants to call in a favour from Peter Grant to keep her daughter in the clear.

I enjoy the books in the series but they do not stand alone. Unless you have a better memory than I do of what happened in earlier installments, which I read two or three years ago, there will be many head-scratching moments.

Found your thread in the right group, Happy birthday and happy new thread (again)

Happy birthday and new thread (again!)

Happy new new thread! :D

Happy reading in your new thread, Robert, and good luck with the weight loss. Reading a lot and getting enough exercise are difficult to reconcile if your life is busy, so the ghastly concept of 'portion control' is probably the only option unfortunately. Just about to go down that route myself. After the weekend obviously. :(

Thank you all for dropping by. Sorry about the confusion.

Starting my No. 2, SPQR by Mary Beard. This is my seventy-fourth ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it now for my online bookclub.

My review of The Last of the Vostyachs:

Ivan and his father are members of an isolated tribe of nomadic hunter gatherers in Siberia and are imprisoned by the Soviets for the crime of 'poaching'. Ivan's father does not survive but when the guards abandon the prison camp on the fall of the Soviet Union, Ivan tries to find his people. Speaking a hitherto unknown Finno-Ugric language, he is befriended by a Russian linguist/anthropologist who sends him to a linguistics conference in Helsinki, much to the displeasure of the Finnish Professor Jaarmo Aurtova.

Another interesting reflection on language and identity from Diego Marani in the form of a thriller - will the mad, bad professor get away the evil plan? I really enjoyed it, though I did wonder throughout whether a coupe de glotte is what I know as a glottal stop. Wikipedia says it's a musical term. A mistranslation or is the confusion there in the Italian?

SPQR is on my wishlist!

>9 Robertgreaves: >10 Jackie_K: - SPQR wishlisted here too - thinking about my reading strategy for next year and Ancient Rome sounds like a good starting point for 'history' - and if I acquire it soon it'll be a bona fide 2018 ROOT.

Exactly. Our bookbuying is not out of control, we're prudently making sure we have ROOTs for next year.

>11 floremolla:
>12 Robertgreaves:

LOL I use the "I'm going to get it eventually. The price of books will continue to go up. I might as well get it now while it's cheaper!"

>12 Robertgreaves: >13 Tess_W: it's all about forward planning :)

As a belated birthday present to myself, I bought two books yesterday:

Arrival by Ted Chiang
The Three Kingdoms: The Sacred Oath by Luo Guanzhong

In partial mitigation, I will say "The Three Kingdoms" is the book that has been on my wishlist the longest (literally for YEARS) because although Volume 2 was easily available I couldn't find Volume 1.

This takes the physical TBR shelves to 56 books.

Starting Volpone and Other Plays by Ben Jonson. This is my No. 3. It brings the books on the physical TBR shelves down to 55 and is my seventy-fifth ROOT for 2017.

My review of SPQR:

Mary Beard's history of Rome from the earliest days down to 212 AD/CE, when Caracalla granted all free male inhabitants of the Empire Roman citizenship.

Mary Beard is very good at pointing out what we just don't know and maybe never will, and how much probably even the Romans themselves didn't know about the early days or about what went on behind closed doors -- not that that stopped them from telling great stories and really juicy gossip.

However, any society is more than just its leaders and rulers, so she also looks at the rest of the population who don't figure so much in the historical narrative: the slaves, the poor, the middle class, and women.

This is very readable, if anything too readable so that you don't take in as much as you might if you had to work a bit harder to understand it. It's just so easy to read the book superficially, drawn on by Mary Beard's easy-going style.

Great review of SPQR. Now I'm really looking forward to reading it.

SPQR: on my wish list!

Nice review! And nice new thread.

I spotted SPQR on Audible if anyone thinks they'd rather listen (to Mary Beard read her own book) - I'm in two minds about whether to get the book or the audio...probably the book...

>16 Robertgreaves:
>17 MissWatson:
>20 floremolla:

Now that I've done more research, have discovered it is revisionist history. I need to check it out further before I drop that kind of $......

>21 Tess_W: we think of revisionist history as politically motivated to sinister intent but I think it's a reference to Beard merely looking at it a bit differently. Perhaps Robert can shed light, seeming quite knowledgable on the subject!

>21 Tess_W: >22 floremolla: I don't think it's revisionist at all. She was involved in a controversy recently about whether Sub Saharan Africans would have lived in Roman Britain, which drew her the ire of some groups. There really weren't any startling departures from historical orthodoxy in the book.

Starting my No. 4, Accidental Saints by Nadia Bolz-Weber. This ebook counts as my seventy-sixth ROOT for 2017. I finished Volpone last night and started The Alchemist but really I don't think I can read three Jacobean plays one after the other so I'll read something else in between.

>22 floremolla:
>24 Robertgreaves:

I think of revisionist history of something not well researched; after all, what is NEW in history? The revisionist history that I have read in the past is usually all fluff and assumptions and really not worth my time.

I got the idea that book is revisionist because it is advertised that way on Amazon!

I will leave it on my wishlist, but it goes all the way to the bottom!

>25 Tess_W: Like >22 floremolla: I tend to think of revisionist history as tendentiously rewriting history to fit an agenda. SPQR is not like that at all. And you need have no fears of fluff.

Mary Beard is well respected in the UK but I see her book and book tour are touted as 'revisionist' in the PR - I think this is a gimmick or at least tongue in cheek. Here's an article on the subject that might sway you!
http://theworthyhouse.com/2016/04/28/book-review-spqr-a-history-of-ancient-rome-...

I admire Beard - she gets a lot of criticism for banal things, like the fact she doesn't try to pretty herself up for tv, but she always seems to wipe the floor with her detractors! I'll shut up now, I'm fangirling ;)

>27 floremolla: LOL fangirling!

>27 floremolla: haha, another Mary Beard fangirl here too. She has had such a lot of abuse on social media because she is a strong woman who won't pander to what is expected of women in public life - she just does what she does, outstandingly, and expects to be judged on that rather than on what she wears. I actually think she's inspirational. There is nothing fluffy about her at all - she wouldn't be a world renowned Professor of Classics at Cambridge if there was!

Mary Beard fanboy here.

I love Mary Beard too! :) When I get more shelf space, I'm buying my own copy of SPQR. I read it from the library and loved it.

Starting my No 5, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. This is my seventy-seventh ROOT for 2017. I'm re-reading it now for the AlphaKIT.

My review of Accidental Saints:

Nadia Bolz-Weber reflects on the stories of some of her congregation and other people she's met.

I felt rather dubious early on in the book when she told the story of Larry. Although the point of the story was the author's own failings, I couldn't help but think about how devastated Larry's wife would be if she read the book and recognised the situation despite any change of name and omission of identifying details.

I don't think that would be such a problem with the other stories in the book, many of which had me near to tears. As apparently today is Pastor Appreciation Day, I will say she seems to be a wonderful pastor who is doing great things with her congregation. I would like to read more of her writing.

>32 Robertgreaves: I heard Nadia Bolz-Weber speak at a festival a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed what she said, although as it was basically a book promo (can't remember which book, might have been this one) it only really scratched the surface. I'd like to hear her talking in more detail, and intend to read her work.

Starting my No. 6 Storm in the Village by Miss Read. This ebook is my seenty-eighth ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it now for AlphaKIT and CATWoman.

My review of The Stars My Destination, unchanged from the last time I read it:

Lots of twists and turns in the plot make it all good fun. Whether it has the significance the reviews and intro try to claim for it, I'm not so sure.

Starting my No. 7 Miss Clare Remembers and Emily Davis by Miss Read. This book contains two Fairacre novels, Nos. 4 and 8 in the series. Do I read them together or read Nos. 5, 6, and 7 in between? Life is full of problems :-)

My review of Storm in the Village:

There are plans for a large housing estate to be built between the villages of Fairacre and Beech Green for workers at an atomic station. The villagers are appalled.

I loved the background picture of life in Fairacre but couldn't join wholeheartedly in the rather NIMBY-ish attitudes displayed in the main story. Yes, I want the Fairacre way of life to be preserved, though of course from the perspective of the present I know that in 1958 huge changes must be coming whatever happens. But the atomic station workers must live somewhere. So many parallels between then and current issues of immigration, Brexit etc.

LOL, Robert, first time I've seen anybody use the term NIMBY in 30 odd years! Thanks for reminding me of the word!

>35 Robertgreaves: I can see both sides too - with proper strategy and masterplanning new development can usually be accommodated well, it's just that nobody trusts the planners to get it right - and usually they're correct!

>36 Tess_W: LOL, NIMBY is still used plenty in the UK (I guess NIMBYism is one of our national traits, sigh).

Moving on to my No. 8, Over The Gate, which is No. 5 in the Fairacre series. The ebook also contains Fairacre Festival, No. 7 in the series.

My review of Miss Clare Remembers (I will postpone Emily Davis to its proper place in the series):

Miss Clare, the teacher who retired in the first book of the series, looks back on her life as she gets ready for a visit from her life-long friend, Emily Davis.

Although realistic about the hardships many people endured, the book doesn't wallow in the hardships but celebrates the tenacity of those who survived. A gentle book.

My No. 9 is A Country Christmas, which contains Village Christmas, the next in the series, which is a novella rather than a novel. Since it also contains The White Robin, which is listed as No. 14 on the series page, trying to read this series in order is far too complicated, so I'm just going to finish reading the books I've got and not bother about series order for these or any I get later.

Reviews:

Over the Gate

A series of linked stories rather than a novel. Miss Read goes about her ordinary life and various other characters tell her stories about the village in times past.

Village Christmas

A Christmas special in the form of a novella. Two sisters look askance at the chaotic family who move in over the road, but rally round when the mother-to-be goes into premature labour at Christmas while her husband is away helping his father who has had a stroke.

The Fairacre Festival

In a violent storm a tree falls on the church causing two thousand pounds' worth of damage. How can the village raise that sort of money?

Emily Davis

Linked stories about the effect a teacher had on her pupils' lives.

For all of these books, the plot hardly matters. It's the beautiful descriptions of daily life and the countryside that draw the punters in.

Starting my No. 10, another Fairacre novel, Tyler's Row.

My review of The White Robin:

To the fascination of Miss Read's pupils and the village in general, an albino robin hatches in the vicar's garden.

Starting my No. 11, The Christmas Mouse, another Fairacre novel.

Starting my No. 12, Farther Afield, another Fairacre novel.

My review of The Christmas Mouse:

A quick, short read, only taking up an extended lunch hour. Mrs. Berry gets two unexpected visitors on Christmas Night.

Lovely descriptions of the natural world as usual. Actually says something about Christian teaching rather than just the sentimentality of Christmas.

Starting my No. 13, Christmas at Fairacre. This is actually an omnibus where I've read the other stories, but the one I want to read No Holly for Miss Quinn doesn't seem to be available as a single item any more.

My review of Farther Afield:

After an accident, Miss Read goes on holiday to foreign parts with a friend who's having marital problems.

Starting another Fairacre book as my No. 14: Village Affairs.

My review of No Holly for Miss Quinn:

Rather than the quiet Christmas by herself Miss Quinn was hoping for, she answers a plea for help from her brother, whose wife has gone into hospital, and spends the holiday looking after their three young children. Another meditation on married life vs single life

I've been a bad boy. I went into a bookshop to check whether they had a book the organiser of my online bookclub was thinking of adding to next year's list. They didn't but I did come out with two other books, A History of the End of the World by Jonathan Kirsch and The Allegations by Mark Lawson, neither of which was even on my wishlist. This brings the number of books on the physical TBR shelf to 57.

The next Fairacre book is my No. 15, Village Centenary.

My review of Village Affairs:

Fairacre school is threatened with closure because of falling enrollment, Minnie Pringle's love life is even more complicated than usual, and Arthur Coggs's misdeeds are catching up with him.

It occurred to me while reading this one, that although the adults get older and a timeline could probably be made for their lives, a lot of the children seem to stay the same age throughout the series.

It's good to be bad sometimes!

Of course, you're not actually going to get much in the way of disapproval, confessing that in this group!

Starting my No. 16, Summer at Fairacre.

My review of Village Centenary:

The school's centenary is celebrated by the village, with Miss Clare in a starring role.

No. 17 is Mrs Pringle of Fairacre:

My review of Summer at Fairacre:

Not a lot happens. Mrs. Pringle carries out her threat to leave and Miss Read has to cope with the consequences.

No. 18 is Changes At Fairacre

My review of Mrs Pringle of Fairacre:

Some new material, some recycled from earlier books. Surprisingly little about Mrs. Pringle herself.

No. 19 is Farewell to Fairacre.

My review of Changes at Fairacre:

I am not very happy about the massive SPOILER in the blurb. But otherwise, the usual fare, despite the title.

Starting my No. 20, the last Fairacre book, A Peaceful Retirement.

Starting my No. 21, The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett. This ebook is my seventy-ninth ROOT for 2017. I am reading it now for my real life book club.

A Peaceful Retirement is the last in the Fairacre series. Miss Read finds retirement is not as relaxing and solitary as she hoped. Avoiding being roped into activities and romantic entanglements, she decides to take up writing and produces the first chapter of Village School.

The whole series is a fantastic nostalgic read with beautiful descriptions of the Cotswolds countryside changing through the seasons each year and of life there and how it changed not only over the course of Miss Read's time as headmistress (about 35 years from the early 1950s) but also reaching back to the 1890s. It's difficult to be sure of the exact time line because for the most part the same children seemed to have been attending the school all the way through. Joe Coggs starts school as a five year old in the first book and is still at the school in the last one. We are told in "A Peaceful Retirement" that Miss Read is 58, but elsewhere we were told she did her teacher training before the war. All very confusing. But I suspect it only arises if one reads the series straight through and doesn't really detract from the beauty of the books.

Starting my No. 22, Night by Elie Wiesel, which I put aside to re-read after his death. I am reading it now for the RandomCAT. This is my eightieth ROOT for 2017 but the physical TBR shelves remain unchanged at 57 because I've added The Word For World is Forest to re-read.

Night one of my top 5 books.

Starting my No. 23, The Child's Child by Barbara Vine. This is my eighty-first ROOT for 2017 and brings the TBR shelves down to 56. I'm reading it now for the AlphaKIT.

Reviewing Night seems presumptuous, so I won't.

My pool of choices for November 2017:

I really enjoyed Call the Midwife which I read this month. I hope you like it. I've heard lots about A Year of Biblical Womanhood and would really like to read it sometime.

I have read A Year of Biblical Womanhood before, but wanted to read it again back to back with The Year of Living Biblically.

Call the Midwife is actually my next but one real life book club choice but as the date for the meeting hasn't been set yet, it might not happen until the New Year rather than try and fit it in at the beginning of December.

Starting my No. 24, The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. I've had this ebook for long enough for it to be my eighty-second ROOT for 2017.

My review of The Child's Child:

Grace Easton and her brother Andrew inherit their grandmother's house and decide to live there together, each taking half of the house. When Andrew's partner James Derain moves in with Andrew, Grace finds parallels and echoes in their situation with a book she is reading for a publisher friend -- a novel that was unpublishable when it was written in the 1950s due to its subject matter of the life of a gay man in the 1920s -- to see if it is good enough to publish now (2011).

This was Ruth Rendell's last book as Barbara Vine and although both the modern story and the book within the book carried me along quite nicely it didn't have the nail-biting suspense as doom approaches which I associate with her earlier work.

Starting my No. 25, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. This ebook is my eighty-third ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it now for CATWoman.

My review of The Alice Network:

In 1947 Charlie is looking for her cousin who disappeared in France during WWII. She is helped by Eve Gardiner, whose demons stem from her time as a spy in WWI, and Finn Kilgore. Chapters alternate between Charlie in 1947 and Eve in 1915.

I found this book quite hard to get into - a lot of the time I was thinking "There's going to be torture, do I want to continue?" But, nevertheless, it was a good story with an interesting historical background and the torture wasn't too graphic, so recommended.

Starting my No. 26, Alien Quest by Mark Zubro. This is my eighty-fourth ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it now for the AlphaKIT.

My review of Fun Home:

A lesbian's memories of her father, who, she found out shortly before he died, was gay.

Not what I was expecting. The blurb gave me the impression that it would be more humorous and that there was some sort of mystery about her father's death (suicide or accident?), which would be solved. I found the characters' habit of interpreting everything through the prism of "The Great Gatsby" and "Ulysses" irritating more than enlightening. I came in with high hopes, but meh.

Starting my No. 27, Alien Home, the next in the Alien Danger series. This is a new ebook and so not a ROOT.

My review of Alien Quest:

Leaving the restaurant where he works as a waiter Mike Carlson finds a frequent patron in the alleyway behind the restaurant, apparently the victim of a mugging. He turns out to be an alien cop on the track of a master criminal who is hiding out on Earth and asks Mike for help blending in with Earth society.

Not as good as the same author's Paul Turner mysteries because he doesn't have the world-building skills for SF. As with the mysteries, I often felt the book should include a map of Chicago for those of us not familiar with that city. However, now that the world has been built (as it were), I will try the second in the series.

I finished Alien Home and read the first five chapters of Alien Victory and then bailed.

My review:

Mike and Joe are arrested by law enforcement from Joe's home planet because Joe has violated the policy of non interference with less developed planets and because of his relationship with Mike, who is now in possession of serious alien implant tech which cannot be removed without killing him.

The chase through a blizzard in Illinois was good but once we got off Earth the author's weaknesses as an SF writer came to the fore. The alien society and the events there made no sense. "Alien Home" ended with a cliffhanger and I like our heroes so I continued with "Alien Victory", which made even less sense, and I gave up after 5 chapters.

Starting my Nos 28 and 29: What Is Your Dangerous Idea by John Brockman and Catiline's Conspiracy, The Jugurthine War, Histories by Sallust. They are both ROOTs, my eighty-fifth and eighty-sixth ROOTs.

Hi Robert, 62 unread posts! I will start all over again. To much to read, so just skimmed it. Waving at you from the Netherlands!

Thanks for dropping by, Connie.

Starting my No. 30, Frequent Hearses by Edmund Crispin. This is my eighty-seventh ROOT for 2017. It fits the RandomCAT.

Starting my No. 31, The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs. As a re-read, this is my eighty-eighth ROOT for 2017. It fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Frequent Hearses:

After a young actress commits suicide, other workers at the film studio where Gervase Fen has been employed as a consultant on the life of the poet Pope start dying in mysterious circumstances.

Well up to par for the series.

Starting my No. 32, A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans. As a re-read, this is my eighty-ninth ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it now as a companion piece to The Year of Living Biblically.

My review from last time I read "The Year of Living Biblically":

A. J. Jacobs decides to spend a year trying to obey all the commandments he can find in the Bible reading it as literally as he can, despite the fact that he doesn't believe in God.

I found the premise intriguing enough to overcome my slight distaste for the cover pictures, which rather made the book look as if it was going to be mockery from start to finish.

There were some places where I really did laugh out loud at the behavioural contortions Jacobs put himself through, and some of the people he met did strike me as a trifle, well, peculiar, but I also found the parts where Jacobs reflected on his experience interesting, even moving at times.

By the end of the year, Jacobs describes himself as a 'reverent agnostic' and I see what he means, but my final reaction is the same as I had to the comparative religion I studied at university, that there is only so much you can understand about religion from the outside -- going through the motions even as a benevolent-minded looker-on will only take you so far, you have to believe to really understand.

Having said all that, it was a very enjoyable, easy-to-read book. I must say, though, that a lot of Jacobs's pop culture references went straight over my head (he mentions many celebrities and films etc. in passing I'd never heard of and so had no idea what the point of the reference was), but nevertheless I'll still be keeping an eye open for his other book on reading the whole of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Starting my No. 33 Major Works by Sir Thomas Browne. I only bought this ebook recently and so it is not a ROOT.

My review of A Year of Biblical Womanhood by from last time I read it:

Rachel Held Evans spends a year examining what the Bible says about women's roles and does her best to put it into practice.

Amusing narrative of the author's experiences with interesting reflections on how we read and interpret the Bible.

It was fun reading this and A Year of Living Biblically back to back. He, is a male agnostic and she is a female Christian and yet their experience of trying to take the Bible literally was very similar, spiritual growth and a conclusion that everybody picks and chooses whether they are aware of it or not because you can't just transfer from agricultural societies in the ancient Middle East to 21st century (in their case) American urban society. But that does not render the Bible useless, it just means it's more complex than many (believers and non believers) give it credit for.

Starting my No. 34, Nox Dormienda by Kelli Stanley. This is my ninetieth ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it a little bit early as it's one of my online bookclub books for December.

My review of The Major Works:

Disappointing edition. The notes aren't very helpful and many of the works are only extracts. There is actually a website devoted to Sir Thomas Browne that looks much better.

Starting my No. 35, The Curse-Maker by Kelli Stanley. It is a new ebook and so not a ROOT.

This is a sequel to Nox Dormienda, reviewed below:

Arcturus is Agricola's doctor. The son of a Roman centurion and a British woman he is caught between two worlds. When a beautiful woman comes to warn him of a plot against Agricola, he tries to find out more, only to find the man she points to as the main suspect is her unwanted fiance, whose murdered body is then found in a mithraeum.

The book is competently done and full of twists and turns but is not the genre-founding original work the author tries to claim for it.

My reading plans for December:

>76 Robertgreaves: Ooh, is that The Sparrow I see there? That is one of my all time favourite books (which from a fiction-phobe like me is high praise). The main character, Emilio, is my ultimate literary crush.

>77 Jackie_K: Yes, I've heard so many people praising it over the last couple of years I thought I'd give it a go.

>78 Robertgreaves: It really is beautiful. In fact, easily 10 years since reading it, I still haven't dared pick up the sequel, because I just know my heart will be broken.

Starting my No. 36, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerald. This is my ninety-first ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it now because it should fit the RandomCAT.

My review of The Curse-Maker:

Guilt-ridden over his failure to save the governor's son and worried about Gwyna's increasing withdrawal, Arcturus takes Gwyna for what is meant to be a relaxing holiday in Aquae Sulis (Bath) only to find on their arrival a dead body defiling the sacred spring.

Better than the first in the series because the author isn't saying 'look at me mixing subgenres' but just getting on with telling a very intriguing story.

Starting my No. 37, The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. This is a re-read, though I forget why I decided to re-read it. I'm reading it now because it fits the AlphaKIT and CATWoman. (ETA as a re-read, this is my ninety-second ROOT for 2017)

My review of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám:

Actually only 60 pages long, but swamped by about 167 pages of introduction and notes. I read the editor's introduction and was bored to tears so I skipped the editor's notes.

Starting my No. 38, Murder On the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I watched the film this afternoon and there were aspects I didn't remember from the previous film or from the book - especially how emotionally driven Poirot was - so I'm going to re-read the book. (ETA: as a re-read this is my ninety-third ROOT for 2017)

My review of The Jane Austen Book Club:

A group of friends work their way through Jane Austen's novels as a form of therapy for one of them whose husband has left her.

It was easier with some books to see how they were reflected in the characters' lives than with others. But it was fun, and I enjoyed the modern day romances as well. In fact I think I enjoyed it more this time round than when I read it previously. But I still don't get the change between omniscient narrator and first person plural narrator because I don't know who 'we' is.

I also watched the film but the film was overshadowed by the re-writing of Prudie and Dean's relationship. Prudie's not quite relationship with her student was also a lot creepier in the film than in the book.

Starting my No. 39 The Hound of Death by Agatha Christie. This is my ninety-fourth ROOT for 2017.

My review of Murder on the Orient Express:

Returning to London from Syria on the Orient Express, Poirot is snowbound. One of his fellow passengers is murdered but it seems impossible that any of the passengers could have done it.

Re-reading the book soon after watching the film makes one realise how tightly plotted Christie's work is. Some of the changes for the different medium made it less coherent. Why does Poirot have a lost love? What was the point of changing Arbuthnot's race and profession (very confusing - was he British or American?)? Why was the Pinkerton detective now pretending to be an Austrian professor - surely immediately uncovered as soon as somebody spoke to him in German?

>83 Robertgreaves: Hope to see the film this week - it's getting good reviews. Not sure if I'm ready to get back into reading Agatha Christie just yet when I've so many other good reads on my shelves, but you've piqued my interest with your comment about the tight plotting of her writing.

Starting another collection of Agatha Christie's short stories The Listerdale Mystery. This is my No. 40 but as a new purchase is not a ROOT.

My review of The Hound of Death:

A collection of uncanny tales by Agatha Christie. An enjoyable change from her usual work but I had the feeling I've read most of them before, though the book wasn't in my LT collection. Spooky!

LOL if I did the weight loss and books, I'd have to take books back!

Starting my No. 41, The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis. This is a re-read from off my shelves so it counts as my ninety-fifth ROOT for 2017. It was published in 2013, so counts for the CATWoman, but my main reason for reading it now is my online bookclub.

My review of The Listerdale Mystery:

Short detective stories by Agatha Christie, usually with a romantic element.

Fun, but they don't really demonstrate her talent for plotting.

Reading my No. 42 Enemies at Home by Lindsey Davis, the next in the Flavia Alba series.

No. 43 is a novella set between books 2 and 3, The Spook Who Spoke Again. This is a new ebook and so is not a ROOT, unlike Enemies at Home, which was my ninety-sixth ROOT for 2017.

My review of "Enemies at Home":

On their second night of marriage a middle-aged couple are found strangled in bed and a valuable silver dinner service stolen. Was it a burglary gone wrong or an inside job by the household slaves? If it was one of the slaves, they will all be executed.

Flavia Alba's voice is growing on me. Her relationship with Tiberius is coming along nicely without being (yet?) as irritating as her parents' was until they finally got married.

My No. 44 is book 3 in the series, Deadly Election. This is a new ebook which is not a ROOT.

My review of The Spook Who Spoke Again:

Flavia Alba's 12 year old (or possibly 11 year old) adoptive brother, Marcus Didius Alexander Postumus, goes to stay with his birth mother, Thalia -- she of the (in)famous python dance. When his dearest friend, a ferret called Ferret, disappears, Postumus assumes Jason the python has eaten him and plots vengeance.

Narrated by Postumus, this is very funny. I miss Falco's relatives in the new series, and Postumus is a true member of the clan. I hope he has further adventures, preferably narrated by himself.

Hi Robert, just waving and looking what you have been reading!

Thanks for dropping by, Connie.

Starting the next in the series, The Graveyard of the Hesperides, which is my No. 45 but as a new ebook is not a ROOT.

My review of Deadly Election:

Tiberius asks Flavia Albia to do a bit of digging on some political rivals. Meanwhile her family's auction house finds that one lot, a chest, contains a surprise - a dead body.

I was so glad when the family tree appeared - I was beginning to despair of keeping the members of the two families straight in my head. Apart from that a good combination of mystery and humour, though I still miss the sheer loopiness of the older generation.

The most recently published in the series is The Third Nero. This is my No. 46, but as a new ebook it doesn't count as a ROOT.

My review of The Graveyard of the Hesperides:

While her husband-to-be is renovating a bar, Flavia Alba spots some human bones being removed in the rubble. Six bodies are uncovered in the courtyard. Who were they? Who killed them? Can Alba and Tiberius find out before their wedding in six days time?

There were times I felt the story wasn't really going anywhere, it was just an excuse to look around one of Rome's less salubrious districts.

Hello... sorry for such a long absence! I kept seeing that "unread" number get higher and higher and was completely intimidated... Finally, I figured it's better to just stop by and say HI. :)
I wish I had time to go through these threads and read all about what you've all been doing and reading! But, alas, I very much do not. But I think of you often!! And my "hello" is heartfelt and repeated often in my own head ;)

I'm not sure how I will remain involved next year, but I will be around in some fashion!
(and it's lovely seeing you around occasionally on Litsy ;))
xo

Thanks for dropping by Avanders

Finished The Third Nero on the flight home.

My review:

Flavia Albia is asked to gently ask questions of two ladies whose husbands were executed for treason against the Emperor to see if they knew of their husbands' involvement. Although at first this seems quite straightforward, complications arise and a political prisoner is killed. Is Parthia seeking to destabilise Rome?

I found this the most enjoyable novel in the new series. Satisfyingly complex machinations.

I also read 2/3 of my No. 47, The One Plus One by Jojo Moyes (ROOT number ninety-seven for 2017), on the flight home and have now finished it. Just as well I read the last 1/3 at home because I was bawling my eyes out, which might have attracted attention on the plane.

Starting my No. 48, Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon, which is my ninety-eighth ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it now for CATWoman and the AlphaKIT.

Glad to hear you had enough reading material for the flight and that you were able to finish the Moyes book at home. Earlier this year I read a book where the same thing ended up happening (I finished it at home and thus avoided crying on the bus).

>97 Robertgreaves: >98 rabbitprincess: I've got When Breath Becomes Air lined up for next year, and there's no way I'm reading any of that in public! Every so often I do like a book that makes me have a good cry.

Starting my No. 49 Lord John and the Hand of Devils. This is a new ebook and not a ROOT.

My review of Lord John and the Private Matter:

Catching a glimpse in the toilets at his club, Lord John Grey realises his cousin's fiance has the pox. How can he arrange for her to be released from the engagement without causing a scandal? He also gets involved in an attempt to trace the theft of troop requisition papers. The two situations are unexpectedly connected.

Good intrigue against a fascinating historical background.

Starting my No. 50, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. This is my ninety-ninth ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it now for CATWoman and AlphaKIT.

I read the first two novellas in Lord John and the Hand of Devils. The third takes place after another Lord John novel, which apparently rejoins the main Outlander sequence, which I have not read. So I've put Outlander on my wishlist and will read them later.

>101 Robertgreaves: I hope you love Outlander as much as I did.

Starting my No. 51, Children of God, the second in the duology. It is not a ROOT because it's a new ebook.

My review of The Sparrow:

When radio broadcasts of beautiful choral music are picked up from Alpha Centauri, the Jesuits send an expedition to investigate. When the UN sends a follow-up expedition, only one survivor is found, Emilio Sandoz, who they report is working as a prostitute and who murdered the child who led the Terrans to him. Sandoz is sent back to Earth for his Jesuit superiors to deal with. The chapters in the story alternate between the story of the expedition as it happened and Sandoz's treatment back on Earth.

At first I found the alternating chapters irritating and wanted a more straightforward narrative but after a while it made sense. It is a great science fiction story of first contact and a rich theological meditation on whether if God gets the credit for good he should get the blame when things go wrong.

I love the Outlander books, Robert. Read them twice and saw the series several times!

Happy Holidays!!

Starting my No. 52, Dead on Demand by Daniel Campbell and Sean Campbell. This is my one hundredth ROOT for 2017.

My review of Children of God:

The effects of the humans' visit play out on Rakhat while back on Earth religious and commercial forces are united in wanting Emilio Sandoz to return to Rakhat.

The VaRakhati's eye-view of the events in "The Sparrow" and the events that follow and the Jesuits' second mission provide what may or may not be answers to the questions posed by the first book. Every bit as tragic and hopeful as the first book.

>105 Robertgreaves: I finally took the plunge and bought Children of God with some of my Christmas money. Still not sure when I'll dare read it though.

Starting my No. 53, Rufius by Sarah Walton. This is my one hundred and first ROOT for 2017. I'm reading it now because it fits the AlphaKIT and CATWoman.

My review of Dead on Demand:

Using a dark net, Edwin Murphy arranges for his wife to be killed out jogging while he is on a trip to Canada. But now he needs somebody to kill the murderer.

An annoying number of typos meant I never really got into this book. I might have a look at the next one in the series some time.

Hi again Robert! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas & Happy New Year!

Thanks, Aletheia. Hope Christmas and New Year is being good for you as well.

Hectic, but good. ☺️

Starting my No. 54, The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith. This is my one hundred and second ROOT for 2017. It counts for CATWoman and AlphaKIT.

My review of Rufius:

Rufius is an effeminate gay man in the 4th century exiled from Rome to Alexandria, where he works as the head of the scriptorium at the Great Library. Aeson, the subject of a mysterious prophecy, has just lost his father and has been adopted into a street gang of petty thieves and rent boys.

Rufius is a transgressive figure in his own time (as an adult male who likes to be penetrated) and now (given the age difference in the relationship), which does make for some uncomfortable reading at times. Nevertheless, the picture of Alexandria's street gangs and the conflict between different Christian sects and between Christians and pagans in the buildup to the attack on the Great Library and the pagan temples is fascinating.

>111 Robertgreaves: I hope you like the Galbraith book, Robert. I loved it!

Happy New Year, everyone. May we all have enough to eat and drink, clothes on our backs and a roof over our heads, someone to love and books to read throughout 2018.

Starting my no. 55, The Silkworm, the next in the series.

My review of The Cuckoo's Calling:

Cormoran Strike has broken up with his long-term girlfriend. His detective agency is failing, he has nowhere to live, and is rapidly running out of money. A temp turns up because he forgot to cancel the contract with the temp agency, and (at last) a client wants him to investigate the death of his supermodel sister. The police decided it was suicide but her brother thinks it might have been murder.

The realistic detail of all the roadworks at the top of Charing Cross Road added verisimilitude while I was reading it, even if in fact it was all most implausible. Be that as it may I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next in the series.

Good!! You liked it!!

are you coming over to the 2018 group, Robert?

>116 floremolla: Yes, but not till the end of next week when I get back home from my extended Christmas/New Year visit to the UK.

My planned reads for January 2018:

happy new year, Robert, see you on the other side with your January reads.

Starting my No. 56, Career of Evil, the next in the Cormoran Strike series.

My review of The Silkworm:

The wife of a not very successful writer asks Cormoran Strike to track down her husband who has gone missing. When Cormoran finds the writer's body in circumstances that echo a murder in a manuscript recently sent to the writer's agent, the police's main suspect is the wife, but Cormoran is not so sure.

Cormoran Strike is a great character as is his sidekick, Robin Ellacott. The background feels very realistic -- not that I know anything about the London literary scene but I did use to know the area where Coromoran's office is and the author has a great sense of place.

Ha, you liked that one too. So I think you will love the next one too.

Starting my No. 57, The Fold by Peter Clines. This fits the RandomCAT as a BB, though I forget from whom.

My review of Career of Evil:

Robin Ellacott receives a severed human leg delivered to the office as a parcel. It could have been sent by any of three figures from Cormoran Strike's past, but where are they now and which was it?

We get to find out more about Robin's and Cormoran's back stories, which is good. But this is much darker and gorier than the earlier books in the series and we get to spend quite some time in the psychopathic bad guy's head, which I found distasteful. Also, it's about a hundred pages longer than the earlier books and I did find it dragged in places. By the end I was starting to forget which of the possible bad guys was which. I don't know if I will continue with this series when the next one comes out.

I really enjoyed the Coromoran Strike books and especially Career of Evil (though I agree with you on the distasteful "head of villain" and that portions dragged to the point where I was having trouble keeping the possible culprits straight) - I am on tenterhooks to see where Cormoran and Robin end up in the next one!

>122 Robertgreaves: Urgh, I don't like spending lots of time in psychopath bad guys' heads either.

Starting my no. 58, Where Three Roads Meet by Salley Vickers. This fits the AlphKIT.

My review of The Fold:

Leland "Mike" Erikson, a very high IQ person with an eidetic memory, is asked by a friend from the US Dept of Defence to go and see how a top secret instantaneous transport project is getting on. Although the portal works, it is not in fact teleportation or dimensional folding but something much more dangerous.

A thoroughly enjoyable tongue-in-cheek rollicking SF adventure.

>125 Robertgreaves: I loved The Fold -- glad you enjoyed it!

Currently reading my No. 59, Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić.

My review of Where Three Roads Meet:

Under the influence of analgesic morphine, Sigmund Freud is visited by a mysterious figure arguing for a more mystical interpretation of the story of Oedipus, closer to Sophocles's telling.

Rather disappointing, run of the mill re-telling of the story. Not actually bad, but doesn't really bring anything new.

Starting my No. 60, The Bass Wore Scales by Mark Schweizer. This fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of Baba Yaga Laid An Egg:

Three old ladies from Croatia go on a spa trip to the Czech Republic.

I did not finish this one. By the time I'd read the actual story I couldn't be bothered reading the appendix (about 1/3 of the book) explaining how it related to the Baba Yaga myth.

Starting my No. 61 The Mezzo Wore Mink, the next in the series, which also fits the AlphaKIT.

My review of The Bass Wore Scales:

Brother Kilroy, pastor of the New Fellowship Baptist Church, is found murdered in the bathroom attached to his locked study. The main suspect, found in the bathroom with him, is a 500 pound gorilla called Kokomo who has been taught American Sign Language. Can Hayden Konig find the real killer before Kokomo is put down as a dangerous animal?

The funniest part was the Pentecost service, but plenty of other humour in this book. Something to amuse everyone.

On the trip home I read my Nos. 62 and 63, The Diva Wore Diamonds and The Organist Wore Pumps, and started my No. 64, Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth.