Jackie's 2021 ROOT thread - 2

Hello everyone, welcome to my second thread! I'm Jackie, and I've been a member of this group since 2014, so I think that means this is my 8th year ROOTing. I've found this (and the Category Challenge) group really helpful for getting a bit of a grip on Mt TBR, and I love the book and other chat in the group. I read a lot of non-fiction, and nature/place writing is my reading happy place, but I do try and fit in some regular fiction as well.

I've kept my goal the same as 2020, 60 books. In 2020 I exceeded that by quite a lot, but this year I want to feel less stressed and so I'm not going to go too all out on trying to exceed the goal. If I read more than 5 books a month that's great, but I'm not going to put myself under pressure to do more than that. There are a few books which I'm going to read over the entire year, so if I manage 5 books a month then those books will help me exceed my goal by year end.

I'm also going to keep my goal of trying to reduce Mt TBR. The last couple of years I've been successful in slowly chipping away at it. I'd hoped to start 2021 with the total number of books still left to be read under 400. I didn't quite manage that, but I did reduce the pile by 20 books. I've decided to try and aim for 375 books or fewer by the end of 2021. My main strategy is to try and only acquire a book when I've read 2 books from Mt TBR (I haven't managed it yet, but even just trying has helped!). I don't count books I receive as presents in that 2 for 1 (trying to give myself a bit of wiggle room!). I'll keep trying to get closer to that goal in 2021.

Happy reading everyone, and may 2021 be a big improvement in all areas on 2020!

Note to self so I don't have to look everywhere - code for inserting a picture (surrounded by less than and greater than signs): img src="URL" width=200 length=150

Ticker 1: ROOTs read



Ticker 2: Acquisitions



Ticker 3: Books left on Mt TBR

ROOTs 1-40 (see thread 1 for reviews)

1. Svetlana Alexievich - Chernobyl Prayer. Finished 6.1.21. 4.5/5.
2. J.D. Vance - Hillbilly Elegy. Finished 9.1.21. 3.5/5.
3. Jessica J. Lee - Two Trees Make a Forest. Finished 16.1.21. 4.5/5.
4. Janey Godley - Frank Get The Door!. Finished 18.1.21. 4/5.
5. Nevil Shute - A Town Like Alice. Finished 18.1.21. 3.5/5.
6. Roger Deakin - Waterlog. Finished 30.1.21. 4.5/5.
7. Various, ed. Robyn Sarty - B is for Beauty: A Beauty and the Beast Anthology. Finished 31.1.21. 4/5.
8. Dan Fagin - Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation. Finished 8.2.21. 4.5/5.
9. Alice Vincent - Rootbound: Rewilding a Life. Finished 14.2.21. 3.5/5.
10. Various, ed. Robyn Sarty - A is for Apple: A Snow White Anthology. Finished 15.2.21. 4/5.
11. Dara McAnulty - Diary of a Young Naturalist. Finished 18.2.21. 5/5.
12. Akala - Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire. Finished 19.2.21. 4.5/5.
13. Mark Stay - The Crow Folk. Finished 27.2.21. 5/5.
14. Kassidy Shade & Andy Chapman - Dinosaurs, Jetpacks, and Rock Stars!. Finished 28.2.21. 4/5.
15. Michel Foucault - The Will to Knowledge: The History of Sexuality Vol 1. Finished 5.3.21. 3/5.
16. Craig Packer - Into Africa. Finished 11.3.21. 4/5.
17. David H Mould - Postcards from the Borderlands. Finished 23.3.21. 3.5/5.
18. Danny Katch - Why Bad Governments Happen to Good People. Finished 24.3.21. 3.5/5.
19. Fiona de Londras & Mairead Enright - Repealing the 8th. Finished 27.3.21. 4/5.
20. Jane Williams - The Merciful Humility of God. Finished 28.3.21. 3.5/5.
21. Diane Ackerman - Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden. Finished 28.3.21. 4.5/5.
22. Frank Kusy - Life Before Frank: From Cradle to Kibbutz. Finished 11.4.21. 3.5/5.
23. Robin Wall Kimmerer - Braiding Sweetgrass. Finished 23.4.21. 5/5.
24. Mary Beard - SPQR. Finished 24.4.21. 4.5/5.
25. Alexander McCall Smith - The Full Cupboard of Life. Finished 29.4.21. 4/5.
26. Margaret Truman - White House Pets. Finished 4.5.21. 2.5/5.
27. Charlie Hailey - The Porch: Meditations on the Edge of Nature. Finished 11.5.21. 5/5.
28. ed. Kathleen Jamie - Antlers of Water: Writing on the Nature and Environment of Scotland. Finished 15.5.21. 4.5/5.
29. John Galt - The Annals of the Parish. Finished 15.5.21. 4/5.
30. Saša Stanišić - How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone. Finished 18.5.21. 4.5/5.
31. Lev Parikian - Music to Eat Cake By. Finished 19.5.21. 3.5/5.
32. Jim Dodge - Fup. Finished 22.5.21. 4/5.
33. Alan Brown - Overlander: Bikepacking coast to coast across the heart of the Highlands. Finished 29.5.21. 4/5.
34. Goscinny & Uderzo - Asterix in Corsica. Finished 5.6.21. 4/5.
35. Arlie Russell Hochschild - Strangers in their own land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. Finished 10.6.21. 5/5.
36. Sara Maitland - Gossip from the Forest. Finished 15.6.21. 4/5.
37. Katherine May - The Electricity of Every Living Thing. Finished 19.6.21. 5/5.
38. Svetlana Alexievich - The Unwomanly Face of War. Finished 23.6.21. 4.5/5.
39. Simon Barnes - On the Marsh: A Year Surrounded by Wildness and Wet. Finished 26.6.21. 4.5/5.
40. Ross James - 111 Days. Finished 29.6.21. 4/5.

ROOTs 41+ (reviews on this thread)

41. Stephen Graham - Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers. Finished 10.7.21. 4/5.
42. Tove Jansson - The Summer Book. Finished 12.7.21. 4.5/5.
43. Tom Michell - The Penguin Lessons. Finished 18.7.21. 3.5/5.
44. ed. Robert Kulpa & Joanna Mizielinska - De-centring Western Sexualities : Central and Eastern European Perspectives. Finished 23.7.21. 4/5.
45. Padraig O Tuama & Glenn Jordan - Borders and Belonging: The Book of Ruth: A Story for Our Times. Finished 23.7.21. 4.5/5.
46. C.K. McDonnell - The Stranger Times. Finished 24.7.21. 5/5.
47. Various authors - The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa. Finished 30.7.21. 3/5.
48. Allie Brosh - Hyperbole and a Half. Finished 4.8.21. 4.5/5.
49. Damian Smyth - English Street. Finished 5.8.21. 3/5.
50. Chris Packham - Fingers in the Sparkle Jar. Finished 8.8.21. 4.5/5.
51. Charlotte Mendelson - Rhapsody in Green. Finished 17.8.21. 4.5/5.
52. Maxim Gorky - Through Russia. Finished 17.8.21. 2/5.
53. Ian Mitchell - Isles of the North. Finished 28.8.21. 4/5.
54. Philip Pullman - Daemon Voices. Finished 3.9.21. 3.5/5.
55. ed. Allan M Brandt & Paul Rozin - Morality and Health. Finished 4.9.21. 3.5/5.
56. James Rebanks - English Pastoral: An Inheritance. Finished 5.9.21. 5/5.
57. Will Storr - The Science of Storytelling. Finished 12.9.21. 4/5.
58. Scott Adams - Don't Step in the Leadership. Finished 20.9.21. 3/5.
59. Kate Atkinson - Life After Life. Finished 25.9.21. 4.5/5.
60. Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb - I am Malala. Finished 4.10.21. 4.5/5.
61. Rachael Chadwick - 60 Postcards. Finished 11.10.21. 3/5.
62. Katherine May - Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times. Finished 14.10.21. 4.5/5.
63. Margaret Silf - Landmarks: An Ignatian Journey. Finished 16.10.21. 4/5.
64. Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott, & Peter Marren - The Consolation of Nature: Spring in the Time of Coronavirus. Finished 17.10.21. 4/5.
65. Jennifer J. Carroll - Narkomania: Drugs, HIV, and Citizenship in Ukraine. Finished 23.10.21. 5/5.
66. G.M. White - The Swordsman's Intent. Finished 23.10.21. 3.5/5.
67. G.M. White - The Swordsman's Lament. Finished 30.10.21. 4/5.
68. Pragya Agarwal - Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking With Children About Race. Finished 31.10.21. 4.5/5.
69. David Greene - Midnight in Siberia. Finished 7.11.21. 4.5/5.
70. Martin Summer - Connecting with Life: Finding Nature in an Urban World. Finished 11.11.21. 3.5/5.
71. Jan Kotouc, tr. Isabel Stainsby - Frontiers of the Imperium. Finished 14.11.21. 3.5/5.
72. Yanis Varoufakis - Talking to my Daughter About the Economy. Finished 18.11.21. 3.5/5.
73. Reece Jones - Violent Borders. Finished 14.12.21. 4/5.
74. ed. Ruxandra Cesereanu - Comunism Si Represiune in Romania: Istoria Tematica a Unui Fratricid National. Finished 16.12.21. 4/5.
75. Walter Brueggemann - Names for the Messiah: An Advent Study. Finished 19.12.21. 3/5.
76. Melissa Harrison - The Stubborn Light of Things. Finished 25.12.21. 4.5/5.
77. Barbara Henderson - Scottish by Inclination. Finished 25.12.21. 3.5/5.
78. Andy Beer - Every Day Nature. Finished 31.12.21. 4/5.
79. Mark Stay - Babes in the Wood. Finished 31.12.21. 5/5.

Non-ROOTs

1. Dr Laura Markham - Calm Parents, Happy Kids. Finished 15.2.21. 3/5.
2. Joanna Penn - The Successful Author Mindset. Finished 15.2.21. 4/5.
3. Joanna Penn - How to Market a Book. Finished 25.2.21. 4.5/5.
4. Joanna Penn - How to Make a Living with your Writing. Finished 28.2.21. 3.5/5.
5. Henry David Thoreau - Walden; and, On the duty of civil disobedience. Finished 9.3.21. 3/5.
6. Florence Williams - The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. Finished 8.4.21. 4/5.
7. Various - Nature Writing for the Common Good (available at https://www.cusp.ac.uk/projects/arts/naturewriting/ ). Finished 16.4.21. 3.5/5.
8. Ben Aitken - A Chip Shop in Poznan. Finished 26.4.21. 3.5/5.
9. Michael Palin - North Korea Journal. Finished 11.6.21. 3.5/5.
10. Joan Didion - Let Me Tell You What I Mean. Finished 13.7.21. 3.5/5.
11. Helen Mort - No Map Could Show Them. Finished 24.7.21. 3/5.
12. Mark Leslie Lefebvre - Killing it on Kobo. Finished 8.8.21. 4/5.
13. Richard Osman - The Thursday Murder Club. Finished 19.8.21. 4.5/5.
14. Paul Murton - The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney and Shetland. Finished 22.9.21. 4/5.
15. Stephen McGann - Flesh and Blood: A History of my Family in Seven Sicknesses. Finished 16.10.21. 4.5/5.
16. Chris Packham & Megan McCubbin - Back to Nature: How to love life - and save it. Finished 31.10.21. 3.5/5.
17. Bill Bryson - Shakespeare. Finished 1.12.21. 4/5.
18. Hinterland: Summer: 8. Finished 14.12.21. 4/5.

Acquisitions 1-30 (Jan-June 2021)

1. Various, ed. Robyn Sarty - B is for Beauty. Acquired 1.1.21.
2. C.K. McDonnell - The Stranger Times. Acquired 18.1.21.
3. Jane Williams - The Merciful Humility of God. Acquired 30.1.21.
4. Mark Stay - The Crow Folk. Acquired 4.2.21.
5. Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott, Peter Marron - The Consolation of Nature: Spring in the Time of Coronavirus. Acquired 15.2.21.
6. Corinne Fowler - Green Unpleasant Land. Acquired 25.2.21.
7. Kassidy Shade & Andy Chapman - Dinosaurs, Jetpacks, and Rock Stars. Acquired 27.2.21.
8. Tom Cox - Notebook. Acquired 1.3.21.
9. David H. Mould - Postcards from the Borderlands. (LTER) Acquired 6.3.21.
10. Robin Wall Kimmerer - Braiding Sweetgrass. Acquired 13.3.21.
11. Philippa Perry - The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read: (And Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did). Acquired 16.3.21.
12. Leslie Kern - Feminist City. Acquired. 16.3.21.
13. Musa Okwonga - One of Them - An Eton College Memoir. Acquired 1.4.21.
14. Jim Dodge - Fup. Acquired 29.4.21.
15. Charlie Hailey - The Porch: Meditations on the Edge of Nature. Acquired 3.5.21.
16. ed. Katherine Norbury - Women on Nature. Acquired 13.5.21.
17. Various - In the Garden: Essays on Nature and Growing. Acquired 18.5.21.
18. Stephen Moss - Skylarks With Rosie: A Somerset Spring. Acquired 22.5.21.
19. Pragya Agarwal - (M)Otherhood. Acquired 3.6.21.
20. Narine Abgaryan - Three Apples Fell from the Sky. Acquired 3.6.21.
21. Padraig O Tuama & Glenn Jordan - Borders & Belonging: The Book of Ruth: A Story for our Times. Acquired 3.6.21.
22. Charlotte Mendelson - Rhapsody in Green. Acquired 3.6.21.
23. Simon Barnes - On the Marsh. Acquired 3.6.21.
24. Stewart Ennis - Blessed Assurance. Acquired 4.6.21.
25. Peter Arnott - Moon Country. Acquired 4.6.21.
26. Simon Barnes - A History of the World in 100 Animals. Acquired 5.6.21.
27. Ross James - 111 Days. Acquired 11.6.21.
28. Frank Rennie - The Changing Outer Hebrides: Galson and the meaning of Place. Acquired 13.6.21.
29. Anita Sethi - I Belong Here: A Journey Along the Backbone of Britain. Acquired 25.6.21.
30. James Rebanks - English Pastoral. Acquired 29.6.21.

Acquisitions 31+

31. Rev. Richard Coles - The Madness of Grief: A Memoir of Love and Loss. Acquired 15.7.21.
32. Elif Shafak - Black Milk. Acquired 24.7.21.
33. Ian Carter - Human, Nature. Acquired 24.7.21.
34. Rebecca Schiller - Earthed. Acquired 4.8.21.
35. Andrew Shaffer - Hope Never Dies. Acquired 6.8.21.
36. Andrew Shaffer - Hope Rides Again. Acquired 6.8.21.
37. Jack Hart - Wordcraft: The complete Guide to Clear, Powerful Writing. Acquired 20.8.21.
38. Christy Wampole - Rootedness: The Ramifications of a Metaphor. Acquired 20.8.21.
39. Donald E. Meek - A Croft in Caolas. Acquired 27.8.21.
40. Monisha Rajesh - Around India in 80 Trains. Acquired 20.9.21.
41. Barbara Henderson - Scottish by Inclination. Acquired 5.10.21.
42. Nicola Chester - On Gallows Down. Acquired 19.10.21.
43. Mike Parker - On the Red Hill. Acquired 23.10.21.
44. Lucie Fremlova - Queer Roma. Acquired 25.10.21.
45. Mark Stay - Babes in the Wood: Witches of Woodville 2. Acquired 28.10.21.
46. Cassandra Alexander - Year of the Nurse. Acquired 11.11.21.
47. Nina Mingya Powles - Small Bodies of Water. Acquired 18.11.21.
48. Various ed Hugh Hillyard-Parker - News of Great Joy: The Church Times Christmas Collection. Acquired 27.11.21.
49. Robert Macfarlane - Underland. Acquired 1.12.21.
50. Jacob McAtear - An Engagement with Nature (no touchstone). Acquired 12.12.21.
51. BB - The Little Grey Men. Acquired 23.12.21.
52. Esther Woolfson - Between Light and Storm. Acquired 25.12.21.
53. Robin Wall Kimmerer - Gathering Moss. Acquired 25.12.21.
54. Helen Macdonald - H is for Hawk. Acquired 25.12.21. (*** note to self - all books up to and including this one in Jar of Fate ***)

Nerdy stats

ROOTs (total: 79)

fiction: 21
non-fiction: 57
poetry: 1

female author: 29 (%)
male author: 50 (%)
non-binary author: (%)
mixed anthology: 7 (%)

paper book: 32 (%)
ebook: 47 (%)

completed: 79
abandoned:

ratings (4* and above): 55

Non-ROOTs (total: 17)

fiction: 1
non-fiction: 15
poetry: 1

female author: 9
male author: 9

paper book: 3
ebook: 14

completed: 17
abandoned:

Acquisitions (total: 54)

fiction: 13
non-fiction: 41

female author: 21
male author: 31
mixed: 4

paper book: 16
ebook: 38

Amount spent overall: £218.31 + $19.80

Source:

kobo - 25
hive.co.uk -
Unbound - 3
amazon marketplace -
birthday presents - 8
LTER - 2
Verso - 1
Barter Books -
amazon.co.uk - 4
Christmas presents - 4
Outwith -
Book Depository -
Peepal Tree Press - 1
random gift - 3
University of Chicago Press - 2
Routledge - 1

(via Bookbub - 1)

2 for 1 progress (minus presents)

ROOTs 79
acquisitions 39

Welcome to my new thread :)

Happy new thread, Jackie!

>7 Jackie_K: I like your stats, especially the 2 for 1 progress.

Happy New Thread, Jackie

Happy new thread, Jackie!

>9 FAMeulstee: >10 Robertgreaves: >11 curioussquared: Thank you all! Anita, the stats have been so helpful for me to try and curb the excesses of book-buying!

Happy new thread! Hope you have a great second half of the year!

>13 rabbitprincess: Thank you rp! It's been good so far, and I'm on holiday the next week and a bit, so I'm hoping to get quite a few books read then.

Happy new thread, Jackie, and enjoy the holiday!

Happy New Thread, Jackie! Have a nice holyday, with nice weather and lots of good books!

Happy new thread! Methinks I noticed a (relative) high number of fiction ROOTs and fiction acquisitions!

>15 MissWatson: >16 connie53: >17 detailmuse: Thank you very much! I am really looking forward to getting away for a bit (we are seeing family in England that we've not seen for 2 years).

>17 detailmuse: Yes, about 25% of my reads so far have been fiction, I'm quite proud of myself! And I've acquired more than that, nearly a third of my acquisitions have been fiction. This is what comes of getting to know writers!

Stopping in to say hello, as I just caught up on the tail end of your first thread. The Unwomanly Face of War certainly looks fascinating, in particular. Cheers!

Happy new thread, Jackie! Enjoy your holiday and visit with family.

>19 rocketjk: It's relentless, but very good, like all of her books.
>20 Familyhistorian: Thank you very much, Meg - we're off tomorrow so very much looking forward to it.

You're doing a great job on your ROOTs goal, Jackie! And considering you read so much nonfiction (which are always slower reads for me) I'd say a monthly goal of 5 books is impressive.

>22 rosalita: Thank you! I seem to be averaging just over 6.5 ROOTs a month, so I've got a bit of wiggle room if I slow down later in the year! I find fiction much slower to read, usually, unless I'm really grabbed by it (which doesn't happen massively often). Whereas much of the non-fiction I read sucks me in with great storytelling! :)

I am back from a lovely week and a bit away visiting my family and in-laws, and am feeling very refreshed (although I'm back to work tomorrow, so I might not say the same then!). It was so lovely to be able to hug loved ones after such a long time.

We had a so-near-yet-so-far experience with Barter Books - we pulled into the car park, as we usually stop there to have a lunch/toilet/browse stop and change drivers, but due to covid they are restricting the numbers of customers in the shop at any one time, so despite the (very heavy) rain, there was a massive queue and no indication how long it would take to be let in. So we took the decision to abandon the attempt, as we still had ages to go on our journey. Oh well - it's good to see it open again, and it will still be there when we try again in the future!

I did get some reading done, although nowhere near as much as I had thought I would (this is probably a surprise to nobody but me). Two ROOTs and one non-ROOT finished, and a couple of others in progress still. Here goes with the reviews:

ROOT #41



Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers by Stephen Graham is a really interesting look at city/geography/social studies/urban studies from the vertical perspective, rather than the predominant 2D horizontal perspective of most maps and accounts of urban life. He covers everything from satellites and drones, skywalks (such as the one in Minneapolis), skyscrapers, elevator technology, favelas, to sewers, bunkers and mining. Using a lot of different cities to illustrate his points (Dubai, London, Toronto, Sao Paolo, Minneapolis, New York, Johannesburg and many many others) this is a scholarly but extremely accessible account of the issues facing the world as urban growth continues ever upwards and downwards. I found it fascinating, and I'm sure I'll come back to it again. I did though have to dock half a star for the poor proofreading - not so much spelling errors, but missing or additional words were far more frequent than they should have been (and this is not something I usually experience with books published by Verso). 4/5.

ROOT #42



Best known for her creations the Moomins, The Summer Book is one of Tove Jansson's novels for adults, and reportedly her favourite. The author owned and lived for many years on a small island in the Gulf of Finland, and this book is the story of a family (primarily grandmother and granddaughter, Sophia - reportedly based on the author's mother and niece) who live on such an island. It is absolutely delightful - there is no plot as such, and really very little happens. Each chapter is a vignette of a conversation or observation or event in the family's life on the island. It was perfect holiday reading. I was a bit worried that it might be a bit twee, but as it features meditations on ageing, bereavement, environmental damage etc (while never bashing the reader over the head with these things), it never descended into the saccharine. Fabulous. 4.5/5.

Non-ROOT #10



This month's library book was Joan Didion's Let Me Tell You What I Mean, a collection of 12 essays, mostly from the beginning of her career (from the late 60s/early 70s) plus some newer ones from the 90s/early 2000s. She covers subjects such as a Gamblers Anonymous meeting, meeting Nancy Reagan, Ernest Hemingway's posthumous publications, writing, and more. I think the piece on Nancy Reagan and the first one on writing were my favourites - I have found, from the few essays of Didion's that I have read, that I feel a step removed from her, but in these pieces I did feel she offered a bit of herself, and was more relatable. 3.5/5.

Glad to hear you had a good time off, even if you didn't get to go to Barter Books! Hope you'll find another time to go book shopping.

>24 Jackie_K: It's so nice to hear about getaways!

I too was charmed by The Summer Book -- I keep few books to reread, but this is one. And I like Joan Didion's essays but liked her grief memoirs much more because they're so personal -- The Year of Magical Thinking about her husband and Blue Nights about her daughter and her own aging.

>25 rabbitprincess: I'm sure there'll be another time, and in the meantime, Mt TBR thanks me for being (relatively) restrained!
>26 detailmuse: I think it's the personal ones I like more too - I have The Year of Magical Thinking on my kobo to be read sometime. The essay about Nancy Reagan really surprised me, it was a really personal picture of someone everyone thinks they know about.

ROOT #43



Tom Michell's The Penguin Lessons is a charming memoir of the author's time in Argentina in the late 1970s, working in a boarding school for boys near Buenos Aires, and specifically of the penguin he rescues from an oil slick while on holiday in Uruguay, which he ends up taking back to the school where it becomes beloved of staff and students alike. It could have been a bit mawkish, but I think was saved from that by the author's own musings on whether or not he was doing the best thing for the penguin (named Juan Salvado), and also whether or not he was anthropomorphising the interactions with the bird. He attempts to find an appropriate place for Juan Salvado, firstly at Buenos Aires zoo (which he decides against once seeing the lethargic, underfed, and unstimulated penguins there), and then at a penguin colony 1000+km away on the south coast (impractical after the only means of bringing the penguin there, his unreliable motorbike, breaks down in the middle of nowhere), but Juan Salvado seems in no rush to leave and enjoys the company of the boys and staff who treat (and feed) him well. A nice light read. 3.5/5.

Hi Jackie, and a very belated happy new thread.

I note that you've read 25% fiction this year so far - a record for you?

I'm glad the family trip went well, sorry you couldn't stop at the book store.

>24 Jackie_K: I've read Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, a devastating memoir of her daughter's illness and her husband's death. I still haven't read Blue Nights, about her daughter's death. Didion is absolutely brilliant.

>29 karenmarie: Thanks Karen! I don't think 25% fiction is too out of the ordinary for me - I usually manage around 20%, I think, although there are some months when I don't read any. I am trying to make more of an effort, as I do still have quite a lot on Mt TBR! I've got The Year of Magical Thinking on the pile as well, I've only heard good things about it, despite the harrowing subject matter.

It's been a good reading week this week - I've two completed ROOTs to report, and expect to finish another one later today.

ROOT #44



De-Centring Western Sexualities : Central and Eastern European Perspectives, edited by Robert Kulpa & Joanna Mizielinska, is one of several academic books that came out towards the end of my PhD and which I bought with the intention of continuing my scholarship and staying up to date with relevant books and articles in the field. That didn't happen, and I only ever got round to reading and citing the chapter that was particularly relevant to my PhD, by Shannon Woodcock. I'm pleased I finally managed to read the rest of the book, this is still a really interesting look at the state of LGBT/queer lives in CEE from social/cultural/academic perspectives, arguing that Western-focused activism and academic priorities don't capture the nuances of the situation in Central & Eastern Europe, and indeed that studies from the region add to and problematise the academic canon. I still think that Shannon Woodcock's chapter was my favourite (probably because the specific context of Romania was more familiar to me), but the whole book is excellent, and a decade on from publication still important for CEE scholars. 4/5.

ROOT #45



Borders and Belonging: The Book of Ruth: A Story for our Times by Padraig O Tuama and Glenn Jordan is a short but really important book. Both authors worked for the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland, working across the religious and sectarian divide to promote reconciliation and peace. After the Brexit vote of 2016, where once again the issue of borders, and the potential for conflict, became (and still is) a huge issue, they carried out a series of workshops across Ireland and Great Britain, using the Biblical book of Ruth as the foundation to their discussions about borders and belonging, migration and prejudice, and this book is the result. They write alternate chapters, Glenn is the theologian and Padraig the poet, and both bring different aspects of the story to the discussion. Brexit is only mentioned sparingly, but it is easy to see how the lessons of the book of Ruth can be applied and interpreted in the light of Brexit. A very thoughtful, accessible and important book. 4.5/5.

Hi Jackie. Trying to catch up with all threads.

Glad to read you had a great vacation and a nice visit to some of your family.

I loved De pinguïnlessen when I read it. Maybe I should pick it up again.

ROOT #46



C.K. McDonnell's The Stranger Times is the first book in a trilogy (the next one is out in early 2022, I believe), and I can't wait for the next book having raced through this one. Hannah, down on her luck, accepts a job at The Stranger Times (basically a knock-off of The Fortean Times), despite never having any journalistic experience and having a bunch of oddball colleagues - alcoholic editor Vincent Banecroft, Reggie the ghost hunter, Ox the UFOlogist, Grace the devout Christian office manager, Stella the teenage office assistant, and Manny the permanently stoned printman, plus Simon the nerdy teenager who's desperate for a job at the paper and spends his life at the door trying to get in. Strange and dark goings-on soon show Hannah that there is more reality to the world the paper reveals than you might think, and the intrepid newspaper employees investigate the murder of one of their own, coming face to face with darker forces than any of them thought possible. This review really doesn't do justice to how funny this book is, I loved it, and sniggered my way throughout it - think the film Men in Black meeting Terry Pratchett, and set in the grimier bit of Manchester. As the first in a trilogy it probably does spend a bit longer than some books establishing the characters and the world, but it is worth persevering, the reward is well worth it. 5/5.

>32 Jackie_K: Nice review, Jackie. That sounds right up my alley! Sadly, my library doesn't have it, but I've requested they purchase it.

>33 rosalita: It was only published here in the UK in February, so it may not be published in the US yet. Definitely one to look out for though!

Non-ROOT #11



One of my rare forays into poetry, thanks to the library! Helen Mort's second collection, No Map Could Show Them, celebrates women who dared break new ground, particularly around mountain climbing, from a young Yorkshire woman who climbed the Swiss Alps in crinoline, to Alison Hargreaves, a mountaineer just a few years older than me who died in her early 30s while descending from the summit of K2 in the 1990s.

As is often the case with poetry, I could tell that the language was clever and beautiful, but couldn't entirely always grasp what was going on. The set of poems about Alison Hargreaves was lovely though, I wonder if I related more to them because I knew what had happened to her. 3/5.

>31 connie53: Connie, I just saw that I missed a message from you, so sorry! Yes, The Penguin Lessons was a lovely light read, perfect for a holiday read. I had a lovely time with family, but we are all back home and back to work now, trying to organise A's social calendar till she goes back to school, and wilting in the heat! (which is very mild compared to many places right now, mid-20s, but it's too hot for me!)

ROOT #47



The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa is an anthology of short stories and non-fiction essays from 2001 which I think has been on my shelves from the early 2000s (it had probably been out a year or two when I got it, but it's definitely pre-2005). British Newspaper the Daily Telegraph took 7 authors and journalists to southern Sudan and then collected the works the trip inspired into this book, the proceeds of which went towards aid projects in Sudan. Several of the authors are very well-known names - Alex Garland, Tony Hawks, Irvine Welsh, Andrew O'Hagan, Victoria Glendinning, Giles Foden - plus veteran Telegraph journalist WF Deedes - so the quality of writing was very high throughout, there wasn't a single dud chapter (not something you can say very often about anthologies). I must admit I'd bought it thinking that it was a straight-up travel book (and I'd already read the Tony Hawks chapter which is reproduced in his book One Hit Wonderland), so I was surprised to find that most of the pieces were actually short stories, including the chapter by Deedes. It was only Tony Hawks' chapter (about trying to find a musician to record a song with) and the final one by Victoria Glendinning (about the pros and cons of aid and development efforts) which were non-fiction, most of the others were short stories, and then about half the book was taken up with a novella by Irvine Welsh, which was as brutal and challenging (and sometimes darkly funny) as you'd expect from him.

To be honest, most of the short stories were good but not especially memorable, but the Irvine Welsh story will stay with me a long time. I enjoyed the two non-fiction pieces, and actually reading Glendinning's overview of the history and politics of the Sudan conflicts, as well as issues regarding aid and development, it was easy to see where elements of the fictional accounts had got their inspiration, so that was a really good way to round off the book.

I did feel a bit uncomfortable reading stories by white Westerners about black and brown Africans and their conflicts, but the honest wondering about what good is being achieved and what problems are being created by Western aid and development efforts in Glendinning's piece did redeem it. I don't think what was being discussed is anything new in aid and development circles, even 20 years ago, but I appreciated that they did at least air the debate. 3/5.

I'm not entirely sure how we're at August 1st when it was only New Year a couple of weeks ago (wasn't it?!). But, here we are. July was a good reading month for me - 7 ROOTs and 2 Non-ROOTs. The ROOTs were:

1. Stephen Graham - Vertical: The City from Satellites to Bunkers.
2. Tove Jansson - The Summer Book.
3. Tom Michell - The Penguin Lessons.
4. ed. Robert Kulpa & Joanna Mizielinska - De-centring Western Sexualities : Central and Eastern European Perspectives.
5. Padraig O Tuama & Glenn Jordan - Borders and Belonging: The Book of Ruth: A Story for Our Times.
6. C.K. McDonnell - The Stranger Times.
7. Various authors - The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa.

The two non-ROOTs were:

1. Joan Didion - Let Me Tell You What I Mean.
2. Helen Mort - No Map Could Show Them.

I also acquired 3 new books, and am still on track for my 2:1 read:acquired goal. However, I'm not counting my chickens, because Aug/Sept has often been the time of the year when my 2:1 has gone to pot and I've suddenly started buying All The Books. Let's see how I do! This month's acquisitions were:

1. Rev. Richard Coles - The Madness of Grief: A Memoir of Love and Loss.
2. Elif Shafak - Black Milk.
3. Ian Carter - Human, Nature. (no touchstone, yet).

Hi Jackie! I agree - already August?

>32 Jackie_K: And one click later, it’s on my Kindle. Sounds wonderful.

>37 Jackie_K: I read Shafak’s 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World in October 2019, and gave it 4 stars, which may not quite represent how marvelous it was.

>38 karenmarie: I hope you enjoy it! It made me laugh a lot.

I read an early Shafak novel, The Flea Palace, which I really enjoyed apart from the Bobby Ewing in the shower-esque ending, and I heard an interview with her when 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World came out; she's a very thoughtful and inspiring person. Black Milk is actually a memoir, of her experience of postnatal depression and how it affected her writing.

>35 Jackie_K:. It's perfectly alright, Jackie. I did not notice it since I was absent from LT myself. RL can be as time consuming as reading books.

>40 connie53: That's very true, it can be if you let it!

ROOT #48



Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half is part cartoon, part memoir about depression, dogs, weird situations and self-awareness, based on the viral blog from 2013 or so. I absolutely loved it - there was a lot to recognise, and particularly her chapter called 'Motivation' which absolutely nailed the anxiety/depression-based paralysis when faced with a completely ordinary and easy task. I remember a friend saying that the cartoon about depression where she suddenly notices an old bit of corn under the fridge and finding it hilarious was the one where she felt like somebody got how she felt, that it wasn't just her.

I laughed a lot at the dog chapters - her two dogs (simple dog and helper dog) really are great material for her quirky humour. But I think it's the chapters about mental health that are really outstanding - her humour isn't everybody's cup of tea, at times it can be almost disturbing, but if you're on her wavelength then she absolutely nails it. 4.5/5.

Clean ALL the things?

>42 Caramellunacy: ALL the things!

ROOT #49



English Street is a collection of poetry by Irish poet Damian Smyth. I have a signed copy, courtesy of my brother-in-law who (as an NI-based poet) I'm pretty sure knows him. I'm not a big poetry buff, so there was quite a lot here that went right over my head, but even still, the language was lovely and I knew I was reading something special, I just didn't always understand it! The Northern Ireland Troubles are never far away, and this is very clearly a place-based collection - people with more knowledge and experience of Northern Ireland would most likely get much more out of it than me. That said, one of the poems in particular ("The Windy Gap Miraculous") was gorgeous, and it was worth reading just for that one. 3/5.

The Stranger Times looks like a good one, Jackie, and my library has it!

>41 Jackie_K: I really need to add this to my TBR—sounds like something right up my alley!

>41 Jackie_K: Simple dog and helper dog are my favorites ❤️

>44 Familyhistorian: I hope you enjoy it if you get to it!
>45 Charon07: It's great, funny and painful and cringey and relatable all in one.
>46 curioussquared: Yes - I was so impressed they persevered with helper dog!

ROOT #50



Fingers in the Sparkle Jar by naturalist, TV presenter, activist and all-round national treasure, Chris Packham, is a memoir of his childhood as an autistic boy growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. I found it a thoroughly immersive experience reading this - to start with I struggled with the descriptive writing (every single thing has at least one adjective, so the prose felt a bit purple, especially to begin with), but as I read on it became clear that this is just how he experiences the world around him - noticing everything, missing nothing. It detailed both his loneliness and isolation at school, unable to make friends or relate to the other kids around him, but also his fascination, obsession even, with nature, and the comfort and sense of belonging it gave him. In particular, it details his rearing (in 1975, when he was in his early teens) of a kestrel chick after he stole it from its nest, and how much he truly loved that bird and was crushed when it died. Each chapter is made up of scenes, not chronological, from his life, and each ends with an account of a session, in 2003-4, with his counsellor following a mental breakdown. When it came out this book ended up inspiring his fascinating and moving documentary, Aspergers and Me, which I think has done a huge amount in raising awareness and understanding of autism and the barriers and challenges that autistic people face every day. Highly recommended. 4.5/5.

Non-ROOT #12



Killing it on Kobo by Mark Leslie Lefebvre is a really useful book for anyone thinking about self-publishing a book beyond just amazon. The author set up and managed the kobo self-publishing platform for several years, so really knows his stuff. I'll be going back to this book again and again, I'm sure. I did have to dock half a star though for too many typos. 4/5.

>47 Jackie_K: Wow, this sounds really interesting. I'll have to look for it at the library.

>48 Jackie_K: Oh, the irony of a book about self-publishing that has too many typos — easily one of my biggest beefs with such books and one that is so easily avoided with a little care. Being the proud owner of two Kobo readers myself, I'm glad to see a book that will help authors look beyond Kindle.

>49 rosalita: Fingers in the Sparkle Jar is definitely a great read, I hope you manage to find it.

In all honesty I'm much more forgiving of self-published books having typos, as it's generally the author themselves having to pay for editing, proofing etc, so I can understand if they opt for a service like Grammarly instead (most of the typos in this one were correctly spelled words, so wouldn't have been caught by a spellchecker, but (say) an 'ing' form of a word when it should have ended in 'ed' or that sort of thing). It's when typos appear in books from big publishing houses that can afford fancy city centre offices and tons of advertising that I get really cross - they can definitely afford to pay a freelancer to check for typos! But either way, I notice and it jars, and yes, it's a bit unfortunate in this one. The information though is so handy that I'd still give it a good rating overall. If I ever get round to self-publishing my book*, although I'll put it up on amazon as well, I will definitely be passive-aggressively uploading it to kobo first! :D

(*if I ever get round to finishing it first)

ROOT #51



Charlotte Mendelson's Rhapsody in Green is subtitled "A writer, an obsession, a laughably small excuse for a vegetable garden", and is a charming set of short essays, organised seasonally for a year, about her slightly mad-sounding tiny London back garden which is crammed full of things she's growing (with varying levels of success) to eat. I found it quirky and funny - I was trying to think of a phrase to describe it, but then in one of her final essays she's talking about old gardening journals describing the plant pioneers of yesteryear and she refers to them as 'hilariously posh', and I guiltily thought that that's exactly what I'd been thinking about her throughout the book. Despite all the inevitable failures - seeds bought in exuberant enthusiasm with no thought to where they might fit (if at all), and her gardening short cuts that aren't recommended for a reason - what shines through is just how much she adores gardening, and this particular garden. This was my favourite quote:

We live in a world of ceaseless human misery, nude selfies, celebrity dunderheads and online venom. The pain of it is almost too much to bear but you will bear it, you almost certainly will, if you go out into a garden.

I also absolutely loved her essay on composting - I love my compost worms, as benign Quaker factory-owners once cherished their staff.

Fabulous and fun. 4.5/5.

ROOT #52



Through Russia is a set of short stories by Russian author Maxim Gorky, written in the early 20th century. I downloaded it several years ago from a free book site (feedbooks, I think) when I decided that my ignorance of Russian classics and famous writers was a bit embarrassing. I had hoped that this would give me a sense of turn of the century Russian landscape and place, as well as introduce me to a great author, but sadly I found this particular set of stories a real slog, and after valiantly reading through the first half, I extremely half-heartedly flicked through the rest, reading less and less the further I got towards the end. Pretty much every story primarily features circular and pointless conversations with not very pleasant or interesting people, and whilst rich in description, I still found it impossible to picture the place. I'm prepared to concede that I'm a bit of a Philistine, but I really didn't enjoy this. 2/5.

Congrats on ROOT #52 even if was a slog.

I have never successfully finished a Russian classic and at this time of my life don't really feel the need to. I should just cull War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and Crime and Punishment and get it over with.

We'll be Philistines together.

>53 karenmarie: Haha, thank you Karen! I did actually finish War and Peace a few years ago (I didn't love it, and thought it needed a much stricter and more ruthless editor, but I'm glad I read it). But I do have to conclude that I'm never going to be a Russian classics superfan :) That's OK, I think I can live with that!

>53 karenmarie: Nominating myself to join the Philistines Club, if you and Jackie will have me.

>52 Jackie_K: Ha! I read Gorky's The Bystander quite a few years back. It is a novel, very long. 720 pages, in fact. Extremely long. Or, to put it another way, it is endless. And also full of "circular and pointless conversations with not very pleasant or interesting people." Basically, it is a novel, or at least it seemed to me, about bored, trivial and useless people who think they are being intellectual and in the forefront of the struggle for a new, dynamic society. But, all they do is talk. In fact, here are the first two paragraphs of my 5-paragraph review:

This book is very long and very slow. 720 pages, and it's the first of a 4-part work about the life of one Clim Sanghin, a member of the Russian gentry living in pre-Revolution Russia. The time period of "Bystander" is 1880 through about 1905 and we are shown, through a somewhat absurdist perspective, the rot and dissassociation from reality at the core of this class of Russian society.

The problem with the book, certainly from the standpoint of a modern reader, is that it is slow. Very slow. We are treated to many, many drawing room gatherings, each complete with the seemingly idiotic ramblings of people who love to argue philosophy and politics--the character and historic role of the Russian peasantry is a popular theme--but who seem to have no desire whatsoever to take any actions on their beliefs. Although, as time moves along, we learn that some few of these revolving characters are, indeed, involved in revolutionary activities. The realities of the political oppression of the Czarist regime also seep in, as this character or that is announced to have been arrested. All of this "action" takes place off-stage, however, and none of it makes an impression on the protagonist's overwhelming and life-long ennui.

The rest of the review is on the book's work page, but all that to say that not enjoying Gorky's fiction does not make one a philistine, in my view. Evidently, it's Gorky's non-fiction and even his autobiography that are considered his real major works. I've never tried War and Peace. I've mostly enjoyed the Dostoevsky I've read, though, and I do love Chekhov. There are a few others I've enjoyed along the way, as well.

>55 rosalita: Welcome - all the cool people are in the Philistines' Club!

>56 rocketjk: Thank you, that makes me feel much better that it's not just me! I've not (yet) tried any Dostoevsky, although I do have The Idiot on my e-shelves. Aside from that I think I just have two other Russian novels, maybe they'll grab me (but I won't buy any more on the offchance, because on current form they probably won't!).

Non-ROOT #13



This month's library book was a lot of fun - the huge bestseller that is The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Set in a retirement home complex, four retired amateur sleuths while away the time looking at cold cases and trying to figure out whodunnit, but then a thuggish contractor who co-owns the complex is brutally murdered just after he learns that he is being frozen out of plans to expand the development and losing his existing share, and our heroes have a real-life murder to solve. I found this a great whodunnit in that everyone potentially had motives and opportunities and shady pasts, and whilst you have to suspend disbelief in the Club's dealings with the two investigating police officers, nevertheless that didn't stop me just enjoying the ride. It was also very funny in places. Great literature it isn't, but a fun, entertaining read it definitely is, and I loved all the main characters. I'll definitely look out for the next in the series. 4.5/5.

>58 Jackie_K: This was so, so fun. I was totally prepared to be skeptical because this was by a man off the telly, but I loved it. Tapping my foot waiting for the library to get the next book.

>59 rabbitprincess: Yes, my thoughts exactly! Though I'll wait till the demand at the library dies down a bit before trying to read the next one.

ROOT #53



Several years ago I read Ian Mitchell's Isles of the West, about his voyage sailing around the islands of the Hebrides in the 1990s, and the main things I remember about it was that he's a really good writer, he really really doesn't like the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), and he wasn't mad on the idea of community land buy-outs (he visited Eigg before the buy-out there and was very unsupportive of their efforts to raise funds to buy the island). Now I've read his next sailing book, Isles of the North, where he sails from the Hebrides to Rona, Orkney, Shetland and on to Utsira in Norway, a journey he took a few years later, and in this book he's still a really good writer, he still really really doesn't like the RSPB (or SNH - Scottish Natural Heritage - either), but he does like Ardbeg whisky. He does make really good points about conservation bureaucracy and charity/NGO efforts, but it did feel a bit hectoring at times, which is a shame, because this is a fascinating account which tries hard to foreground the voices of local people who are living with the consequences of the bureaucracy of various environmental designations and political decisions. I think I would have liked a little more about his time in Norway - the comparison looked to be really interesting, but I was just getting into it when he sailed back to Scotland, and those two Norway chapters were shorter than all the others, despite spending comparatively quite a lot of time there. 4/5.

>53 karenmarie: Can I join too! Never read any and never will.

>62 connie53: The more the merrier!

What on earth are we doing in September already?!

Here's my August round-up:

I read 6 ROOTs and 2 non-ROOTs - 8 books a month seems to be fairly consistent for me. The ROOTs were:

1. Allie Brosh - Hyperbole and a Half.
2. Damian Smyth - English Street.
3. Chris Packham - Fingers in the Sparkle Jar.
4. Charlotte Mendelson - Rhapsody in Green.
5. Maxim Gorky - Through Russia.
6. Ian Mitchell - Isles of the North.

The non-ROOTs were:

1. Mark Leslie Lefebvre - Killing it on Kobo.
2. Richard Osman - The Thursday Murder Club.

Acquisitions-wise, I've gone slightly over my 2:1 read:acquired goal, but only just, so I'm sure I'll rein it back in in September. I acquired six new books:

1. Rebecca Schiller - Earthed.
2. Andrew Shaffer - Hope Never Dies.
3. Andrew Shaffer - Hope Rides Again.
4. Jack Hart - Wordcraft: The complete Guide to Clear, Powerful Writing.
5. Christy Wampole - Rootedness: The Ramifications of a Metaphor.
6. Donald E. Meek - A Croft in Caolas.

ROOT #54



Philip Pullman's Daemon Voices is a collection of essays and presentations given over several years, about stories and storytelling. He draws a lot on the His Dark Materials trilogy and other books he's written, as well as stories by other authors, to explain his philosophy and approach to writing and storytelling. This was interesting, but as is the nature of talks and presentations in particular, he does recycle some things more than once so there was a good bit of repetition of some points. This also included his side of debates with faith leaders (eg an event in the early 2000s with the Bishop of Oxford). 3.5/5.

ROOT #55



Morality and Health, a collection of work edited by Allan M Brandt and Paul Rozin, is another of the books that I acquired in the latter part of my PhD which I always meant to go back to when I started my eminent post-PhD academic career. That career went the way of most things, and so did the reading of the book, until recently. It looks at various issues (smoking, teenage pregnancy/birth, vegetarianism, tuberculosis, sugar, drink-driving, etc) from the perspective of a number of different academic disciplines and time periods, in particular considering the issues around how imbuing them with moral overtones affects how they are viewed and treated. As usual with these collections, some chapters were more interesting than others to me, but the volume as a whole was worthwhile, even though it is now quite old (published in 1997). I'd be interested to read more recent scholarship on the subject. 3.5/5.

Hi Jackie!

>55 rosalita:, >56 rocketjk:, >62 connie53: Not much good being said about The Russians, eh?

>58 Jackie_K: I’ve pre-ordered the second one, The Man Who Died Twice, due to be published in the US on September 21st. Looks like it’s being released in the UK on the 16th.

>63 Jackie_K: Good stats. Ha. I see Hope Never Dies and Hope Rides Again – I have them and should really get to them sooner than later.

>66 karenmarie: Hi Karen!

Hope Never Dies was a BB from someone on LT. After the election I moved it and the sequel up the wishlist, and then both were on offer on kobo a few weeks ago so I snapped them up. I just thought that it would be good to have something light and silly on the shelves, should the need arise!

ROOT #56



James Rebanks' first book, The Shepherd's Life, is one of my favourite ever books, and his second, English Pastoral: An Inheritance, is right up there with it. It chronicles the changing farming methods over the years on his Lake District fell farm - he is now farming with much more of an eye to promoting nature and biodiversity as well as good farming practices. His love of farming, the land, and nature shines on every page, and his call to move away from monoculture farming and artificial 'solutions' to increasing productivity is clear and urgent. 5/5.

>68 Jackie_K: Yum! Wishlisted it and it was already there as the US version Pastoral Song, not sure how I came upon it. Glad to see you loved it.

>68 Jackie_K: I am looking forward to read English Pastoral: An Inheritance, Jacky. I just got it in Dutch tanslation from the library last week. I also enjoyed his previous book :-)

Hi Jackie, You are almost there. Only four more to go!

>69 detailmuse: >70 FAMeulstee: I am sure you will both enjoy it!
>71 connie53: I'm counting down now! Just about to make it just 3 to go!

ROOT #57



Will Storr's The Science of Storytelling is a fascinating book looking at exactly that - particularly the psychology of why people do what they do in certain situations, and then applying it to character development in creative writing. Even though I don't write fiction I found this really interesting, and I would definitely highly recommend it to anyone I know who is writing any kind of fiction. His argument is that character development, really getting deep into who the characters are, is the best defence against cliche, and he provides loads of examples from literature and film to illustrate his points. Very good read. 4/5.

ROOT #58



Don't Step in the Leadership is one of Scott Adams' early Dilbert collections. More tales of pointless work life in the cubicle, incompetent managers and evil executives. This has been on my shelf for years and years. 3/5.

Hi Jacky. I just dropped by to see what you've been reading. Hmm, some interesting books here ... no! no! I mustn't! Mt TBR is teetering already.

You might find the Basic HTML/ How to Do Fancy Things in Your Posts wiki useful. (I saw the note you left yourself in your first post.)

>74 humouress: Thank you for visiting my thread! And thanks for the link. To be honest, that note has been on my threads for the last 3 years and it's just easier to copy and paste it than try to hunt through wikis, but it looks like it will be useful if I want to do other more fancy things!

Non-ROOT #14



This month's library book is a travel book by TV presenter Paul Murton (who presents the Grand Tour of the Scottish Islands programme). The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney and Shetland is a lovely book with nice paper and gorgeous photos. He is able to go into a bit more detail than the segments in his TV show, as he travels round most of the inhabited isles that make up the Northern Isles of Scotland. Great for island-philes and travel book-philes. 4/5.

ROOT #59



Kate Atkinson's Life After Life is a wonderful, wonderful novel, and I absolutely loved it. Ursula is the third child of Sylvie and Hugh, born just before WW1, and this is the story of her many lives. Not reincarnation, not time travel (although the book's structure is time-hopping all over the place), but deja vu taken to the extreme, where she gets the chance to live bits of her life over again with different outcomes. It's very cleverly done - Ursula doesn't necessarily know what awful thing is going to happen, but the deja vu feeling means that she does *something* to change the outcome of what could have happened (and did, in another parallel life). There are a lot of difficult events - war, rape, backstreet abortion, Nazism, teenage pregnancy, murder, suicide, domestic violence, amongst others - and poor Bridget, the family maid, has a particularly hard time as Ursula tries several times to stop her from catching the Spanish flu at the end of WW1 and infecting the household. In some lives Ursula is a mother, in others she is a maiden aunt with a history, in some she lives in Nazi Germany, in others she is in London, but throughout, each timeline is believable even as you know you're suspending disbelief. It's not a short book, and I'll need to decompress with some non-fiction now, but I'll definitely be picking up her related novel, A God in Ruins (primarily about Ursula's brother Teddy - thank goodness it's not about her brother Maurice!), in the next few months before the characters start to fade in my mind. 4.5/5.

Here we are in October, and I don't know about anyone else but I am in denial about how close to the end of the year we are! So I don't have to think about that, I'll do my September reading run-down!

I managed 6 ROOTs and 1 non-ROOT this month, and am now only 1 ROOT away from my target (which I'm hoping to reach this weekend). The ROOTs I read were:

1. Philip Pullman - Daemon Voices.
2. ed. Allan M Brandt & Paul Rozin - Morality and Health.
3. James Rebanks - English Pastoral: An Inheritance.
4. Will Storr - The Science of Storytelling.
5. Scott Adams - Don't Step in the Leadership.
6. Kate Atkinson - Life After Life.

The non-ROOT (library book) I read was:

1. Paul Murton - The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney and Shetland.

I had slightly fallen off my 2 read: 1 acquisition wagon last month, so this month I tried really hard to climb back on. I only bought 1 (ONE!!!) book the whole month, and am now back where I should be, which I'm really pleased about. I don't think I'm going to reach my year-long goal of 375 books on the TBR, but between 380-385 is realistic. We'll see - it'll depend on how generous Santa is this year! This month's acquisition (singular - get me!) is:

1. Monisha Rajesh - Around India in 80 Trains.

Well done on reining in your acquisitions!

>78 MissWatson: Thank you Birgit, I'm really pleased! I'm definitely focusing more on quality rather than bargains now with my acquisitions, and I'm noticing the difference in the higher scores I'm giving a lot of books.

And hooray, I've now reached my 2021 goal for ROOTs - all others beyond this are donated to the group total.

ROOT #60



I am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb, is Malala's memoir of growing up in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, until she was shot by the Taliban for her campaigning for education for girls, and through her hospital stay in Birmingham (UK) and her ongoing life and campaigning. The bulk of the book, whilst detailing the politics and events in Swat and Pakistan, and the deterioration in civil society, also reads very much as a love letter to the Swat Valley, and to her family. The shooting and its aftermath take up the last quarter of the book; the rest is full of descriptions of her home, her school, her family and friends, and the campaigning that she and her father were involved in as the Taliban gained traction in Swat and beyond. It's impossible not to be full of admiration for this remarkable young woman, still now only in her early 20s, and all she has achieved. 4.5/5.

Yay, congrats on reaching your goal!!

>80 curioussquared: Thank you! I've normally reached it before now, but I've tried to slow down a little bit because having too many books on the go was getting stressful! I think I've got a better balance this year :)

>79 Jackie_K: Well done, Jackie. Congratulations

>79 Jackie_K: Well done! And here's to quality books, they are so much more rewarding.

>79 Jackie_K: Congratulations on reaching your goal, Jackie.

>82 Robertgreaves: >83 MissWatson: >84 FAMeulstee: Thank you all very much! :)

Congratulations on getting to your ROOT goal!

>76 Jackie_K:. I loved that book and the next instalment God in ruins too. When I see them standing proudly on my shelves I get a real good feeling.



Congrats on reaching your goal, Jackie.

Congratulations on goal, Jackie!

>76 Jackie_K: I vacillate between yes and no on acquiring this book. Hmm I should get it right away while you've put me in the for-sure yes mindset again.

Congratulations!

>86 humouress: >87 connie53: >88 detailmuse: >89 clue: Thank you all very much!

>88 detailmuse: I think you should go for it! I thought it was excellent, she's a brilliant writer.

ROOT #61



60 Postcards by Rachael Chadwick is the memoir of a project the author undertook in memory of her mum, who died very quickly after a cancer diagnosis a few months short of her 60th birthday. She went to Paris, and left 60 postcards around the city stating that she was visiting in memory of her mum and asking those who found one of the postcards to contact her to tell her what they were doing when they found it. The project quickly grew arms and legs as the replies started coming back, and she clearly gained a great deal of comfort from the contact with people from around the world.

The first part of the book deals with the 16 days between diagnosis and her mum's death, plus the funeral and the first few months, until the idea of the postcard project took shape. Then there's the trip to Paris, the replies, and their aftermath - a second trip to New York to leave more cards, and the contacts and friends and stories from the replies. Overall it was a moving account, although particularly at the beginning I felt quite voyeuristic reading the very personal story of someone with whom I have no connection. It's left me with lots to think about about memoir in writing - I'm not averse to reading memoirs, including of 'normal', non-celebrities, but I think I need to think about why this one made me feel like that. It's had really good reviews so I think mine is a personal thing rather than something about this book per se - it's me, not her, definitely! 3/5.

ROOT #62



Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May is a lovely book, where she explores the experience of 'wintering' in life through observing places and nature and people who have learnt to anticipate and prepare for the wintering experience rather than trying to power through it. During her own wintering time - illness in both her and her husband's life, stress at work which ultimately required her to resign while she dealt with her health, and troubles with her son at school necessitating a period of home schooling - she acknowledges her need to stop and linger and allow the experiences to take their course, noting that it is really common for plants and animals throughout nature to spend the summer times preparing for the hard winter, ie that it's an inevitable part of life, rather than an unfortunate setback. She also spends time in Norway and Iceland, and closer to home swimming at her local beach. This is a gentle, non-judgmental exploration that I feel has huge resonance in these stressful times. 4.5/5.

Non-ROOT #15



Well, I enjoyed this month's library book so much I immediately went and bought my own copy! Stephen McGann is the actor who plays Doctor Turner on Call the Midwife (he's also one of the McGann acting brothers - probably his best-known brother is Paul McGann, who was in Withnail & I, and was briefly Doctor Who in a TV special between the old and nu-Who eras). His book Flesh and Blood: A History of my Family in Seven Sicknesses is a really fascinating mix of family memoir, genealogy, and social history. He traces his family back to its mid-19th century Irish roots, through to their emigration to Liverpool, eventually through to he and his brothers escaping the poverty of their family history to forge their own way. Through this story, he is able to cover a number of historical and more contemporary historical events that have touched his family - the Irish potato famine, the sinking of the Titanic, the D-Day landings, the Hillsborough disaster, the Alder Hey organ harvesting scandal, and others - and the developments in public health, sanitation and medicine which occurred contemporary to his family story throughout the 20th century. It's really well-written, and the fusion of family genealogy and wider social history works so well as a framework for the narrative. Definitely a cut above the usual celeb memoir. 4.5/5.

>92 Jackie_K: That sounds good.

I think you can count it as a ROOT; it's a book of yours that you read (or a book you read that's now yours). I'm ROOTing to read the books on my shelves that I've bought, not to get rid of them, so that would work for me. In fact, I did the same earlier in the year with Seraphina :0)

>93 humouress: Thanks! The main reason I'm not counting it as a ROOT is that I've already got an exact number of unread books that I'm counting down as I finish a ROOT, so adding a book that I've already read (as opposed to adding a new unread book) (even though it's technically a new one on my shelves) messes up my entirely arbitrary and unimportant to anyone else except me system!

More important to me is that it's proof that libraries are good for authors and publishers (whatever certain publishers say) - yes it might mean that a book goes otherwise unbought, but in my case this isn't the first time that I've tried out a library book and liked it so much I've got my own copy to reread one day. Not to mention the usual good reason for libraries, which is that they make readers!

>91 Jackie_K: I'm so glad you liked this, I found myself in a bookstore this week (how does that happen?) and I bought it although I knew nothing about it.

>95 clue: I'm sure you'll like it! Katherine May is one of my favourite authors, and I actually did one of her online writing courses last year which was excellent. She's very kind, and constructive with her advice and tips.

ROOT #63



Margaret Silf's Landmarks: An Ignatian Journey turned out to be a very good religious complement to Katherine May's secular Wintering (thank you, Jar of Fate!). It's kind of an introduction to Ignatian spirituality, without being an in-depth dissection of Ignatius' writing, specifically looking at slowing down to deepen our spiritual life, and looking at starting from where we are and finding those pointers to help us explore and discover more in our faith (I don't think I'm describing it very well!). I'm thinking about returning to this in Lent next year and going through it more thoroughly, it struck me as a really good Lent companion, although it's not written as such. 4/5.

ROOT #64



The Consolation of Nature: Spring in the Time of Coronavirus by Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott & Peter Marren is a lovely gentle book, chronicling the emergence of spring nature during 2020 when the UK was under its first lockdown. They live, respectively, in suburban SW London, rural Suffolk, and rural Wiltshire, and each day from mid-March to the end of May has an entry from at least one of them about what they're noticing in terms of nature, sound, weather, as well of course as what is going on in the country at the time with rising covid deaths and ongoing lockdown. I will admit to an ulterior motive in buying this book, in that the book that I am currently writing is doing something very similar to this (it's sufficiently different that I think I'm tapping into the zeitgeist rather than rueing the fact they've got there before me!). Certainly discussion of that extraordinary spring, where nature seemed so vibrant even as society shut down, was everywhere, and this is a really nice addition to that discussion. 4/5.

Disclaimer: I know both of the next two authors, so was already favourably disposed to them before I even started reading!

ROOT #65



Although I'm no longer on the academic gravy train, I do still appreciate a well-written and accessible academic book, even more so if it's from my own former research field (broadly, Central & East European Studies) and Jennifer J. Carroll's Narkomania: Drugs, HIV, and Citizenship in Ukraine doesn't disappoint. The result of several years research throughout Ukraine between 2007-2014, this is an ethnography of drug services in Ukraine (specifically opiate replacement therapies such as methadone and buprenorphine and the clinics where they are dispensed) and the people who work in and use these services. Set against the backdrop of separatist unrest and political turmoil in Ukraine, and the competing demands of Western funders and government authorities, this powerful account details how competing discourses of addiction and citizenship play out in the lives of service users and workers. Fizzing with humanity and righteous anger, this is a really important study challenging taken-for-granted discourses and perceptions, and appealing to a recognition of our common humanity. 5/5.

ROOT #66



The Swordsman's Intent by G.M. White is a prequel novella to the author's Royal Champion series, book 1 of which I'm about to start now I've finished the novella. If swordfights and swashbuckling is your thing then this is a good series to check out. Belasko, a decorated soldier from a humble farming background, is summoned along with the best swordfighters in the country by Markus, the current Royal Champion (swordsman and companion to the King), to train and duel to become his successor. This novella fills in the backstory of how the position was filled, and where Belasko's enemies came from. I'm looking forward to book 1. 3.5/5.

>97 Jackie_K: I think Nature made a bit of a comeback around the globe. In Singapore, even on a cloudless night, you'd be lucky to see eleven stars because of all the light and atmospheric pollution. So in January 2020, we took the kids to Hawai'i to show them what the night sky can really look like. Of course, we came back to all the brouhaha and a few months later most of the world was in lockdown. The night skies over Singapore surprised me, going from hazy orange to dark blue (but never inky black) and I could even identify the major stars in the Orion constellation (although not Betelgeuse). And while we were confined to close to where we live, the wildlife got a bit adventurous and even in city-state Singapore, I got to enjoy more glimpses than I usually do.

>98 Jackie_K: I am intrigued by that last one, but there isn't much about the series on LT.

>99 humouress: Yes, I think that's true - it was fascinating to see it flourish as humans got out of the way.

Re the Royal Champion series, book 1 is called The Swordsman's Lament, and book 2 (The Swordsman's Descent) will be out some time in the new year. The author's website (with book 1 blurb) is here: https://gmwhite.co.uk/

I've finished two ROOTs this weekend, and should finish another library book today too :)

ROOT #67



Following on from The Swordsman's Intent, I went straight into G.M. White's The Swordsman's Lament, the first in his Royal Champion series (the first one is a prequel novella, which I'm glad I read first as it helped make sense of some of the relationships in the novel, which takes place many years later). Swordsman Belasko, the Royal Champion, finds that absolute loyalty and integrity count for nothing when the heir to the throne, Prince Kellan, is poisoned and Belasko finds himself accused of the murder. He slips into the nooks and crannies of the kingdom, determined to clear his name and find the true murderer. I much preferred the book at this length rather than novella-length (although the novella was good too), and was pleased that I (as per usual) didn't see the twist at the end coming. The next book is out next year, and I'll definitely read it. 4/5.

ROOT #68



Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking with Children About Race by Pragya Agarwal is a short but vital book looking at issues of race and racism, and how to talk about them with children in an age-appropriate way. I particularly thought the section talking through issues with 10-12 year olds was excellent. 4.5/5.

Non-ROOT #16



My other library book this month was Back to Nature: How to love life - and save it, by TV presenters and naturalists Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin. Ultimately this book is about the biodiversity crisis that the world currently faces, and forms of activism and practical action to try and address it. It was born out of their lockdown experience last year of doing the daily Self Isolating Bird Club on social media, as well as the lockdown Springwatch (which I still think was the best yet), both experiences showing them how much people were reconnecting with nature. Mostly it is Chris discussing (and ranting) in detail about the issues, and then Megan occasionally comes in with factoids about recent scientific discoveries about various species, and she also writes the bits at the end of the chapters about the specific projects they're focusing on. I found it both fascinating and a bit frustrating - they are definitely preaching to the converted in this particular reader, but I found the structure a bit annoying, and wondered if it wouldn't have been better with the species factoids more fully integrated into the overall narrative. That did knock off half a star for me, but there's no doubting the importance of the message, and the need for action. 3.5/5.

My October was a really good reading month. I've got a few longer books lined up for the next few weeks, so I'm not expecting to read as many next month. This month I read 9 ROOTs and 2 non-ROOTs. The ROOTs were:

1. Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb - I am Malala.
2. Rachael Chadwick - 60 Postcards.
3. Katherine May - Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times.
4. Margaret Silf - Landmarks: An Ignatian Journey.
5. Michael McCarthy, Jeremy Mynott, & Peter Marren - The Consolation of Nature: Spring in the Time of Coronavirus.
6. Jennifer J. Carroll - Narkomania: Drugs, HIV, and Citizenship in Ukraine.
7. G.M. White - The Swordsman's Intent.
8. G.M. White - The Swordsman's Lament.
9. Pragya Agarwal - Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking With Children About Race.

The two non-ROOTs are:

1. Stephen McGann - Flesh and Blood: A History of my Family in Seven Sicknesses.
2. Chris Packham & Megan McCubbin - Back to Nature: How to love life - and save it.

Acquisition-wise, I got 5 new books this month, and I'm really happy that I'm exactly back on course for my 2:1 read:acquired ratio. I've never kept it up this far into the year before so I'm impressed with myself, and wondering if next year I should try for an even stricter ratio. 3:1 still feels a bit too much, but I might do 2.5:1 and see how that goes. Anyway, the acquisitions for October are:

1. Various, ed Barbara Henderson - Scottish by Inclination.
2. Nicola Chester - On Gallows Down.
3. Mike Parker - On the Red Hill.
4. Lucie Fremlova - Queer Roma.
5. Mark Stay - Babes in the Wood: Witches of Woodville 2.

ROOT #69



David Greene's Midnight in Siberia is a travelogue of a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The author was the Bureau Chief of NPR's Moscow office for 3 years and he had done the trip once, in 2011, but after he returned to the US he got the opportunity to do the trip again, which he did with his Russian NPR colleague Sergei. They stop at various places (some more obscure than others) meeting interesting and ordinary people, as well as chatting with the people they were sharing their carriage with en route. I think if this had been his first and only experience of either Russia or the Trans-Siberian then this would have been a bit sparse, but as well as the travelogue he draws on anecdotes from his time in Russia, as well as his previous journey on the Trans-Siberian, and so there is a depth here which I really appreciated. This book is an excellent way of armchair travelling (that's a compliment! I love armchair travelling when I can't do the real thing), and a really good insight into a (huge) part of Russia that's less well-known than Moscow and St Petersburg. 4.5/5.

>104 Jackie_K: I would love to go on one of those lengthy train journeys (although maybe I would get tired of it, who knows) - armchair travelling sounds awfully nice right now.

>105 Caramellunacy: Doesn't it just? I like the *idea* of the Trans-Siberian, I'm just not sure I could cope with the full 6-odd-000 miles of it!

ROOT #70



Martin Summer's book Connecting with Life: Finding Nature in an Urban World looks at how humans have become increasingly disconnected from nature over the millennia, and what we can do - particularly if we live in an urban environment - to reconnect with the natural world, as well as get more of a balance between nature and technology. It's well-written, although I personally felt that other authors have covered this subject in more depth (I'd recommend Florence Williams' The Nature Fix as a good example). However, as an introduction to the subject it was very good. 3.5/5.

ROOT #71



Anyone even vaguely familiar with my taste in books will know that military sci-fi is not my most read genre. In fact, I think Jan Kotouc's Frontiers of the Imperium, translated from the Czech by Isabel Stainsby (who is my very good friend, and who gave me the book) is the first military sci-fi book I've ever read. So I feel a bit of a fraud reviewing it, as I don't really have anything else to compare it to. That said, as something completely different it did hold my interest, and if the next books in the series find their way to my bookshelves I will be interested to see where the story goes from here.

This is the book's blurb:

Daniel Hankerson was perfectly happy being just a midlevel spy, genetically enhanced low-ranking member of the royal family and an avid poker player.

Then the war started, someone tried to murder him, he met a strange war correspondent with an even stranger secret, and he found himself aboard a prototype warship going to the fringes of the Central Imperium.

Then things got worse.

An ancient enemy is approaching with a large fleet aided by people Daniel thought he could trust. Now Daniel must use his analytical skills to figure out a way to stop them before millions die.

As the first book in the series there was quite a lot of world-building going on, and a huge number of characters (although I found once I stopped trying to remember who was who and just read further on that it was clear enough for me). There were a lot of weapons and science and explosions, and thankfully just the one (short) sex scene that wasn't cringey. I liked that there were a lot of powerful women who were equals as leaders and commanders. The book ends with the Central Imperium in disarray and their enemies in the ascendency, and the 1 page Epilogue drops a clanger which sets up the next books in the series.

So, not my usual cup of tea at all, and I don't know that I'll be rushing to read more military sci-fi but I'd read the next books in this series. 3.5/5.

>107 Jackie_K: Hmm; you make a good case for it. I don't read much military sci-fi either; I've read (some of) and own the Vorkosigan Saga, Vatta's War and (some of) the Honor Harrington series which I quite liked (loved, in the case of the Vorkosigan books - but that's because of Cordelia, Miles and Aral), but that's about it.

You're not helping me achieve my ROOTs, you know. I'm already behind as it is. Although, as The Swordsman's Intent was available as a freebie, I've acquired and downloaded that. I don't know when I'll get to it, though.

>108 humouress: As I always say, if buying books is our worst vice, we're not really doing too badly! So I won't feel *too* guilty about possibly adding to your TBR! I've found using a wishlist for BBs (rather than just buying them when I get hit by the BB) has really helped - although the wishlist itself is now enormous!

ROOT #72



Economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis' book Talking to my Daughter About the Economy: A Brief History of Capitalism is an introduction to the principles underpinning economics, written as though he is answering the questions of his then-15 year old daughter. It's therefore accessible and very readable, drawing a lot on cultural references such as the Greek myths and the film The Matrix. Personally I think I would have liked something a little bit more academic (with references), and I might try some of his other books which are more academic in scope. Though as a beginner's guide I mostly thought this was good, and his chapter on the market as expounded by a British POW who used his training as an economist to interpret his experiences in a German POW camp was fascinating. 3.5/5.

>109 Jackie_K: Gee, thanks! Well, I do have a wiki on LT where I (used to) keep lists of BBs and books I remember liking and might read again ... and so on. But I've found, these past two years, that library offerings of e-books have become quite good so there's instant gratification (although then I do have to read them before they expire, which is becoming a problem).

Hmm, number 72 looks good if my kids ever become interested in economics. Or I could pick it up myself. Not right now though :0)

>110 humouress: Haha, sorry* about that! (*notsorry)

It's December tomorrow (how, exactly?) so here's my November round-up. Fewer books read than most months, but I'm well over my target, and think I might just manage 80 ROOTS by Dec 30th (let's see). I have a good few on the go at the moment which I'll hopefully finish in the next week or so.

I read 4 ROOTs in November:

1. David Greene - Midnight in Siberia.
2. Martin Summer - Connecting with Life: Finding Nature in an Urban World.
3. Jan Kotouc, tr. Isabel Stainsby - Frontiers of the Imperium.
4. Yanis Varoufakis - Talking to my Daughter About the Economy.

No non-ROOTs finished this month - I abandoned one library book (just wasn't in the mood for it), and am in the middle of another, will hopefully finish that one in the next couple of days.

I also acquired 3 books this month:

1. Cassandra Alexander - Year of the Nurse.
2. Nina Mingya Powles - Small Bodies of Water.
3. Various ed Hugh Hillyard-Parker - News of Great Joy: The Church Times Christmas Collection.

I just need to finish two more ROOTs and I'll be back to 2:1 for books acquired:read. I'm really proud of myself for (more or less) sticking to that challenge this year!

I admire you for with sticking with that 2:1 plan! I've been buying books like chocolate this year. At least no calories!

>112 MissWatson: Haha, I've been buying books *and* chocolate!

Non-ROOT #17



My latest library book is the delightful biography Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. After being unable to get far in his Little Dribbling book (too grumpy old man even for me) I was hopeful that this book would be less grumpy and more playful, like his best books, and I wasn't disappointed. This is a biography of what we know for sure about Shakespeare, which, it turns out, is remarkably little, but even so Bryson is able to paint a colourful picture of late 17th/early 18th century life and fill out the picture very entertainingly. He devotes his final chapter to the conspiracy theories about Shakespeare's works being written by people who weren't actually Shakespeare, making the useful point that there is even less evidence for any of them than there is about Shakespeare himself. That chapter was particularly entertaining, in this thoroughly entertaining book. 4/5.

It feels like it's been a long time coming - nearly a month since I last finished a ROOT! I have several on the go though, which are likely to be finished in the next week.

ROOT #73



Reece Jones' Violent Borders is a very interesting discussion of the role of state borders in the violence experienced by refugees and migrants around the world. His main thesis is that the violence and death experienced by migrants is largely caused by strengthening borders, rather than that strengthening borders is an effective response to a growing problem of migration. It's not a take I've heard, but his argument was pretty convincing. He doesn't just consider the usual suspects (EU borders, and the border between Mexico and the US), but others around the world too to illustrate his point, as well as a fascinating discussion of the impact of the so-called Law of the Sea (LoS). I'd recommend this, and I'm sure I'll read it again. 4/5.

Non-ROOT #18



Hinterland is a literary magazine which showcases creative non-fiction writing. Issue 8 is the first one I've read, and I've subscribed to it as I enjoyed these various pieces very much. Although they don't issue themed calls for submissions, they do group pieces on similar themes together, and so several of the essays in this collection, plus the author interview with Anna Jones, were on the subject of food. I particularly enjoyed Pragya Agarwal's essay The Slow Dance, but there were several that I'd definitely read again. 4/5.

>115 Jackie_K: 'Creative non-fiction' sounds a bit paradoxical. Is it similar to historical fiction?

>116 humouress: Ooh, great question! It's not a term that everyone in non-fiction loves, some use 'narrative non-fiction' instead. I suppose a fiction equivalent would be 'literary fiction' - which as far as I can tell is intended to denote that the fiction is more intellectual and 'deep' than genre fiction (we'll not get into the discussion here about how genre fiction like sci-fi and romance have been discussing deep philosophical questions for years!). So creative (or narrative) non-fic wouldn't cover things like self-help or less highbrow celeb memoirs, nor strictly academic writing or journalism, but encompasses things like essays, nature writing, travel writing, that sort of thing, as well as some memoir, popular history and science, etc. Like a lot of these terms, it's not completely satisfactory as it encompasses so much that it doesn't necessarily tell you anything, but it's the one that is used most regularly for this sort of non-fiction writing.

ROOT #74



Every so often I read a book in Romanian to try and keep up my increasingly rusty language skills. So for the past month+ I've been reading Comunism Si Represiune in Romania: Istoria Tematica a Unui Fratricid National, edited and compiled by Ruxandra Cesereanu. This is an account, by (as far as I can tell) primarily academic historians in Romania, about the repressive legacies of Communism in Romania. It covered all sorts of issues - dissidents, armed resistance, penitenciaries, the Securitate, collectivisation, torture, deportations, the Church, as well as a couple of the more well-known protests prior to 1989 (the Jiu Valley miners' strike in 1977, and the Brasov factory workers protests in 1987). I'll admit that some chapters were less easy to understand than others, but overall I was pretty pleased with how much of the gist of it I did get. The final 3 chapters (about the two aforementioned strikes, and about the case of the dissident Doina Cornea) I found particularly moving. My one criticism is that there was no mention at all of the repression of women through the extreme policing of reproduction - I know there have been lots of books written about this, but I think a book about Communist repression in Romania really has to include a chapter about reproductive repression. 4/5.

ROOT #75



I always do a study at Lent, and have thought for a few years I'd like to do an Advent study too, so this year I started with Walter Brueggemann's Names for the Messiah, as recommended by a friend. This small book looks at the four names in Isaiah 9:6, probably best known from the chorus from Handel's Messiah (certainly every time I read them I've got Handel's wonderful tune in my head): Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Each chapter takes one of these names in turn, and looks at how Jesus may (or may not) be their fulfilment. Each one ends with a prayer and a few questions to ponder.

I was a little disappointed with this book - it didn't feel like there was very much 'meat' here (although the final chapter did make me think a bit more). I'm reading another book too, covering Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, and I think if I wasn't reading that as well and had only read this one then I'd have felt a bit short-changed. I suspect this book would be better as a small group study guide, rather than for individual study. 3/5.

Hi Jackie!

>79 Jackie_K: Belated congrats on reaching your ROOTs goal.

>113 Jackie_K: I read this book almost 13 years ago and remember how much I loved it. I, too, gave it 4*.



See you in the ROOTs group next year!

>120 karenmarie: Thank you Karen - I'm looking forward to 2022 now.

-------------------------------------------------------
I'm sorry I've not had the chance to visit everyone's threads, but wanted to pop in here to wish all my ROOTing friends here the happiest Christmas, full of peace, love, and health (and books, obvs). I'm probably going to finish one of my current books tomorrow, but we'll see if I manage to make it online then :)

ROOT #76



During the first long lockdown in 2020, one of the things that helped keep me sane was a wonderful podcast called "The Stubborn Light of Things" by nature writer Melissa Harrison. Once a week she'd take her listeners round her local Suffolk countryside, listening to birds and streams and church bells, laughing with her at the sudden unexpected sight of an owl, and enjoying with her the diaries of the 18th century parson-naturalist Gilbert White. Each week she also read out an excerpt from her past columns for the Times nature notebook, which she'd been writing for the last few years. This book, also called The Stubborn Light of Things, is a collection of those nature columns, and is a delightful glimpse of the nature that can be found, when we properly look, both in urban and countryside environments (when she started the columns she was living in south London, so the first half of the book mainly consists of London nature observations, and then the latter half are after she moves to rural Suffolk. Like the podcast, these columns were gentle, tantalising but still satisfying glimpses into the nature that we need to treasure before we lose it. 4.5/5.

Hello Jackie!

Trying to catch up on threads again. I want to wish you

>123 connie53: Thank you Connie - we had a lovely day, I have new books and socks, and ate too much. A had a good time, which is the main thing!

ROOT #77



Scottish by Inclination is the first foray into non-fiction of children's fiction writer Barbara Henderson. She is German, but has lived in Scotland for over 30 years since coming to Edinburgh University, is married to a Scot and has 3 Scottish children, and her fiction is all based on Scottish history and legend. This book explores her story of living in Scotland and feeling 'Scottish by Inclination' (an expression that we heard quite a lot of during the 2014 independence referendum), particularly in the light of the Brexit referendum where the UK as a whole voted to leave the EU which had enabled her, and so many like her, to move and put down roots here and give so much to our society. At the end of each chapter she includes a short interview with someone else from the EU who has made their home in Scotland - entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, business people, all sorts - exploring briefly their own journeys to Scotland, and what Brexit has meant to them. Although I'm a Brit, I'm English, but have settled in Scotland and have no desire to move away, this is definitely home now, so plenty here resonated with me. We are so lucky to have Barbara, and so many others, as part of Scotland's rich tapestry. 3.5/5.

I would like to wish you and your family the very best of the season and good health and happiness for 2022.

Happy new year, Jackie!

>125 humouress: >126 FAMeulstee: Thank you both very much! A very happy new year to you too!

I've finished my final two ROOTs for 2021 this evening, so here are my final two reviews.

ROOT #78



Every Day Nature by Andy Beer is a book I've been reading since January 1st - it has a short entry for every day of the year of British nature and wild life. Some of the entries are accompanied by beautiful watercolour sketches. It has been a really lovely accompaniment to the year. 4/5.

ROOT #79



Babes in the Wood is the second of Mark Stay's Witches of Woodville trilogy (the third is out next year), the first being The Crow Folk which was a 5* read for me earlier this year. The action in this book takes place a month after the events of The Crow Folk, so around the time of the Battle of Britain in 1940. The village of Woodville is thrown into chaos when a plane explodes and lands on the village garage, where novice witch Faye Bright notices a car with children trapped by the flames. She rescues the children and the young man with them, and discovers that they are kindertransport children with their cousin. Every time she touches them she gets a vision of their death. The children and their cousin are billetted in the posh home at the edge of the village, home of Lord and Lady Aston, but things are not as they seem. When the children's cousin is found dead in the house's orchard, Faye realises they are all in danger. Featuring an evil Nazi occultist, a posh twerp, anti-Semitism, a mysterious glowing artwork, and the Ur-tree (tree of eternal youth), can Faye and the other witches of Woodville save the kindertransport children and stop the Ur-tree from getting into the hands of the Third Reich? This book felt darker than the previous one, but there were still plenty of laughs and quirkiness as well. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series. 5/5.

>127 Jackie_K: We ended at the same number of ROOTs this year :-)

Happy New Year, Jackie. This year seems to have passed in a blur. I'm hoping to pop in to your thread more often in 2022. Wishing you a Happy New Year.

>128 FAMeulstee: Indeed. Yay us! :)
>129 Familyhistorian: Thank you, Meg. Happy new year!

Here's my final monthly round up for what's been quite a good reading month. I read 7 ROOTs and 2 non-ROOTs in December. The ROOTs were:

1. Reece Jones - Violent Borders.
2. ed. Ruxandra Cesereanu - Comunism Si Represiune in Romania: Istoria Tematica a Unui Fratricid National.
3. Walter Brueggemann - Names for the Messiah: An Advent Study.
4. Melissa Harrison - The Stubborn Light of Things.
5. Barbara Henderson - Scottish by Inclination.
6. Andy Beer - Every Day Nature.
7. Mark Stay - Babes in the Wood.

The 2 Non-ROOTs were:

1. Bill Bryson - Shakespeare.
2. Hinterland: Summer: 8. (literary magazine)

Obviously with Christmas I've had a few more acquisitions than usual, but I'm delighted that my ratio of books acquired (excluding gifts) to ROOTs is 2:1 at the end of the year, the first time I've managed that! (I normally fall off the wagon in the autumn) Hopefully I can continue it into 2022 (I did think about making the ratio harder, 2.5 or 3 books read before I could buy another, but I don't think I'm that strong!). Anyway, here are my acquisitions (books marked with * are Christmas gifts or bought with Christmas money, which I'm counting as the same thing):

1. Robert Macfarlane - Underland: A Deep Time Journey.
2. Jacob McAtear - An Engagement with Nature (no touchstone).
3. *B.B. - The Little Grey Men.
4. *Esther Woolfson - Between Light and Storm.
5. *Robin Wall Kimmerer - Gathering Moss.
6. *Helen Macdonald - H is for Hawk.

And now over to the 2022 thread!

>127 Jackie_K: I NEED to get that book bij Mark Stay too. I loved The Crow Folk a lot