Familyhistorian reads what she owns!

I figured out how to add the ticker. Now how do I make it move?




A second ticker to keep track of my book buying. I set the goal at 100 but have no idea where it will actually end up.

Welcome! I've only just learned how to make a ticker myself, but what I read from reading others' instructions (and then playing with mine) was that if you click somewhere on it, it will bring up a screen from which you can choose to edit/update it.

If that doesn't work, it could be because, like me at first, you've copied the wrong link thingy. It looked like a functioning ticker, but nothing happened when I clicked on it. This is because it must be the one that says 'html' that has to be cut and pasted. Once I did that, mine works fine. Hope this helps.

Welcome, Familyhistorian!

Merryann is right about getting the ticker to move. Just follow her instructions.

Welcome aboard and good luck with your challenge!

The ticker works - thanks Merryann. I look forward to keeping up with everybody while I work my way through my TBR piles.

I thought that I had come up with a perfect system last year when I decided to move some of my books to the shelves in my walk-in closet as I was starting to run out of room in my bookshelves and really didn't want to make another trip to IKEA to buy more shelves to put together. I am running out of wall to put my bookshelves against anyway.

I set the books up on the shelves in the walk-in closet but then I noticed they were starting to sag. So I took some books off the shelves and put them in piles on the floor but now, somehow, those piles have grown bigger. I really want to work on my expendable books so that I can move them along after I read them and maybe have room to put the new books that I buy in a year. I have never had the courage to actually count how many books that I buy in a year and admire the readers in this challenge who have those stats at their fingertips.

Familyhistorian.: I run out of wall too. And when there is wall avialable for some Ikea shelves it interferes with walking through the livingroom. My husband loves me, but not that much! He likes a free walk to the kitchen.

So now I'm trying to move books around. Maybe I should move more books out of the house, but I am very bad at saying goodbye to my books.

I am lucky enough to have 3 floors in my town house and have actually kept bookcases out of the living room but then there are 11 bookcases in my library/computer room in the basement as well as one in my spare bedroom and one in my walk-in closet which is where the worst problem is - my uncatalogued fiction. I am resisting putting any more bookcases in the 2 upper floors even though there is wall space there. But, here's a thought, there's always under the bed.

Hi, Meg,

Welcome to the group! Glad you joined us!

>5 Familyhistorian:, I'm glad I could help. Your ticker is cute...looks like my Mom's cat who refuses to come anywhere near me (because he knows I like him. You know how cats are.)

I know. I had a friend who was afraid of cats so my cat always tried to sit on her lap. The cat would never sit with anyone who wanted her to but she must have sensed that my friend was afraid of her.

Yep. Cats.

Hi Familyhistorian and best of luck with your challenge.

1. Sins and Needles by Monica Ferris

My first ROOT for 2014 is a good cozy mystery. I better start another one right away if I am going to reach my goal.

Welcome, familyhistorian. I, too, have the problem of the ever growing book collection. However, at age 60, in the past year I have gotten rid of 300 books, mostly through selling them, which is nice! Those I couldn't sell I donated to the library for their fund raisers. I am a historian, teaching grades 9-12, but when I retire, which is in the next 2-3 years, I want to get started on my family history. Good luck with your ROOT!

Hi Tess, researching family history is interesting and time consuming but it can also be very expensive. I am glad that I started doing my research way before I retired. I have probably been doing it for 25 years or so and I am now at the point where I go to the places where my ancestors lived and my family moved around a lot. It is wonderful to walk in the places where your ancestors walked and it brings a better understanding of their stories. I am sure that you will enjoy doing family history once you start.

Actually, a niece has laid the groundwork, supposedly all the way back to the Mayflower...however, I think some "assumptions" were made and those are the ones I want to check out. I am going to be talking to a great aunt (age 91) this weekend about my grandfather's work at the WPA during the Great Depression. Later this year, I will be talking to an uncle about his father, who served in WWI. I'm very excited. I want to get more info that just family trees......any hints would always be welcome!

Yes, family history is so much more interesting with the stories. My father has dug up history and put charts together, but my great aunt wrote down stories, which in my mind is the real stuff.

Even if the stories are not written down you can figure a lot of them out for yourself and tracking down the reasons behind why something happened is a great way uncovering of the family stories. Concentrating on one event at a time and consulting all kinds of different sources including history books, museum exhibits etc. about what was going on at the time will uncover a surprising amount of information and give you the clues to figure out why people did what they did.

Hey, Famhis!! I noticed the book-buying ticker.
But do you really want to buy 100 books?!!

Hi Connie, I am hoping that I won't buy 100 but I have a sneaking suspicion that I usually buy more in a year. For the buying ticker less is better so I hope that I don't get to 100.

Ohh, I understand. You don't want to reach the end of this ticker ;-)

I have taken at "stand" not to buy even ONE single book until this 11 book shelf is cleared! That's really tough ...especially when the library is having its annual get rid of some books sale.

Good luck, Tess! I hope you will be able to keep your 'stand'.

11 books to read before you can buy another one? That sounds hard. I am doing pretty good as most of my book buying has been limited to textbooks but some of the textbooks were on the Indigo website so one or two non-textbooks snuck into the order somehow. Those books don't count until I have them in my hot little hands so I don't have to put them on my ticker yet.

2. Ten Girls to Watch by Charity Shumway

This story of a young writer finding a niche in life and writing as she struggles to make it in New York was a breath of fresh air.

> 24 - Of course books don't count for TBR until they arrive at your doorstep ;-))

I finally got the last of my Santa Thing books and I am not going to count them on my book buying ticker either.

3. One Wicked Sin by Nicola Cornick

An historic romance between a scandalous divorce and an officer from Napoleon's army on parole in a small English town.

4. Uncertain Magic by Laura Kinsale

There is a touch of the supernatural in this romance.

I will have to update my book buying ticker for the first time. Yesterday some books came in the mail and I also had an appointment in a city that I am not familiar with so I arrived early and had to kill some time. Of course, there was a book store there. What could I do?

My newest acquisitions are:

Vancouver was Awesome: A Curious Pictorial History by Lani Russwurm
Beware this Boy by Maureen Jennings
Who Saw Her Die? by Patricia Moyes
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe

Completely understandable! Nice set of purchases. I have yet to read Beware This Boy so will be interested to hear what you think of it!

Oh, Marvel Comics! Sounds good!

So far your tickers are running even!

Hi Tess, they aren't even any more, I just haven't had time to update them. Unfortunately, the book buying ticker needs to be moved, not the ROOTS ticker.

Four more books somehow found their way into my house. I can blame it on my courses this time. I had to go online to buy a text book and I just happened to look at some other books while I was online. For another course I had to find magazines that I could pitch stories to, so of course I had to go to the bookstore and buy the magazines to get an idea of the stories they accepted. Good thing I am not counting magazines that I buy as well!

My latest book buys are:

The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin (I read the review on LT)
Fault Line by Robert Goddard
Days of Destruction Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

O dear, that's not good (but soooooo understandable)

Read The Children's Blizzard, good YA read. I know how those trips to Amazon for 1 thing can be!

5. No More Dying Then by Ruth Rendell

I enjoy going back to visit Chief Inspector Wexford in Kingsmarkham every once in a while. This murder mystery is my fifth ROOT. If I keep this up I should be able to meet my goal of 35 ROOTS.

You're certainly well on your way! :)

I am actually surprised at how many ROOTS I have read so far. I should exceed my total if I keep this up. I am thinking about branching out into ROOTS that are also on my to be kept shelves (which is most of the books that I own).

Branching out sounds good!

Yes, I really should get a start on the books that I own if I am going to come close to reading them in my lifetime.

I have the same problem. But that does not keep me from buying books. Although I am much better at it then I used to be. Just 4 books bought this year.

I wish I could say I had been good and only bought 4 books so far this year but there is a reason why my book buying ticker goes up to 100. Two more books followed me home from the bookstore.

12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup
Unearth History: Explore the Awesome World by Miles Kelly

12 Years a Slave sounds fascinating! How could you NOT have it come home with you given the chance?

I'm not even going to look at the description for Unearth History... I am learning all-too-well about Book Bullets! :)

Twelve Years a Slave was very powerful. I hesitate to say that I hope you like it, given the subject matter, but I thought it was well worth reading.

I wanted to see the movie but couldn't talk anyone into going with me so I bought the book 12 Years a Slave. I wonder how close the movie and the book are? It will be a while before I get to read it as I am concentrating on reading my ROOTS and some library books that I have renewed so many times that I can't renew them anymore.

6. The Body in the Bookcase by Katherine Hall Page

I am not sure where I picked this book up but it appears to have been pre-owned. This looks like one in a series and it is not the first one. It was a good cozy mystery and I will pick up another if I come across one.

I wish I had another ROOT to add to my total but I don't. I am busy reading several at the same time but that means it takes longer to actually finish one. I do have more books to add to my acquisitions.

Book Buys:

A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell - a BB from the 75 Book Challenge
To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 by Adam Hochschild
Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power by Andrew Nagorski
Quarantined: Life and Death at William Head Station, 1872-1959 by Peter Johnson
The Great Mortality: An intimate history of the Black Death by John Kelly
The History of Organized Crime: The True Story and Secrets of Global Gangland by David Southwell

7. Lost Gold of the Dark Ages: War, Treasure, and the Mystery of the Saxons by Caroline Alexander

An interesting history based on newly discovered treasure.

Congratulations on another ROOT done!

Quarantined: Life and Death at William Head Station, 1872-1959 on you list caught my eye. What is it about?

William Head Quarantine Station was the only federally funded quarantine station on the west coast of Canada. The book is the story of the station and the thousands of immigrants who ended their voyage to a new land in the confines of the station.

I had never heard about this part of BC's history so I had to pick up the book to find out more.

West Coast...would these be primarily Asian Immigrants? I love reading about Ellis Island immigrants in the U.S., and recently learned about Angel Island on our west coast. Immigration is not at all what I guessed your book was about, but I'm pleasantly surprised to find out it is. Heading over to Amazon now for more description...

I haven't read Lost Gold of the Dark Ages, but I remember listening to a Caroline Alexander book (The Bounty) on audio and finding it really interesting. I was surprised someone managed to make breadfruit so interesting - her style just seems to click with me!

>53 Merryann: There were a lot of Asian Immigrants but also many from Britain - Victoria society was predominantly British. Also there were many immigrants from the US.

>54 Caramellunacy: A large part of the Caroline Alexander book in this case were the images of the artifacts so I don't imagine they will make an audiobook out of the story of the Staffordshire Hoard. I will have to check out her other books. The Bounty sounds interesting - wasn't breadfruit the whole point of the voyage? I know the name but I have never run across the actual thing. Why was breadfruit so important?

From what I remember, the Bounty had been sent to Tahiti to pick up breadfruit plants which they were planning to introduce in the West Indies to be a cheap supply of food for slaves. But I listened to it years ago and remember very little about it!

#51, added to my Kindle wish list! Quarantined: Life and Death at William Head Station, 1872-1959

>55 Familyhistorian: Immigrants from the U.S. More and more interesting! Thanks.

Hi Mary Ann

There had been incomers from the US for many years prior to the quarantine station being set up due in part to gold rushes. Some former slaves also made their way to BC especially during the time that James Douglas was governor as he was of mixed race.

A whole new category of nonfiction to be devoured. :)

I have been finding more and more interesting non-fiction books these days. I think non-fiction writers have increased their use of storytelling techniques.

I agree with you family! I just commented to a friend the other day after reading The Zookeeper's Wife, a non-fiction about a couple who ran a zoo in Poland at the outset of WWII, that it read more like a novel and was not so dry. And right now I'm reading a non-fiction Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever and I was expecting dry conspiracy theories, but it's also serendipity!

I like that series by Katherine Hall Page. I've read quite a few of them, though it's a series I started way out of the proper order.

62> The only problem with the readability is later trying to remember if what I read was fiction or not.

63> Hi Terri, that was my first Katherine Hall Page so it looks like I am reading them way out of order as well.

8. The Lost by J.D. Robb, Patricia Gaffney, Mary Blayney and Ruth Ryan Langan

The Lost is an anthology that has been on my shelf for quite a while because I don't read anthologies as a rule but this one had a J.D. Robb In Death story in it so I couldn't resist. The Robb story was up to standard and the others were pretty good too.

Some new books I acquired in February:

Cursed in the Act by Raymond Buckland
The Whispering Gallery by Mark Sanderson
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Volume One by Alan Moore, Kevin O'Neill, Ben Dimagmaliw and Bill Oakley
Murder at the Manor by Leslie Cookman
City of Whispers by Marcia Muller

9. Murder in Volume by D.R. Meredith

One last ROOT for February - a Megan Clark mystery by D.R. Meredith. I am not sure why it was on my shelf for so long because I really like this mystery series.

>67 Familyhistorian: I don't know that series. What are they like?

Hi Terri, they are cozy mysteries. I like the main characters who are Megan Clark a cute red head who is smart but not taken seriously because of her looks and her sidekick Ryan Stevens who is older and trying to deny that he is smitten but will follow her any where.

10. On the Crofters' Trail by David Craig

This book is a must read for anyone whose ancestors were forced to leave Scotland during the clearances.

Well, someone at work told me that Costco sells books. I been successful not noticing that in all the times I had gone there before. That started my March buying. Then I went to the bookstore yesterday and a shipment of books came in the mail. A lot more books have come in than ROOTS read.

These are the latest:

1. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
2. The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby (This is Part 2. I don't have Part 1, maybe it would be good to have as well?)
3. The First World War Remembered by Gary Sheffield. This comes in a box which says that it contains 30 facsimile documents and a DVD with a documentary film and first-hand accounts.
4. Newspaper Titan by Amanda Smith
5. Still Life by Louise Penny
6. Gone to Amerikay By Derek McCulloch
7. Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets of My DNA by Richard Hill
8. Hiding the Past by Nathan Dylan Goodwin
9. Reunion: A Search for Ancestors by Ryan Littrell
10. You're My Henry Allbones by G.B. Hope

We don't have Costco in my area, but we do have Sam's Club. Thankfully, the books are not marked down significantly!

The first three books are the Costco books. I don't think that there were significant savings on the first two, but I bought them anyway. It was the third book/box of goodies that was irresistible as it was originally marked £50 and I got it for $24.99 Canadian.

The WWI looks really good. I just checked Amazon and it is not available here yet. I signed up to be notified when it is available. Actually, I buy few, if any books brand new. About the only time I do is when I get a Barnes and Nobles gift card.

#66 familyhistorian: The Whispering Gallery has an interesting title. What's it about?

#72 familyhistorian: I have Still Life on my bookshelf and read it last year. It was a good cozy mystery with a really unexpected ending.

The Whispering Gallery looks to be a murder mystery but I didn't find it in the mystery section. The protagonists are a reporter and a policeman and from the blurb it sounds like they are being taunted by a serial killer. I mainly got the book because it is set in London in 1937 and I want to get a better idea of London during a time when my parents and grandparents lived there.

I'm not doing very well on the ROOTs project in March. Too much RL getting in the way. I hope to finish at least one or maybe two more this month.

We will be ROOTing for you, Meg!

Know what you mean, haven't finished one in over two week, life! But I love it!

I'm having trouble getting through ROOTs this month, too.

I've had trouble with everything this month. Sigh. April will be better!

March is a troublesome month. I always breath a sigh of relief when it is over and the end is almost in sight.

11. Speak Ill of the Dead by Mary Jane Maffini

This was actually a re-read for me as I got confused with which books I had read in this series. This is the first of the Camilla MacPhee mystery series. I really like Camilla and her cranky ways. Now I am going to try to read the rest of the series in order.

12. First World War Britain by Peter Doyle

I am interested in Britain on the home front during the wars. The Shire Living Histories are great for getting the background on a particular place or time as they are well written and give a great overview of life at the time. They also have lots of photos to illustrate the topics. All that in a small and readable package. Highly recommended.

>84 Familyhistorian: I love Camilla too! And since I live where she lives, I enjoy following in her footsteps ;)

It adds something to a book when you can picture where the action is taking place because you know the area.

13. 101 Ways to Jump-Start Your Intuition by John Holland

This little book sums up each of the 101 ways to increase your intuition in a two page spread. It would probably be good to put the ideas into practice. Maybe someday when I have time.

14. Indiscreet

A fast moving romance that includes smugglers, spies and noblemen. A quick read that should put my ROOT numbers back on track.

These are my March acquisitions. I am still buying more than I am ROOTing out but at least the book buying is slowing down. Two of the books were from an order that I placed months ago and two were because there was a used book sale one day when I walked into the lobby of the community college - how could I resist?

the King's Grave by Philippa Langley & Michael Jones
Projection: encounters with my runaway mother by Priscila Uppal
Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves
The Forest by Edward Rutherford
In Love with a Wicked Man by Liz Carlyle
Thankless in Death by J.D. Robb

Good haul! And I agree, used book sales are so hard to resist!

Especially when they grab you by surprise when your resistance is down!

>91 rabbitprincess:, >92 Familyhistorian: Absolutely!!! Great haul!

First World War Britain...another one for my wishlist. :)

I'm jealous....used book sales.......

On the Crofter's Trail looks really interesting ... Must.Resist.Temptation.

On the Crofter's Trail is good, especially if you have Scots ancestors who settled in Canada.

You are doing great, Meg! Happy April Reading.

15. Valentine by Jane Feather

I have been reading, just not reading ROOTs. This is my one ROOT so far for April. I have a few more on the go and should have more reading time now that my classes are almost over for the semester. I am trying to read more ROOTs but somehow other books are more appealing.

Reading is so good for the brain and educational. It's an ironic shame that it has to be put on pause for school! I hear the same thing from my daughter and my Mom, both in college - almost all of their reading is directly related to school work while classes are going on.

>100 Merryann: Hi Mary Ann - Not only is it a problem finding time to read books that aren't for school but I am taking courses in professional writing and I haven't had time to write for anything but school projects since I have been in classes. I find that kind of ironic as well.

Indeed!

Good for you for doing the college classes, though.

>102 Merryann: And yesterday I got to show off all my hard work. Here is a photo of my table at our Portfolio Show. My sign is up and my portfolio is ready for the first person to come along and look at it.

Very inviting and professional! How did it go? This is relating to genealogy?

>104 Merryann: This was for the writing program that I am in. For most of the students it was their graduation event but, unfortunately, I still have two courses until I complete the program. It doesn't relate to genealogy but I hope to be able to use my writing skills to bring some of my family history to life.

Nice! Judging by your skillful use of words here, I'd say you're going to be a great success.

I envy you the professional writing courses. Although I did a Master's thesis, writing one of those is not the same as other types of writing. I am weak in the writing area.

>107 Tess_W: The program that I am in focuses on practical skills like writing, editing, design and public relations. Its courses were a real eye opener but they also help in academic writing. I have taken some academic courses while in the program and find that I think more about my audience - who is going to read my paper and what will appeal to them - even when writing essays.

16. Death of a Bore by M.C. Beaton

I finally finished another ROOT. This one has been on the shelf for a number of years as I find the writing too much tell rather than show but I have followed M.C. Beaton's series about the highland policeman Hamish Macbeth since they first came out. I like the stories. Hamish is an appealing character who is always trying to stay in his small village and never wants to commit to marriage but always seems to be able to solve the latest mystery to spite the overbearing DCI Blair of Strathbane.

In this episode of the ongoing story a self proclaimed best selling author has come to the village and is offering writing lessons. He mainly wants an audience to tell him how great he is and he puts down the villagers efforts. No surprise that he ends up murdered.

I wish that I could say that as many books are being read as are coming in but it doesn't look like that is the case. These are my April acquisitions:

Murder on the Home Front by Molly Lefebure
The Second Woman by Kenneth Cameron
The Mystery Woman by Amanda Quick
Famous Players: The Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor by Rick Geary
Two Generals by Scott Chantler
How the Scots Invented Canada by Ken McGoogan
City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster that Gave Birth to Modern Chicago by Gary Krist
The Bughouse Affair by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini
How to Archive Family Keepsakes: Learn how to preserve family photos, memorabilia & genealogy records by Denise May Levenick

Ooh, some very nice sounding nonfiction!

Two Generals was really, really good. I'll be interested to hear what you think of How the Scots Invented Canada :)

>111 Merryann: >112 rabbitprincess: I can't wait to dive in but they won't be ROOTs so any reviews will be on my thread on the 75 book challenge at https://www.librarything.com/topic/16.

17. Dear Fatty by Dawn French

Finally I finished another ROOT. Dear Fatty is a memoir written by Dawn French. I was expecting a straight forward linear autobiography. This book is written in the form of letters to various people in Dawn's life or who had some sort of influence on her life. Kind of an interesting way of writing a story but I found it a slow read. Great photos though and interesting information about her life and the comedy scene in the UK.

18. The Clocks by Agatha Christie

I have probably read The Clocks sometime in the distant past but I am counting it as a ROOT as this particular book has been sitting on the shelf unread for a few years.

The story in this mystery starts off focusing on the murder and the people directly involved. The hero doesn't bring in Poirot until quite far on in the narrative, so I was immediately suspicious of everyone involved except the police. I was able to pick up the few clues that were dangled in front of me but still didn't figure out the whole mystery before the big reveal at the end.

I have always enjoyed an Agatha Christie mystery. It is a wonder that Christie can keep all of the details straight - I wonder how she kept track of what was going on when she was writing?

Reading the 75s list and the ROOTs lists is interesting but dangerous - all those book bullets. These are the rest of the books that I got in April.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer
Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L.A. Meyer
Murders, Robbers & Highwaymen edited by Stephen Brennan
Wordpress for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
Discover Your Family History Online by Nancy Hendrickson

And now for the start of the May list of acquisitions. Now if I could just find a spot on the shelf for all of these books.

Digital Art by David Cousens
First World War Posters by Rosalind Ormiston
A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd
The Case of Madeleine Smith by Rick Geary
Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson
Belle: The Slave Daughter and the Lord Chief Justice by Paula Byrne
Blog Inc.: Blogging for Passion, Profit, and to Create Community by Joy Deangdeelert Cho
The Position of Peggy Harper by Leonard Merrick
Between the Devil and Ian Eversea
Tulle Death Do Us Part by Annette Blair

Uh oh, this looks bad. Two posts about acquisitions with no ROOTs read posts in between. I better pick up the ROOTs reading pace or slow down on the acquisitions (like that is going to happen). I have just started two weeks of vacation and hope to fit in more ROOTs or at least finish some of the many ROOTs I am in the middle of.

Two weeks of vacation! Nice! Enjoy :)

Thanks rabbitprincess. This is a staycation. I have a whole list of things to get caught up and the list keeps expanding. I am not sure how much I will enjoy doing all of the tasks but I know that I will enjoy it when they are done!

19. The Counterfeit Mistress by Madeline Hunter

I enjoy Madeline Hunter's novels as they combine history, intrigue and mystery with romance. The novel is sent in England and there is a short part that is in France. The time period is the French Revolution just before Napoleon comes to power. The heroine is a French emigre and the hero is, of course, a lord. An enjoyable read.

No worries, Meg. ROOTs will come someday!

Thanks, Connie. I managed to finish some of the many books that I have on the go at the same time and some of them are ROOTs!

20. The September Society by Charles Finch

I have had this book on the shelf for a few years now. I am not sure why I haven't read it before now as I enjoy Finch's Charles Lenox mysteries. I read book 1 of the series and then book 3. This is book 2 which fills in the gap in Lenox' own story between the beginning of the series and book 3 where he spends a lot of his time outside of London running for office.

In The September Society much of the action is in Oxford and it is interesting to read about how the university town would have been in the 1860s. The mystery hinges on events which occurred a few decades prior in India which led to the founding of the September Society and the secrets it wishes to keep hidden. There is a murder, people who disappear and other forms of action which keep the reader interested through the whole story as well as the ongoing lives of the main characters. A very enjoyable story.

21. Mister Jinnah: Securities by Donald J. Hauka

I picked this book up at Word on the Street about three years ago. I love mysteries and thought it would be great to read one that was based in my own backyard. It is great to be able to picture where all the action is taking place and there is plenty of action as the reader follows around reporter Hakeem Jinnah on his never ending quest for a front page story.

The story starts with a murder or suicide involving a shady stock promoter. The reader follows Jinnah, a very questionable character, in search of the truth behind events. We are shown glimpses of the shady side of stock promotion and well as the sources where news is obtained. Good book, I will be looking for further Mister Jinnah mysteries.

Yes, you did it!

Sounds delightful!

>126 connie53: >127 Tess_W: Yes, it was too good a book to be sitting on the shelf unread for so long - I wonder what other treasures are on that bookshelf.

Each book is a "gift"! Some you adore, some are so-so, and very few are stinky! I'm always excited to open a new one.

>129 Tess_W: I can't agree with you more, Tess! I found a few jewels on my shelves since the ROOT reading thing started for me in 2012.

>129 Tess_W: >130 connie53: Each book opens with hope but so few turn in to jewels. Still it is worth wading through all the mediocre ones to find the treasures.

22. The Yard by Alex Grecian

Another ROOT for May which makes 5 for this month. The Yard started out slowly for me but maybe that was because I was reading too many other books at the same time. I was about a third of the way into the book when I picked it up this morning and couldn't put it down. I notice that the chapters toward the end get shorter and shorter as Grecian picks up the pace. There are so many sub plots to tie up it is almost dizzying, so maybe it is good to read a lot at the same time to keep everything fresh. A interesting glimpse of the police of Scotland Yard in action in the early days when they were still demoralized by not being able to solve the Ripper murders.

Here is the list of the remainder of the books that I bought in May. I ran into a used book sale as I was returning my books to the library. I had to pass all these books as I went to the entrance, what could I do? That accounts for three books.

Then there was the post from Vancouverdeb about Chapters in Richmond closing down with the last day on May 31. I just happened to be going to a seminar on Richmond on May 31; it was just meant to be. A couple of books followed me home from there.

There are a lot of books about WWI because I am researching WWI for a display in the small museum that I volunteer for. The rest, what can I say?

No Word from Winifred by Amanda Cross
The Last Spike by Pierre Berton
An Agatha Christie Chronology by Nancy Blue Wynne
It Happened One Midnight by Julie Anne Long
Scandal in Skibbereen by Sheila Connolly
On Looking: A Walker's Guide to the Art of Observation by Alexandra Horowitz
The Ways of the World by Robert Goddard
The First World War: The War to End All Wars by Peter Simkins, Geoffrey Jukes and Michael Hickey
Great Britain's Great War by Jeremy Paxman
Fighter Heroes of WWI by Joshua Levine

Great list!

>134 tymfos: Now all I have to do is find the time to read them! I am sure many of them will be on my ROOTs posts next year.

LOL, Meg, you sound like me. I'm already "putting" items, mentally that is, on next year's TBR list!

>136 Tess_W: I often reach for a book but then realize it won't count as a ROOT so I try to find something older to read. I feel almost guilty if I read some of the new books as they come in the house.

It was indeed meant to be! Nice haul. The WW1 display sounds interesting -- would love to see pictures once it's finished!

I feel almost guilty if I read some of the new books as they come in the house.

I know just what you mean! I'm reading two books (one paper and one e-book) that I bought this year, and I keep thinking how sad it is that they're too new to count as ROOTs.

Last year I counted any book that I owned as a ROOT, no matter how long I'd owned it; but that was a disaster, as it almost encouraged me to buy. I definitely don't need encouragement to buy books!

>138 rabbitprincess: I am deep in the research for the WWI display now but we won't do the set up until September. I will take photos and post them.

>139 tymfos: Ooh, counting every owned book as a ROOT sounds like a dangerous practice. Glad I didn't think of that. I definitely don't need to buy more books but I do need to have some incentive for reading what I have.



This is just part of my library and all those books in the front of the shelves are new acquisitions waiting to be shelved. (Except for the box which the exercise ball but it is hiding two stacks of books.)

I teach a big unit on WWI to my freshmen. It is really very interesting and I will be anxiously awaiting new information about your display!

>141 Tess_W: I will be sure to post information on the display once we have decided on the display. I will be sure to take pictures.

23. Trace Your Roots with DNA by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and Ann Turner

This book has been sitting on my shelf for years. It is good to have read this classic about the use of DNA testing for genealogy. It gave me a basic grounding on Y-DNA and MtDNA. In the time that this book has been on my shelf DNA testing for genealogy has advanced significantly. I will be looking for a more up-to-date book on the subject but will keep this book as a reference.

>135 Familyhistorian: I'm doing the mental putting things onto next year's ROOT list already too! I think though that I might change my rules to include 2015 acquisitions in my 2015 ROOTs - I'll try to continue to prioritise older acquisitions, and try not to acquire too many new books, but if I get given a gift I want the option to read it guilt-free and have it contribute - after all it is still a 'TBR'.

>144 Jackie_K: Yes, they are all TBR and there are no hard and fast rules so whatever works for you is what you should do. I do need encouragement to read the books that have been here for a while sitting on my shelves (or on the floor if there is not room). My goal for my ROOTs is only 35 so that gives me plenty of scope to succumb to the new and shiny. I hope that I won't feel any guilt for digging in to new acquisitions right away once my ROOTs goal is reached.

24. The Found Him Dead by Georgette Heyer

This is only the second Heyer mystery that I have read (I have read most of her romances). I enjoyed it once I got the characters straight. The murders all centre around an inheritance and a family home that is occupied by many family members and servants, so there are lots of suspects. Most of the men in the family are also involved in business so there are suspects there as well.

It was a well done who-done-it which had me questioning everyone's possible involvement. The fact that it included Heyer's great touch with characters and dialogue was an added bonus.

25. The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

I read The Grand Sophy many years ago. It wasn't this particular book which has been sitting on my shelf for about 10 years (the publication date is 2003), so I am counting it as a ROOT. This is a true Regency Romance in Heyer's sparkling style. No wonder I gobbled up most of the rest of her Regencies once I read this, my very first.

26. Deadly Errand by Christine Green

I thought I was behind in my ROOT reading but finished three today. That's what happens when reading so many books at the same time. I tend to finish them all in a rush on the weekend. I have no idea when I picked up Deadly Errand. I know it has been on the shelf for a while and looks like it came from a second hand store. I picked it up because the name of the PI, Kate Kinsella, ran a bell. Was there a TV series made based on this detective?

This is the first book in a medical murder series. The mystery had me guessing but not much at first as I found it slow going. The action kept me turning pages starting in the second half of the book. I read that far because I was interested in Kate and her friend/landlord/side kick with the foot fetish. I will probably read the next books in the series if I run across them but won't go actively looking for them.

27. The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer

The Heyer challenge has me going through my shelves. I have read many of my Heyer's before but that was years ago and the editions that I am reading now have never been cracked open. To my mind that makes them ROOTs. The Talisman Ring combines romance and mystery with the usual Heyer humourous dialogue and interesting characters. This one is going back on the shelf so I can read it again in a few years.

28. Murder at Graverly Manor by Daniel Edward Craig

I have been saving this ROOT for a while anticipating a great read with a murder mystery in a hotel in Vancouver. Unfortunately, the hotel turns out to be a haunted bed and breakfast. The murder mystery kept me guessing until the end but some of the happenings around the haunted house were hard to understand. It is well written overall but lost me in several places. Maybe his other books in the hotel series are more down to earth.

It has been a while since I finished a ROOT. I have a few on the go so hopefully will be able to post something soon. Life has been so busy lately that I haven't posted the books that I bought in June. This is a great way to keep track of them all.

Books bought in June:

Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896-2013 by Trina Robbins
Social Media Marketing by Shiv Singh & Stephanie Diamond
Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud
The Lindbergh Child by Rick Geary
The Black Country by Alex Grecian
Empire Girls by Suzanne Hayes and Loretta Hyhan
The Agency: The Body in the Tower by Y.S. Lee
Something in the Blood by Jean G. Goodhind
The Accidental Duchess by Madeline Hunter
Great Canadian Battles by Edward Humphreys
House Beautiful:Style101 by Lisa Cregan
The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer
The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill
The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer
The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein
Forbidden by Jo Beverley
The Detective's Daughter by Lesley Thomson

I think I have the Time Traveller's Guide... on my to-read list so will be interested to hear what you think about that, as well as the Great Canadian Battles book.

Also, when I read your post 150 I almost thought the book was written by Daniel "James Bond" Craig ;)

>152 rabbitprincess: Maybe that's why he stuck the Edward in there on the cover.

29. The Secret Mistress by Mary Balogh

This is a Regency romance with a twist. While the characters belong to the upper crust of society, as is usually the case, the hero is not dashing and the heroine is not a shy young maiden or a tempting siren. The hero, Edward, was a younger son until his dashing older brother killed while racing carriages with another young rake. Now Edward must take his brother's place. The heroine is Lady Angeline Dudley, an exuberant and outlandishly dressed young lady whose zest for life embroils her in many escapades. The two are drawn to each other although Edward resists. It is a well told story with twists and turns as the unconventional couple try to pursue or resist their attraction to each other at different times, rarely at the same time.

30. The Stabbing in the Stables by Simon Brett

I do like a Simon Brett mystery but I haven't read that many of them. I haven't come across one of his Fethering Mysteries before. It is a series based on a couple of amateur sleuths who, of course, live in Fethering. The sleuths are a couple of miss matched middle aged ladies. Carole is the divorced upright and uptight one while Jude is a practitioner of alternative healing and much more open minded. Together they are able to piece together who murdered one of the owners at the stable. An enjoyable cozy who dunit.

31. The Daughters of Gentlemen by Linda Stratmann

This is the second book in the Frances Doughty series; a series set in the more respectable parts of London. The young sleuth is a respectable lady who can either move in with her uncle and become dependent on him or make her own way as a detective. It seems that the work is coming to her as the guardians of an exclusive girls school have a perplexing problem and are in need of a lady detective. Soon there is also a murder mystery to solve as well as a lot of other complications.

This is a great series for period details. In this novel the reader is treated to some views of early women's suffrage meetings. Recommended for mystery readers who are interested in history.

32. Royal Blood by Rhys Bowen

It took me a while to get to this fourth book in the Lady Georgina, Royal Spyness series. It was the plane rescue in the last one that threw me off. This mystery is more down to earth but Georgie ends up in Transylvania as part of a royal wedding party. Of course, there is a murder and Georgie and the wild Irishman that she is interested in are there to find out who done it. Great fun.

Wow, you're almost to your goal! I loved the picture of your shelves in Post 140. :)

>158 Merryann: I just finished one more ROOT this morning so it is very close. The shelves in that picture usually have the books jammed tight but that is where my war books are so a lot of them are off the shelf right now while I am doing research on WW1. Sadly the stacks in front of the shelf have still not made it onto shelves of their own and they now have new books to join them. Someday I will have time!

It's a pleasant thing to look forward to. :)

>160 Merryann: It would be but I have been waiting for that someday for over 10 years. Why is it that the things to do increase with age?

33. Pale as the Dead by Fiona Mountain

This is a genealogy mystery which I bought ages ago but haven't read because I was saving it for later. Not sure why I do that when I really want to read a book but sometimes anticipation is better than the actual event, or read, in this case. This is Fiona Mountain's first book with Natasha Blake as the heroine/genealogy detective. I really should have read it sooner as it is very good but the genealogy bits - the research and such, are dated as so much has changed since the book was written in 2002. I think I have the second Natasha Blake book on the shelf and I won't wait as long to start that one. I wonder if the technology is more up to date in that one?

>161 Familyhistorian: For the same bizarre reason the minutes go faster as I age, I suppose. I wish I could have some of that thick, heavy, excess time that clung to me when I was a kid, especially during the summer. Sigh.

34. Crystal Gardens by Amanda Quick

Crystal Gardens delivers the page turning action of a mystery enlivened by historical romance with a soupcon of paranormal activity. This is the first book in a new series about ladies who work for an agency who places them as paid companions. In reality they are private enquiry agents who use their paranormal talents in the course of their enquiries. The heroine is feisty, the action is quick and the romance is fun. It was just what I was looking for when I became unexpectedly unplugged.

Just stopping by and waving HI!

>165 connie53: Hi Connie - good to see you back!

One more root to go, congrats!

>167 Tess_W: Thanks, I am working on a few ROOTs at the same time but I need to find a special book to get to my magic number. I pulled out a GN, Tangles which I have been meaning to read for a while.

With my communications melt down for the first weekend in August I didn't update the books that I bought in July. There are a few:

Military Atlas of World War I by Michael Neiberg
London's East End Survivors: Voices of the Blitz generation by Andrew Bissell
Atlas of Military History by Parragon Books
The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Market Your Brand by Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio
LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day by Viveka von Rosen
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
Petty Theft by Pascal Girard
Viking Age: Everyday Life During the Extraordinary Era of the Norsemen by Kirsten Wolf
Mysteries of Britain by Michell Brachet
A Stranger in Mayfair by Charles Finch
Younger Next Year for Women by Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, M.D.
The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris
Trapped at the Altar by Jane Feather
Pall in the Family by Dawn Eastman
The Escape by Mary Balogh

Yay, The Norman Conquest! I just read that one and thought it was very good. Overall that looks like a very interesting haul!

The Norman Conquest is some heavy stuff! Glad you are enjoying your haul!

>170 rabbitprincess: >171 Tess_W: Yes The Norman Conquest looks good but I feel guilty when I read a new book so all of the new stuff seems to get put aside while I search for ROOTs.

You don't have to feel that way! When I set my goal, I set it at only 50% of what I thought I could read, so the other 50% could go towards my new and shiny books!

>173 Tess_W: Well, yes I do read a lot of non ROOTs books but don't get to my new purchases very quickly because of those pesky library books and all of my TBRs. My real goal is to make a dent in my TBR stacks. (I just looked around the room at my 10 book cases of books waiting to be read and that doesn't include the bookcases upstairs - no wonder I feel a little guilty if I read a new arrival.)

35. Tangles by Sarah Leavitt

I wanted to read a significant book to reach my ROOTs goal. Tangles, Sarah Levitts’ book about her family's experience with her mother’s Alzheimer’s disease has been on my shelf for a while. This story/memoir is presented in the form of a graphic novel. I was surprised that a novel dealing with such a personal and grave subject was told in this way but the pictures bring home the reality in a way that words could not quite express. It is a thought provoking and educational book.

36. Cursed by Carol Higgins Clark

I started the Regan Reilly mysteries when they first came out but somewhere along the line I lost steam and they sat neglected on my shelves. They have plenty of books for company including 3, or is it 4, more Regan Reilly mysteries.

Yesterday I had an appointment so took Cursed along for the wait time and this morning I finished it. I like the way that Clark introduces all these characters with their own chapters. The chapters are long at first but by the time the action is coming to a climax the chapters for each character are about two pages long and then they all merge as everyone comes together for the reveal. It is a really good way of drawing the reader through the story. I just picked it up this morning to read for a little but finished the book. It was a fun, fast read.

37. The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn

I like the premise behind these romances. The unmarried females of the Smythe-Smith clan play at musical evenings – badly. So badly, that most are desperate to marry so that they can gracefully bow out of the quartet. This romance brings together Sarah and Hugh. Sarah is dramatic so of course, dramatic things happen and Hugh, well he was wounded in a duel and must live with the consequences of that and having a terrible father.

38. Tom Thomson: Design for a Canadian Hero by Joan Murray

This book has been on my shelves for a while. I have a collection of works about Tom Thomson but haven’t read most of them. It is about time that I did.

Tom Thomson: Design for a Canadian Hero, is a biography of this iconic Canadian artist. Murray looks at events of the life that shaped the young artist; then more closely examines the years that he spent devoted to his art, the events leading up to the discovery of his death and the importance of Thomson’s art to Canada. This book is well presented with colour plates of some of Tom Thomson’s paintings.

These are the books that followed me home from the bookstore in August:

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
River of Darkness by Rennie Airth
Anatomy of Exercise for 50+ by Hollis Lance Liebman
Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace by Kate Summerscale
Canada's Forgotten Slaves: Two Hundred Years of Bondage by Marcel Trudel
A Brief History of Slavery by Jeremy Black
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakiami
Stanley Park's Secret by Jean Barman
The Undertaking of Lilly Chen by Danica Novgorodoff
Ghostwritten by Isabel Wolff
The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty
The Typewriter Girl by Alison Atlee
Writer's Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein
The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer
Concealed in Death by J.D. Robb

Hate that when it happens--books following me home!;)

>180 Tess_W: It seems to happen so often.

39. Buried in a Bog by Sheila Connolly

Buried in a Bog is the first book in the County Cork mystery series by Sheila Connolly and the first Connolly mystery that I have read. It kept me turning the pages until the end. It wasn’t a typical murder mystery but laid the groundwork for the series. It reminded me of unravelling a genealogical mystery, something I spend a lot of time trying to do myself. That is probably why I liked the book so much.

Do books do that in the US too! It's a disease among books! Terrible.

Hi Connie, not sure about the US, but they do that where I am.

40. Tom Thomson: The Life and Mysterious Death of the Famous Canadian Painter by Jim Poling Sr.

I am slowly working my way through my Tom Thomson collection and started on the slimmest volumes first. Tom Thomson: The Life and Mysterious Death of the Famous Canadian Painter is one of the Amazing Stories collection. The aim of these books appears to be to bring the basic facts about episodes in Canadian history to readers today. This book laid out the basic facts of Thomson’s life, art and death. It also looked at the various theories about his death. It is a comprehensive overview.

Sounds like a wonderful collection!

Hi Tess, I have plenty more and they are all ROOTs so you will be seeing more posts from my Thomson collection.

41. Forensic Genealogy by Colleen Fitzpatrick, PhD

Vacation is over and I am back to work and school so my reading is slowing down again. I was able to finish off another ROOT which I have been working on for a while. Forensic Genealogy has been in my collection for quite a few years and is a good resource for those who want to take their family history research up a notch.

These are the books that I acquired in September.

The Massey Murder by Charlotte Gray
Design Fundamentals: Notes on Color (Theory) by Rose Gonnella
Sensational Vancouver by Eve Lazarus
Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie and John Geiger
The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah
The Serpent and the Pearl by Kate Quinn
The Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald
Murder in Chelsea by Victoria Thompson
Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen

Nice haul! My mum is reading The Massey Murder and says it's very interesting.

I was intrigued by The Massey Murder when I first saw it and then, in September, it was in paperback. I couldn't resist. Glad to hear your Mum is enjoying it.

Oops, missed one from my September haul

USNA: The United States of North America by David Longworth, Harry Kalensky and Allan Stanleigh

Not sure how I missed this one as all 3 authors signed it for me.

42. A Novel Way to Die by Ali Brandon

My reading seems to be slowing down and I am going through ROOTs slowly. Probably that is because I have a whole stack of books on the go some of which are ROOTs and real chunksters. My latest ROOT is A Novel Way to Die, the second Black Cat Bookshop Mystery. There is a good cast of main characters to this series and new characters are introduced in this one, some of which seem to be more than the requisite new murderer and murderee and may be keepers. This mystery spends more time out of the bookshop than in it which increases the action. It will be interesting to see where this series goes next

Hi, just checking in and waving!

Hi Connie, thanks for stopping by. I haven't been able to get to my ROOTs thread recently as I have been involved in too many things. I have finished 2 ROOTs recently and will do the write ups for them asap.

Happy Reading!

>196 Tess_W: Thanks, Tess.

43. The Slightest Provocation by Pam Rosenthal

The Slightest Provocation is a Regency romance with a twist as the main couple have already been married but are estranged. Nine years later they are drawn to each other again. But all is not clear sailing as they struggle to get to the bottom of a political conspiracy while trying to keep their families and themselves on track.

44. Gravelight by Marion Zimmer Bradley

My Halloween read was Gravelight. Fantasy is not my genre of choice but this one was well crafted. The characters were believable even if the situation was slightly out of this humdrum world.

I have been getting behind with my posts and finally have the time to post last month's acquisitions. October was a busy month with the Vancouver Writer's Festival and the Surrey International Writer's Conference. I attended both and bought books there and in other places so my October book haul is a lot more than usual. This is what I brought home:

The Monster's Lament by Robert Edric
Dead Cold by Louise Penny
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
It Happened at the Fair by Deeanne Gist
The Laird by Grace Burrowes
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin
Woman Rebel: the Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Begge
A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews
Mission to Paris by Alan Furst
No Known Grave by Maureen Jennings
The Lazarus Curse by Tessa Harris
The Midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich
Watching You by Michael Robotham
Mr Mac and Me by Esther Freud
Younger Brain, Sharper Mind by Eric R. Braverman
The Emotional Life of Your Brain by Richard J. Davidson
Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
Revision & Self-editing by James Scott Bell
Lonely Planet's Guide to Travel Writing by Don George
How the Industrial Revolution Changed the World By Thomas Crump

I am not sure if I got Old Enough to Fight: Canada's Boy Soldiers in the First World War by Dan Black and John Boileau, in September or October because I started reading it right away. I can recommend it for anyone who is interested in WWI.

Wow, what a haul! I hope you didn't bring that home as a single package; that would have been heavy!

I just finished Beware This Boy, the predecessor to No Known Grave, and really liked it so am looking forward to No Known Grave. And I hope you like Mr Mac and Me! :)

>201 rabbitprincess: No, not a single package, the stacks grew steadily over the month.

I am looking forward to reading No Known Grave, I like this series by Jennings even more than her Murdock books. I was impressed by Season of Darkness and still need to read Beware this Boy which is on my shelves. I couldn't resist buying Mr Mac and Me with its ties to Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Tea at the Willow Tea Room was one of the highlights of my visit to Glasgow.



If you look closely at the store front you can see the sign for The Willow Tea Room. You can see Macintosh's influence in the design of the building.

Oh yes! We went there on our trip to Glasgow last year. Almost didn't recognize it, though, because it was raining the day we went ;)

I went in the sunny summer of 2010. I took the ferry over to Islay and it felt like a Caribbean cruise.

What a haul! I'm jealous!

>205 Tess_W: I was kind of surprised that there were so many by the end of the month. Now I just need the time to read them all!

I had the last week off work so got in a lot of reading but there were so many things on my to do list to catch up on that I haven' t been keeping up with my LT posts but I have been reading the threads. I spend a lot of time on buses and reading LT posts helps to fill the travel time. I hope to catch up with my posting before work, school and volunteering take over again.

45. The Arrangement by Mary Balogh

The Arrangement is a romance in Mary Balogh’s Survivor Series. In this case the survivor is blind and has unexpectedly become an earl; complications that make him vulnerable to scheming women looking for a matrimonial prize. His rescuer is a timid young woman who is cast out by one of the scheming families. He ends up marrying the timid young woman promising her freedom after a short time. But we all know that it won’t end like that.

46. Buried in a Book by Lucy Arlington

Buried in a Book is the first book in a new series. The main character, Lila, has an overwhelming new job as an intern at a literary agency, A Novel Idea. She is just starting to get the hang of things when an aspiring author drops dead in the waiting room. When the cause of death turns out to be murder Lila is on the case. This was an interesting start to a new cosy mystery series.

>209 Familyhistorian: That sounds nice!

Hi Connie, it was pretty good after the first few chapters.

47. The Virtuoso by Grace Burrowes

I believe that The Virtuoso is Burrowes’ fourth book in the series about the Duke of Moreland’s children. It is a fast paced romance with a villain with no redeeming qualities and a hero and heroine that the reader wants to win. The action is fast and misunderstandings abound until all is right in the end.

48. After Helen by Paul Cavanagh

This was an actual reread of After Helen but I am counting it as a ROOT because I didn't remember much of it. I was given this book shortly after it was published and read it soon after but I was distracted. My life was falling apart and I was busy trying to pick up the pieces. Now that I have time and space to appreciate the novel I would like to share my review.

History teacher, Irving Cruikshank, has recently lost his wife, Helen, to cancer. He is trying to cope by going back to his normal routine and bottling his grief inside. This isn’t going to work. He has a sixteen year old daughter, Severn, who is coping by acting out. When she runs away to the big city of Toronto, Irving has a suspicion of who she is going to meet; his nemesis the celebrated author Jack Livingston. Has she figured out one of the big secrets behind Irving and Helen’s marriage?

With the unlikely help of Marla, the mother of the young man Severn coerced into driving her to Toronto, Irving looks for his daughter. As the search goes forward Irving’s thoughts stray back revealing his history with Helen. Interwoven through the narrative is the story of the lost Franklin expedition, an obsession of Irving’s – he is a history teacher after all and the lost Franklin expedition is part of the Canadian mythology. Then too Lady Franklin’s obsession with her husband’s good name has echoes in the story of Helen and Irving.

After Helen is a story about loss and redemption and the compromises made for love in all its disguises. For we are left to make our peace with the way things are, not with how we would prefer them to be.

Sounds like a lovely read!

>214 Tess_W: Yes, it was even better than I remembered it. The author is coming out with a new book soon and I know that I will read that as well. He is going the self publishing route and I am interested to see how he does especially as he is my brother.

Doubly nice for you!

I acquired less books in November but I am still having problems finding shelf room.

finding your roots by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Forgotten Army by James Fenton
An Age of License by Lucy Knisley
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berndt
The Heart has its Reasons by Marie Duenas
An Old Betrayal by Charles Finch
Irresistable by Mary Balogh
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander
The Blood Dimmed Tide by Rennie Airth
The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth

My bff recommended Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, so I purchased it with a giftcard. In the meantime, I watched the movie. I certainly hope the book is better than the movie!

Nice haul!

Hi Tess, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil caught my eye as I was walking through Chapters because it was displayed in a centre aisle. I have read a few LT posts about it and thought it was time to see what the book is all about for myself.

49. A Notorious Countess Confesses by Julie Anne Long

A notorious countess has become one of the residents of Pennyroyal Green. She is hoping to make friends and become part of the town’s society but her reputation precedes her. Maybe the vicar can help. After all he is but a man; she knows how to handle men. But he is more than she bargains for. Can any good come from the friendship between the vicar and the notorious countess or will their attraction for each other make them both outcasts from Pennyroyal Green’s society? This novel is a good read for those who enjoy historical romance.

50. In the Shadow of Death by Gwendolyn Southin

Margaret Spencer was married for 28 years before she decided to change her life. She left her husband and found a job with a PI and life has become a lot more interesting. But it is 1959 and her husband wants her to come back to her respectable life. She needs to get away and sort out what she wants. Little does she know that her dude ranch get-away will turn into a murder mystery.

51. Bloodline by Fiona Mountain

Fiona Mountain’s mysteries featuring Natasha Blake are some of the best genealogical mysteries that I have read. Not only is the reader treated to a murder mystery that needs a genealogist to unravel it, but Natasha’s own story is also compelling. I wish that the author had written more than two mysteries with Natasha Blake as the protagonist.

52. Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen

Naughty in Nice is the 5th installment of the mysteries involving Lady Georgiana. She is soon to be 35th in line to the throne as her obnoxious sister-in-law, Fig, is expecting. It is dreary in Britain and those that can are getting out to go to the south of France. Money stands in the way of Georgie accompanying Binky and Fig, her brother and sister in law, to Nice. The Queen comes to the rescue but of course there is a catch. Georgie must do a little errand for her. This turns out to be more complicated than anticipated and soon Georgie is embroiled in mystery, murder and intrigue and a close call that she barely escapes.

This week I went to the Christmas meeting for the genealogical society that I belong to. Part of the meeting is a book sale. I am pleased to report that I donated two heavily full bags of books and only brought home six books.

Such self-restraint is admirable. I went to see an exhibition about Pompeii and came home with four new books. Bad girl.

>225 MissWatson: It wasn't so much self restraint. I was waylaid so I didn't get to the room with the books until they had been really well picked over. Oh well, I am running out of shelf space so maybe the people who way laid me were saving me from myself.

53. Religion and the Decline of Magic by Keith Thomas

This well research history was first published in 1971 and has been reprinted many times. It is a good source for information about medieval thought and the average person in Britain for this time period. The focus is on religion and other beliefs in this time period.

>226 Familyhistorian: Lucky coincidence or was it done accidentally on purpose?

>228 MissWatson: I think it was inevitable because I hadn't been to a meeting for the past year and I had a lot of people to catch up with. Buying fewer books was a side benefit.

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hope you have a Happy Holiday Season as well, Connie.

54. Killer in Crinolines by Duffy Brown

Killer in Crinolines is the second consignment shop mystery and I like this series more the further I get into it. Not only is there a murder mystery to solve but there are some sparks flying between our amateur sleuth, Reagan and Walker Boone, the lawyer with a shady past who helped Reagan’s ex take her to the cleaners. There is history but interest percolating there.

55. Mrs. Jeffries & the Mistletoe Mix-Up by Emily Brightwell

The Mrs. Jeffries mysteries are a long running series. This is number 29, I think, and I have been reading them since they first came out. I had stopped for a while because it feels strange to read a Christmas book at any time except for the Christmas season. Now I can move on to the next in the series.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas!

I hope that you had a Happy Christmas as well, Tess.

56. The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

This will probably be my last ROOT of 2014. I wanted to fit this last Christmas related book in while it was still the season. The Twelve Clues of Christmas is another installment in the Royal Spyness series with Lady Georgiana Rannoch 35th in line for the throne, as the sleuth. It was great fun even though the corpses kept piling up. This book clears the way for the next in the series and I didn't have to read it out of season.

My Santa Thing books came today! They made it before the end of the year this time! I didn't think that I had acquired that many books in December but with three Santa Thing books and the books that I picked up at my genealogy society's Christmas meeting it is quite a stack once again.

A Thirst to Die For by Ian Waddell
A Red Herring without Mustard by Alan Bradley
Instrument of Slaughter by Edward Marston
World of Wonders by Robertson Davies
Cold Steel by Paul Carson
Damn his Blood by Peter Moore
Burma 1942: Memories of a Retreat by R.E.S. Tanner
Sketch your World by James Hobbs
The Diva Paints the Town by Krista Davis
Read it and Weep by Jenn McKinlay
Bookmarked to Die by Jo Dereske
Pearls and Poison by Duffy Brown
Book of Fire by Brian Moynahan
Back in Blighty by Gerard DeGroot
The Confidence Code by Katty Kay & Claire Shipman
Sleeping the Churchyard Sleep by Rett MacPherson
A Most Contagious Game by Catherine Aird
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon