KWharton ROOTs modestly once again!

I just made my goal of 12 for 2021, so I will try for 12 again in 2022! Good luck everyone :-)

Welcome back, KWharton. Good luck ROOTing in 2022

Don't forget to join the group too!

Welcome back, and happy reading!

Welcome back and good luck with your goal!

Happy you are back with us!

good luck!

Happy ROOTing!

>2 connie53: Ha ha, thanks for the reminder!

I have finished Dublin which I started years ago (when I think I was actually in Dublin) and then put down. I picked it up again in December last year. It's good to start the year by finishing a long ROOT!

There were a lot of characters to keep track of, but it was an entertaining and educational read. I have London on the shelf too (from the same trip, I think) but might not read it right now :-)

>9 KWharton: I'm fascinated by Rutherford's idea of making a place the main character of his novels, but they are just frightening long. I also have London on my shelf and i looks intimidating.

I am already behind as I didn't complete a ROOT in February! However, I just finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which I started a while ago and then put aside (probably distracted by library books, as usual). I particularly enjoyed the description at the end of the turkeys who didn't know how to breed - funny except when I think of why they didn't know and what humans have done to them.

Some of the book was quite US-centric - for example, Barbara Kingsolver seemed to indicate that nearly all cows had become grain-fed at a certain point in time, and she welcomed a return to grass-fed cows, however in New Zealand (and probably many other countries) most cows are grass-fed and fortunately we don't have many horrific feedlots. I admire her commitment and enjoyment of producing so much of her own food and I felt a bit guilty about the fact that I don't really make use of my garden.

I think I will pick a quick and easy read to get my ROOTing back on track - maybe Delicious or Charmed.

>11 KWharton: I really enjoyed Animal, Vegetable, Miracle too.

I have now read Charmed and Spells and Stitches and Maus so I'm back on track with my ROOTs. A bit of a contrast between the Sugar Maple books and Maus! I like variety in my reading. Charmed was super short so it feels a bit like cheating, but it's technically a book.

>13 KWharton: Good to read you are back on track! A short book is a book too!

>14 connie53: Hello Connie! I have just seen your family pictures in your thread - how lovely! Thank you for posting them.

I have finally managed to update my ticker (it was misbehaving for me on several different browsers) to show that I have not given up on my ROOTs! In fact, I am almost keeping up with reading one a month.

Since my last update, I have read Delicious which I enjoyed. The story was not as predictable as I thought it was going to be! I thought I had read some others too, but it turns out that I have read lots of books which are not my Own Tomes, as usual.

The ticker-site is often doing crazy stuff. It sometimes helps when you close and open the site again. Or refresh.

Good to see you are on track!

I seem to have broken my ticker again, but since the group has met the target, I won't make another one. I am only half way through my target! Uh oh.

What if? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Knit One Pearl One

are on my list of six ROOTs I've actually finished. Hmm, from my Touchstones it looks like I've read eight! Maybe I'll make it after all.

Unapologetic finished!
No-Nonsense Guide: World History (re)started

Well, here’s an interesting comment. Talking about the Crusades, “The Pope’s messengers spread outlandish stories about Turkish atrocities through France and Germany and produced a wave of popular outrage. In the 21st century we might hope to be more skeptical about such information.” Sadly no, Chris Brazier.

Finished No-Nonsense Guide: World History. It was good, but I’m not sure how much I’ll remember. Nice to see Aotearoa New Zealand get a few mentions.

Two to go!

You can do it!

Just finished Le petit bleu de la côte Ouest which I bought from the Foreign Language Bookshop in Melbourne, Australia when they had a physical store. I suspect I bought it because it was one of the cheaper books they had! It was short and not really my thing (hired killers, murder…) but easy to read. Jean-Patrick Manchette seems to have done the French translations of the Watchmen comics, so that’s pretty cool. One to go!

>23 MissWatson: Thanks 😊

I did it!
The Graphologist's Apprentice was the last ROOT. It was set in Wellington (where I live) and about a bored office worker. I enjoyed the setting and I liked the idea of the story, but it didn't quite work for me. It felt a bit like two stories that didn't quite fit together. I would like to read more by Whiti Hereaka though, particularly Kurangaituku.

Congratulations!

>26 KWharton: Well done!

Congrats. K.



Happy Holiday Season!