Soupdragon (Dee) attends to her ROOTs in 2016

It's been a while since I had my own thread on LT but the time has come. According to LT I have 1200 books "to be read". And of course, I'm still buying more than I read.

I'm aiming to read 40 books from my bookshelves or Kindle - bought last year or earlier. I can see how that will become more challenging as the year goes on.

I will still be reading non-ROOTS. I will still be buying books. However I'm hoping this will encourage in me a more mindful approach to it all!

January ROOTs

1. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (2014)
2. The London Train by Tessa Hadley (2013)
3. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2008)
4. Astray by Emma Donoghue (2015)
5. A Commonplace Killing by Sian Busby (2014)
6. Ratking by Michael Dibdin (2013)

January non-ROOTs

The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton

February ROOTs

7. Red Bones by Anne Cleeves (2013)
8. Sanctum by Denise Mina (2011)
9. The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas (2012)
10. The Lives of Women by Christine Dwyer Hickey (2015)
11. Kind Are Her Answers by Mary Renault (2015)

February non-ROOTs

Every Day by David Levithan
Another Day by David Levithan
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

March ROOTs

12. Among Others by Jo Walton (2014)
13. How to be Brave by Louise Beech (2015)
14. Singled Out by Virginia Nicholson (2013)
15. The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan (2011)
16. Second Nature by Alice Hoffman (2010)

March non-ROOTs

A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab
Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell
Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin
Flip by Martyn Bedford
The Bones of You by Debbie Howells

April ROOTs

17. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson (2015)
18. Charm City by Laura Lippman (2015)

(The year in brackets refers to when I acquired the book.)

May ROOTs

19. Who was Changed and Who was Dead by Barbara Comyns (2011)
20. Attachment in Psychotherapy by David Wallin (2015)
21. Under my Hat Tales from the Cauldron edited by Jonathan Strahan (2013)
22. Wilful Impropriety 13 tales edited by Ekaterina Sedia (2013)

June ROOTs

23. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (2011)
24. Caroline by Richmal Crompton (2015)
25. A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor (2008)

July ROOTs

26. The Skin Chairs by Barbara Comyns (2011)
27. The Villa in Italy by Elizabeth Edmondson (2014)
28. The Visitors by Sally Beauman (2015)
29. Love in Winter by Storm Jameson (2013)

August ROOTs

30. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2012)
31. Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris (2011)
32. Over the Frontier by Stevie Smith (2015)

September

33. The Fire-Dwellers by Margaret Laurence (2011)
34. Trespass by Valerie Martin (2012)

October

35. The Dream- Thieves by Maggie Siefvater (2013)

November

36. Still Life by Louise Penny (2015)
37. Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (2015)

December

38. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson (2015)
39. The Christmas Mouse by Miss Read (2008)
40. A Spell of Sleep by Nina Beachcroft (2011)

1. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

This has been on my shelves since Summer 2014 but I may have slightly cheated by partly listening to it on audio (bought more recently).

The Iliad as told by a very intense Patroclus with a life-long obsessive love for Achilles who fortunately deigns to reciprocate. Definitely romance and not bromance this time between those Ancient Greek guys. Good stuff if you're in the right mood for it.

4*

Welcome aboard and good luck with your challenge!

Good Luck with your rooting!

Welcome! Hope you have a successful year!

Welcome to the group, Dee. And it's perfectly normal to read and listen to the same book. The book gets read, so I would not call it cheating ;-))

>6 rabbitprincess: >7 Tess_W: >8 LittleTaiko: >9 connie53: Thank you for your warm welcomes!

My next completed ROOT is likely to be Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I'm halfway through and really enjoying the writing. I am, however, also reading and enjoying a non-ROOT bought last week The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton.

Alongside those main reads I have a couple of short story collections that I've been dipping into between main reads, a couple of non-fictions that I've stalled on and a beautiful book by Mark Neko (Finding Inner Courage) which I'm not sure I will ever finish because every time I pick it up I end up reading the last couple of pages or chapters again!

>10 Soupdragon: I liked Strange and Norell too. And I have at least one unread Lipton on the shelves.

Welcome and good luck with your ROOTing!

2. The London Train by Tessa Hadley

I'm generally a fan of Hadley's writing but more so when she bases her writing on her own experience. Middle-aged Paul with his mid-life crisis didn't feel as real to me as her female protags have done. The other problem I had was probably with me, rather than the book as I tend to have problems engaging with central characters who are introduced half way through the book, which is what happens here. I seem to have a rhythm with books where I'm prepared to put the work in initially but then get to the point where I want the book to carry me through to the end!

I still admired the writing though!

3.5*

Welcome & good luck with your ROOTing this year!
Looks like you're already off to a good start :)

>9 connie53: FULLY agree!!

>10 Soupdragon: oooooh. I love. that. book. (Jonathan Strange)... hope you enjoy!

>14 avanders: thank you and yes >9 connie53: thank you too! I think audio updates might help me with my Kindle tbr and help get the ironing done too.

>14 avanders: Jonathan Strange is wonderful, isn't it? I've just finished volume 2.

>15 Soupdragon: Anything to get the ironing done is a good thing.

Congrats on two ROOTs already pulled! Good luck with your ROOT reading!

>16 connie53: I know. If I get through my piles of ironing as well as my TBR pile the house will be transformed!

>17 lkernagh: Thank you!

I've been wondering whether to include ROOTs which I give up on before the end and have decided to apply the Nancy Pearl rule. So if I get to page 50 it's a ROOT whether I carry on or not! I'm hoping I don't have too many of them. I mean all those books have been waiting for me for a good reason...haven't they?

>18 Soupdragon: I'd count them! :)

>18 Soupdragon: I'd count them too! They are of the shelves, so why not? I love the Nancy Pearl rule and applied it even before I knew there was such a rule.

>18 Soupdragon: I very rarely give up on books (I stop half way, but always intend to get back to them and then never quite get round to it, but that's different!). However my last ROOT was abandoned after 3 chapters because it was just so badly written I couldn't bear the thought of never getting that time back again. Counting it as a ROOT anyway felt like a consolation prize for even reading that far!!

>19 rabbitprincess: >20 connie53: >21 Jackie_K: Thank you for the support with ROOTing dropped books. I have a few that are haunting my bookshelves that I have a feeling might not be for me, but I don't want to get rid of until I try because... it was well reviewed, that person on LT with really similar tastes to me loved it, it won a prize..or whatever.

3. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

I'm so pleased to have read this. It's been on my shelves for years, though originally in a different form to that which I eventually read. I found the three-volumes-in-a-box-set in a second hand magic book shop in Glastonbury (so appropriate) a couple of years back and replaced my original one volume with it.

I expect most people with an interest in this book have already read it. Judging by reader reviews it's love or meh. I loved it. Loved the Victorian writing style dripping with irony all the way through. Loved those pompous English men constantly thwarted by circumstances and weird acts of magic. Loved the C19th England, but with magic, setting. Shivered at the dark magic and the man with thistle down hair. And I really loved Childermass!

4.5*

Another ROOT done but still no more space on my shelves as this one's staying. I can imagine wanting to read it again in years to come.

>22 Soupdragon: re - Strange and Norell. Well it's off your TBR pile. My books seldom leave my house. I just put them on my read shelves. And yes I have read and unread shelves. You can check my pictures on my profile page ;-)

>23 connie53: But your bookshelves are beautiful, Connie. Mine are getting a bit untidy with piles of books on top of the shelves as well as in them!

4. Astray by Emma Donoghue

Well written short stories with plenty of authentic atmosphere, each loosely based upon a documented piece of the past. The characters are often in transit and have gone astray geographically or socially from the expectations of their times.

I enjoyed some of the stories more than others but all were interesting in some way, particularly when read in conjunction with the afternote.

4*

>24 Soupdragon: Thanks, Dee. I like to keep them tidy. And I love rearranging them. I need to get some more bookcases though.

Looks like some very good reads in January!

>27 Tess_W: Thanks Tess. I have had a good start to the year with reading, which is lovely because I had a fear that this year I wouldn't have time to read because of extra commitments at work.

I'm also happy to have my own thread on LibraryThing again. I had a thread on the 75 challenge forum for a couple of years which was wonderful but real life got in the way and I found it difficult to keep up with the full reviews that I wanted to write for every book I read.

I'm going to keep things a bit more low key with this thread. I want to say something about each book I've ROOTed but it's unlikely to be full reviews with picture of the book cover this time around.

5. A Commonplace Killing by Sian Busby

An unusual one this. It reads for the most part like a police procedural but is both more and less than that. It has an incredible noir atmosphere and takes you right into post war England. Busby's characters are dissatisfied, frustrated, heart-broken or worse. It was a slow burner for me but by a third of the way in I cared about those characters and wanted to find out what had really happened to the victim found on the bomb site that night. The ending is psychologically convincing but predictable. We were being taken to that point from very early in the book. In one way I was hoping for a clever twist at the end but in another I appreciated the psychological authenticity.

4*

This is the second book of Busby's I've read and the first of her non-fiction. Very sadly she died of cancer recently, leaving behind her children and husband Robert Peston, the BBC economist.

>29 Soupdragon:
I'm very pleased to hear that you enjoyed A Commonplace Killing as I have that one somewhere on Mt. TBR! I may have to dig that one out sooner now :)

I enjoyed The London Train more than you did. Maybe it was because I listened to it on audio while working in my garden.

>30 Caramellunacy: It is good - just don't expect any twists or big reveals at the end!

>31 Nickelini: I have this thing with Tessa Hadley. Because I love some of her books so much (I have her listed as a favourite author on my profile page), I think I might be overly harsh on the books that don't grab me in quite the same way. And I am terrible at engaging with central characters that are introduced half way through the book!

>15 Soupdragon: .. of 2 volumes? (I read it as a single volume) Yes, it's so fulfilling :) ... Ah, I see >22 Soupdragon: ;) Glad you enjoyed it so much!

>18 Soupdragon: Oh yes, those count! :)

>21 Jackie_K: likewise.. I have a hard time giving up. But I will do it if I get a certain way through and it is just awful. How far through really depends on how awful it was ;) I think 50 pages was probably my shortest ... I gave up on one after 300+ pages... and there was one that I just couldn't give up on, but it turned out to be pretty bad :( So.. ya know, I think there's a lot of sense in the Pearl rule!

>28 Soupdragon: me too.. I used to full-review almost everything. But, alas, time. So, I try to say something about everything. These days, I generally only end up reviewing books that are really unusual in some way or are early reviewers :)

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is one of those books I feel everyone but me has read. One day, one day...
Making a mental note about The Song of Achilles as well.

>34 nerwende: I felt like that too, and then like I was the last person to be reading it! I noticed Jonathan Strange is in the Kindle daily deal on Amazon.uk today and was wondering whether to replace my 3 volume box set to make more physical room on the shelves but then I thought...Naah!

Currently reading a ROOT Ratking by Michael Dobdin and also a non-ROOT H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald which was lent to me by a work colleague.

I started Ratking on audio but wasn't keen on the guy narrating. His voice didn't quite work for me and he'd occasionally do this thing where he'd read out dialogue in say, quite a shouty tone followed by ...murmured Daniele!

I'm enjoying the actual book though and will probably be reading more Aurelio Zen novels. I'll soon need to decide whether to go next onto the third in the Zen series which I already have on my Kindle or buy the second which is currently available quite cheaply on Kindle.

>35 Soupdragon: Zen is a funny guy. I love how he doesn't drive and complains about new-fangled technology. And his interactions with his mom!

For what it's worth I hope you pick up book 2, which is my favourite of the first three books :)

>36 rabbitprincess: Thank you, you have convinced me to buy Vendetta! Not that I need much convincing to be honest. Justification is probably the word!

Yes, Zen is a quirky guy. He seems to be using his relationship with his mum as a barrier to the one with his girlfriend, which I'm guessing will continue throughout the series!

6. Ratking by Michel Dibdin

The first in the Aurelio Zen series where Zen is enlisted to deal with crime and corruption in the Italy of a couple of decades ago.

I appreciated the writing which was elegant even in translation. The tone was noirish without being grim and there were touches of mordant humour. I wasn't always keen on the psychological explanations for characters behaviours which veered towards unreconstructed Freud! There was one character who was gay and unfortunately this seemed to be presented as linked with deviance and psychological pathology.

I will be reading more in the series however.

3.5*

>34 nerwende: I haven't read it either, but I think I'd like to :). I also added Song of Achilles to my wishlist last year, after someone else on here reviewed it. It sounds great.

Great job ROOTing so far, Soupdragon. Good luck with the rest of your challenge!

>34 nerwende: and >35 Soupdragon: I have some of those books too... some classics, some modern... we can only take 'em one book at a time, right? ;)

>39 readingtangent: >40 avanders: Thanks for dropping by. Yes, one book at a time despite my current attempts to inhale a whole bookshelf simultaneously!

January turned out to be a good month for ROOTs. February started out well with two early roots but I am now distracted by Amazon birthday vouchers and books I want to read now!

>41 Soupdragon: We all know that feeling, Dee! And Happy Birthday to you!

A great January start and happy birthday!

>42 connie53: >43 Tess_W: Thank you!

ROOT 7. Red Bones by Anne Cleeves

I'd forgotten how much I enjoy Cleeve's Shetland series. In this one, a discovery by a young outsider stirs up old memories for the local residents. Very satisfying.

4*

ROOT 8. Sanctum by Denise Mina

An early stand-alone thriller. I think Mina had some fun with this one and there are a few great moments where you can see what she's capable of. Overall though, I found it disappointing and lacking the depth I've come to expect from Mina.

3*

>44 Soupdragon: Maybe that was because it was one of her earlier thrillers?

Happy birthday! I love the idea of inhaling bookshelves! (if only it were that easy!)

Yes, happy birthday month! :)

>41 Soupdragon: >46 Jackie_K: I agree, a nice visual :)

>45 connie53:, Could be, though looking at reviews others were more impressed than me.

>46 Jackie_K:, >47 avanders: Thank you. I have been reasonably restrained with the vouchers, just bought a few Kindle books which were mostly reduced anyway - all of which were on my wishlist after being hit by LibraryThing book bullets!

Yesterday was the anniversary of when I joined LT. I can't remember what the special name for that is. I do remember it's traditional to buy a book for each year and then one extra, though. Nine new books. I don't need nine new books. Tempting though...

ROOT 9. The Three Evangelists by Fred Vargas

A quirky French mystery where four youngish History graduates plus an older ex- police inspector investigate mysterious events going on next door. There is a lot of charm to the book with eccentric characters and humour which sometimes worked for me and sometimes didn't. I'm not in a rush to get to the next book featuring these guys but would buy if I saw it cheap!

3.5*

ROOT 10. The Lives of Women by Christine Dwyer Hickey

This is the first book I've read by this author and I was very impressed by the quality of the writing. It is slow moving but the writing, the detail and the foreshadowing of a big reveal from the past all kept me reading. I also liked that the protag was the same age as me (late 40s) and returning to her childhood home and events of her mid/late teens. It is the type of book that I enjoy a lot but am reluctant to recommend to others (outside LT) because they invariably hate it. My sister claims that nothing ever happens in the books I recommend!

4*

>48 Soupdragon: Thingaversary!! I've just remembered!

>48 Soupdragon: Happy Thingaversary! Nine books is indeed a lot to have come in at once. Maybe spread out the purchases throughout the year? Or if you want to do something different, maybe cull nine books from your shelves, or donate nine books (either in physical or monetary form) to your local library. There are lots of bookish ways to celebrate. :)

>49 Soupdragon: I would like to read The Three Evangelists but haven't yet found a French copy -- I'm trying to read more novels in French.

>51 rabbitprincess: Oh good ideas! I like the idea of donating books and also culling nine books from my shelves. I have some books on my shelves that I've saved for ReadItSwapIt swaps which really could be passed on. I'm not sure if my local library accepts donations though, so they may go to the charity shop instead.

Also, I remember reading on Sibyx's 75 challenge thread where she selected some of the books from her TBR that she really wanted to read and kind of gifted them to herself (again). I'm quite tempted to do that. I think it would bring those books to my attention, make me appreciate them again and I'd maybe even read them!

>51 rabbitprincess: I found myself wishing I read French with The Three Evangelists as I think some of the charm and humour would have worked better in the original. Not that it was badly translated at all.

Happy Thingaversary! I don't think I'm going to be buying any more books, over and above the ones I would have acquired anyway - I'll save that for a treat when Mt. TBR is a bit more under control! I like the suggestions by >51 rabbitprincess: - I think I'm most likely to just spread the purchases through the year. I'm not even sure how many years I've been on LT, although I think my Thingaversary is in August.

Happy Thingaversary! Nine books is a lot to get in one buy! Last year I made a wishlist with the titles of books I really would like to get for my TA and bought them spread out buying them. I think it took me 2 months to get them.

Happy thingaversary! Spreading the bookbuying seems like a good idea...

Happy Thingaversary!

>48 Soupdragon: well Happy Thingaversary too! 9 new books! I haven't yet participated in that tradition, but I think I will start this year.. this June will be my 9th, so 10 new books!

>51 rabbitprincess: interesting ideas! :)

>54 Jackie_K: Jackie - if you go to your own profile page, it tells you :)

>55 connie53: A Thingaversary wishlist - that is exactly what I'm going to do! I'll create one now, and whatever I don't get for my bday (which is a couple months before my Thingaversary), I'll get. :D :D

>58 avanders: We think alike, Ava! Again.

>59 connie53: funny how often that happens ;)

>60 avanders: It is, isn't it!

Thank you for all the Thingaversary good wishes. In the end I got carried away with bargain kindle deals and did buy my allotted nine books. Slightly more actually but I will draw a line there and move on.

I did also act on rabbitprincess's suggestion and culled nine books from my shelves (some read and some which I realised I was no longer interested in).

ROOT 11 Kind Are Her Answers by Mary Renault

Well written, razor sharp dissection of the psychology of a marriage and an affair. Brutal but well done.

4*

>62 Soupdragon: Hurray for bargain deals and for culling! It does feel good to prune the book forest a bit sometimes :)

>62 Soupdragon: I've never heard of any of her books but the historical novels that my mother got me started on when I was a kid. I've recently found one or two of those at library booksales, and am eager to see how they are for the adult me.

This one sounds like its worth keeping an eye out for.

>63 rabbitprincess: ditto! :)

>64 ipsoivan:, >65 avanders: I think I'm unusual in that I've started on Mary Renault's non-historical fiction first. I do have The Bull from the Sea and The King Must Die to get to as well.

ROOT 12. Among Others by Jo Walton

Walton describes this as a mythologization of six months of her life (in her mid teens between 1979 and 1980). I was expecting a memoir with quirky, fanciful bits but it is so, so much more than that. Walton made me believe every moment, including the fairies. Especially the fairies.

It is a story of a geek girl who has problems with her parents and problems relating to her boarding school peers who are significantly less intelligent than her and interested in different things. Her mother is an evil witch who is trying to take over the world. Her aunts have a less effectual but still poisonous magic which allows them to control her father. All this makes complete sense in the book. A straight memoir where Walton explained that her mother is a delusional paranoid-schizophrenic (as she has said elsewhere) would not have had any more emotional truth. She has turned her family into the archetypes that they often are for us when we are young.

In the book, the fictional Mori eats honey buns, visits libraries, reads fantasy books and tells us what she thought of them (buns and books). I was back in 1979, which I also remember mostly for the munching and reading, with her. By the time she communes with faeries and then her dead twin sister, I was so engaged she could have taken me anywhere. A very powerful book.

5*

ROOT 13. How to be Brave by Louise Beech

The story of a mother who uses the story of her grandfather's wartime experiences to get her and her 9 year old daughter through the traumatic experience of the daughter's diagnosis, and coping with the management, of a chronic disease.

I loved the book for saying genuine things about parenthood, our love for our children and how tough that can be sometimes. It did feel like a first novel and the way the grandfather was introduced as a ghost felt rather clunky but it's raw and genuine emotion made up for a lack of sophistication.

Somewhere between 3.5 and 4*

ROOT 14. Singled Out: How Two Million British Wonen Survived Without Men after the First World War by Virginia Nicholson

An easy (non-academic) read which looks at the lives of single women between the wars. The writing was readable but did flit from perspectives and subjects quite frequently. I started reading this last year, loved the first half particularly when it discussed authors and fiction from this time period and then lost interest a little in the second half. I picked it up again and completed it which has made it a 2016 root.

3.5*

ROOT 15. The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan

This is the second in a trilogy I started four years ago. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first, maybe I waited too long. Also the narrator is a very different one, teenage girl Mae, and the emphasis was often on who Mae was in love with. There were some interesting twists to that though which did lead to our overall understanding of the characters. I liked that it wasn't obvious who the good guys were or weren't, and also that there was ambiguity about what makes a good or bad guy.

Undecided about star rating.

>67 Soupdragon: I'm impatiently waiting for the translation of this book, Dee. I've heard very good things about it.

>71 connie53: I hope the translation materialises soon, Connie. I'll be interested to see the cover when it does, as Walton has an article on her website discussing the different covers for Among Others and which ones most realistically depict what's inside. I think the UK and American covers rated poorly.

>67 Soupdragon: whoa. I have a different book by Jo Walton.. that one also sounds interesting, and a 5-star review!

And way to go on reading all those ROOTs!

>73 avanders: Which one of Jo Walton do you have, Ava? I own two too. Koningsvrede and De naam van de koning. Not read yet, of course.

>74 connie53: I have Farthing - it was a SantaThing gift this past year - I'm really excited about it!

>75 avanders: Another one that is not translated!

>76 connie53: argh!

>77 avanders: A++ use of David Tennant graphic :D

I look away for 3 or 4 days, and look at all this bounty! Your description of the Jo Walters makes me think of a girl in my boarding school residence. When I was 12, she was beyond weird. Now I want to read about the world from this perspective.

How To be Brave sounds like something we all might need.

Thanks for these, Dee.

>78 rabbitprincess: lol glad you appreciated ;)

Hello, lovely visitors!

>76 connie53:, It must be very frustrating waiting for those translations. I'd say it might be good for your finances but then if it was me I'd be so happy when the book was finally available I'd go straight out and buy it rather than wait for a discount or cheaper edition as I usually would.

>77 avanders: Thank you for brightening up my thread with David Tennant. David is always welcome here 😉

>79 ipsoivan: Yes, Amongst Others made me think about a girl I was at school with too!

I am currently reading an Alice Hoffman, Second Nature. I've just got past page 50 and am undecided whether to apply the Pearl rule or not. I feel the book is going to increasingly annoy me in its requirement of suspension of belief and the acceptance of the behaviour on the part of protag, which will inevitably harm others including her son. Also, reviews suggest things end very badly. However...the writing appeals, I've enjoyed Alice Hoffman books in the past (some admittedly more than others) and I kind of want to know what happens. Except I don't because everything points to it being bad!

Oh well, it's not a long book. Maybe I'll carry on a bit further...

Edited to say: I've read ten more pages and now I've got a horrible instinct regarding what the bad ending is. I have to keep reading now to find out if I'm right but hoping I'm not. Hmm...am beginning to wish I hadn't started this one.

>81 Soupdragon: Second Nature sounds grim. I hate it when you're reluctant to read on, but feel compelled. Condolences.

>82 ipsoivan: Thank you! It's sort of getting better...and worse. Better in that I'm engaged with the story and getting close to the characters. Worse in that I'm convinced that something very bad is going to happen to one of my favourites and that my other favourite is going to be responsible or believed responsible.

If Hoffman manages to produce a twist to this seeming inevitability all will be forgiven and I will love her forever.

>83 Soupdragon: fingers crossed it doesn't turn into a car-crash read!

I finished it! It is now

ROOT 16!
Second Nature by Alice Hoffman

As you will have probably read above I had a problem with the book right from the start. I should never have taken on a book where a woman illegally releases a man believed to be dangerous from a psychiatric unit and moves him into her home to live with her and her teenage son. It this is a premise that will trouble you as much as it did me, don't pick up this book.

If this isn't an issue for you, then the book has much to offer: Hoffman's lovely writing, hints of magical realism in a small town community and probably a allegorical message about wolves, sexuality and danger which I was too hyped up about who was going to get hurt to really appreciate.

In the end someone did get hurt but it wasn't who I thought. The person it was obvious would get the blame did get the blame but there was a tiny twist. I will be reading more Alice Hoffman but this particular one is on its way to the charity shop.

Undecided about rating! Probably 3.5 stars but I can see how a different reader would give it more.

>84 Jackie_K: So not a complete car crash read but very close to one!

>85 Soupdragon: wow that was fast! You went from considering Pearling it to finishing it in a matter of hours?! Congrats on another ROOT pulled :)
I have read nothing by Alice Hoffman but own most of her books... I loved the movie practical magic so much, and I thought her magical realism was intriguing, so I kept on "buying" them at the library book sales (hardly buying them when they're that close to free ;))... I'll definitely be interested to see how I actually like her writing :)
Sounds like, ultimately, it was okay that you stuck w/ it :)

>86 avanders: I had today off work and whilst I hadn't intended to spend it reading, that ended up being what happened! I do like Hoffman's writing and the potential car crash element actually ended up making me need to read on to see if things would really be as awful as it seemed!

I too have plenty of Hoffman's on my TBR and have read a fair few as well. I borrowed and loved three of them in a row from the library some years back and have been collecting cheap copies when I see them ever since. There was also one I bought new for an LT group read. Funnily enough I haven't loved any of the ones I've bought and read anywhere near as much as the three library books. I don't know if they were better books, books better suited to me as a reader or whether I was just in a very Hoffman mood at the time of reading. They were written later than most of the books I subsequently read, which might be a factor.

I would recommend giving those on your shelf a go, but maybe don't start with Second Nature! The ones I loved from the library were The Ice Queen, Blackbird House and Skylight Confessions.

>87 Soupdragon: I loved the Dovekeepers

>88 Tess_W: That one's on my wishlist but sadly not my TBR!

I have three unread Hoffmans on my tbr: De duivenhoudsters, De ijskoningin and Drie zusjes. Maybe I move one up my pile for this year.

>87 Soupdragon: that's wonderful - I love those days! :)
Thanks for those names - I have 2 on the shelves and will keep Blackbird House in mind the next time I'm at a library sale or used bookstore :) (or library, of course :))

>88 Tess_W: also good to know.. I don't have that one yet either. It's pretty new, right?

>90 connie53: oh yes, The Story Sisters is another one that looks really good.. and is on the shelves already ;)

>91 avanders: 2011

>90 connie53: >91 avanders: I'll be interested to see what you think of those Hoffman's when you get to them. She has a very individual style of small town domestic tinged with magical realism.

The Story Sisters is one that I read when it was newly published for a LT group read. I liked it a lot throughout most of the book then completely lost interest towards the end. I can't remember why. Connie, your middle Hoffman is the first one of hers I read. I loved it but again can't remember much about it now.

Not sure when I'll be completing another ROOT. I am currently lost in a world (worlds?) of parallel Londons in the wonderful A Darker Shade of Magic. I couldn't resist buying it (and then starting it) after seeing it for 99p in this months Amazon.co.uk monthly kindle deals.

>93 Soupdragon: The description of the book about London sounds intriguing, Dee. It's not translated though, so I guess I can dodge this BB.

I did it, reached my target of 40!

Apologies to anyone reading this for deserting my thread in March. Life ended up getting in the way. I have carried on adding to my list at the top of the thread and updating the ticker though. I started to wonder if I'd make it to forty but just made with an almost-cheat of reading a children's book from my shelf (A Spell of Sleep by Nina Beachcroft) in a day.

My favourite ROOTs of the year were Among Others by Jo Walton and A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor.

Hope all you had a great year of reading! I'm sorry I lost touch with everyone's threads including my own but hope to get some time over the holidays to read some posts and catch up.

Woo hoo, congratulations! :D

Woohoo!