Rebeki ROOTs some more in 2019

I wasn't a very active participant in this group last year, but I achieved my target of 18 ROOTs and, for the second year running, reduced my TBR pile. It only decreased by 10 - to 185 - so I didn't make a huge dent, but prior to joining this group it was definitely going in the other direction, so I'll take that!

I'm a lot busier than I was this time last year, so I'll have (even) less time for posting and reading, but being part of this group really motivates me to keep plugging away at those ROOTs. And perhaps I'll also have less time for acquiring books too, which will certainly help!

My goal for this year will be 14* books and any book I owned on 31 December 2018 will count for this challenge.

*Altered to 24 as of 24 March, as I seem to be speeding along!

Books read in 2019:

ROOTs read in 2019

1. Stay With Me by Ayòbámi Adébáyò (bought in 2018)
2. The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard (bought in 2016)
3. The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler (bought in 2017)
4. The Party by Elizabeth Day (bought in 2018)
5. Meine kaukasische Schwiegermutter by Wladimir Kaminer (bought in 2014)
6. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor (bought in 2013)
7. Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas by Maya Angelou (bought in 2018)
8. Ashes and Diamonds by Jerzy Andrzejewski (bought in 2013)
9. Precious and Grace by Alexander McCall Smith (bought in 2017)
10. "Art" by Yasmina Reza (bought in 2017)
11. Carol by Patricia Highsmith (bought in 2018)
12. No Fond Return of Love by Barbara Pym (bought in 2013)
13. A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe (bought in 2014)
14. Red Love: The Story of an East German Family by Maxim Leo (Christmas present 2016)
15. The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton (bought in 2018)
16. Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi (birthday present 2018)
17. Regarde les lumières mon amour by Annie Ernaux (bought in 2017)
18. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin (bought in 2013)
19. Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel (Christmas present 2017)
20. Up the Junction by Nell Dunn (bought in 2013)
21. Swing Time by Zadie Smith (bought in 2017)
22. Poor Cow by Nell Dunn (bought in 2013)
23. Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford (bought in 2010)
24. The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou (bought in 2018)
25. All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes by Maya Angelou (bought in 2018)
26. Gin Glorious Gin: How Mother's Ruin Became the Spirit of London by Olivia Williams (bought in 2018)
27. Le Voyage d'hiver by Amélie Nothomb (bought in 2017)

ROOT prevention - 2019 acquisitions read

1. Winter by Ali Smith
2. The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
3. The Friendly Ones by Philip Hensher
4. How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You by The Oatmeal
5. Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark
6. The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton

Re-reads

1. Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
2. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
3. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
4. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

Borrowed books

1. A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
2. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
3. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
4. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
5. Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid
6. Billionaire Boy by David Walliams

Read with my son

1. A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons by Cressida Cowell
2. First Prize for the Worst Witch by Jill Murphy
3. The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots by Beatrix Potter
4. How to Ride a Dragon's Storm by Cressida Cowell
5. The Witches by Roald Dahl
6. How to Break a Dragon's Heart by Cressida Cowell
7. Moominvalley in November by Tove Jansson
8. The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl
9. Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl
10. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
11. How to Steal a Dragon's Sword by Cressida Cowell

In a category of its own

The Bible

Good luck Rebeki, good to see you back!

Welcome back, Rebecca. Happy ROOTing.

Welcome back and have a great reading year! Excellent work on decreasing the TBR pile!

>3 Jackie_K:, >4 connie53:, >5 rabbitprincess: Thank you for the welcome, and Happy New (Reading) Year to you all!

I've finished my first ROOT of the year:

1. Stay With Me by Ayòbámi Adébáyò

One of last year's purchases, this was a highly readable novel set primarily in 1980s/1990s Nigeria. Yejide and Akin are a young married couple struggling to conceive and suffering from the intense pressure on them from society to fulfil their expected roles. I enjoyed how Adébáyọ̀ gradually reveals more about their situation, causing my perceptions of the main characters and their behaviour to shift throughout the book. This would be a good book for reading groups, I think.

Welcome back and congrats on finishing your first ROOT!

>7 MissWatson: Thank you!

2. The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard

I have the more famous Cazalet novels waiting to be read, but decided to try this earlier, stand-alone work as my first Elizabeth Jane Howard book, particularly after reading an article about the author by Hilary Mantel, who has also written the introduction to this edition.

It's the story of an unhappy marriage told through snapshots in time, moving gradually backwards from 1950 to 1926 and the events that preceded the union. When the book opens, its main character, Antonia Fleming, is a sympathetic but somewhat distant figure. It is only with the thrilling* final section that the reader truly understands Antonia's reactions and how/why the marriage came about in the first place.

The writing is elegant and assured - to me, perfection - and each section is long enough to get your teeth into, but yet tantalisingly short. I wanted to know so much more!

Suffice it to say I can't wait to read The Cazalet Chronicles and just hope they live up to what I've just read.

*emotionally thrilling. As Mantel points out, this book falls into the category of quiet, understated writing, traditionally considered (and disparaged) as "by women for women".

3. The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler

"It's pretty odd, actually, he thought, the way the newspapers trumpet all their truths in big fat letters only to write them small again in the next edition, or contradict them. The morning edition's truth is practically the evening edition's lie; though as far as memory's concerned it doesn't really make much difference. Because it's not usually the truth that people remember; it's just whatever's yelled loudly enough or printed big enough." (The Tobacconist, p. 137.)

The third of my January ROOTs, The Tobacconist is a short but powerful novel, set in Austria in the run-up to the Second World War.

When his mother's benefactor dies, young Franz Huchel must leave his tranquil lakeside home and beloved mother to earn his keep as a tobacconist's apprentice in the heart of Vienna. There, he learns the art of reading newspapers, falls unsuitably in love and makes the acquaintance of one Sigmund Freud.

The tone is light and often comical, as a hapless and naïve Franz gradually comes of age - romantically, intellectually and politically - but these are sombre times and the story is a heartrending one.

Well, I've done better than expected this year at reading in general and reading ROOTs in particular, though my posting has been non-existent.

I am looking forward to being part of this group again in 2020, as it's been so helpful to me, and will try to write a line or two for each book I read and maybe (gasp) manage a little interaction from time to time.

In the mean time:

Favourite ROOTs of 2019

The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard
The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler
Red Love: The Story of an East German Family by Maxim Leo
Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi
Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel

Favourite non-ROOT

The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton