Vestafan wants to ROOT just a bit further

Back trying to read a lot of my monumental TBR piles this year. So far I've read 3:

Old Goriot by Honore de Balzac
How to Be Right by James O'Brien

and

Chatterton Square by E H Young

Welcome back, Sue! Happy ROOTing.

Thank you! I'm particularly proud of having got through the Balzac. His style isn't the most free-flowing, and his view of human nature isn't optimistic!

Welcome back! I've got How to be Right on my TBR. I follow the author on twitter, and really like his no-nonsense style (it probably helps that I agree with him about Brexit).

Welcome back and have a great reading year! Congrats on getting through Balzac.

Thanks for all your greetings. I've read a few more ROOTs since my last post:

The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves - the first in her excellent Vera Stanhope series
Beowulf by Seamus Heaney - on my TBR list for ages and brought to the forefront by being my book groups choice for January
and
To Die But Once by Jacqueline Winspear - the latest in her Maisie Dobbs series

That's six for January which I'll put on my ticker.

I'm in agreement with him too! It sometimes feels as if I'm the only one!

My first ROOT for February is

Hired: six months undercover in low-wage Britain by James Bloodworth. The author gives an account from the inside about working for Amazon, in the care sector, at a call centre and for Uber. It brings to your notice something you might choose to ignore day-to-day, that is that the convenience consumers demand comes at the cost of appalling conditions for a large number of workers in the economy today. Truly thought-provoking.

>8 vestafan: I really want to read that, but need to steel myself for it, I think. I'm pretty sure it's not a comfortable read!

You're right, it's not. I really questioned what underpins the way of life I take for granted.

I've managed a few more ROOTs in February:

Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves - another in her excellent Vera Stanhope series
The Little Company by Eleanor Dark
This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
and
Somebody at the Door by Raymond Postgate

>11 vestafan: I love the series, "Vera" that's now on Dutch TV.

There've been a few domestic crises this month, but I've managed to read three more of my ROOTs:

The Incredible Crime by Lois Austen-Leigh - one of the British Library Crime Classics series - OK but not my favourite due to the emphasis on the joys of fox hunting.
Ma'am Darling by Craig Brown - a form of biography of Princess Margaret, both funny and sad
and
Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves - the third in the Vera Stanhope series, which is consistently excellent

>13 vestafan: Sounds like a busy and not too happy month for you, Sue. Hope things are going better for you.

>13 vestafan: I wasn't overly fond of The Incredible Crime either. Glad to hear that the Vera series is still excellent. I just read The Crow Trap this year and now have a hold request for Telling Tales.

I have read five ROOTs this month:

The Corpse Bridge by Stephen Booth
Testament of Friendship by Vera Brittain
Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita by Rumer Godden
and
They Can't Ration These by Vicomte de Mauduit

The Ann Cleeves is as good as usual, and the Rumer Godden book is a striking novel about two children who pursue their mother to Italy to get her to give up her lover and return to their father. They Can't Ration These is a book on 'food for free' written early in WWII and prompting thoughts such as 'I could perhaps manage nettles on toast but would I want to roast a sparrow?'.

Five more ROOTs this month:

Death of a Busybody by George Bellairs
Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate
Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds
The Gentlewomen by Laura Talbot
and
The Theory of Death by Faye Kellerman

Good job!

I've read five more ROOTs this month:

The Seagull by Ann Cleeves which brings me up to date with the excellent Vera Stanhope series
North Face by Mary Renault - I made an arbitrary decision to read her books in chronological order and I'm beginning to regret it as the novels in contemporary settings aren't particularly good. Hopefully the later 'Greek' novels will live up to their reputation as her best works
In Harm's Way by Viveca Sten - the latest in an enjoyable Scandi-crime series
Persons Unknown by Susie Steiner - the second in her Manon Bradshaw series - thoroughly enjoyable - you relate to Manon and feel for her in her anxieties
and
Because of the Lockwoods by Dorothy Whipple - a satisfying novel of family conflict and relationships

A slow month this month - extremely hot spells and kitchen refurbishment in progress. I managed to read four ROOTs:

Indifferent Heroes by Mary Hocking - the second in a trilogy of books about a family in the 1930s and 1940s, this one concentrating on the years of WWII - I really enjoyed it, finding the author perceptive and with a dry humour.
The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood - a readable crime novel, but I think it's hard to integrate information on embalming without it being apparent it's research
Death of an Airman by C St John Sprigg - a British Library Crime Classic, refreshingly free of some of the contemporary social attitudes which can be jarring even at the same time as you understand their presence
and
Hetty Dorval by Ethel Wilson - a short novel set in Canada examining the effect that a beautiful but self-absorbed woman has on a teenage girl

Plodding along with my ROOTs this month:

Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay
A House in the Country by Jocelyn Playfair
Family Matters by Anthony Rolls
and
Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

Good luck ROOTing in September, Sue!

Thanks! I'm slowing down a bit but hope to get some productive reading time in before I go on holiday at the end of the month.

Only three ROOTs this month:

Marking Time by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Bone Box by Faye Kellerman
and
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Off on holiday tomorrow, so here's a slightly early monthly report on ROOTs read this month:

The Muse by Jessie Burton
The Likeness by Tana French
Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Dead Man's Grip by Peter James
and
Maigret by Georges Simenon

I enjoyed The Muse (a reading group choice), but found it rather superficial and the characters uninvolving. The Likeness was a good crime novel and I was just about able to swallow the far fetched premise. I love Elizabeth Jane Howard's Cazalet Chronicles and this was a re-reading of the third volume, always a pleasure. The Peter James was an effective volume in the Roy Grace series and the Simenon was atmospheric and surprisingly modern.

I hope you had a great holiday, Sue!

Thank you, I did. We spent three fantastic weeks in New Zealand, but are really pleased to be home!

Due to reading in the night because of jet lag, I got quite a few ROOTs read in November.

They are:

Frozen Out by Quentin Bates
The Late Show by Michael Connelly
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Casting Off by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Not Dead Yet by Peter James
Snowblind by Ragnar Jonasson
A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee
and
Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit

>28 vestafan: I'm sorry you had insomnia but that is good that you were able to get reading done. A Rising Man is on my "should really check out" list.

It's definitely worth it - there are three more books in the series and I can see loads of ways in which the series might go.

>30 vestafan: Four books already? I'll never be able to keep up. I really enjoyed A rising man.

I'm pleased to have reached my target for this year, and I've managed a few more:

The Miss Marple Stories by Agatha Christie
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie
Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries by Martin Edwards
Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey
and
Past Praying For by Aline Templeton

I may have to raise my target for next year!

Congrats on reaching your target, Sue.

Congratulations on meeting your goal! I read the Christmas Pudding last year and enjoyed it. Hope you did too :)