MissWatson ROOTs again – the second half

Hi, I am Birgit and I am happy to be back with the ROOTers! As usual everything I owned before 2nd January 2021 counts as a ROOT. I am aiming to read 75 books from my TBR this year, including re-reads.

Here's the ticker:

Here's the list of books read in the first half of the year:

January
1. Das fliegende Klassenzimmer by Erich Kästner
2. Krieger und Bauern by Georges Duby
3. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
4. Die Ritter by Karl-Heinz Göttert
5. Die rote Stadt by Boris Meyn
6. The reluctant widow by Georgette Heyer
7. Einladung ins Mittelalter by Horst Fuhrmann

February
8. Unterm Birnbaum by Theodor Fontane
9. Clair de lune et autres nouvelles by Guy de Maupassant
10. Monteverdi by Wulf Konold
11. Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope
12. The War in the Peninsula by Robert Knowles
13. Death comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
14. Rifles : Six years with Wellington's legendary sharpshooters by Mark Urban

March
15. Die King's German Legion 1803-1816 by Jens Mastnak
16. Verschlossen und verriegelt by Sjöwall / Wahlöö
17. Revenger by Alastair Reynolds
18. Piraten und Korsaren im Mittelmeer by Salvatore Bono
19. Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible
20. Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
21. The Queen's agent by John Cooper
22. The word of Renaissance Florence
23. The beach of Falesá / The ebb-tide by RL Stevenson

April
24. Der Astronom und die Hexe by Ulinka Rublack
25. Rom : Aufstieg einer antiken Weltmacht
26. Mirjam by Luise Rinser
27. Skandinavische Märchen
28. The mortal word by Genevieve Cogman
29. Old Filth by Jane Gardam

May
30. The fate of Rome by Kyle Harper
31. Au rendezvous des Terre-Neuvas by Georges Simenon
32. Die tückische Straße by Walter Serner
33. The doll's house and other stories by Katherine Mansfield
34. Liebe kleine Ursula by Margarete Hahn
35. Das Fräulein von Scuderi by ETA Hoffmann
36. Drei Kameraden by Erich Maria Remarque
37. Uncommon danger by Eric Ambler
38. La maison du juge by Georges Simenon
39. Die dritte Kugel by Leo Perutz

June
40. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
41. Bürger, Bauern, Söldner und Gesandte by Gunnar Teske
42. Heimsuchung by Jenny Erpenbeck
43. Die Schatten von La Rochelle by Tanja Kinkel
44. Die vielen Talente der Schwestern Gusmão by Martha Batalha
45. Les deux régentes by Simone Bertière

And here's the list for the second half. Still trying to spice up the ROOTing a little bit with the "Read your bookshelf" challenge found on rosalita's (Julia's thread), to be marked in bold.


July
46. Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
47. A la table des seigneurs, des moines et des paysans du Moyen Âge by Eric Birlouez
48. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
Der falsche Inder by Abbas Khider
49. Heimweh nach Prag by Joseph Roth
50. Summer by Edith Wharton
51. Die beiden Baroninnen by HC Andersen

August
52. 1794 by Niklas Natt och Dag
53. Poulets grillés by Sophie Hénaff
54. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
55. La traversée de la nuit by Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz
56. Tuf voyaging by George R.R. Martin
57. Ostpreußen : Geschichte einer historischen Landschaft by Andreas Kossert
58: Phantom Banjo by Elizabeth Scarborough
59: 1813 : Die Völkerschlacht und das Ende der Alten Welt by Andreas Platthaus

September
60. Götter und Mythen des Nordens by Klaus Böldl
61. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
62. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
63. The chronicles of Carlingford by Mrs Oliphant
64. A necessary evil by Abir Mukherjee
65. Ein königliches Theater by Marco Malvaldi

October
66. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
67. Mystère rue des Saints-Pères by Claude Izner
68. Murder in Grub Street by Bruce Alexander
69. The face in the glass by Mary E. Braddon
70. Louis XVII : la vérité by Philippe Delorme
71. A natural history of dragons by Marie Brennan

November
72. Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
73. Seven Gothic tales by Isak Dinesen
74. Voyage au centre de la terre by Jules Verne
75. Revolution und Revolutionsforschung by Rolf Fischer et.al.
76. Joseph Fouché by Stefan Zweig
77. Les proies de l'officier by Armand Cabasson

December
78. Grimms Morde by Tanja Kinkel
79. Kolumbus und der Tag von Guanahani by Stefan Rinke
80. Monsieur René by Peter Ustinov
81. Bunte Steine, containing Bergkristall, by Adalbert Stifter
82. Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope
83. Three hands in the fountain by Lindsey Davis
84. Die Portugiesen in Asien by Peter Feldbauer

Welcome to my second thread!

ROOT #46 is Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte

I picked this up because the rivalry between France and Spain took up so much room in the book about Les deux régentes. Here we see things from the Spanish side, as a young boy comes to Madrid to find employment and teams up with a comrade of his father (who died in Flanders). The book conmtains the three first novels in the series and starts off rather awkwardly, regarding subject matter and writing, but things improve.

Happy new thread!

Happy new thread! Have a great second half of the year!

>5 Jackie_K: >6 rabbitprincess: Thanks, ladies!

Happy new thread, Birgit!

Cheers on your new thread!

>8 FAMeulstee: >9 detailmuse: Thanks for dropping in! I hope you're doing fine!

ROOT #47 is A la table des seigneurs, des moines et des paysans du Moyen Âge by Eric Birlouez

This is a souvenir from our trip to Normandy, lavishly illustrated with pictures from illuminated manuscripts and full of interesting facts about food and eating in the Middle Ages. Definitely a keeper.

Happy New Thread, Birgit

Glad to read you had a great time with your sister!

>12 connie53: Thanks, Connie.

ROOT #48 is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

This was my first time with Alice, and I don't quite know what to make of it, other than that the sense of humour or nonsense here is an acquired taste I don't share. And I find Carroll's obsession with little girls more than a little creepy. I suppose in some ways these bachelor Oxbridge dons are a bit like Roman Catholic priests...
I also wonder how you would translate a book like this where there is so much wordplay based on homonyms.

Happy new thread, Birgit!

>15 humouress: Thanks for dropping in!

This month's challenge has put me in a quandary, as by my definition new books don't count as ROOTs. But then I found a short one that looked very interesting, brought it home and finished it: Der falsche Inder. A rather harrowing tale about a young man who flees from Iraq and spends a long time trying to reach the West. The author now lives in Germany and writes in German.

ROOT #49 is Heimweh nach Prag by Joseph Roth

A collection of pieces Roth had published in "Prager Tagblatt" between 1917 and 1937. Not a book you can read in one go. It also had an interesting afterword telling about the paper and its editor Karl Tschuppik. Lots of notes taken for further reading...

>17 MissWatson: You are allowed to read the brand new books too, Birgit. Consider it as ROOT-prevention ;-)

>19 connie53: Yes, I'm reading quite a few for ROOT prevention!

ROOT #50 is Summer by Edith Wharton

The plot reminded me a quite often of Fontane's Irrungen, Wirrungen and it was interesting to see the different perspective brought by a woman author. Of course, Charity Royall is younger and comes from a totally different background, but there are enough similarities. The descriptions of the New England landscape are beautiful.

ROOT #51 is Die beiden Baroninnen by Hans Christian Andersen

I didn't know Andersen also wrote novels until I saw this in a bookshop during a vacation on Föhr. It is also partially set on a hallig near Föhr, inspired by a fortnight Andersen spent on Föhr in 1844. It is a gentle story of a girl whose mother dies in childbirth and is brought up by different people. The same people cross paths again and again in this book, it is a small world full of quirky characters, love of books and music, and wonderful nature descriptions.

>22 MissWatson: I didn’t know he wrote novels either Birgit. I remember being thrilled to receive a huge tome of his stories one Christmas but then being very disappointed when I read them because I don’t think any of them had a happy ending. At least it sounds as though your book was more upbeat.

>23 humouress: I had read only his fairy tales before and they are certainly not upbeat. The afterword stated that The Two Baronesses is unusual in this way. He pokes gentle fun at himself in the character of the Kammerjunker (some minor title at the royal court) who has success as a composer. The other novels apparently are closer to his own unhappy life.

I am also reporting a DNF which I'm not counting towards my goal, but it does leave the house: The riddle of the sands. Just not my kind of book.

My best friend is coming to stay for the weekend. See you all next Tuesday!

>26 MissWatson: Have a great time with your friend! I haven't seen my best friend in person since the spring of 2020 (we did a distanced parking-lot visit so she could give me a few homemade masks). We're hoping to get together in August, once we're both fully vaxxed (I'm the slow one here, getting second shot today!).

>22 MissWatson: I’ve always enjoyed Andersen’s fairy tales—I’ve never been one for “happily ever after” endings. I didn’t know he wrote any novels either. This one sounds interesting.

Have a great time with your best friend, Birgit. I hope your weather is better as ours. But I know from experience that such a visit is always a delight!

>27 rabbitprincess: We're both fully vaccinated by now and look forward to meeting more often again. We went to a concert on Monday, the only one this summer, and that was such a joy.
>28 Charon07: I hope to find some of the other novels.
>29 connie53: Thanks, Connie. It has been very hot, so we had a good excuse for staying indoors and catching up. On our way back from Wedel we watched a spectacular thunderstorm moving away from us, otherwise it has been rather too hot for our liking.

ROOT #52 is 1794 by Niklas Natt och Dag

A historical mystery set in Sweden, and it is as bleak and gruesome as the first.

>31 MissWatson: I just got 1794 from the library last week.
I waited a while after the first, I need to be in the right mood to read this one.

>30 MissWatson: We could use some hot weather here, Birgit. It's really too cold for summer and too wet.

>32 FAMeulstee: Hello Anita. Yes, it's a book where you have to pick the time for reading carefully.
>33 connie53: Hi Connie. We are very lucky here on the Baltic because the rains have been comparatively mild. But a little more sun would be nice, yes.

ROOT #53 is Poulets grillés by Sophie Hénaff

Anne Capestan, suspended from duty after a shooting, unexpectedly finds herself at the head of a newly-formed brigade where the higher-ups park everyone they think unfit for regular duty: the drunks, the incompetents, the politically unwelcome. Unwilling to slide into depression, she tackles a cold case.
This was quite amusing, even if reading was slow because I had to look up so many of the colloquial phrases.

ROOT #54 is Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

This was a re-read, and knowing a few of the romances mentioned in it increased the enjoyment.

ROOT #55 is La traversée de la nuit by Geneviève de Gaulle Anthonioz

This is short memoir of her time in Ravensbrück and therefore uncomfortable reading, and yet uplifting when she talks of the solidarity among the women.

A very belated happy new thread, Birgit!

>25 MissWatson: I’m sorry to hear about the DNF. It’s on my shelves and may still call my name, though…

>26 MissWatson: Yay for your best friend coming to visit.

>38 karenmarie: Hello! And soon there will be a beach holiday, yay!

ROOT #56 is Tuf voyaging by George R.R. Martin

This has spent quite a few years on the shelves and I picked it now mainly because I need to clear the shelves. It is a wonderful read which has a lot to say about the dangers of messing with ecosystems, written forty years ago. I hope the next reader will enjoy it just as much.

Hi Birgit. Nice Weekend. The weather will be fine here, warm but not too hot. I hope you have some of that too.

>40 MissWatson: Never heard of that one.

>41 connie53: Hi Connie! It started out nicely, but now we've got dark clouds and rain again. Ah well, I have to do some cleaning, anyway.
I think Tuf voyaging was an easy way to profit from the huge sales of the Ice and Fire series, they just repackaged a few older stories into a shiny enticing new edition. Which was a good thing in my case, otherwise I would have missed out on a good read.

>40 MissWatson: Interesting. I've only seen his name attached to fantasy works before.

Nice to catch up on your reading!

>43 humouress: I was surprised, too, because the cover of my edition is definitely fantasy-ish.

>44 Nickelini: Hello! You've been reading quite a few very interesting books, too.

ROOT #57 is Ostpreußen : Geschichte einer historischen Landschaft by Andreas Kossert

A very short history of a former Prussian province, full of interesting bits.

ROOT #58 is Phantom Banjo by Elizabeth Scarborough

An unusual story, as the devils conspire to make folk music and singing vanish from the earth, but I didn't really catch my interest and I only skimmed the last pages. This one can safely leave the house.

Hi Birgit! I hope you have better weather than we have! It's really awful right now, and yesterday was just the same, rain, sun, rain, sun, rain and all that in one hour.

ROOT #59 is 1813 : Die Völkerschlacht und das Ende der Alten Welt by Andreas Platthaus

This is a non-fiction book about one of the biggest battles ever, the Battle of Nations, written in advance of the bicentenary. Lots of interesting stuff about the times with many quotes from contemporary sources.

It's the only book I read during my vacation. We had mostly lovely weather, went swimming every day and did not do much else. Wonderfully relaxing.

>49 MissWatson: Good to read you had such relaxing vacation, Birgit. Sounds delightful.

>50 connie53: Thanks, Connie. The nicest surprise has been the weather, after the dreary days of August we had so much sun. But the islands often are luckier in their weather. Now that I'm back at work, it's cloudy again.

ROOT #60 is Götter und Mythen des Nordens by Klaus Böldl

A non-fiction book about Norse mythology written by a professor at Kiel University which reminds us how little we actually know about it.

ROOT #61 is Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

This is wonderfully written and tells of Saeed and Nadia who leave their (unnamed) country through a mysterious door and find themselves first on Mykonos, then in London. Millions of people are migrating suddenly. The author never dwells on the problems caused by this, but you certainly get an idea how difficult such a life is.

ROOT #62 is Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

Well written, but the subject matter is harrowing.

>54 MissWatson: I can’t remember how long ago I read Kindred, but it was such an excellent and powerful book, but, as you said, harrowing.

>55 Charon07: Yes. It's going to stay with me for a long time.

ROOT #63 is The chronicles of Carlingford by Mrs Oliphant

This one was for a tutored read ober in the Virago group. My digitised copy (from 1862!) contains The Executor, The Rector, The Doctor's Family and Salem Chapel, all of them tales from a small provincial town. I like the way she writes women, even if they often annoy me.

Your holiday sounds wonderful. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

>58 humouress: Thanks, after being cooped up at home for so long I felt I needed to get away. Islands are perfect for that.

ROOT #64 is A necessary evil by Abir Mukherjee

I was surprised to see that this has been on the shelves since 2018, it's shocking how time flies. A very good historical mystery set in 1920 India. This time we got to the princely state of Sambalpore whose crown prince has been assassinated. The ending feels a bit rushed, and I'm not overly fond of men making fools of themselves over a woman, as Captain Wyndham does, but otherwise no complaints.

ROOT #65 is Ein königliches Theater by Marco Malvaldi

An opera company is staging Tosca in Pisa, with the king attending, and there are worries about anarchists plotting to assassinate him. Instead, Cavaradossi is shot for real on the stage, and a lieutenant in the king's guard tries to find out who killed him. This has lots of funny and entertaining anecdotes about Puccini and Rossini and opera in general, written by someone who loves opera. Very entertaining.

ROOT #66 is Kim by Rudyard Kipling

This has spent too much time on my e-reader, by the time I reached the end I had forgotten what happened in the first chapter. I guess I'll re-read it at some point, as it was quite interesting.

>62 MissWatson: I honestly can't remember if I've read Kim or not - I know I read some Kipling in my teens, and have a couple from Project Gutenberg downloaded, but I can't remember which ones. I suspect I'd have got more out of his books then, rather than now I'm ancient and cynical!

>63 Jackie_K: I think Kim is not at all a children's book, the musings of the lama and the political intrigue would be way over their heads. What I really need next time is a map of India to follow his wanderings.

Hi Birgit. You have been reading lots. I hope you are enoying the nice weather this weekend. I've been reading in the garden and it was lovely.

>65 connie53: Hi Connie! Yes, we're having amazing weather and I spent a few hours sitting in the sun with my book.

ROOT #67 is Mystère rue des Saints-Pères by Claude Izner

This is a historical mystery set in Paris during the World Exhibition of 1889. Not much of a mystery, as we need a written confession at the end to explain it. The creep factor was provided by Victor Legris, the sleuthing bookseller, who is a bit too much obsessed with one of the suspects. But I was glad to notice that the second time around it was a much easier read than in 2014. Practising a foreign language regularly definitely helps.

I'm in awe of someone who can read in French. I won't even try.

>67 MissWatson: I read that one in English and thought the confession was a bit of a cop-out, especially because it was reproduced as a three-page newspaper article. Also thought it was silly that Legris kept having to ask for directions, despite the fact that he had presumably lived in Paris long enough to run a successful bookshop. "Just get a dang street map already!"

>68 connie53: I can (just about) manage something like Asterix or Tintin in French, but anything more complex would take me just too much time! In my late teens I would have had no problem reading a novel in French, but now that I don't use French every day/week, I'm just too rusty and reliant on the dictionary.

>68 connie53: *blushing*
>69 rabbitprincess: Yes, exactly.
>70 Jackie_K: For me, contemporary fiction is sometimes difficult because of the colloquialisms you don't find in dictioniaries. But nowadays there's the internet where you can find almost anything. All you need is time, which of course is scarce when you have a family.

ROOT #68 is Murder in Grub Street by Bruce Alexander

Another historical mystery, this time we are in 18th century London and try to solve a gruesome multiple killing with Sir John Fielding, the blind magistrate of Bow Street Court and chief of the Bow Street Runners. Very enjoyable, and leisurely paced.

ROOT #69 is The face in the glass by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

A collection of ghost stories which I found not very scary and far too predictable. This will go to a new home. Her sensation novels are so much more rewarding.

ROOT #70 is Louis XVII : la vérité by Philippe Delorme

A slim non-fiction book about the preserved heart of the little boy who died in the Temple prison in 1795 and how it ended up in Saint-Denis. DNA testing in 1999 showed that he was descended from the Habsburgs, so all those stories about the dauphin/roi surviving have finally been laid to rest.

ROOT #71 is A natural history of dragons by Marie Brennan

The idea of having a young woman embody natural science from a young age is laudable, but I found the world too recognisably Victorian, somehow.

>74 MissWatson: I heard an article on BBC World Service a couple of weeks ago on that subject. Interesting, but sad.

>75 MissWatson: I haven't read the book yet but I understood that it was set in a Victorian-parallel world.

>76 humouress: Yes, so it is, and I thought it was a bit too much like the real Victorian age.

Six ROOTs in October, so I am confident I will reach my goal in November. Yay.

ROOT #72 is Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

For me, this didn't quite live up to expectations. The narrator is so uninvolved, as if his real life takes place elsewhere. This is easy to part with.

ROOT #73 is Seven Gothic tales by Isak Dinesen

This was not nearly as scary or atmospheric as I hoped. Some of the tales are set in historic Denmark, so there was a bit of learning about the country provided.

ETA: Only two more ROOTs til I reach my goal. Currently working on one, so chances are good I can do it next week.

>80 MissWatson: I've had this on my TBR for years and years and I'm never tempted to pick it up. Should I pass it along?

>81 Nickelini: I think you won't be missing much if you decide not to read them. They are rambling, as there is much previous history to plow through before the real event starts, and I found some of her sentences awkward.

There is also constant reference to now forgotten German authors which I had to look up, and in "The deluge" there was too much that didn't work. The landscape was totally wrong because she used the name of an East Frisian island (Norderney) for her fictional seaside resort in Holstein, and yet she applied Heinrich Heine's comments on the real place to her fictional one. It just felt completely wrong.

ROOT #74 is Voyage au centre de la terre by Jules Verne

This was rather strange, as we spend a lot of time underground with not much happening at all. And there are only three people on this trip, with the Professor and his nephew letting their guide do most of the hard work.

ROOT #75 is Revolution und Revolutionsforschung by Rolf Fischer et.al.

A slim volume containing ten pieces about the November Revolution of 1918 in Kiel.

And this means I have reached my goal!

Congratulations!!

>85 humouress: Thank you!

>84 MissWatson: Hurray! Congrats on reaching your goal :)

>87 rabbitprincess: Thanks, Princess!

ROOT #76 is Joseph Fouché by Stefan Zweig

I had vague memories of Fouché being Bonaparte's dreaded minister of police and was intrigued to learn so much more about him. But the lack of citation for the sources Zweig used for this was frustrating. I would like to know a lot more about the hows and whys and whens!

Congratulations on reaching your goal!

>90 Charon07: Thank you!

ROOT #77 is Les proies de l'officier by Armand Cabasson

This one was a very slow read because the author spends too much time with military matters. I suppose as a psychologist in real life he was trying to illustrate how war turns some people's minds, but it doesn't really work.
It's Napoleon's Russian campaign and we trek endlessely through the burned wasteland the retreating Russian army has left behind. Captain Margont is supposed to be looking for a killer among the officers of his corps, but his sleuthing is mostly left to his sergeant who then reports his findings to him. Much time passes before the next info comes, and how Margont arrives at a solution finally is unconvincing. And when the French army crosses the Berezina on its retreat, everything peters out with a whimper.

Hi Birgit. I'm so hopelessly behind on threads. I decided to spend some part of today to visit as many as I can manage.

And you have reached your goal too!

Thank you, Connie! And thanks for visiting, I'm sure you have lots on your mind right now.

ROOT #78 is Grimms Morde by Tanja Kinkel

This is a historical mystery, set in 1821 in Kassel and featuring the Brothers Grimm and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. Well written, well researched and full of interesting details about the small principality of Hesse, which only seven years ago was part of the Napoleonic "kingdom of Westphalen". Resentment against the French and those who worked with them runs high, which puts Jacob Grimm in danger.

>95 MissWatson: How fun! I will have to see if I can dig that one up. I went to school in Meersburg for some years, so we spent a fair amount of time with von Droste-Hulshoff - but I've rarely encountered her since. Would be nice to spend time with her again!

>96 Caramellunacy: I've only been to Meersburg as a tourist, but of course we did the Droste tour. We had to read Die Judenbuche in school and hated it, but I liked it much better when I re-read it recently.
Kinkel includes quite a few lines from her poems here and is obviously on her side against her family. And Fräulein Nettes kurzer Sommer was an even better read, I thought, a novelisation of the curious affair with Heinrich Straube.

Ohh - thanks for the recommendation!

ROOT #79 is Kolumbus und der Tag von Guanahani by Stefan Rinke

A non-fiction book about the arrival of Columbus in the New World, what it meant for the indigenous peoples and the world at large. The author is a professor of Latin American history, so there are proper footnotes and many ideas for further reading.

ROOT #80 is Monsieur René by Peter Ustinov.

This was a disappointment. It is billed as a mystery, about a bunch of elderly or retired hotel staff teaming up to bring political bad guys to justice who can usually run rings around the justice system. But this falls apart almost immediately and instead we get a mishmash of love story and critique of contemporary life. As if the author couldn't make up his mind what kind of story he wanted to tell. This will leave the house.

ROOT #81 is Bunte Steine by Adalbert Stifter

A collection of six stories, all set in the high mountains, by a classic Austrian author. Very hard going, stylistically, the 1850s were different. The best known of these is Rock Crystal which I have owned in a different edition for years, so I'm counting this for a ROOT. Rock Crystal takes place on Christmas Eve when two children get lost in the mountains on their way home in a heavy snowfall, so the mini-challenge is finished, too.

ROOT #82 is Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope

Another wonderful book by one of my favourite authors.

ROOT #83 is Three hands in the fountain by Lindsey Davis

A rather weak entry in the series.

ROOT #84 is Die Portugiesen in Asien by Peter Feldbauer

A non-fiction book about Portuguese trading in Asia which gives an overview of the state of current research on the subject. The literature list was probably the most exciting thing about it.

>104 MissWatson: Your last sentence made me laugh - I think that's technically known as damning with faint praise! :D

>105 Jackie_K: There were moments when I thought I should just stop and pick up the books he cites most frequently. I think I would have, iif it wasn't for the holidays. I'm going to spend them with my sister and lugging library books along makes no sense.

>104 MissWatson: >105 Jackie_K: >106 MissWatson: Oof!

>107 humouress: I'm a sucker for punishment. My current book suffers from the same shortcomings.

Hi Birgit!

Belated congrats on reaching your ROOTs goal.



See you in the ROOTs group next year!

>109 karenmarie: Thanks for dropping in, Karen. I'm looking forward to 2022!

It's the last day at work and I won't be finishing my current book today, so the final tally for 2021 is 84 ROOTs. There were too many shiny new books, this year.

Happy Holidays to all my fellow ROOTers! See you again next year!

Hi Birgit, have a fabulous time at your sisters! Enjoy and lots of fun and nice company.

>111 MissWatson: Enjoy your break Birgit, see you here next year!

>112 connie53: Dear Connie, thank you so much for the lovely image!
>113 Jackie_K: Thank you Jackie, and the same to you!

I would like to wish you and your family the very best of the season and good health and happiness for 2022.

Very impressive number of ROOTs you read this year, Birgit. All the best for the New Year!