FAVORITE ROOTs OF 2013

Discussion has been going around and I thought we might want to share some of the favorite ROOTs that we had in 2013. Now be nice and don't make the list too long or you may be the cause of new ROOTs being planted!

Here are my top ones both earning 5* rating.

There is a Season had since 2009
Bring on the Blessings had since 2012

Here is my top 3

1. Kamer by Emma Donoghue 5 stars - had since 2011
2. De tijger in de put by Philip Pullman 4,5 star - had since 2010
3. Een keukenmeidenroman by Kathryn Stockett - 4,5 star - had since 2010

Repeating my post from the main thread, because I really did like these books and am recommending them here there and everywhere

The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman in brilliant form
Stoner - this came via my book club and was voted our book of the year
The Magus of Hay - I really don't understand why Phil Rickman isn't as widely read as say Ian Rankin
The Shock of the Fall - this has just been very deservedly awarded the 2013 Costa First Novel Award, its really not a depressing read.

I'm also going to give a shout-out to The Rook because it looks as this could be an interesting new fantasy series - and I inflicted it on both my SantaThing partners.

This also summarises my problem as these were all books first published in 2013 and I really do need to get some of the older books off my shelves.

Connie I loved The Tiger in the Well when I read it, I seem to remember being really frightened by it as I wasn't sure where the characters would end up.

Here are my favourites of 2013:

The Children's Book
Being Dead
The Old Boys
Never Let Me Go
Invisible Cities
The Turtle Diary
A Star Called Henry
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
The Children of Dynmouth
Lighthousekeeping

My five star ROOTs of 2013:

The Poisonwood Bible
Brideshead Revisited
The Sparrow

I usually do a Book of the Month post on my blog, so here are my choices for 2013:

January - An Isolated Incident
February - The Woman in Black
March - Audition: A Memoir
April - A Little Death
May - His Other Wife: A Novel
June - Beachcombers: A Novel
July - A Friend of the Family
August - Bloodroot
September - Whispers
October - An Act of Love
November - Every Last One: A Novel
December - Heartwood: A Novel

>4 riverwillow:. Riverwillow. I really did enjoy it. I love all bookes by Pullman! Luckely I don't scare that easy, but I get your feeling.

>6 shinyone:. The Poisonwood bible is on my TBR list. It just moved up ;-))

My favorite ROOTs last year:
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (acquired 2009)
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck (acquired 2009)
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (acquired 2011)

My oldest (longest-owned) ROOT was Gift from the Sea, acquired in 1986
My longest-ago published ROOT was Cannery Row from 1945

Copied over from Club Read (and amended to remove the non-ROOTs):
Top ten five fiction picks, in (approximate) order of favoring
1. Creation - Simply amazing historical fic. Completely packed with information presented in an engaging story. Marvelous.
2. Watership Down - Children's classic that I'd sadly never read. Full of humor and touching moments, in the struggle to survive.
3. The Good Lord Bird - Fabulous historical fic about John Brown and the time period leading up to the tiny bit most people know about him. Wonderful story, made me laugh and cry.
8. Bend Sinister - Couldn't possibly make a "best" list w/o including Nabokov! Even with parts being over my head, his writing is just phenomenal.
10. Temple - Great fast-paced action-adventure-suspense/thriller with multiple layers and storylines going on.
Top five non-fic picks
1. Education of a Felon - Edward Bunker's biography, he was a fascinating man with a really interesting life.
2. Schindler's Ark - Everyone knows about this amazing tale.
3. An Air War with Cuba - Not the best read (it was a bit dry) but full of information most people have no idea about.
4. Black Elk Speaks - There's complaint about Neihardt and how much of it was his voice/reinterpretation of what Black Elk said, but even still, Black Elk was quite a man and his story is more than worthwhile reading.
5. My Promised Land - I have never seen anyone provide such an unbiased look at Israel before. Shavit does all the research and conducts all the interviews to give both sides of the picture, the "triumphs and tragedies" of Israel. He doesn't attempt to sway one way or the other, just gives all the background.
(and edited to fix the wrong touchstone I forgot to check, heh)

I have a few of the 13 ROOTs that I thought really good:
Unseen Academicals - ****1/2
The Night of Wishes: or The Satanarchaeolidealcohellish Notion Potion - ****1/2
Still Life - ****
Die stolze Rebellin (french: Rebelle) - *****
The Far Pavillons - *****

I didn't belong to this group in 2013, but I did read a few good books from the shelf:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

# 12 - WOW Tess - BB for me: De duivenhoudster by Alice Hoffman is now on my Kobo.

(I just got to take care of the thumbstone working correctly)