Jackie's 2023 ROOTs - 2nd thread

(First thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347109#n8177620 )

Welcome to my 2023 second thread! My name is Jackie, I live in Scotland with my husband and daughter, and I work in health research in the NHS. This is my 10th consecutive year in the ROOTs group, and I love the book chat and the chance to read from my still-too-high Mt TBR.

I have tried the last few years to buy/acquire fewer books than I read, in an attempt to get Mt TBR down to a more manageable level. 2020 and 2021 were great years for that, and I managed to get the pile (paper and electronic) down to below 400 books, but in 2022 (especially December, whoops) I must admit to getting a bit carried away, and I am therefore starting the year with 411 books still to be read. So I’m going to try and rein it in a bit in 2023, and see if I can get back below 400 TBR books by the end of the year. We’ll see! (Ed: So how's that going then, Jackie?)

The last couple of years I’ve had a goal of 60 ROOTs, and again in 2020 and 2021 I easily exceeded that goal. In 2022 though I only just cleared it, and I wanted to take part in so many reading challenges that I think I overcommitted myself, and ended up with more half-read, started-but-not-finished books than I like. So I’m going to take it much easier this year, aim for a book a week and fewer challenges, so I’m going for a target of 52 books for 2023, including finishing the books that are still outstanding from 2022.

So, here are my various tickers, and my thread for the year – welcome!

Note to self so I don't have to look everywhere - code for inserting a picture (surrounded by less than and greater than signs): img src="URL" width=200 length=150

Ticker 1 – ROOTs read



Ticker 2 – Acquisitions



Ticker 3 – ROOTs remaining on Mt TBR

ROOTs read - 1st thread

1. Sophie Pinkham - Black Square: Adventures in Post Soviet Ukraine. Finished 6.1.23. 4/5.
2. ed. Kateryna Kazimirova & Daryna Anastasieva - Voices of Freedom: Contemporary Writing from Ukraine. Finished 10.1.23. 4/5.
3. Helen Macdonald - H is for Hawk. Finished 26.1.23. 4.5/5.
4. Tom Cox - Notebook. Finished 3.2.23. 4.5/5.
5. George Seton - St Kilda. Finished 12.2.23. 3/5.
6. Nicola Chester - On Gallows Down: Place, Protest and Belonging. Finished 13.2.23. 5/5.
7. Mark Stay - The Ghost of Ivy Barn. Finished 12.3.23. 5/5.
8. Ruskin Bond - A Time for All Things. Finished 12.3.23. 4.5/5.
9. Alex Boyd - Isle of Rust. Finished 14.3.23. 3.5/5.
10. Mya-Rose Craig - Birdgirl. Finished 25.3.23. 4/5.
11. Steinunn Sigurdardottir - Heida: A Shepherd at the Edge of the World. Finished 5.4.23. 4/5.
12. Margaret Silf - Wayfaring: A Gospel Journey Into Life. Finished 9.4.23. 4/5.
13. JF Penn - Pilgrimage: Lessons learned from solo walking three ancient ways. Finished 13.4.23. 4/5.
14. Rachel Lichtenstein - Estuary: From London out to the Sea. Finished 16.4.23. 4.5/5.
15. Spike Milligan - Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall. Finished 22.4.23. 4.5/5.
16. Miranda Keeling - The Year I Stopped to Notice. Finished 28.4.23. 4/5.
17. Adam Rutherford - The Book of Humans. Finished 6.5.23. 3.5/5.
18. Simon Barnes - Rewild Yourself. Finished 18.5.23. 4.5/5.
19. Bettina Selby - The Fragile Islands: A Journey Through the Outer Hebrides. Finished 27.5.23. 3/5.
20. Dav Pilkey - Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People. Finished 31.5.23. 4/5.
21. Amanda Gorman - Call Us What We Carry. Finished 8.6.23. 4.5/5.
22. Artemis Cooper - Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure. Finished 9.6.23. 4/5.
23. Elinor Cleghorn - Unwell Women. Finished 17.6.23. 4.5/5.

Non-ROOTs read

1. Louie Stowell - Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Being Good. Finished 14.1.23. 4/5.
2. Laura Kortum - Format Your First Ebook. Finished 31.8.23. 5/5.
3. Joan Didion - Slouching Towards Bethlehem. Finished 5.10.23. 3.5/5.
4. Jorge Luis Borges - Labyrinths. Finished 17.10.23. 2/5.
5. Willie Jenkins - Memories of St Ninians. Finished 18.11.23. 4/5.
6. Richard Osman - The Man Who Died Twice. Finished 25.11.23. 4/5.

Acquisitions - 1st thread (1)

1. Annie Dillard - The Writing Life. Acquired 2.1.23.
2. Professor Sue Black - All That Remains: A Life in Death. Acquired 6.1.23.
3. John Bull - The Brexit Tapes: From the Referendum to the Second Dark Age. Acquired 9.1.23.
4. Agnieska Graff & Elzbieta Korolczuk - Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Moment. Acquired 15.1.23.
5. Mary Roach - Stiff. Acquired 8.2.23.
6. C.K. McDonnell - Love Will Tear Us Apart. Acquired 9.2.23.
7. Jennifer Worth - Farewell to the East End. Acquired 10.2.23.
8. John O'Donohue - Anam Cara. Acquired 11.2.23.
9. Morgan Delaney - The Squared Circle. Acquired 14.2.23.
10. David Sedaris - The Best of Me (audiobook). Acquired 28.2.23.
11. Jill Hopper - The Mahogany Pod. Acquired 2.3.23.
12. Amanda Gorman - Call Us What We Carry. Acquired 2.3.23.
13. J.F. Penn - Pilgrimage: Lessons learned from solo walking three ancient ways. Acquired 2.3.23.
14. Spike Milligan - Where Have All the Bullets Gone?. Acquired 13.3.23.
15. Spike Milligan - Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall. acquired 16.3.23.
16. Steinunn Sigurdardottir - Heida: A Shepherd at the Edge of the World. Acquired 1.4.23.
17. Megan Phelps-Roper - Unfollow. Acquired 3.4.23.
18. Ed Yong - I Contain Multitudes. Acquired 3.4.23.
19. Prof Tim Spector - The Diet Myth: The Real Science Behind What We Eat. Acquired 3.4.23.
20. Satnam Virdee & Brendan McGeever - Britain in Fragments: Why Things are Falling Apart. Acquired 4.4.23.
21. Devi Sridhar - Preventable: How a Pandemic Changed the World & How to Stop the Next One. Acquired 7.4.23.
22. Polly Morland - A Fortunate Woman. Acquired 8.4.23.
23. Philiip Oltermann - The Stasi Poetry Circle. Acquired 8.4.23.
24. Mark Cocker - Crow Country. Acquired 11.4.23.
25. Kathleen Jamie - Surfacing. Acquired 17.4.23.
26. Andrew D Blechman - Pigeons. Acquired 19.4.23.
27. Tim Birkhead - Birds and Us. Acquired 19.4.23.
28. Leif Bersweden - Where the Wildflowers Grow. Acquired 21.4.23.
29. Ellen Miles - Nature is a Human Right. Acquired 21.4.23.
30. Jake Fiennes - Land Healer. Acquired 21.4.23.
31. Miranda Keeling - The Year I Stopped to Notice. Acquired 27.4.23.

Acquisitions - 1st thread (2)

32. Elinor Cleghorn - Unwell Women. Acquired 2.5.23.
33. Artemis Cooper - Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure. Acquired 2.5.23.
34. Jasper Fforde - The Constant Rabbit. Acquired 6.5.23.
35. Colin Thubron - The Amur River. Acquired 7.5.23.
36. Richard E. Grant - A Pocketful of Happiness. Acquired 11.5.23.
37. Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen - Once, Twice, Three Times an Aisling. Acquired 14.5.23.
38. Travis Baldree - Legends and Lattes. Acquired 19.5.23.
39. Hannah Bourne-Taylor - Fledgling. Acquired 21.5.23.
40. SC Gowland - Delusions and Dragons. Acquired 26.5.23.
41. Angela C Nurse - Jack in a Box. Acquired 26.5.23.
42. Dipo Faloyin - Africa is not a Country. Acquired 26.5.23.
43. Mary Roach - Packing for Mars. Acquired 26.5.23.
44. Ruth Coker Burks - All the Young Men. Acquired 26.5.23.
45. Dav Pilkey - Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People. Acquired 29.5.23.
46. Kate Baker - Maid of Steel. Acquired 1.6.23.
47. Angela Harding - A Year Unfolding. Acquired 3.6.23.
48. Stephen Ellcock & Mat Osman - England on Fire. Acquired 3.6.23.
49. Katy Hessel - The Story of Art Without Men. Acquired 3.6.23.
50. Raymond Briggs - Time for Lights Out. Acquired 3.6.23.
51. John Marrs - Keep it in the Family. Acquired 3.6.23.
52. Adrian West - The Secret World of Stargazing. Acquired 4.6.23.
53. Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen - Aisling and the City. Acquired 4.6.23.
54. Hilary Mantel - Giving Up the Ghost: A Memoir. Acquired 4.6.23.
55. Lee Schofield - Wild Fell. Acquired 4.6.23.
56. Kate Humble - Thinking on my Feet. Acquired 4.6.23.
57. Pip Williams - The Dictionary of Lost Words. Acquired 4.6.23.
58. Tanya Shadrick - The Cure for Sleep. Acquired 4.6.23.
59. Kit de Waal - My Name is Leon. Acquired 6.6.23.
60. Daniel Levitin - The Changing Mind. Acquired 13.6.23.
61. Chris van Tulleken - Ultra-Processed People. Acquired 14.6.23.
62. Alexander von Humboldt - Views of Nature. Acquired 19.6.23.
63. Douglas Adams & Terry Jones - Starship Titanic. Acquired 19.6.23.
64. Patrick Radden Keefe - Empire of Pain. Acquired 23.6.23.
65. John Reed - Ten Days That Shook the World. Acquired 27.6.23.
66. Owen Matthews - Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin's War Against Ukraine. Acquired 29.6.23.
67. Linda Cracknell - Writing Landscape. Acquired 30.6.23.
68. Merryn Glover - The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd. Acquired 30.6.23.

Acquisitions - 2nd thread (1)

69. Doreen Cunningham - Soundings. Acquired 1.7.23.
70. Cash Carraway - Skint Estate. Acquired 1.7.23.
71. Georgina Lawton - Raceless. Acquired 1.7.23.
72. Dom Joly - The Dark Tourist. Acquired 1.7.23.
73. Victoria Bennett - All My Wild Mothers: Motherhood, loss and an apothecary garden. Acquired 1.7.23.
74. Pernille Hughes - Ten Years. Acquired 4.7.23.
75. Mike Shackle - A Fool's Hope. Acquired 4.7.23.
76. Christian Lewis - Finding Hildasay. Acquired 6.7.23.
77. Jon Sopel - UnPresidented. Acquired 8.7.23.
78-80. Barry J Hutchison - Space Team: The Collected Adventures: Vol. 1. Acquired 14.7.23.
81-83. Barry J Hutchison - Space Team: The Collected Adventures: Vol. 2. Acquired 14.7.23.
84-86. Barry J Hutchison - Space Team: The Collected Adventures: Vol 3. Acquired 14.7.23.
87-89. Barry J Hutchison - Space Team: The Collected Adventures: Vol 4. Acquired 14.7.23.
90. Dan Perjovschi - The Horizontal Newspaper. Acquired 17.7.23.
91. ed. Dr Margot Singer & Dr Nicole Walker - Bending Genre 2nd edition. Acquired 15.7.23.
92. Serhii Plokhy - The Gates of Europe. Acquired 19.7.23.
93. Tez Ilyas - The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13 3/4. Acquired 20.7.23.
94. Wyl Menmuir - The Draw of the Sea. Acquired 21.7.23.
95. Dr Guy Leschziner - The Man Who Tasted Words. Acquired 23.7.23.
96. Dom Joly - The Downhill Hiking Club. Acquired 23.7.23.
97. Ben Macintyre - Agent Sonya. Acquired 28.7.23.
98. Rob Dunn - A Natural History of the Future. Acquired 1.8.23.
99. ed. Jane Ellsworth - The Clarinet. Acquired 1.8.23.
100. Michael Rosen - Getting Better. Acquired 1.8.23.
101. Darren McGarvey - The Social Distance Between Us. Acquired 2.8.23.
102. Layla Saad - Me and White Supremacy. Acquired 2.8.23.
103. Jeremy Hardy - Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes. Acquired 2.8.23.
104. Oskar Kroll - The Clarinet. Revised and with a Repertory by Diethard Reihm Acquired 5.8.23.
105. John Lewis-Stempel - Woodston. Acquired 6.8.23.
106. Chloe Hooper - Bedtime Story. Acquired 6.8.23.
107. CJ Hauser - The Crane Wife. Acquired 8.8.23.
108. Kate Raworth - Doughnut Economics. Acquired 9.8.23.
109. Justin Hopper - The Old Weird Albion. Acquired 9.8.23.
110. Sayaka Murata - Convenience Store Woman. Acquired 11.8.23.
111. John O'Donohue - The Four Elements: Reflections on Nature. Acquired 13.8.23.
112. Sayaka Murata - Earthlings. Acquired 16.8.23.
113. Ed. Kevin Jon Davies - 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams. Acquired 25.8.23.
114. Frederick Marshman Bailey - Mission to Tashkent. Acquired 29.8.23.
115. Tim Spector - Spoon Fed. Acquired 29.8.23.
116. Thomas Halliday - Otherlands: A World in the Making. Acquired 31.8.23.
117. Seamas O'Reilly - Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? (audio). Acquired 31.8.23.
118. Javier Zamora - Solito. Acquired 1.9.23.
119. Stuart Maconie - The Nanny State Made Me. Acquired 2.9.23.
120. Julieann Campbell - On Bloody Sunday. Acquired 2.9.23.
121. Elspeth King - A History of Stirling in 100 Objects. Acquired 6.9.23.
122. ed. Matti Frisch, Petri Kahila, Sarolta Nemeth, and James W Scott - Spacial Justice and Cohesion. Acquired 7.9.23.
123. Janina Ramirez - Femina. Acquired 7.9.23.
124. Timothy Garton Ash - Homelands. Acquired 9.9.23.
125. ed. Tim Dee & Richard Holmes - Ground Work. Acquired 9.9.23.
126. John Dixon Hunt - Genius Loci. Acquired 9.9.23.
127. Francis Spufford - Light Perpetual. Acquired 12.9.23.
128. Billy Connolly - Windswept and Interesting. Acquired 13.9.23.
129. Jenny Slate - Little Weirds. Acquired 14.9.23.
130. Mark Stay - The Holly King. Acquired 14.9.23.
131. ed. Gareth Evans & Di Robson - Towards Re-Enchantment: Place and Its Meanings. Acquired 18.9.23.
132. Kathleen Jamie - Selected Poems. Acquired 21.9.23.
133. Peter Ross - A Tomb With a View. Acquired 21.9.23.
134. Jacqueline Riding - Jacobites: A New History of the '45 Rebellion. Acquired 21.9.23.
135. Kiran Sidhu - I Can Hear the Cuckoo. Acquired 25.9.23.
136. Arun Arora - Stick With Love. Acquired 26.9.23.
137. Suzie Edge - Vital Organs. Acquired 28.9.23.

Acquisitions - 2nd thread (2)

138. Helena Merriman - Tunnel 29. Acquired 1.10.23.
139. David Attenborough - Living Planet: The Web of Life on Earth. Acquired 1.10.23.
140. Kathryn Mannix - Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations. Acquired 1.10.23.
141. Barbara Kingsolver - Demon Copperhead. Acquired 1.10.23.
142. Richard Beard - Sad Little Men. Acquired 3.10.23.
143. Sabeeha Rehman - It's Not What You Think: An American Woman in Saudi Arabia. Acquired 3.10.23.
144. Binyavanga Wainaina - One Day I Will Write About This Place. Acquired 3.10.23.
145. Margo Jefferson - Negroland. Acquired 3.10.23.
146. Lucy Cooke - Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution, and the Female Animal. Acquired 4.10.23.
147. Jan Carson - The Raptures. Acquired 5.10.23.
148. Marianne Cronin - The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot. Acquired 5.10.23.
149. Peter Wohlleben - The Secret Network of Nature. Acquired 5.10.23.
150. Georgi Gospodinov - Time Shelter. Acquired Sep 2023.
151. RF Kuang - Babel. Acquired 9.10.23.
152. Bernd Heinrich - One Wild Bird at a Time. Acquired 9.10.23.
153. Margaret Atwood - Burning Questions. Acquired 10.10.23.
154. Timothy Snyder - The Road to Unfreedom. Acquired 10.10.23.
155. Susan Cain - Quiet. Acquired 13.10.23.
156. Jess Phillips - The Life of an MP. Acquired 14.10.23.
157. Jos Smith - The New Nature Writing: Rethinking the Literature of Place. Acquired 14.10.23.
158. Adania Shibli - Minor Detail. Acquired 15.10.23.
159. Peter Oborne - The Assault on Truth. Acquired 17.10.23.
160. Gareth L Powell - About Writing. Acquired 17.10.23.
161. Josephine Cullum-Fernandez - Walking with Paddy: Walking Through the Year with my Four-Legged Friend. Acquired 17.10.23.
162. Kate Summerscale - The Haunting of Alma Fielding. Acquired 20.10.23.
163. Elijah Lawal - The Clapback. Acquired 21.10.23.
164. G.B. Ralph - Poison at Penshaw Hall. Acquired 25.10.23.
165. ed. Mateo Hoke and Cate Malek - Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation. Acquired 27.10.23.
166. ed. Nancy Campbell - Nature Tales for Winter Nights. Acquired 31.10.23.
167. Kathryn Mannix - With the End in Mind. Acquired 1.11.23.
168. Annie Worsley - Windswept: Life, Nature and Deep Time in the Scottish Highlands. Acquired 1.11.23.
169. Kate Fox - Watching the English. Acquired 1.11.23.
170. Julia Bradbury - Unforgettable Walks: Best Walks with a View. Acquired 1.11.23.
171. Joe Tracini - Ten Things I Hate About Me. Acquired 1.11.23.
172. Angela Hui - Takeaway. Acquired 1.11.23.
173. Sarah Langford - Rooted: Stories of Life, Land and a Farming Revolution. Acquired 1.11.23.
174. Rory Stewart - The Places In Between. Acquired 1.11.23.
175. J.B. MacKinnon - The Day the World Stops Shopping. Acquired 1.11.23.
176. Rachel Clarke - Breathtaking. Acquired 1.11.23.
177. Gretchen Gerzina - Black England. Acquired 1.11.23.
178. James Crawford - The Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World. Acquired 3.11.23.
179. Nina Stibbe - Love, Nina. Acquired 3.11.2 3.
180. Andrew Cotter - Olive, Mabel and Me. Acquired 5.11.23.
181. Gilbert White - The Illustrated Natural History of Selborne. Acquired 5.11.23.
182. Robert Elms - Live. Acquired Nov 2023.
183. Merlin Sheldrake - Entangled Life. Acquired 10.11.23.
184. Nooruddean Choudry - Inshallah United. Acquired 12.11.23.
185. Daniel Finkelstein - Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad. Acquired 17.11.23.
186. Ben Macintyre - The Spy and the Traitor. Acquired 18.11.23.
187. Annie Kotowicz - What I Mean when I say I'm Autistic. Acquired 19.11.23.
188. Miriam Margolyes - Oh Miriam!. Acquired 20.11.23.
189. Rhoda Baxter - Christmas for Commitmentphobes. Acquired 22.11.23.
190. Danny Dorling - Shattered Nation. Acquired 23.11.23.
191. Katherine May - Enchantment. Acquired 24.11.23.
192. Katya Balen - October, October. Acquired 24.11.23.
193. Benjamin Myers - Cuddy. Acquired 24.11.23.
194. Billy Connolly - Rambling Man. Acquired 24.11.23.
195. Stephen Moss - The Owl. Acquired 27.11.23.
196. Hilary Mantel - A Memoir of my Former Self. Acquired 28.11.23.
197. David Clensy - Walking the White Horses. Acquired 29.11.23.
198. Marlene Zuk - Sex on Six Legs. Acquired 30.11.23.
199. Tristan Gooley - How to Read a Tree. Acquired 1.12.23.
200. Adam Kay - Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas. Acquired 1.12.23.
201. Nina Stibbe - Went to London, Took the Dog. Acquired 4.12.23.
202. Kerry Hudson - Lowborn. ACquired 10.12.23.
203. Sathnam Sanghera - Empireland. Acquired 13.12.23.
204. ed Sai Englert, Michal Schatz, - From the River to the Sea: Essays for a Free Palestine. Acquired 14.12.23.
205. ed Miriam Lancewood - Wilder Journeys. Acquired 15.12.23.
206. Kenneth Libbrecht & Rachel Wing - The Snowflake. Acquired 15.12.23.
207. Dr Andrew Jenkinson - Why We Eat (Too Much). Acquired 18.12.23.
208. Stephen Moss - The Twelve Birds of Christmas. Acquired 18.12.23.
209. Guy Shrubsole - The Lost Rainforests of Britain. Acquired 22.12.23.
210. Eve O. Schaub - Year of No Clutter. Acquired 23.12.23.
211. Benjamin Zephaniah - Nature Trail. Acquired 25.12.23.
212. Rebecca Giblin & Cory Doctorow - Chokepoint Capitalism. Acquired 25.12.23.
213. Camille T. Dungy - Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden. Acquired 25.12.23.
214. Fern Brady - Strong Female Character. Acquired 28.12.23.
215. Chuck Klosterman - The Nineties. Acquired 28.12.23. (***Note to self - all titles up to and including this one in the Jar of Fate***)
216. Colin Taylor - The Life of a Scilly Sergeant (audiobook). Acquired 31.12.23.

The 2023 Nerdy Stats thread

ROOTs (total: 48)

fiction: 5 (10.4%)
non-fiction: 38 (79.1%)
poetry: 2 (4.2%)
mixed F/NF/P: 3 (6.3%)

female author: 25 (51%)
male author: 20 (40.8%%)
non-binary author: (0%)
mixed anthology: 4 (8.2%)

paper book: 19 (39.6%)
ebook: 26 (54.2%)
audiobook: 2 (1 jointly read with ebook) (4.2%)

completed: 47
abandoned: 1

ratings (4* and above): 39

Non-ROOTs (total: 6)

fiction: 2
non-fiction: 3
poetry:
mixed F/NF: 1

female author: 3
male author: 3

paper book: 2
ebook: 4

completed: 6
abandoned:

Acquisitions (total: 216)

fiction: 42 (19.4%)
non-fiction: 171 (79.2%)
poetry: 3 (1.4%)

female author: 93 (43.9%)
male author: 110 (NB one author has a series of 12 books!) (51.9%)
non-binary author:
mixed anthology: 9 (4.2%)

paper book: 31 (14.3%)
ebook: 182 (84.3%)
audiobook: 3 (1.4%)

Amount spent overall: £25.98 (Jan); £17.95 (Feb); £35.98 (Mar); £52.52 (Apr); £19.77 (May); £41.33 (June); £33.02 (July); £95.61 (Aug); £123.27 (Sept); £30.18 (Oct); £45.05 (Nov); £20.87 (Dec)

Source: (check the numbers!)

kobo - 158
Routledge Open Access - 2
Fox Lane Books - 2
Big Green Bookshop - 1
SCM Press -
Kickstarter - 1
Waterstones - 2
hive.co.uk -
Unbound - 3
amazon marketplace -2
birthday presents - 18
LTER - 1
Verso - 3
Barter Books - 2
amazon.co.uk - 4
Christmas presents -3
Book Depository -
random gift - 2
University of Chicago Press -
bookshop.org -
Book Nook Stirling - 3
Cancer Research Campaign charity shop -
AbeBooks - 2
Bandcamp - 1
Faded Page - 1
Twitter giveaway - 1
SPCK Publishing - 1
Bloomsbury Open Access - 1
Fitzcarraldo Editions - 1
Inkcap Journal giveaway - 1

(via Bookbub - 50)

Welcome to my second thread!

Argh, just realised I needed a post between posts 3 and 4 with my ROOTs for the second half of the year. So here we are, a bit out of synch:

ROOTs read - 2nd thread

24. Andrew Gulliford - Bears Ears: Landscape of Refuge and Resistance. Finished 4.7.23. 4.5/5.
25. Mary Roach - Packing for Mars. Finished 14.7.23. 4/5.
26. Mikhail Petrovich Artsybashev - Sanin. DNF 14.7.23. 3/5.
27. Gavin van Horn - The Way of Coyote. Finished 20.7.23. 4.5/5.
28. Philip Oltermann - The Stasi Poetry Circle. Finished 22.7.23. 4/5.
29. Marilee Foster - Dirt Under My Nails. Finished 6.8.23. 4/5.
30. Linda Cracknell - Writing Landscape. Finished 12.8.23. 4.5/5.
31. Ece Temelkuran - How to Lose a Country. Finished 13.8.23. 4.5/5.
32. Suzanne Simard - Finding the Mother Tree. Finished 26.8.23. 5/5.
33. Elspeth King - A History of Stirling in 100 Objects. Finished 9.9.23. 4/5.
34. Jung Chang - Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister. Finished 14.9.23. 4/5.
35. Alexander McCall Smith - In the Company of Cheerful Ladies. Finished 16.9.23. 3.5/5.
36. Amanda Thomson - Belonging: Natural Histories of Place, Identity and Home. Finished 28.9.23. 5/5.
37. Caroline Dooner - The F*ck It Diet. Finished 30.9.23. 3.5/5.
38. ed. Gareth Evans & Di Robson - Towards Re-Enchantment: Place and its Meanings. Finished 9.10.23. 4.5/5.
39. ed. Tim Dee & Richard Holmes - Ground Work. Finished 15.10.23. 5/5.
40. ed. Una Mullally - Repeal the 8th. Finished 5.11.23. 3.5/5.
41. Emma Crewe & Richard Axelby - Anthropology and Development: Culture, Morality and Politics in a Globalised World. Finished 7.11.23. 4/5.
42. Ai Weiwei - 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrow. Finished 18.11.23. 4.5/5.
43. Merryn Glover - The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd. Finished 9.12.23. 5/5.
44. Peter Ross - A Tomb With a View: The Glories and Stories of Graveyards. Finished 13.12.23. 5/5.
45. Rhoda Baxter - Christmas for Commitmentphobes. Finished 22.12.23. 3.5/5.
46. Arun Arora - Stick With Love. Finished 24.12.23. 4/5.
47. Benjamin Zephaniah - Nature Trail. Finished 25.12.23. 5/5.
48. Lee Schofield - Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm. Finished 30.12.23. 4.5/5.

Happy 2nd thread, Jackie

Happy new thread, Jackie!

>10 Jackie_K: Well, it happens, I will find them when needed ;-)

>11 Robertgreaves: >12 FAMeulstee: Thank you!

I don't think I'm going to get my current book finished before leaving for my holiday tomorrow, so the review will have to wait till I get back. Hopefully I'll finish a few others too, I've made sure they're packed! We're off to England to see various family members over the next nearly 2 weeks. We'll be camping for quite a bit of the time, I've packed lots of summer clothes but I'm wondering if I should put some warmer things in too? It's so hard to second-guess the weather!

Happy new thread, Jackie, and have fun on your travels!

>13 Jackie_K: Have a wonderful holiday, Jackie!

Happy new thread, Jackie! Enjoy your holiday!

Happy belated birthday, and happy camping -- the nature and change of pace sound wonderful.

Have a great trip!!

>14 MissWatson: >15 rosalita: >16 curioussquared: >17 detailmuse: >18 rabbitprincess: Taking advantage of hotel wifi while we have it (camping from Friday!) to say thank you very much! We're having a nice time so far, and are off to see my parents shortly. We dropped into Barter Books on the way down (as you do), and amazingly didn't buy any books! I did get a bit of credit for a couple of books we gave them, but we can use that next time we visit. We were running quite late and still had a lot of miles to do, so just didn't have time to browse the shop like we usually do.

I did finish one ROOT yesterday, but I'll wait till I get back to do all the reviews (hoping I'll finish several more while away!).

We got back last night from our holiday - it was a lovely time away, although didn't feature as much reading as I'd hoped, and I only finished the one ROOT that I mentioned in >19 Jackie_K: (I've nearly finished another one though - hopefully later today).

While away my lovely in-laws gave me an amazon voucher as a belated birthday gift. I do try not to buy books from amazon if I can help it, so thought I'd use it for books I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else. There's a series of 12 comedy sci-fi books which are only published on amazon which have been on my wishlist for ages, so I've got those for my ancient kindle, and I got an art book which I probably could get elsewhere but it would be a colossal hassle as it's a Romanian edition/publisher. Together, they've taken the number of books I've acquired this year to 90! I remember the end of last year wondering if I'd hit 100 books (I ended up acquiring 99), and somehow suspect I'm going to beat that record! :D

ROOT #24



I won a copy of this book via the LibraryThing Early Reviewers programme; thank you to the author and publisher for this opportunity.

Bears Ears: Landscape of Refuge and Resistance by Andrew Gulliford is a really interesting academic account of the history of the contested Bears Ears National Monument area in SW Utah. It highlights the history and archaeology of the area, both Native and Mormon, the extent of the contested claims to the area, the political history including the impact of uranium mining on the people and landscape, the conflicts over the looting of ancestral Native sites, and the more recent politics which saw five Native tribes come together to fight for National Monument status for Bears Ears. In 2016 President Obama designated Bears Ears a National Monument, but the following year President Trump reduced the Monument's area by 85%, reopening it to claims for mining rights. President Biden has subsequently restored the original Monument area, but it looks like this land will be contested as a political football for some time to come. In the meantime, this book does a fantastic job of highlighting the significant Native presence in this landscape going back thousands of years, while also acknowledging the history of Mormon settlers and the hardships they faced when moving south to the Bears Ears area. Overall a thorough account of a truly unique and fascinating area. 4.5/5.

ROOT #25



Mary Roach's Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void brings her trademark wit and extensive research to the subject of the history and future of space travel. Initially I thought it started a little slowly, but then I reached the chapter on puking in zero gravity and I was sniggering like a schoolkid, so I can confidently say that she delivers another cracking read. Very entertaining. 4/5.

>22 Jackie_K: I adore Mary Roach! That was one that was unexpectedly even more interesting than I thought it would be.

>23 rosalita: Yes it was! Some of the genuine job titles that those NASA researchers have cracked me up! As did many of the euphemisms.

And now for my first DNF of the year, but a weird DNF because although I'm counting it as done for now, I know I'll definitely come back to it at some point. Now I know the 'feel' of the book, I'll know when I'm in the mood for it (which I'm definitely not right now).

ROOT #26



Sanin by Mikhail Petrovich Artsybashev was published in 1907, just after the abortive first Russian Revolution of 1905, and is a reaction to the disappointment of the failure of that revolution amongst young Russian intelligentsia. As far as I can make out from reading around the reactions to the book, after the 1905 revolution, many felt that political ideals and notions of justice seemed pointless, and life should just be lived in reaction to whatever turns up at any particular time. This led to a casual disregard for previously accepted morality and an 'in it for myself' attitude.

This is one of the blurbs I've found for this book, which was both praised and condemned at its publication (the journal in which it was first serialised was soon thereafter closed down):

Sanin is an attractive, clever, powerful, life-loving man who is, at the same time, an amoral and carnal animal, bored both by politics and by religion.

During the novel he lusts after his own sister, but defends her when she is betrayed by an arrogant officer; he deflowers an innocent-but-willing virgin; and encourages a Jewish friend to end his self-doubts by committing suicide.

Sanin's extreme individualism greatly appealed to young people in Russia during the twilight years of the Romanov regime. "Saninism" was marked by sensualism, self-gratification, and self-destruction, and gained in credibility in an atmosphere of moral and spiritual despondency.

This is absolutely not the sort of book I like, and having read the first 7 chapters I can say that it left me feeling pretty bleak, but there was something about the writing which drew me in despite disliking all the characters, and so I'm pretty sure that at some point I will finish it. It's just not for me now. So despite DNFing it, I'll give it 3/5*.

ROOT #27



I really enjoyed Gavin van Horn's The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds, which was one of the University of Chicago Press free ebooks some time ago. The book consists of essays about the wildlife and wildlife corridors in and around Chicago, and I really enjoyed his sympathetic noticing of the creatures who share the city, as well as of the efforts of his fellow citizens in seeking to improve the urban habitat. Years ago I read a book (also a UoC Press free ebook) about architecture which was mainly about Chicago, and both that book and this one have really made me want to visit Chicago some day. I'd love to see the 606 Trail (which seems to be Chicago's equivalent of New York's Highline). I found this book really inspirational. 4.5/5.

>25 Jackie_K: Chicago is a beautiful city -- so much due to its lake, lakefront green spaces, and architecture. Lots of preserved forest area (flood plains; too wet to build on) amid the city and suburbs does keep the wildlife thriving!

Hi Jackie, Second thread, congrats! I'm glad to read you had a lovely trip. And scored a much wished series.

>26 detailmuse: The more I read about it, the more I want to visit!
>27 connie53: Thank you Connie! It was lovely, though tiring. But always good to see the family, especially as we live so far away.

ROOT #28



Subtitled "The Creative Writing Class that Tried to Win the Cold War", The Stasi Poetry Circle by Philip Oltermann is the bizarre true story of the East German secret police, the Stasi, and their attempts to train regime-loyal writers and poets to use their writing as a weapon against the class enemy. He manages to interview several of the surviving members of the group, and provides important context to the formation of the group and the work of the Stasi. The whole thing, as with so much about East Germany, is just all sorts of absurd. 4/5.

Hi Jackie, Just popping in and saying Hi!

>30 connie53: Hi Connie, thanks for visiting!

I've no idea how it's suddenly August, and to be honest, neither does the weather here in the UK, thanks to the currently wonky Jet Stream. Maybe we'll get a summer some time in September?

July was a good(ish) month for ROOTs, and an outstanding month for acquisitions! :D

I read (or DNF'd) 5 ROOTs:

1. Andrew Gulliford - Bears Ears: Landscape of Refuge and Resistance.
2. Mary Roach - Packing for Mars.
3. Mikhail Petrovich Artsybashev - Sanin. (DNF)
4. Gavin van Horn - The Way of Coyote.
5. Philip Oltermann - The Stasi Poetry Circle.

Strap in, here are my (eep) 28 acquisitions for July (go me!) (edit: whoops, make that 29!):

1. Doreen Cunningham - Soundings.
2. Cash Carraway - Skint Estate.
3. Georgina Lawton - Raceless.
4. Dom Joly - The Dark Tourist.
5. Victoria Bennett - All My Wild Mothers: Motherhood, loss and an apothecary garden.
6. Pernille Hughes - Ten Years.
7. Mike Shackle - A Fool's Hope.
8. Christian Lewis - Finding Hildasay.
9. Jon Sopel - UnPresidented.
10-12. Barry J Hutchison - Space Team: The Collected Adventures: Vol. 1.
13-15. Barry J Hutchison - Space Team: The Collected Adventures: Vol. 2.
16-18. Barry J Hutchison - Space Team: The Collected Adventures: Vol 3.
19-21. Barry J Hutchison - Space Team: The Collected Adventures: Vol 4.
22. Dan Perjovschi - The Horizontal Newspaper.
23. ed. Dr Margot Singer & Dr Nicole Walker - Bending Genre 2nd edition.
24. Serhii Plokhy - The Gates of Europe.
25. Tez Ilyas - The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13 3/4.
26. Wyl Menmuir - The Draw of the Sea.
27. Dr Guy Leschziner - The Man Who Tasted Words.
28. Dom Joly - The Downhill Hiking Club.
29. Ben Macintyre - Agent Sonya.

As you can see, 12 of those acquisitions are made up of 4 x 3 volume box sets, which I bought with very generous birthday money from my in-laws (plus another book). So if I hadn't had birthday money I'd have only acquired 1516. Oh who am I kidding? ;)

ROOT #29



Marilee Foster's Dirt Under My Nails was a gift from fellow LT-er dudes22 who thought it would probably be up my street, and she was right - thank you so much! The book chronicles the year of a young American farmer working her family farm in Long Island, by the Hamptons, and the impact of growing housing and development on the plants and animals and farming life. It reminded me a lot of another farming book I read earlier this year, also of a single woman on a family farm, Heida: A Shepherd at the Edge of the World. They farm in different places - the USA and Iceland - and while Marilee is an arable farmer, and Heida is primarily a sheep farmer, the challenges of encroaching development and environmental instability, as well as of running a small family farm, were remarkably similar. 4/5.

I am currently laid up with another bout of covid. I thought I could get some reading and writing done, but I am only having very occasional bursts of energy, so I'm trying to listen to my body and not overdo things. I wish I could say I also applied that to my book buying, but, well, you know. Have now smashed through the 100 new books this year barrier.

>32 Jackie_K: Oh no!!! I hope you're feeling better soon. Rest up and take it easy!

>32 Jackie_K: Echoing RP's >33 rabbitprincess: sentiments! Also, pretty sure buying books is exactly what the doctor ordered for getting over COVID ;)

>35 Robertgreaves: Get well soon, Jackie. I hope it's not too serious a bout

>33 rabbitprincess: >34 curioussquared: >35 Robertgreaves: Thank you very much! I'm very 'woe is me' and feel like I've been run over by a steamroller. Remember to still take covid precautions, everyone, this variant is horrible!

Sorry to hear you've caught the 'rona, Jackie. And even more sorry to hear that it's knocking you low. Three people in my office who recently traveled on airplanes are all down with it, although pretty mild cases apparently. I hope you're back on your feet (and buying more books) very soon!

>34 curioussquared: I agree with Natalie, buy two books and call me in the morning :D

>38 rabbitprincess: Thanks doc! I bought two, and pre-ordered a third. Still feeling rubbish, so I may have to do the same again :D (but first, a nap).

Ugh. Sorry to read about your new Covid bout. Once was more than enough for me. So far, anyway. Hope you're at least up to reading speed soon.

>37 rosalita: >40 rocketjk: Thank you both! I'm still stricken, and 100% would not recommend.

I did manage to read a lovely short book though.

ROOT #30



Just over a month ago I attended an author evening at our local indie bookshop, and one of the authors reading from her book was Linda Cracknell. This book, Writing Landscape, is a selection of short essays written over the last several years, some commissioned and others written specially for the collection, exploring how being out and about in the landscape informs and inspires her writing practice. I enjoyed this very much and am sure I'll come back to it many times. 4.5/5.

ROOT #31



How to Lose a Country: The Seven Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Turkish author and journalist Ece Temelkuran is a powerful read, outlining how populist dictatorships don't march into government but creep, slowly changing the narrative so that what was once outrageous becomes normalised. She draws a lot on the Turkish experience (of which she has had more experience than many; she is now an emigre unable to return to Turkey after consistently publishing work critical of the government). This book blends memoir and history not just of Turkey but also looks at the more populist governments/movements in the US and UK more recently (Trump/Brexit) amongst others, and what we can all learn from Turkey's trajectory. 4.5/5.

>42 Jackie_K: That looks fascinating and important. Thanks.

Hi Jackie! Here I am spying on your reading again. Covid! How are you feeling? Any better? I hope things go better for you soon.

>43 rocketjk: It's well worth your time!

>44 connie53: Thanks Connie, this was a rough one but I'm starting to come out the other end now. I still have a post-viral cough which is really getting on my nerves, and I still get fatigued more easily, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, so hopefully soon I'll be back to 100% again. The good thing is that A and Pete managed to avoid it, goodness knows how!

>45 Jackie_K: That's good news. Light at the end of the tunnel is excellent. I hope you get there soon.

>45 Jackie_K: Glad to hear you're on the mend!

>46 connie53: >47 MissWatson: Thank you both! I'm still not right, but I am feeling better every day, so I'm happy with that direction of travel!

Glad to hear you're on the mend, Jackie! Your review in >42 Jackie_K: has put this one on my radar.

Hi Jackie, so glad you're feeling better and that your family is well.

>49 rosalita: >50 detailmuse: Thank you both! I'm almost back to normal, just still drinking gallons because I have an irritating dry throat/cough that I can't quite shift. I'm glad it's just about over, at last!

ROOT #32



Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard is a fantastic melding of memoir and popular science, telling the story of her research into the underground micorrhyzal networks that connect forest trees, and her discovery of the extent to which trees of the same and different species cooperate rather than compete, all in the context of a changng climate. I love this sort of book - I would really struggle to read the scientific academic papers she and her team produce, but this book explained the science easily without dumbing it down, and put it in the context of her own life. She is the child of a logging family from British Columbia, so that gave her a more personal perspective than some of the policy makers who initially opposed her work gave her credit for. This is a tale of family life, tragedy, misogyny in science and academia, but ultimately of good science and hope for the future. I listened to the audiobook (read by the author) while following along in the ebook, and highly recommend it. 5/5.

Non-ROOT #2



I received this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers programme, thank you to the author for this opportunity.

Format Your First Ebook by Laura Kortum is a useful short guide to formatting a book-length document in Microsoft Word, in preparation for uploading to the online retailers and aggregators. It's a helpful guide to the sort of fiddly things that you don't necessarily learn in an MS Word basics course (eg different Heading types), and also has the sort of handy hints that wouldn't occur to many of us (eg don't put in page numbers, no extra line space between paragraphs). It's those sorts of things, which are largely assumed as common knowledge, which I found most helpful in this book, but it also has a quick overview (including pictures) of the forms you'll be completing on Amazon and Draft2Digital, which will be very helpful to the first-time self-published author. 5/5 for being useful, readable and no typos! :)

I cannot believe it's September - where has the year gone?! I'm not sure, but I think it's taken my reading mojo with it wherever it is!

Having said that, I did finish 4 ROOTs in August, bringing me to 32 for the year. Ideally by the end of this week I'd need to be at 35 ROOTs in order to reach my goal, but that isn't going to happen! I'm still hopeful I can catch up by the end of the year, but if I do reach my goal I really won't be exceeding it by much!

Anyway, here are August's ROOTs, and all of them were very good:

1. Marilee Foster - Dirt Under My Nails.
2. Linda Cracknell - Writing Landscape.
3. Ece Temelkuran - How to Lose a Country.
4. Suzanne Simard - Finding the Mother Tree.

I also caught up with my Early Reviewer books, with this non-ROOT:

1. Laura Kortum - Format Your First Ebook.

I'm still chasing daily deals and Bookbubs with glee, but also had some full-price books (a preorder, plus a couple of more specialist books) so August has I think been my most expensive book-acquisition month this year, but I got some beauties - 20 to be precise! Here they are:

1. Rob Dunn - A Natural History of the Future.
2. ed. Jane Ellsworth - The Clarinet.
3. Michael Rosen - Getting Better.
4. Darren McGarvey - The Social Distance Between Us.
5. Layla Saad - Me and White Supremacy.
6. Jeremy Hardy - Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes.
7. Oskar Kroll - The Clarinet. Revised and with a Repertory by Diethard Reihm
8. John Lewis-Stempel - Woodston.
9. Chloe Hooper - Bedtime Story.
10. CJ Hauser - The Crane Wife.
11. Kate Raworth - Doughnut Economics.
12. Justin Hopper - The Old Weird Albion.
13. Sayaka Murata - Convenience Store Woman.
14. John O'Donohue - The Four Elements: Reflections on Nature.
15. Sayaka Murata - Earthlings.
16. Ed. Kevin Jon Davies - 42: The Wildly Improbable Ideas of Douglas Adams.
17. Frederick Marshman Bailey - Mission to Tashkent.
18. Tim Spector - Spoon Fed.
19. Thomas Halliday - Otherlands: A World in the Making.
20. Seamas O'Reilly - Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? (audiobook)

Thanks so much for the encouragement! Sometimes I just feel like I am too tired to read (most of the time, actually). But I will look at what I have done rather than what I have still to do. Maybe that will help... (she says as she yawns) :D

>54 enemyanniemae: You're welcome. It's a tiring year, it seems to me.

ROOT #33



A book group I'm participating in this year has monthly themes, and for September it was "a book from where you live". So I picked up A History of Stirling in 100 Objects by Elspeth King, who until her recent retiral was the Director of the fantastic Stirling Smith Museum and Gallery. The Smith is one of my all time favourite museums, it really is a terrific local museum which tells the story of the place through the ages. This book draws mainly on items in the museum's collection, and is a local response to the popular History of the World in 100 Objects radio series and subsequent book.

I was familiar with many of the objects and paintings chosen for the book, but not all (eg there are a couple of quite fragile textiles which can only be displayed rarely). It is an interesting overview of the history of Stirling, and next time I go to the museum I'll have to remember to bring the book with me and see how much I can spot. 3.5/5 for the book, and an extra half star for being such a brilliant museum, so 4/5.

ROOT #34



I credit Jung Chang's first book, Wild Swans, with being the book that made me fall in love with reading non-fiction when I first read it in the 1990s. I remember being blown away by the story and the emotional heft of her account of three women in her family (her grandmother, mother and herself) in Mao's China. Her latest book, Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister is also the account of three women who were at the heart of 20th century China, but this is a biography of the Soong sisters, who rose to enormous prominence through the men they married and the wealth they commanded.

The oldest sister, Ei-ling, was advisor to the pre-Mao president, Chiang Kai-shek, and married to HH Kung who was Chiang's prime minister for many years. She was a shrewd business woman who became incredibly rich, even while most Chinese people lived in unbearable poverty. The middle sister, Ching-ling, married the so-named 'Father of China', Sun Yat-sen, who plotted and oversaw the change in China from monarchy to republic, although his ambition for personal position and glory always outweighed any good he wished to do the country (I couldn't help but be reminded of a number of more recent politicians closer to home, frankly). Following his death, Ching-ling ended up as Mao's vice-chairman, and remained estranged from her family for the rest of her life. The youngest sister, May-ling, married Chiang Kai-shek and spent many years as China's First Lady, where she impressed many at home and abroad with her dedication, whilst also being criticised for her extravagance.

The various political machinations and upheavals in China during the 20th century were explored, along with the sisters' lives and how they fitted into what was going on politically. I have to say that none of them were very likeable - coming from a position of immense privilege and wealth, they seemed removed from the people they purported to be serving, and were keen to maintain their power and prestige. Because of this I didn't experience the same emotional depth that I had found in Wild Swans, but I think this is also due to the genre - I am coming to the conclusion that whilst I enjoy both autobiography and memoir, biography is something I find much harder to connect with. I guess I just prefer hearing people tell their own stories, rather than somebody else's. That said though, this book always kept my interest and I learnt lots, it's clearly meticulously researched. 4/5.

(also just wanted to note: for a book from Penguin Random House, there were way too many typos to be acceptable, especially towards the end, it's like the proofreader just gave up)

ROOT #35



I can always count on the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith to give me a quiet and pleasurable few hours of reading with no demands or stress, and In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, the sixth in the series, is no exception. In this story, a former prisoner gets a second chance, Charlie the mechanic makes a series of bad choices, an unwelcome presence from Mma Ramotswe's past reappears, Mr J.L.B. Matekoni has tenant trouble, and Mma Makutsi learns to dance - and more. Delightful as always. 3.5/5.

ROOT #36



I know we still have 3 months of the year to go, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I am pretty sure that Amanda Thomson's Belonging: Natural histories of place, identity and home is going to be my favourite book I read this year. Recently shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize (my favourite literary prize, my wishlist bulges every year when they release the longlist), this book contains her reflections on the nature around her home in the Scottish Highlands, family history, experiences of racism and homophobia, some travels a bit further afield (such as a sailing trip around the Hebrides, and a working trip to the seed bank in Cape Town), as well as a couple of reflections on art - as well as a writer, she is also a lecturer at Glasgow School of Art. I have read a couple of her shorter pieces already and so knew I was in for a treat, and I loved every word of this book. Terrific, powerful, haunting, thoughtful - this book made me think yet again about how and where we belong (and who belongs), and the extra Scottishness of it all made me feel tethered even more to my chosen home. 5/5.

Also, this week I smashed through the 'acquired 100 books more than I've read this year' barrier (now at 101). Go me (I think).

>58 Jackie_K: Oh, this one sounds good! I hope I can find it here.

>59 Jackie_K: Way to go, Jackie! :-D

>60 rosalita: It is really good, I hope you can get hold of it. And thank you :D

ROOT #37



Caroline Dooner's The F*ck It Diet is best described as an anti-diet book. She's really preaching to the converted in this reader, in that I am absolutely convinced that dieting (particularly yo-yo dieting) has been proven not to work in the long term for the vast majority of people, and that diets and diet culture are actively harming our long term health. This book outlines the science behind the body's reaction to being deprived of food, and spends a lot of time looking at how we change our mindset towards food. There was very little here that I found to disagree with, to be honest, and although she's not a scientist, I think she did a good job of summarising the science.

I did find bits of the book repetitive, but given the all-pervasiveness of diet culture in the western world, a bit of reinforcement of her message probably isn't a bad thing. 3.5/5.

I know we all say this every month, but here goes again: how is it the end of September already?! I'm starting to feel the nip in the air now, autumn is definitely here to stay.

September was a good reading month for me, I managed to read 5 ROOTs. I also acquired 20 books, and it was my most pricy acquisition month yet (but several were preorders and a couple were specialist books. Lots of the others were bargains!).

The ROOTs I finished were:

1. Elspeth King - A History of Stirling in 100 Objects.
2. Jung Chang - Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister.
3. Alexander McCall Smith - In the Company of Cheerful Ladies.
4. Amanda Thomson - Belonging: Natural Histories of Place, Identity and Home.
5. Caroline Dooner - The F*ck It Diet.

And the books I acquired this month were:

1. Javier Zamora - Solito.
2. Stuart Maconie - The Nanny State Made Me.
3. Julieann Campbell - On Bloody Sunday.
4. Elspeth King - A History of Stirling in 100 Objects.
5. ed. Matti Frisch, Petri Kahila, Sarolta Nemeth, and James W Scott - Spacial Justice and Cohesion. (no touchstone)
6. Janina Ramirez - Femina.
7. Timothy Garton Ash - Homelands.
8. ed. Tim Dee & Richard Holmes - Ground Work.
9. John Dixon Hunt - Genius Loci.
10. Francis Spufford - Light Perpetual.
11. Billy Connolly - Windswept and Interesting.
12. Jenny Slate - Little Weirds.
13. Mark Stay - The Holly King.
14. ed. Gareth Evans & Di Robson - Towards Re-Enchantment: Place and Its Meanings.
15. Kathleen Jamie - Selected Poems.
16. Peter Ross - A Tomb With a View.
17. Jacqueline Riding - Jacobites: A New History of the '45 Rebellion.
18. Kiran Sidhu - I Can Hear the Cuckoo.
19. Arun Arora - Stick With Love. (no touchstone)
20. Suzie Edge - Vital Organs.

>58 Jackie_K: Thank you for the reminder about the Wainwright Prize!

>63 detailmuse: You're welcome! My wishlist always bulges after the longlist is announced!

Non-ROOT #3



Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a collection of essays from the mid-1960s by the great American essayist Joan Didion. It is an account of mid-60s American society, and topics vary from people dropping acid in San Francisco to her complicated feelings about living in New York. The essays about place most hit the spot for me, as well as New York she also had essays here on her home town of Sacramento, and the essay on Hawaii and its place in war was really moving. The rest of the essays were good, evocative, but I didn't connect with those as much. 3.5/5.

>65 Jackie_K: I've never read any Didion, and I've always wanted to. Someday ... so many books!

>66 rosalita: This is the second essay collection I've read of hers. Her writing is amazing, but somehow I find a lot of the essays a bit detached. I have The Year of Magical Thinking on my kobo but think I need to build up to that, because I gather it's a bit of a tear-jerker.

>67 Jackie_K: Oh, that's the one about her husband dying, right? I think that was when she landed on my radar because was lots of gushing about it specifically and her writing in general at the time it was published.

>68 rosalita: Yes, I think so, and her daughter was gravely ill at the same time.

I had a similar reaction to Slouching Towards Bethlehem, but I was deeply moved by The Year of Magical Thinking and couldn't put it down. Much tougher subject matter, but much more compelling IMO.

>70 curioussquared: Yeah, I'm saving it for when I need a read to make me cry!

ROOT #38



Towards Re-Enchantment: Place and its Meanings, edited by Gareth Evans and Di Robson, is one of those books that ticks all of my happy boxes. Place, nature, essays. Tick, tick, tick. Some of my favourite authors are here, and some new ones to me too. There was one poem which I found pretty baffling, but other than that I enjoyed every single piece here. Particular favourites were the essays by Ken Warpole and Richard Mabey on the flatlands of Essex and Norfolk respectively, Jay Griffiths on the grave of the famous medieval Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, Robert Macfarlane on the language of place in Gaelic, and Kathleen Jamie on the remote Atlantic island of Rona, but they were all great. My dream is that one day I'll be able to write as beautifully and evocatively about place as they do. 4.5/5.

ROOT #39



Another fabulous anthology of place and nature writing, this time Ground Work, edited by Tim Dee. There's very little I can say about this other than this is the type of writing I aspire to write. It includes authors who are very well-known, and others who were new to me, but every piece had something I loved. I was particularly moved by the essays by Helen MacDonald (author of H is for Hawk) and Adam Nicolson (author of one of my favourite ever books, Sea Room about the Shiant Isles in the Outer Hebrides), plus a really powerful poem by former UK Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion. The whole collection though is outstanding and I for one found it inspirational. 5/5.

Non-ROOT #4



Labyrinths is a collection of short stories, essays and 'parables', originally published between 1956-1960, by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. I read this due to a RL book club challenge to read a friend's favourite book, and this apparently is my husband's favourite book. Now, he and I have very different tastes in books, so I must admit I approached this with some trepidation! (although I was glad that I added the caveat 'preferably short', which meant I didn't have to deal with a 1000 page sci-fi giant hardback!)

I'll be perfectly honest. Nearly every piece here, especially the short stories, had me completely baffled, and there was quite a bit of skim-reading involved (I am pretty confident that skim-reading didn't affect my overall levels of understanding!). I got that these are deep metaphysical discussions, and I noticed some recurring themes around religion, infinity, time, etc. There were some pieces where I kind of felt like when you know you know a word and it's on the tip of your tongue but it's just not forming, it's just so near yet so far - I was reading and felt that what it was about was on the tip of my tongue, but just wasn't quite there.

There was one of the essays, about books and stories, which I got so much closer to than the others, and (more or less) followed what he was saying. I particularly liked this:

Literature is not exhaustible, for the sufficient and simple reason that no book is. A book is not an isolated being: it is a relationship, an axis of immeasurable relationships. One literature differs from another, prior or posterior, less because of the text than because of the way in which it is read...

Mostly though, I remain pretty baffled. I've enjoyed talking about it with my husband though (he says he likes it because it is full of so many ideas), and it has merely confirmed what we both already know about our comparative reading tastes! Also, like a lot of South American literature, the language is gorgeous and musical, even if it's unscrutable for me. I'm going to give it 2/5, because I'd say that's my level of understanding, but I don't think that entirely reflects the overall experience, if that makes sense! 2/5.

>73 Jackie_K: That's one on my TBR that I'm a bit scared to tackle. Maybe next year, when I will have more time...Great cover, though.

>74 MissWatson: I think it is worth spending time with - it's just that I think my brain doesn't quite connect with deep metaphysics. And I've struggled with most of the South American literature I've read, so I think it's probably me more than the book, if that makes sense! :D

>75 Jackie_K: Yes, metaphysics and South American literature are both matters I find far from my own mental place, so it's daunting. Probably must be read in instalments.

>76 MissWatson: the good news is that it's made up of short stories and essays, so it's easy to dip in and out of them. They're only a few pages each. I'd never have finished it otherwise!! 😂

Oh, I like the idea of reading a friend's favorite book. Off to go ask!

>78 Caramellunacy: I hope you like their suggestion!

I can't believe I've left my thread more than 2 weeks, there's been a lot going on (a lot of it involving malfunctioning kitchen equipment, sigh). So here is my extremely late October summary. I only finished 2 ROOTs, but did also read 2 Non-ROOTs, and I do have a few other books on the go since before the end of October, so hopefully I'll get some of them finished in November.

The ROOTs I read (both excellent) were:

1. ed. Gareth Evans & Di Robson - Towards Re-Enchantment: Place and its Meanings.
2. ed. Tim Dee & Richard Holmes - Ground Work.

And the non-ROOTs were:

1. Joan Didion - Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
2. Jorge Luis Borges - Labyrinths.

I had another spectacularly acquisitive month in October, this is the eventual haul (gulp, but they were all bargains, eg kobo daily deal/bookbub etc):

1. Helena Merriman - Tunnel 29.
2. David Attenborough - Living Planet: The Web of Life on Earth.
3. Kathryn Mannix - Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations.
4. Barbara Kingsolver - Demon Copperhead.
5. Richard Beard - Sad Little Men.
6. Sabeeha Rehman - It's Not What You Think: An American Woman in Saudi Arabia.
7. Binyavanga Wainaina - One Day I Will Write About This Place.
8. Margo Jefferson - Negroland.
9. Lucy Cooke - Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution, and the Female Animal.
10. Jan Carson - The Raptures.
11. Marianne Cronin - The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot.
12. Peter Wohlleben - The Secret Network of Nature.
13. Georgi Gospodinov - Time Shelter.
14. RF Kuang - Babel.
15. Bernd Heinrich - One Wild Bird at a Time.
16. Margaret Atwood - Burning Questions.
17. Timothy Snyder - The Road to Unfreedom.
18. Susan Cain - Quiet.
19. Jess Phillips - The Life of an MP.
20. Jos Smith - The New Nature Writing: Rethinking the Literature of Place.
21. Adania Shibli - Minor Detail.
22. Peter Oborne - The Assault on Truth.
23. Gareth L Powell - About Writing.
24. Josephine Cullum-Fernandez - Walking with Paddy: Walking Through the Year with my Four-Legged Friend. (no touchstone)
25. Kate Summerscale - The Haunting of Alma Fielding.
26. Elijah Lawal - The Clapback.
27. G.B. Ralph - Poison at Penshaw Hall.
28. ed. Mateo Hoke and Cate Malek - Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation.
29. ed. Nancy Campbell - Nature Tales for Winter Nights.

Now that I've discovered that kobo updates its deals every month, I must admit that I have gone a bit mad and bought So Many Books. I think I'm up to 16 in November already (whoops). (edited: actually it's 15. That's alright then.)

>79 Jackie_K: Have you discovered Kobo Plus? It's a subscription service where you pay a flat fee and can read any of a subset of Kobo's offerings.

>79 Jackie_K: How did you like the Borges? I studied some of his stories in college and it was one of the lovely learning experiences where you come out loving the author instead of hating them ;)

>80 Robertgreaves: I'm aware of Kobo Plus, although it's only been 'live' in the UK since earlier this year. I haven't subscribed, because most of the books I am likely to buy don't seem to be opted into the programme. If Mt TBR wasn't so massive (Ed: and whose fault is that, hmm?) then I'd probably give it a try to find some new authors I wouldn't otherwise take a punt on. But I've put my own book into Kobo Plus, for that very reason.

>81 curioussquared: That's a great experience to have - the other type is all too common! In all honesty, I didn't understand enough of Labyrinths to be able to say if I liked it or not. I thought the musicality and rhythm of the language (even in translation) was gorgeous, but I found it hard to connect with most of it because I just didn't understand it very well. So I guess I enjoyed it as an aesthetic experience rather than a literary one :)

ROOT #40



Repeal the 8th is an anthology of essays, short stories, poetry and photographs documenting the campaign in Ireland to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Irish constitution, which banned abortion throughout the Republic. The referendum eventually took place in 2018, some months after this book was published. As is usual with edited volumes some pieces resonated more than others, but overall this is an important addition to the literature about the Eighth and its ongoing legacy for Irish women. 3.5/5.

ROOT #41



Anthropology and Development: Culture, Morality and Politics in a Globalised World by Emma Crewe and Richard Axelby is a textbook which sets out in an accessible and readable way the complex issues shaping and complicating the practice of local and international aid and development through the lens of anthropological questioning. It's quite old now, over a decade, and I think that a new edition with more of an emphasis on the impact of the climate crisis would be a welcome addition to any anthropology (or indeed development) curriculum. 4/5.

>79 Jackie_K: You got two books I enjoyed. Peter Wohlleben - The Secret Network of Nature, I have liked all his writings. And Georgi Gospodinov - Time Shelter, well written and very funny. Although not all readers seem to get the humor.

>84 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita, nice to see you! I'm glad to hear your good reports on the book! I'm very curious about Time Shelter.

ROOT #42



1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows is an extraordinary memoir by the Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. As if his own story wasn't incredible already, this also gives an account of his father's life. Ai Qing was a famous and celebrated poet who was branded a "rightist" by Mao's Communist Party and forced to live in various labour camps, where a young Ai Weiwei grew up. The first part of the book then is his father's 20th century story of coming up against the Chinese powers-that-be, interspersed with the author's early memories from his childhood, and then the second part is the 21st century version of that story, with Ai Weiwei becoming increasingly more active in the dissident online space in China, followed by detention and eventually exile.

I was glad that I had recently read Jung Chang's Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister, as having that background really helped me with understanding the politics during his father's life. But even without that, this is a very readable and powerful memoir of the power of art to challenge authority. 4.5/5.

Non-ROOT #5



Memories of St Ninians by Willie Jenkins is a local history book published by Stirling Libraries which I picked up at a recent exhibition they did about St Ninians history. St Ninians is the area of Stirling I live in, and I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the old photos of the area and seeing how much has changed. This was always a historic neighbourhood - the original parish church was used by the Jacobites as a powder store during the siege of Stirling, until it was (allegedly) accidentally blown up when the Jacobites had to retreat. St Ninians was also well known for its nailmaking industry, with many workshops in the area. My daughter's school still has nails in its coat of arms. Really interesting, I'm going to order my own copy (I've managed to find a non-extortionate copy on amazon marketplace). 4/5.

>86 Jackie_K: I read 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows with my book group about a year ago and found it enjoyable and interesting, even fascinating in parts.

>88 rocketjk: It really was. It's amazing to me that all this is going on in our lifetime.

Non-ROOT #6



I've been getting Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice out of the library and renewing it and renewing it since I think February this year! But don't let that make you think that I didn't like it, I just kept overcommitting to other books, and it's usually fiction that falls by the wayside when that happens! I really enjoyed it a lot, and had a great time reacquainting myself with Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim, plus the assorted other characters around them (I have quite a soft spot for Bogdan). This one involves Ibrahim getting mugged, a drug dealer, some stolen diamonds, Elizabeth's ex-husband, and someone who isn't what they seem. And quite a lot of murders. All very improbable of course, but underneath the story are the characters and relationships and friendships that I couldn't help but care about. Osman really is such a good writer, and these books thoroughly deserve their success. 4/5.

>90 Jackie_K: I enjoy this series a lot and agree with all of your comments, Jackie.

>91 rosalita: Yes, I'm looking forward to the next two as well.

>90 Jackie_K: Enjoyable series, Jackie, I am waiting for book four to show up at the library.

Here it is the other way around, I read the library books first, leaving my own planned books unread.

>93 FAMeulstee: I agree, I like it a lot. Books 3 and 4 are still usually out when I check on Overdrive, but if I leave it a few more months I'm sure at least book 3 will be available.

Somehow we've made it to December, and once again, in November I was an awful lot more successful at buying than reading books! But all that buying has given me so much pleasure, so I'm not even remotely sorry!

I read 3 ROOTs and 2 non-ROOTs in November. The ROOTs were:

1. ed. Una Mullally - Repeal the 8th.
2. Emma Crewe & Richard Axelby - Anthropology and Development: Culture, Morality and Politics in a Globalised World.
3. Ai Weiwei - 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows.

And the non-ROOTs were:

1. Willie Jenkins - Memories of St Ninians.
2. Richard Osman - The Man Who Died Twice.

November's acquisition haul are these beauties - all 32 of them! Most were kobo deals and/or Bookbubs, plus a couple from a wee trip to Barter Books, and an LT Early Reviewer book.

1. Kathryn Mannix - With the End in Mind.
2. Annie Worsley - Windswept: Life, Nature and Deep Time in the Scottish Highlands.
3. Kate Fox - Watching the English.
4. Julia Bradbury - Unforgettable Walks: Best Walks with a View.
5. Joe Tracini - Ten Things I Hate About Me.
6. Angela Hui - Takeaway.
7. Sarah Langford - Rooted: Stories of Life, Land and a Farming Revolution.
8. Rory Stewart - The Places In Between.
9. J.B. MacKinnon - The Day the World Stops Shopping.
10. Rachel Clarke - Breathtaking.
11. Gretchen Gerzina - Black England.
12. James Crawford - The Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World.
13. Nina Stibbe - Love, Nina.
14. Andrew Cotter - Olive, Mabel and Me.
15. Gilbert White - The Illustrated Natural History of Selborne.
16. Robert Elms - Live.
17. Merlin Sheldrake - Entangled Life.
18. Nooruddean Choudry - Inshallah United.
19. Daniel Finkelstein - Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad.
20. Ben Macintyre - The Spy and the Traitor.
21. Annie Kotowicz - What I Mean when I say I'm Autistic.
22. Miriam Margolyes - Oh Miriam!.
23. Rhoda Baxter - Christmas for Commitmentphobes.
24. Danny Dorling - Shattered Nation.
25. Katherine May - Enchantment.
26. Katya Balen - October, October.
27. Benjamin Myers - Cuddy.
28. Billy Connolly - Rambling Man.
29. Stephen Moss - The Owl.
30. Hilary Mantel - A Memoir of my Former Self.
31. David Clensy - Walking the White Horses.
32. Marlene Zuk - Sex on Six Legs.

>94 Jackie_K: Oh hey, I've had Watching the English sitting on my on-deck shelf for the past few months! It looks really interesting.

>95 rabbitprincess: It's the kind of book that appeals to me every now and then! I was a bit disappointed with Jeremy Paxman's book on the English, but suspect this one will be more up my street!

I'm leaving all tickers well alone until cyderry is back with the December thread, but I do have a ROOT to report after a good few weeks.

ROOT #43



I went to an author event at The Book Nook in Stirling in the summer, and one of the authors there introducing her book The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd was Merryn Glover. She was for a while the writer in residence for Cairngorms national park (what an amazing gig that must have been!) and she started the explorations for this book around the first pandemic lockdown. In this book she doesn't exactly follow in Nan Shepherd's footsteps (as described in Shepherd's classic The Living Mountain), more engages with Shepherd's writing in such a way that this book is more of a dialogue as the author discovers the Cairngorm mountains for herself. She uses the same chapter titles as in The Living Mountain, although mostly in a different order, and reflects on her own reactions to both the place and the book throughout. Unlike Nan Shepherd, Merryn Glover is not a born and bred local, although she has lived in Scotland for 30 years - she is Australian but was brought up in the Nepali Himalayas where her parents were missionaries, so she also includes reflections on those mountains, and how her reactions to weather, mountains, water, and nature compare and continue those she knew as she grew up.

I loved this book in its own right, but also really appreciated how she opened up The Living Mountain, a book which, whilst a classic, can also be quite intimidating in its sensuous experience of the mountain. Nan Shepherd was clearly an extraordinary person with an extraordinary mind, and whilst I love her book, I did find her quite intimidating and unapproachable as a person. The Hidden Fires has done a great job of making her and her book more relatable, whilst being a terrific read in and of itself. 5/5.

>94 Jackie_K: >95 rabbitprincess: I read it pre-LT, but I have positive, if rather non-specific after all this time, memories of it.

>97 Robertgreaves: I think positive, if rather non-specific after all this time, memories is the perfect description for so many of our reading memories!

>94 Jackie_K: Aww, Olive, Mabel & Me is very sweet and I still watch the new videos, they usually include lots of landscape too.

Not Sex on Six Legs, but I really enjoyed Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation -- nature is so creative!

>94 Jackie_K: Like so many people, I got hooked on Andrew Cotter's Twitter videos of his labs Olive and Mabel during the pandemic. I've read both of his books (the other being Dog Days: A Year with Olive & Mabel) and thoroughly enjoyed them both. I had no knowledge of who Cotter was prior to seeing his viral videos, since over here we don't get the benefit of his sports commentating, but I was surprised to tune in to some Wimbledon coverage on ESPN's streaming service this past summer and heard him on the call. I think they just picked up the BBC(?) coverage for the online individual matches.

>99 detailmuse: >100 rosalita: I missed out on Olive and Mabel during lockdown, for some reason, but I'm always up for a heartwarming read about Very Good Dogs. I got both the hardback (for the pictures) and the audiobook (for the voice), so I'm looking forward to getting to it eventually.

>99 detailmuse: Thank you for the recommendation, Dr Tatiana is going on my wishlist straight away!

>101 Jackie_K: If you haven't seen the O&M videos, Andrew Cotter collected them all on a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mrandrewcotter

I am such a sucker for a Scottish accent that I have even occasionally listened to his golf podcast, The Chipping Forecast. I am a sports fan but I don't really care about golf. But it's surprisingly entertaining even when I have no idea who they are talking about. :)

>102 rosalita: Ah thank you, I obviously am right in the market for another form of procrastination! ;)

I know what you mean, there's a football programme on BBC Radio Scotland called Off the Ball which is hilarious, even though I have zero interest in football and usually, like you, have no idea who they're talking to/about. It always makes me laugh when I catch it on the radio.

>103 Jackie_K: Glad I could help with your procrastination efforts, Jackie. :-D

>104 rosalita: I appreciate it! :D

ROOT #44



I'm always a sucker for a good book title pun, and when it's combined with an excellent book, even better! Peter Ross's A Tomb With a View: The Stories and Glories of Graveyards is an interesting, funny, and often moving book looking at graveyards throughout the UK and also the war graves of northern France, and telling the stories of some of the people buried or working in these burial grounds. Always fascinating, occasionally disturbing, this was I thought a moving account of life and death and how we talk about and deal with memorialising the dead. 5/5.

ROOT #45



A very different read for me, but I really enjoyed this romance novella! (disclaimer: I know the author) Rhoda Baxter's Christmas for Commitmentphobes is the story of two Asian girls, Lara and Tilly, who both find themselves snowed in at a Yorkshire pub in the middle of nowhere. Lara is a workaholic partner in a new tech startup, Tilly is an artist who never seems to settle anywhere. Neither of them are looking for a relationship, but the attraction between them is instant. But what will happen after Christmas when it's time to go back to their regular lives once the trains are back running? Will they have their happy ever after? 3.5/5.

ROOT #46



It's 'finish books by authors I know' week here, it seems - here's my Advent reading by my lovely friend Arun Arora, his first book Stick With Love. A short reflection for each day of Advent, focusing on different Christians (ancient and modern) who inspire us to look to Christ during the Advent period. Much like Arun himself, an inspiring and thought-provoking book, which certainly challenged me and my comfortable life. 4/5.

ROOT #47



Merry Christmas everyone! This was one of my Christmas presents today, the wonderful (and sadly no longer with us) Benjamin Zephaniah's beautiful children's book Nature Trail, with stunning illustrations by Nila Aye. It is such a lovely book, reminding us of the amazing life teeming in our own gardens. 5/5.

That is a gorgeous cover!! Merry Christmas :)

>109 rabbitprincess: It really is, and the illustrations inside are just as beautiful! Merry Christmas to you and yours too!

A book for Christmas, how pretty! Hope it was a wonderful one and all the best for a Happy New Year, Jackie.

>111 Familyhistorian: Thank you, yes it was a lovely Christmas, nice and quiet (the best sort!). Happy new year to you too, Meg.

ROOT #48



Possibly my last finished book of the year (we'll see how I do today!), Lee Schofield's Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm is a chronicle of the past several years where the author has worked as the land manager in the Lake District for the RSPB, seeking to farm in a more sustainable way to increase biodiversity and improve the land to increase things like carbon capture and flood prevention. The Lake District is an agricultural area where sheep dominate and opinions run deep, so this was as much a story of the opposition to their work as the successes. He's preaching to the choir here, to be honest, but it was heartening to see that there are other sheep farmers in the area who are looking to be more nature-positive in their own farming practices. 4.5/5.

My goodness it's the end of the year, where did that time go? Just before I head over to create my 2024 thread, here's my December summary:

I read 6 ROOTs (I think my best month all year), and acquired 18 new books (which is much more respectable than previous months!).

The ROOTs were:

1. Merryn Glover - The Hidden Fires: A Cairngorms Journey with Nan Shepherd.
2. Peter Ross - A Tomb With a View: The Glories and Stories of Graveyards.
3. Rhoda Baxter - Christmas for Commitmentphobes.
4. Arun Arora - Stick With Love.
5. Benjamin Zephaniah - Nature Trail.
6. Lee Schofield - Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm.

And December's acquisitions:

1. Tristan Gooley - How to Read a Tree.
2. Adam Kay - Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas.
3. Nina Stibbe - Went to London, Took the Dog.
4. Kerry Hudson - Lowborn.
5. Sathnam Sanghera - Empireland.
6. ed Sai Englert, Michal Schatz, - From the River to the Sea: Essays for a Free Palestine.
7. ed Miriam Lancewood - Wilder Journeys.
8. Kenneth Libbrecht & Rachel Wing - The Snowflake.
9. Dr Andrew Jenkinson - Why We Eat (Too Much).
10. Stephen Moss - The Twelve Birds of Christmas.
11. Guy Shrubsole - The Lost Rainforests of Britain.
12. Eve O. Schaub - Year of No Clutter.
13. Benjamin Zephaniah - Nature Trail.
14. Rebecca Giblin & Cory Doctorow - Chokepoint Capitalism.
15. Camille T. Dungy - Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden.
16. Fern Brady - Strong Female Character.
17. Chuck Klosterman - The Nineties.
18. Colin Taylor - The Life of a Scilly Sergeant (audiobook).

I have thoroughly enjoyed acquiring all these new books this year! 216 for the whole year, which is pretty impressive even for me! Hopefully in 2024 I can read lots of them :)

Happy new year to all my LT friends - I look forward to lots more book chat in the new year!

I've just gone through my 2023 stats, and here's the scores on the doors:

ROOTs
Of my ROOTs (48 in total), 5 (10.4%) were fiction, 38 (79.1%) were non-fiction, 2 (4.2%) were poetry, and 3 (6.3%) were mixed F/NF/P anthologies. I read books by 25 female and 20 male authors (51.9% and 40.8% respectively), with the other 4 books (8.2%) made up of anthologies with both male and female authors. 19 of my books were paper (39.6%), 26 were ebooks (54.2%) and 2 (4.2%) were audiobooks.

Acquisitions
(Gulp) Of my 216 acquisitions (go me!), 42 (19.4%) were fiction, 171 (79.2%) were non-fiction, and 3 (1.4%) were poetry. My percentages for gender split are a bit complicated by the fact that I bought more than 1 book by some of the same authors, and some books with both male and female authors, but with that caveat in mind, my gender split worked out at 93 (43.9%) female authors, 110 (51.9%) male authors, and 9 (4.2%) mixed anthologies. Of the 216 books, 182 (84.3%) were ebooks, 31 (14.3%) were paper books, and 3 (1.4%) were audiobooks. I bought/acquired books from various sources, but by far the most were 158 (73.1%) from kobo, and 23 (10.6%) which were gifts (mostly birthday and Christmas, plus a couple of random ones during the year).

Show me the money
I spent quite a lot on books this year, the grand total of £541.53. That works out at an average of £2.51 per book, and £45.13 per month. Let's face it, there are much worse things to spend my money on!

>113 Jackie_K: Ooh, Adam Kay! I really liked This Is Going to Hurt. Also, I imagine the audio of The Life of a Scilly Sergeant would be fun! I read it in print and enjoyed it.

>113 Jackie_K: How to Read a Tree reminded me of this recent article in The Washington Post -- great intro interactive part about one tree's rings in various years:
https://wapo.st/48mrhDN

>116 detailmuse: Wow thanks MJ - that was fascinating!