Cecilturtle is ROOTing Right Along

This year, I've decided to focus on the Peter Boxall list, many books of which I have on my shelf.
I did a pretty good job of not buying many books at the beginning of 2021 and slipped up toward the end... it's never too late to try again!
For my purposes, Old Books is anything on my shelf before 2022, New Books is anything I'm tempted with in 2022, and Borrowed Books are the ones that I'm given or even maybe a trip to the library.

SOMETHING OLD

1. The Christmas She Married the Playboy by Louise Fuller
2. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
3. Manifeste céleste by Pattie O'Green
4. The Story of French by Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow
5. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
6. The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux
7. Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
8. Home by Marilynne Robinson
9. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
10. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
11. Gin, the Much Lamented Death of Madame Geneva by Patrick Dillon
12. Howards End by EM Forster
13. L'Homme Inquiet by Henning Mankell
14. What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad
15. La Mare au Diable by George Sand
16. State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton
17. Appetites: Why Women Want by Caroline Knapp
18. Spectacle by Jacques Prévert
19. J'ai dû rêver trop fort by Michel Bussi
20. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
21. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
22. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L. Sayers
23. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
24. Poèmes choisis Émile Nelligan by Émile Nelligan
25. The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers
26. Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs
27. None to Accompany Me by Nadine Gordimer
28. Mercy by Jodi Picoult
29. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
30. Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
31. Poèmes saturniens by Paul Verlaine
32. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
33. Des bleus à l'âme by Françoise Sagan
34. Une femme by Annie Ernaux
35. The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin
36. Awakening Intuition by Mona Lisa Schulz
37. Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
38. One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell

SOMETHING NEW

1. The Cat who Played Brahms by Lilian Jackson Braun
2. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
3. The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
4. Transcription by Kate Atkinson
5. La bibliothèque des écrivains edited by Stéphanie Khayat
6. Histoires sans suite Suite Stories edited by Karin Janssen
7. The Break by Katherena Vermette
8. Less by Andrew Sean Greer
9. Regardez-nous danser by Leïla Slimani
10. Klara and the Sun by Ikazuo Ishiguro
11. Marple: Twelve New Mysteries by a collective edited by William Morrow
12. The Eye of the Minds by James Dashner
13. Shrewed by Elizabeth Renzetti
14. Hiss and Hers by MC Beaton
15. Cat who Played Post Office by Lilian Jackson Braun

SOMETHING BORROWED

1. Le Petit Nicolas voyage by Sempé and Goscinny
2. Moi, Tituba sorcière by Maryse Condé
3. Certains soirs de catastrophe by Stefan Psenak
4. Dibbouks by Irène Kaufer
5. Le Cahier noir by Michel Tremblay
6. Premier Sang by Amélie Nothomb
7. Le Livre des soeurs by Amélie Nothomb
8. Le cahier rouge by Michel Tremblay
9. Une étincelle de vie by Jodi Picoult

Bonsoir, Cécil. Is there something blue too?

Happy Rooting and Bonne Année.

(I surprised myself being able to read and translate your introduction in your profile. It's been 50 years since my schooldays, but 5 years of French classes did not entirely fade away.)

Happy new year, and welcome back!

Welcome back and have a great reading year!

Happy you are back with us!

good luck with the plan!

>5 connie53: I'm glad to help you dust off your French along with some dusty tomes ;)

Ok, my first read isn't too dusty: a gag Christmas gift from a friend, but fun nonetheless: The Christmas She Married the Playboy by Louise Fuller

Good to see you have your first book read. Nice Title! ;-)

Welcome back and good luck with that list. I'll be following.

I've finished my first real ROOT which has been on my shelves since July 2011 and I LOVED it! I'm so glad I recommitted to reading what I have!
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

>13 Cecilturtle: I've owned Brideshead Revisited for decades and I'm always scared to read it for some reason. Maybe this year

I just finished ROOT 3, a Christmas present from 2021 (so not very old), Manifeste céleste by Canadian Pattie O'Green.

I've made another promise to myself: finish as many books as I can that I had started and dropped off along the way!
For ROOT4, I had acquired and started in 2009 The Story of French by Nadeau and Barlow, and got side-tracked. I picked it up again last year and just finished it. Despite this long hiatus, it was a great read, which I would definitely recommend.

>16 Cecilturtle: That's a good promise, Cécil. And nice to see you kept it with your last ROOT.

ROOT 5 is a semi-ROOT since I got the book in December 2021.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng was an interesting read for me, but a little flat.

ROOT 6 The Happy Isles of Oceania by Paul Theroux is a book I started in 2020 but never finished and ROOT 7 is Where We Belong by Emily Giffin, which I picked up in 2013.

It took me a while to finish ROOT 8 Home by Marilynne Robinson which I got in December 2021. It was a dense read and I'm having trouble concentrating reading.

My next two aren't really ROOTS since they were borrowed from various libraries.
1. Le Petit Nicolas voyage by Sempé and Goscinny to take my mind off the convoy occupation in Ottawa
2. Moi, Tituba sorcière by Maryse Condé, read in honour of Black History Month

I'm trundling along slowly. I've just finished a book from last year's collection: ROOT 11 Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

I've finished two more: one book which had been in my mother-in-law's library forever, The Cat Who Played Brahms by Lilian Jackson Brown and a one which has been on my own shelves since 2010 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

Two new ROOTs:
Gin, the Much Lamented Death of Madame Geneva by Patrick Dillon which I've had for about 15 years
Howards End by EM Forster which has been on my shelves since 2014.

ROOT 6 for March: L'Homme Inquiet by Henning Mankell which I've had for over 10 years.

I'm catching up! Here are three new titles for April:
What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad, which I've had since 2021
La Mare au Diable by George Sand on my shelves since 2008!
The Pelican Brief by John Grisham, new to me this year

I finished State of Terror by Louise Penny and Hillary Rodham Clinton which I bought last year.
This is ROOT 4 for April

I finished two more books:
Certains soirs de catastrophe, a long poem by Stefan Psenak which I borrowed from the library
Appetites by Caroline Knapp which I've had since 2015

Another two books for me:
Spectacle by Jacques Prévert which I acquired last year
The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith which a friend gave me this year.

I'm off to a slow start this month. I didn't even finish a ROOT, but it was enjoyable anyway: Transcription by Kate Atkinson.

I'm on vacation and took a ROOT break with Dibbouks by Irène Kaufer, which I borrowed at my Mom's library in Saintes (France).

I've just finished J'ai dû rêver trop fort by Michel Bussi which I bought in 2021.

So glad to have this one off my TBR; it was not my cup of tea:
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
I've had it since 2014.

One last one before we close off the month! La bibliothèque des écrivains edited by Stéphanie Khayat which was a gift for my birthday

Hi Cécil. I've been neglecting the ROOTers for some time. Live, sunny days, babysitting the grandkids and doing volunteer work for the library at Lonne's school. And reading of course. Today is a rainy day with some thunderstrokes. A perfect Sunday for reading al those neglected threads.

I see you are doing great on your ROOTing! Keep them coming!

>35 connie53: thanks, Connie!
I've been remiss too, spending a lot more time outside (yey!)

time to catch up with these titles
Histoires sans suite Suite Stories edited by Karin Janssen
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
The Break by Katherena Vermette
Le Cahier noir by Michel Tremblay

I finally plowed my way through The Goldfinch by Tartt which I picked up in May last year.
I also finished The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club as continue to read my Sayers anthology

I'm finishing up July with a new and an old book:
Less by Andrew Sean Greer for my book club and
Poèmes choisis Émile Nelligan by Émile Nelligan which I got in 2021

I squeezed one last book in before the end of July: Regardez-nous danser by Leïla Slimani which I loved.

It's been a slow August!

The Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers
Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

both are ROOTS which I have had for over 4 years.

I finished None to Accompany Me by Nadine Gordimer which I've had since 2014.

I finished Premier sang by Amélie Nothomb which a friend lent me.

Hi Cécil, visiting your thread on a rainy cold afternoon. You are en route to reach your goal. Go, go, go.

>43 connie53: Thanks, Connie! It's gloomy here too, so I'm catching up a bit.

I've had Mercy by Jodi Picoult since July 2010! Finally off my shelves. I've also finished Le Livre des soeurs by Amélie Nothomb, lent to me by a friend.

I've finished two books that were not ROOTS but delightful reads nonetheless: Klara and the Sun, a beautiful, reflective piece by Ikazuo Ishiguro and Marple: Twelve New Mysteries, a collection in the style of Agatha Christie.

>45 Cecilturtle: I loved Klara en de zon too. Glad you enjoyed aswel.

I've finished a book I picked up in July, The Eye of the Minds by James Dashner and a ROOT that I've had since 2014, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon - I loved this last one!

One more ROOT Too Much Happiness by wonderful Alice Munro, a book I've had since March 2012!
The other is a loaner from my cousin Le cahier rouge, the second in a Michel Tremblay trilogy... catching up on my Canadians!

You have reached your goal! Congratulations!

>49 MissWatson: Thank-you!

Two more ROOTs!
Poèmes saturniens by Paul Verlaine was a gift last year; it's an old library copy that was last taken out in 1977...
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler I've had for a long while, and totally enjoyed, imagining William Hurt and Geena Davis in their roles, even if I've never seen the movie.

I've finished another ROOT, Des bleus à l'âme by Françoise Sagan which I got last year from a friend, and a new book for my bookclub Shrewed by Elizabeth Renzetti.

That's books 5 and 6 for November.

Two more books:
Hiss and Hers by MC Beaton which I picked up ealier this year and a ROOT from last year Une Femme by the new Nobel Prize winner, Annie Ernaux.

I finished two rooty ROOTs: The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin which I've had since 2009 and Awakening Intuition by Mona Lisa Schulz which I bought in 2019. Both were great reads.

I've added another ROOT with Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë which I've had for at least 10 years.
I also finished The Cat who Played Post Office by Lilian Braun Jackson which I added to my collection in February.

Not a ROOT, but borrowed from the library, Une étincelle de vie by Jodi Picoult, a heart-wrenching treaty to protect women's right to abortion while giving a compassionate voice to all points of view.

Hi Cécil. Congrats on reaching your goal



Wishing you and yours all the best for 2023 and Happy Holidays!

>56 Cecilturtle: That one goes on my Wish-list! Not translated into Dutch so I will have to find an English digitalversion.

>57 connie53: Merry Christmas and all the best for 2023!

I'm finishing the year with a bona fide ROOT, on my shelves for 10 years now, with One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell, a great entertaining read for the Holidays.