MissWatson digs up her ROOTs in 2024, part 2

I'm Birgit and I have too many books on my shelves. This year is my first in retirement, and everyone tells me that pensioners don't have time. Well, I plan to make time for my ROOTs.
Happy ROOTing everyone!

Here's the list of my ROOTs in the first six months.

January
1. Yukon Ho! by Bill Watterson
2. Little Novels by Wilkie Collins
3. Flash for Freedom! by George MacDonald Fraser
4. Atemschaukel by Herta Müller
5. Sommerfreuden by Herman Bang
6. After Dark by Wilkie Collins
7. Flashman and the Redskins by George MacDonald Fraser
8. Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie
9. Eldest by Christopher Paolini
10. Der große Ausverkauf by Vicki Baum
11. Stalking the angel by Robert Crais

February
12. Nina Balatka by Anthony Trollope
13. Geschichte Tschechiens by Joachim Bahlcke
14. Das Feuerschiff by Siegfried Lenz
15. Die Purpurlinie by Wolfram Fleischhauer
16. Katzenberge by Sabrina Janesch
17. Emil und die drei Zwillinge by Erich Kästner
18. Der kleine Mann by Erich Kästner
19. Meisternovellen by Stefan Zweig
20. La femme de trente ans by Honoré de Balzac

March
21. Die rätselhaften Honjin-Morde by Seishi Yokomizo
22. After the ice by Steven Mithen
23. Goethes Leichen by Paul Kohl
24. Die Reise unserer Gene by Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe
25. Schönbrunner Finale by Gerhard Loibelsberger
26. Watership Down by Richard Adams
27. Am Weg by Herman Bang
28. Guy Mannering by Walter Scott
29. Die Henkerstochter by Oliver Pötzsch

April
30. My Lady's Money by Wilkie Collins
31. Le rêve by Émile Zola
32. La disparue du Père-Lachaise by Claude Izner
33. L. A. Requiem by Robert Crais
34. Watery Grave by Bruce Alexander
35. Der letzte Satz by Robert Seethaler
36. L'ombre du Vétéran by Jean Failler
37. Rapscallion by James McGee
38. Les adieux à la Reine by Chantal Thomas
39. Undine und andere Erzählungen by Friedrich de La Motte-Fouqué
40. Der grüne Fürst by Heinz Ohff
41. The two destinies by Wilkie Collins

May
42. Merlin's Keep by Madeleine Brent
43. La place des bonnes by Anne Martin-Fugier
44. Mörder mögen keine Matjes by Krischan Koch
45. Die Erlebnisse des Polizeiagenten Schipow bei der Verfolgung des Schriftstellers Tolstoj by Bulat Okudschawa
46. Les empires normands d'Orient by Pierre Aubé
47. Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay
48. The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon
49. Wolfszeit by Harald Jähner
50. A practical guide to conquering the world by KJ Parker
51. L'énigme des Blancs-Manteaux by Jean-François Parot
52. Aller Tage Abend by Jenny Erpenbeck
53. Versailles Château de la France et orgueil des rois by Claire Constans
54. Die Zauberin von Ravenna by Klaus Herrmann

June
55. Das Geheimnis der Porzellanmalerin by Birgit Jasmund
56. Babel by Kenah Cusanit
57. Im Lande Ur by Hans Baumann
58. Das Geheimnis von Salem by Birgit Rückert
59. Kaisergestalten des Mittelalters, edited by Helmut Beumann
60. Der arme Awrosimow by Bulat Okudschawa
61. Meurtre dans le boudoir by Frédéric Lenormand
62. The handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood
63. Von Gibbon zu Rostovtzeff by Karl Christ
64. Verwandlung am Bodensee by Alberta Rommel
65. Der Zwölfte by Gertrud von Brockdorff
66. In tiefen Schluchten by Anne Chaplet
67. Alexander in Babylon by Jakob Wassermann

And now for the second part:

July

68. Der Thronfolger by Ludwig Winder
69. Geschichte der Spätantike by Alexander Demandt
70. À bicyclette by Su Tong
71. La conquête de Plassans by Émile Zola
72. Das Mangobaumwunder by Leo Perutz and Paul Frank
73. Spy's Honour by Gavin Lyall
74. Kriegsausbruch by Sönke Neitzel
75. Das doppelte Lottchen by Erich Kästner
76. Le carrefour des Écrasés by Claude Izner
77. When we were orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

August
78. Mord im Auwald by Beate Maly
79. Ich war den Hunnen untertan by Géza Gárdonyi
80. Lost in Fuseta by Gil Ribeiro
81. Schlechte Karten für den Barista by Marco Malvaldi
82. Alter schützt vor morden nicht by Helene Tursten
83. Wiener Totenlieder by Theresa Prammer
84. Tod vor dem Steffl by Albert Franl
85. The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart
86. Toine by Guy de Maupassant
87. Die Geschichte der Normannen by Rudolf Simek
88. Die rote Frau by Alex Beer
89. Mord auf der Trabrennbahn by Beate Maly
90. Schneesterben by Anne Chaplet

September
91. Lucy by the sea by Elizabeth Strout
92. Der dunkle Bote by Alex Beer
93. Crusoe's Daughter by Jane Gardam
94. Königin Caroline Mathilde von Dänemark by Carolin Philipps
95. Polt. by Alfred Komarek
96. Der Tote im Schnitzelparadies by Joe Fischler
97. Der Zopf meiner Großmutter by Alina Bronsky
98. Stoffel fliegt übers Meer by Erika Mann
99. Schlump by Hans Herbert Grimm
100. The Wars by Timothy Findley
101. Last Friends by Jane Gardam
102. Schnee in Venedig by Nicolas Remin
103. Le pont de la rivière Kwai by Pierre Boulle
104. Basil by Wilkie Collins
105. Venezianische Verlobung by Nicolas Remin

October
106. Carsten Curator by Theodor Storm
107. Renate by Theodor Storm
108. Maigret et le corps sans tête by Georges Simenon
109. Classic Ghost Stories (a Vintage Classics collection)
110. Cinco días de octubre by Jordi Sierra i Fabra
111. Das alte Rußland by Sigismund von Herberstein
112. Aurelia und die letzte Fahrt by Beate Maly
113. Ein Lied von Sein und Schein by Cees Nooteboom
114. Ayala’s Angel by Anthony Trollope

November
115. Winter, Weihrauch, Wasserleiche
116. The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde etc. by RL Stevenson
117. Moskau : Von der Siedlung im Wald zur Kapitale einer Weltmacht by Heddy Pross-Weerth
118. Das Dorf. Suchodol by Iwan Bunin
119. Bracelet of Bones by Kevin Crossley-Holland
120. Meine Kinderjahre by Theodor Fontane
121. Two for the lions by Lindsey Davis
122. La parure byzantine by Elena Arseneva
123. Der Abituriententag by Franz Werfel
124. Saxnot stirbt nie by Robert Gordian

December
125. Letzte Ernte by Tom Hillenbrand
126. Kaiser, Kraut und Kiberer by Gerhard Loibelsberger
127. Romola by George Eliot
128. Quallenplage by Susanne Bergstedt
129. Die Vegetarierin by Han Kang
130. Snow Flower and the secret fan by Lisa See

Welcome to my new thread!

Happy New Thread

Thanks, Robert!

ROOT #68 is Der Thronfolger by Ludwig Winder

I meant to have finished this in June, but at 572 pages I didn't make it. It was a very quick and educational read, about the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Fabulous.

I love that new thread smell!

Happy new thread, Birgit. Great progress on your ROOTs! Only 8 to go.

>9 rocketjk: Yes, I instantly feel an urge to fill it with books!
>10 atozgrl: Thank you! Retirement is wonderful for getting ahead.

Happy New Thread! I'm pretty sure I need to retire to stand any chance of getting through my books (especially given my current rate of acquiring new ones!).

Hi Jackie! I promised myself I would concentrate on books that already are in the house, and yet I came home with three new ones from a trip to Hamburg yesterday. I can't resist, it seems.

>13 MissWatson: Well, as I always tell myself, it could be drugs. If buying books is our worst vice, we're not doing so badly.

There may come a day when it is my only vice because I can't afford any others. On the other hand, I just snagged four Orwell paperbacks at a very low price...

Happy new thread, Birgit!!

>16 curioussquared: Thanks for dropping in, Natalie!

ROOT #69 is Geschichte der Spätantike by Alexander Demandt

This is a fat non-fiction history book about late antiquity, a popular edition of a scholarly handbook without footnotes which I missed a little.

Two more ROOTs already in your new thread, and fat ones at that!

>19 detailmuse: It's raining far too much which means I spend my time indoors.

ROOT #70 is À bicyclette by Su Tong

An odd little book which I picked up in a free little library. The author is best known for the novel on which the movie Raise the red Lantern is based. This is a collection of very short texts, most of them reminiscences about his childhood in Suzhou during the Cultural Revolution. An interesting read, but not one I need to revisit, so off the shelves it goes.
I am getting close to my goal!!

>21 MissWatson: I enjoyed the same author's Binu and the Great Wall of China about a woman taking winter clothes to her husband, who had been pressganged into working on the Wall.

>22 Robertgreaves: Oh thanks, I'll take a note of this. I'd like to see what he does with fiction.

ROOT #71 is La conquête de Plassans by Émile Zola

One of Zola's interests in the Rougon-Macquart cycle is to explore heredity and madness, and he does this to a remarkable extent here. The focus is on three characters, mostly, Marthe who was born a Rougon and married François Mouret (whose mother was a Macquart), and on the abbé Faujas who arrives in town for a long, slow political campaign at the behest of the Paris government, and who manipulates Marthe cruelly and pitilessly into descending madness. But he also shows how the gossip and cruel talk of their fellow citizens enhance their psychological state. It's not a fun read, but gripping.

ROOT #72 is Das Mangobaumwunder by Leo Perutz and Paul Frank

This is the second published book of Perutz, He and his co-author play with Indian mysticism and spirituality which they probably know only indirectly, I found this superficial and occasionally condescending. And to a modern it is all too obvious what is going on with the mysterious baron and his daughter, long before the doctor called into the house because the Indian gardener has been bitten by a snake. There's little suspense for the reader, and the attitudes towards "inferior" nations are of their time, i.e. inacceptable today.

ROOT #73 is Spy's Honour by Gavin Lyall

This was a re-read after ten years, because I had forgotten much of it. This time around, with Winder's novel about Franz Ferdinand still fresh in my mind, the episode in Budapest strikes me as not getting the atmosphere and the people right. Still, as espionage thrillers go, it's entertaining.

ROOT #74 is Kriegsausbruch by Sönke Neitzel

It's been fifty years and more since I learned about the Balkanb Wars and Morocco crises leading up to WWI, and because they are referenced in two of my recent books I picked up this non-fiction history. It's short at 235 pages, but very succinct in summing up the major European players and their scramble for supremacy. The best thing are the comments about more detailed histories.

Tonight we're going to our first festival concert, and my sister and my friend will be staying a whole week. If the weather holds, we can spend most of our time outdoors.

>28 MissWatson: That sounds super great. What kind of festival is it? Enjoy it. 😃

>29 Ameise1: Hi Barbara! It's the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and we went to hear the King's Singers, Valer Sabadus, Lea Desandre and some soloists from the festival's summer academy for young musicians. The festival theme is Venice, and there was lots of Vivaldi. His music brightens up the so-so weather.
ETA: Thanks, we had a wonderful time!

ROOT #75 is Das doppelte Lottchen by Erich Kästner

Apart from concerts, we went shopping, and my sister always looks for books for her library. Among them was Wie unsere Märchen weitergehn, a reprint from the 1920s, I think. The author tells us what happened to our favourite fairytale heroines after the happy ending, and her funniest idea was to make Hansel and Gretel start a roaring trade in gingerbread salvaged from the witch's house.
This fairytale plays a prominent role in Kästner's book, and because yesterday was the 50th anniversary of his death, I re-read it. He really understood children, and he didn't talk down to them.
A very fitting book for reaching my goal!

ROOT #76 is Le carrefour des Écrasés by Claude Izner

Half my mind is still with our Paris vacation, and I love reading these mysteries with a map of Paris by my side, identifying streets and sights we've seen. The mystery doesn't matter very much in these books, it's all about the private life of Victor Legris, books and art.

Congratulations on reaching your goal, Birgit. Well done

>31 MissWatson: hurrah 4 U.

>33 Robertgreaves: >34 EGBERTINA: Thank you! I am so happy to have more time for reading now.

ROOT #77 is When we were orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

I finished this last night and still don't know what to think of it. The narrator jumps around in time, from memory to memory, and I can't figure out what his detective work actually looks like. Matters get ludicrous when he finally returns to Shanghai, in 1937, in the middle of the war. And then he meets with a person from his past, and the denouement is utterly prosaic. Just baffling.

Congratulations on goal!

>I am so happy to have more time for reading now.
Made me laugh...I'm near goal and am looking forward to reading some new acquisitions :)

>37 detailmuse: Hello and thank you! Retirement is great for my reading, I had no idea how miuch I would enjoy this. Of course, I have also been buying books...

ROOT #78 is Mord im Auwald by Beate Maly

These cosy historical mysteries are nice when I need something undemanding. They depict 1920s Vienna in brighter colours than some other series set in these times, and the amateur sleuth is a retired teacher who reminds me very much of Margaret Rutherford playing Miss Marple.

ROOT #79 is Ich war den Hunnen untertan by Géza Gárdonyi

The author has one book on the 1001 BYMRBYD list which I read and found unsatisfactory. I thought I'd give him a second chance when I found this, a novel about a young Greek's adventures at Attila the Hun's court. But it suffers from the same defects, the writing is pedestrian, and the hero annoyed me quite a bit with his mooning over a Hunnic chief's daughter. However, as it is written by a Hungarian (for whom the Huns are revered ancestors), it paints a positive picture of the Huns which is unusual.

I said at the beginning of the year that I would count everything I own as a ROOT, but I have decided to make an exception for books which I buy, read and discard immediately. If they don't spend a single day on my shelves, they can't grow roots.
This happened with Fräulein Schläpples fabelhafte Steuererklärung, bought yesterday and finished last night. The hero is a tax inspector who I think belongs somewhere in the autistic spectrum, which reminded me that I have Lost in Fuseta on the shelves where the police officer is autistic.

ROOT #80 is Lost in Fuseta by Gil Ribeiro

Mysteries set in popular holiday destinations can be hit and miss, but the author of this book writes gripping thrillers and mysteries for German TV, so there's a real case here. A German police detective joins the police team in a small town in the Algarve on an EU-funded exchange programme, and on his first day a body is found. This was really good, and I'll be reading more. Soonish.

ROOT #81 is Schlechte Karten für den Barista by Marco Malvaldi

This was another fun read, I like reading about the grumpy old men who have the village history at their finger tips.

ROOT #82 is Alter schützt vor morden nicht by Helene Tursten

A collection of short stories which were a little reptitive and too predictable.

ROOT #83 is Wiener Totenlieder by Theresa Prammer

A serial killer is loose in the Vienna Opera House, and Lotta Fiore is asked to go undercover as an extra, teaming up with a former police officer for this. She's an alcoholic and self-destructive, and the reason for this becomes clear slowly. But it was all too much for me, too much drinking, swearing, casual sex.

The weather is hot, and my brain feels like it's melting. I think I'll stay indoors and read mysteries that are quick and easy.

ROOT #84 is Tod vor dem Steffl by Albert Frank

I bought this for one Euro because the title tells me it's set in Vienna. Not exactly a mystery, but one of those tales full of weird characters and lots of black Viennese humour. Just imagine genetically-manipulated pigeons the size of eagles let loose in Vienna and the dangers for tourism...

ROOT #85 is The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart

This was a spontaneous re-read, and this is still my favourite version of Merlin.

ROOT #86 is Toine by Guy de Maupassant

A collection of stories mostly written for the journal Gil Blas, whose audience accepted tales that were quite explicit for the times. Most of the characters have dubious morals, not only in the sexual sense. Such as a lawyer who marries a girl for her dowry and then abandons her in Paris on an omnibus, just like people today who abandon their pets when they go on holiday. It's my impression that Maupassant didn't have a very high opinion of his countrymen.

ROOT #87 is Die Geschichte der Normannen by Rudolf Simek

A small non-fiction history of the Normans in France, England, Italy and the Latin Kingdoms of the Crusades. He gives vivid portraits of the men who wrote the chronicles, which was surprising.

Hi Brigit, How did I miss your new thread? I hope you are doing fine and had a nice summer. (although it wasn't much of a summer)

>51 connie53: Hi Connie, nice to see you drop in. Summer has been a very mixed bag, yes. We had some extremely hot days, which were only good for reading, and lots of rain. Now I am hoping for some calm, balmy days for our trip to Lake Constance.

ROOT #88 is Die rote Frau by Alex Beer

This was actually a re-read, and most of the details were still in my mind. It's interesting to compare these rather grim tales of post-WWI Vienna with the cosy mysteries about Ernestine Kirsch, set only a few years later, which depict a much sunnier side of the city.

ROOT #89 is Mord auf der Trabrennbahn by Beate Maly

The next adventure of Ernestine Kirsch and her landlord is not as cosy as the previous ones, but very entertaining.

ROOT #90 is Schneesterben by Anne Chaplet

This is a mystery set in a small village in Hesse, and it doesn't paint a bucolic idyll, quite the contrary. I liked the way the author presents the action in two parallel lines, one happens in the village where Paul Bremer watches events unfold, and the other in Frankfurt when District Attorney Karen Stark gets assigned. Things are slow-moving and slow-burning, but at the end the book packs quite a punch. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of hers.

And now I'm off to Lake Constance. I'll be offline for two weeks, have a lovely time until September!

>56 MissWatson: Have a fabulous time!

>54 MissWatson: That one sounds interesting. My local library has got a copy of Mord im Auwald. Have you read that one?

Wishing you a fabulous time.

You probably not read this for the next 2 weeks, have a great time.

>57 Cecilturtle: Thanks! I would have liked a little less heat, everything else was great.
>58 Ameise1: Yes, I have. I try to read them in chronological order, because of the evolving relationships. They are nice, relaxing reads.
>59 connie53: Hi, Connie, thanks! I'm getting finally around to visiting threads again.

ROOT #91 is Lucy by the sea by Elizabeth Strout

This was a gift from a colleague when I retired. I see her occasionally on the bus and want to tell her that I did read this. It was interesting to re-visit the pandemic, and I was surprised to discover how much I have already forgotten about it. But the book did not wow me to the extent I expected, after the hymnic praise in most reviews.

ROOT #92 is Der dunkle Bote by Alex Beer

Third in a series of historical mysteries set in Vienna, in the aftermath of WWI. Grim, dark, but also instructive. I am slowly re-reading them in print because the audiobooks are abridged.

ROOT #93 is Crusoe's Daughter by Jane Gardam

Polly Flint comes to live with her two spinster aunts as a small child and spends her life in this secluded spot by the sea, and yet so much happens to the people living around her. A quiet life, but so rich.

ROOT #94 is Königin Caroline Mathilde von Dänemark by Carolin Philipps

A short biography of the English princess married to King Christian VII of Denmark, and her affair with his doctor which has inspired lots of books. Properly researched, but rather badly written, so I'm not keeping it. Still, it feels like local history, with all those Holsteinian aristocrats at the Danish court. After the divorce, she lived at Celle which now seems worth a visit.

ROOT #95 is Polt. by Alfred Komarek

A slow, quiet mystery set in a wine-growing region near the Czech border of Austria. Simon Polt is a former policeman now doing odd jobs in the village, which is rather backward, and he likes that. But murders do happen and secrets come to light...
I watched the TV movies and decided to try the original books. Turns out I started with the last book of the series, and I'll hang on to this until I've found the others.

ROOT #96 is Der Tote im Schnitzelparadies by Joe Fischler

Arno Bussi has been caught in flagranti with the wife of the interior minister and is sent back to his rural Tyrol where he soon has a dead man on his hands. It's the first in a series, and the author ist still trying to find his own style of humorous writing. I was reminded too much of Wolf Haas, who is way better as an author. Not a keeper.

ROOT #97 is Der Zopf meiner Großmutter by Alina Bronsky

So far, all of these author's books that I have read have been set among the Russian emigré community, who came to Germany from the crumbling Soviet Union either as members of the persecuted Jewish minority or as descendants of emigrated Germans. Some integrated seemlessly, many keep themselves apart, like the ferociously domineering grandmother in this book. Her grandson Max narrates, from age six to teenager, sometimes exasperated, but mostly with love and understanding. Someone who knows more about life in the Soviet Union would probably pick up more of the hints of what the grandparents suffered, and how many of the grandmother's idiosyncracies are owed to the state organising every detail of private life. Such as the obsession with hygiene and disinfection...

ROOT #98 is Stoffel fliegt übers Meer by Erika Mann

I bought this only a few days ago, a lucky find at the charity shop, but this is definitely a keeper and going to grow ROOTs until a re-read. Erika is the daughter of Thomas Mann (sometimes it seems that everybody in this family has written books) and wrote this for her younger siblings.
A nice, exciting adventure story about a boy who stows away on an airship to go to America and ask his uncle living there for financial support for his struggling parents. It was also an interesting comparison between Stoffel's independence and self-sufficiency, adding to the family finances by renting rowing boats on the lake, and the life of Max whose grandmother never leaves him out of sight, even sitting at the back of his classroom when she finally has to let him go to school.

ROOT #99 is Schlump by Hans Herbert Grimm

This is a novel about the First World War, written anonymously at first by a combatant. It was published in 1928 and overshadowed by Remarque's book, and then vanished when the Nazis burned it. It was only rediscovered and republished in 2014. Quite different from the other books of the time (as far as I have read them), although we also have a grim episode dealing with the horrors of trench warfare here. The most unusual thing here is that our young volunteer can communicate with the French in their language, and meets them on pretty equal terms during the time when he is in command of an occupied village. There's none of the "Erbfeindschaft" so often cited by the Prussians, but then, the author isn't Prussian. He also uses different slang words, most of which were new to me, which was unexpected.

>63 MissWatson: I just finished Old Filth: it was my introduction to this author and I really enjoyed it. As you say: quiet life but so rich! Looks like it could be a theme to her work.

>70 Cecilturtle: And I loved how we see the relationship through his wife's eye in the next book, that was amazing, I thought. I've got Last Friends lying ready as soon as I have finished my current book.

ROOT #100 is The Wars by Timothy Findley

Again we follow a young man into the trenches of the Western front, this time a young officer in the Canadian Artillery. Beautifully written, and sad.

ROOT #101 is Last friends by Jane Gardam

This time we learn about the past of Terry Veneering and where he gets his Dickensian last name. I am quite sorry to leave these interesting people.

ROOT #102 is Schnee in Venedig by Nicolas Remin

My sister introduced me to the series a few years back, and I was smitten instantly. Count Tron is a shy man, no longer really young, and suddenly falls in love with a beautiful woman. But she's also a suspect in the murder of two passengers on board the steamer from Triest...
The descriptions of Venice take me back there, and the atmosphere of the slowly decaying houses, the impoverished aristocrats, the heavy hand of Habsburg rule are spot on. And there's also lots of humour in the relationship of Tron with his widowed mother.

ROOT #103 is Le pont de la rivière Kwai by Pierre Boulle

I first read this in German translation a few years ago, and it feels like a different book at times. That said, I find it also odd that a French writer should chose such a British-themed topic. The various parts don't always fit seemlessly, and the ending is different from the movie.

>74 MissWatson: My library has an ebook copy of it. I put it on my list.

>76 Ameise1: I hope you enjoy it, Barbara!

>60 MissWatson:. Hi Birgit. That happened to me too in the last few months. Nice weather and getting more reading done than visiting threads when the weather is that good will do that. But now I'm trying to visit all threads to get up to date.

Wow, you have read lots of ROOTs. Amazing job.

>78 connie53: Hi Connie, glad to see you! It looks like autumn here now, so there's even more excuse to stay home and read. Plus, I've caught Covid again, so I'm self-quarantining. Thankfully, it's a very mild infection and clearing up already. I hope everything is well with you!

>75 MissWatson: Interesting! It's such a classic and yet I've never read the book or seen the movie (I just know the music - lol). Now I'm definitely curious!

>80 Cecilturtle: I think Alec Guinness was perfect casting for Colonel Nicholson, but much of the book is taken up by the commando team ordered to blow up the bridge, and I don't remember that at all from the movie.

ROOT #104 is Basil by Wilkie Collins

Collins is one of my favourite Victorian authors, mostly because of his sympethetic portrayal of women and the constraints they lived under in his times. That's not much in evidence here, his second published novel.

It is almost entirely told from the viewpoint of Basil who relates how he met Margaret, a shopkeeper's daughter, married her secretly, waited a year to consummate the marriage and was cheated on the last day by a rival whom he attacks and leaves for dead (yes, the author's reputation for sensationalism is well-deserved).
We never really get to know Margaret and her side of the affair, in later books we would have learned about her in diaries or letters.
All we get is Basil's arrogant upper-class attitude and his fear of his father, who takes an enormous pride in a family lineage going back to Norman times and in his ancestors who have been perfect gentlemen no matter what the provocation (a statement which a modern reader instantly disbelieves). Basil has committed the one unforgivable sin by marrying below his station and compounded his error by keeping it secret, so he is disowned.
I felt no pity at all for him, he brought this upon himself, and then he is such a wet blanket, always weeping and fainting away in times of crisis. Yes, the education he has received may have been conducive to this kind of mental instability, with its emphasis on not showing your feelings. And there is a creep factor in his excessively close relationship with his younger sister, bordering on the incestuous. But on the other hand, I don't buy his assertion that he himself was sexually innocent: he shows remarkably adept at suborning Margaret's servant to his will and carrying letters for him.
All in all, not my favourite Collins novel, but a remarkable one.

>75 MissWatson: "That said, I find it also odd that a French writer should chose such a British-themed topic."

According to wikipedia, "Boulle was an engineer serving as a secret agent with the Free French in Singapore, when he was captured and subjected to two years' forced labour. He used these experiences in The Bridge on the River Kwai, about the notorious Death Railway, which became an international bestseller."

An interesting (at least to me!) side issue is the fact that, as I was reminded by the Wikipedia piece, Boulle did not write the screenplay for the movie, but he was given screenwriting credit because the to actual screenplay writers had been blacklisted.

>83 rocketjk: Yes, his work for the Free French and the forced labour were mentioned in the book, but I still was surprised he didn't choose his countrymen's (and his own) share in the fight for a subject. Maybe it was too close to home...
It'll be interesting to watch the movie again some time, especially with this bit of information.

>84 MissWatson: My conjecture would be that there were many more English than French prisoners in the labor (OK, labour) camp he was held in, so if he was writing from experience, that might explain it, but that's conjecture only.

>85 rocketjk: It's a good thing that we won't know for sure. It makes you think about the book and keeps it memorable.

The Death Railway is the Burma Railway if I'm correct. One of my fathers friends, a Dutch man we called uncle, worked there. That always made a big impression on me. He passed a way a long time ago. But I never forgot about that.

>87 connie53: I can well imagine that it left a lasting impression.

ROOT #105 is Venezianische Verlobung by Nicolas Remin

Another delightful historical mystery. It is October 1863 in Venice, and a mistress of the Archduke Maximilian has been murdered, at a very inconvenient moment for him because he is negotiating with the Mexicans about becoming their emperor. Lots of diplomatic shuffling to and fro, and Tron runs into dead ends whenever he uncovers evidence.

I have tested negative for two days in a row, so I'm counting this episode closed and will visit my sister for her birthday tomorrow. See you all next week.

Happy days, Birgit.

Thanks, Connie!

ROOT #106 is Carsten Curator by Theodor Storm

A 19th century classic and pretty short, it's a novella set in the author's hometown. It's local history, and that's the main interest here for me.

ROOT #107 is Renate by Theodor Storm

This is one of the many novellas he has written, and I bought it in a single-volume edition with notes, as an experiment. The notes were helpful for the part written in 18th century prose, and for the many local references, but the story itself left me rather cold. There's too much fanatical Protestantism and belief in witches here.
And because the edition has far too many typos, it will leave the house.

Are you on a Theodor Storm trip 😉?

>95 Ameise1: Haha! Not quite a trip, but when I want to read something short I turn to him. One or two are enough, though.

ROOT #108 is Maigret et le corps sans tête by Georges Simenon

Another short book, but very satisfying. As usual, the slow circling of Maigret round his suspect until he knows what happened is the main joy.

>97 MissWatson: I love Simenon's style! Have you read any of his other books (non Maigret)? They have such a languid, nostalgic feel to them; some of my favourite works!

>98 Cecilturtle: Yes, I have read one or two and have more in my stacks.

ROOT #109 is Classic Ghost Stories

I'm not really into horror and scary things, but I do love 19th century classics, and this collection contained many such stories, plus some Edwardian ones. A pleasant and not overly scary read.

ROOT #110 is Cinco días de octubre by Jordi Sierra i Fabra

This is the third in a series of historical mysteries set in Barcelona. The Republicans have lost the Civil War, and former police officer Miquel Mascarell has only recently been released from forced labour, only to be coerced by a partisan of the new regime into finding the grave of his nephew who was killed at the begiining of the fighting.
It's a rather chilling read. He quotes quite often from contemporary sources, and those passages are a stark reminder of the awful ideology of the Falange.
One thing that strikes me enormously here is that nearly all the women whom Mascarell interviews in the course of his search are working. These are all menial jobs in the service sector, and without them they couldn't have survived in this bleak post-war misery, but all the same it is very much at odds with the Fascist ideal of women as mothers and housekeepers.

We are having amazing weather, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and I've had my coffee and newspaper on the balcony for the fifth day running. If this holds for another day or two, I may take a trip to the seaside on Monday...

Hi Birgit, great weather here too, but today it's cloudy with a sun that is trying to break through. I hope it will so I can sit in the garden with my book.

>101 MissWatson: Did you read that in Spanish? How many languages do you speak and read?

Hi Connie, I shouldn't have praised the weather, because since Sunday it has been grey and cold. So decided to stay at home and have a look at my kitchen cabinets which need clearing out.

And yes, I read that in Spanish. I studied it at university, but let it become rusty because I rarely used it in my working life. Same as Russian, sadly. Every year I tell myself that I need to do something about it, but then other books lead me astray. English and French I needed daily for my work, so that's easy for me.

ROOT #111 is Das alte Rußland by Sigismund von Herberstein

I was looking for some solid information about Russia, and this has been on my shelves for some years: the first report of a Western traveller in the country in the early modern age. The author went on two diplomatic missions for Ferdinand I of Austria to Moscow, and he was curious about everything. And his report stands up to our days, as most of it can be verified from other sources. I hope I can pursue this topic, but right now I have to finish a library book which is due back, because someone else has requested it.

ROOT #112 is Aurelia und die letzte Fahrt by Beate Maly

The author writes historical mysteries about Vienna and is usually a safe bank when I want something cozy. But this one, the start for a new series, was a sad disappointment. It's set in 1871 which would you never guess from the way people talk and act. And for some unexplained reason she doesn't give any details about the rank of the officers, the school they graduated from or their age, which is rather crucial here, as the victims and the murderer are all in the Imperial Army. It feels as if this affair took place among chocolate soldiers. Definitely not something to recommend.

>104 MissWatson:

That must be wonderful to know all those languages. It's Dutch and English for me. And I can get by with French and German. But not enough for reading books in those languages.

>107 connie53: Thanks, I find it keeps my brain on its toes.

ROOT #113 is Ein Lied von Sein und Schein by Cees Nooteboom

This was a fascinating read, alternating between an author reflecting on his work and discussing it with a fellow author, and the story he is writing.

ROOT #114 is Ayala’s Angel by Anthony Trollope

This was an ebook I had on my reader for train rides, and it took me a long time to finish it. I found it rather boring, compared to his Barchester or Palliser series, and the heroine was way too insipid for my taste.

ROOT #115 is Winter, Weihrauch, Wasserleiche

This is a collection of 24 mystery short stories with a Christmas theme. The quality varies, some are very predictable, some written badly, and none of the authors really jumped out at me. The Swiss and Austrian stories at least had the advantage of unusual settings.

ROOT #116 is The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; The Merry Men and other tales by RL Stevenson

This is a pretty little hardcover edition from Everyman which I picked up in London ages ago. I must have read Dr Jekyll before, but had no memory of it. The storyx I enjoyed the most was The treasure of Franchard, set in rural France.

ROOT #117 is Moskau : Von der Siedlung im Wald zur Kapitale einer Weltmacht by Heddy-Pross-Weerth

I have owned this since my uni days, and I am so glad I finally picked it up. It's a brief history of Moscow from the days of the Tartar Horde to 1980, with many excerpts from other people's books about Moscow, most of them writers. I hope to find some of these books. It has nice illustrations, too, and because it was published by Insel it is printed on first-class paper that hasn't become yellow. It's nice to know that such treasures are waiting on the TBR.

ROOT #118 is Das Dorf. Suchodol by Iwan Bunin

I’ve owned this since 2015, when I bought it with a gift voucher won in a literary quiz organised by our local newspaper. They don’t do that anymore...Anyway, I finally picked it up because I am on something of a Russian spree and hoped that these two stories would tell me about life in a Russian village. They did, and how. Das Dorf is a relentless tale of unbroken misery, poverty, dirt, violence and ignorance. Not a book one should read in dark, cold, wet November, the descriptions of the endless snows and rains is depressing enough and then there’s all the human wretchedness on top. The other story, Suchodol, tells the slow decay of a manor house and the aristocratic family which owns it, until it stands empty and even the graves are forgotten.
The writing is superb, though, that comes through even in translation.

ROOT #119 is Bracelet of Bones by Kevin Crossley-Holland

This is historical fiction for youngsters, about Solveig who goes on a journey to Constantinople with some Viking traders to re-join her father. It's a bit uneven, and I suspect there's too much setup for the next books where we probably meet several of the characters again.

ROOT #120 is Meine Kinderjahre by Theodor Fontane

Fontane calls it a novel, to pre-empt criticism by people who may be displeased to find themselves in his book, but it is actually a memoir about his childhood in a small seaside town on the Baltic. Told in his unmistakable, conversational, anecdotal and digressive way, a pleasant read for gray afternoons.

After three days of (intermittent) snow, the sun has come out and suddenly the world looks bright again. That's a good thing!

ROOT #121 is Two for the lions by Lindsey Davis

This has been sitting on the shelves for some time because I got a little bored with Falco and needed a break. Now it felt quite fresh and actually very interesting, as Falco and his new partner Anacrites audit the books of some lanistae (who provide animals and gladiators for the games). We learn much about the business, but then Falco runs into a dead end and the case grows cold. The author has a little fun telling us that real-life investigations don't follow a pre-conceived pattern where everything is neatly solved in the last chapter, but then she spoils the effect by doing exactly that. I think I can now part with this (after finishing the last remaining books in the series).

ROOT #122 is La parure byzantine by Elena Arseneva

I bought this historical mystery in Paris in spring, because it has an unusual setting, the Kievan Rus in 1070. I knew nothing about the author, but she has a degree in history from a Moscow university, so I assume that the historical details are correct. It is a nice, almost cosy mystery where the villain is unmasked in a final showdown, and I already regret I didn't look for more books in the series.

>119 MissWatson: Wow - I looked up Kievan Rus and was confronted with my complete ignorance of this area and epoch. Sounds like the series could be both fun and educational!

>120 Cecilturtle: That's why I love historical fiction, I always go and look up things that are new to me.

ROOT #123 is Der Abituriententag by Franz Werfel

For much of my life I avoided German writers because school made them boring. Then again, maybe these writers are best enjoyed late in life when you can appreciate the clear, precise language better and the psychology of the characters is understandable. This one evokes the awful years of teenage cruelty and self-absorbedness in a stellar way.

ROOT #124 is Saxnot stirbt nie by Robert Gordian

I have no idea when and where I got this, I didn’t make a note in my catalogue about it. It’s a short historical mystery set in the times of Charlemagne, when a monk and a nobleman are sent to recently-conquered Saxony to act as king’s justices. Monk Lupus reports their adventures in a letter to a cousin.
This was much better than I expected, no glaring mistakes, and I liked the way that the murder is solved by Lupus and Odo talking to people, exploring their motives, their thinking, their lies and their memories. An important role is played by an ancient oak in the local heathen sanctuary where justice is done, it was sacred to Saxnot and had a face in its gnarled bark which made me instantly think of the holy tree in Winterfell.

ROOT #125 is Letzte Ernte by Tom Hillenbrand

Xavier Kieffer could be a famous chef with stars, but he chose a more peaceful life and runs a small restaurant in his native Luxemburg, where he frequently gets involved in murders. In this third book of the series the topic is international commodity trading and TV cooking shows, and neither comes off in a good light. Xavier is very old-fashioned and you can only wonder how he comes out of it alive.

ROOT #126 is Kaiser, Kraut und Kiberer by Gerhard Loibelsberger

A collection of mystery short stories from Habsburg Vienna, all featuring Inspector Nechyba who is very fond of cooking and eating. The author probably picked the ideas for these from historical newspapers, and I found them uneven in quality. The belated honeymoon in Venice was cute, others showed a brutality not in evidence in the full-length novels.

ROOT #127 is Romola by George Eliot

This one runs to a hefty 692 pages in my edition, and it was a very slow read. Eliot’s prose is dense and long-winded, and it isn’t helped by an atrocious number of typos, frequently swapping b for h and vice-versa, so there are many hads and bads where they shouldn’t be. She read widely for this tale from Renaissance Florence, and her eagerness to make us share in her knowledge weighs down the story. The title character gets very little page room in the first book, which is all about her husband-to-be, a young Greek scholar with a secret who wants to find a place among the Florentine scholars and politicians. The two other books are also mostly about him and how he manoeuvers between the opposing factions. Unfortunately, Eliot tells us repeatedly that he does this, but is frustratingly vague about the how. The political life never really becomes real, whereas she spends reams and reams on detailed descriptions of the city and its festivals. For me, this was not entirely successful.

ROOT #128 is Quallenplage by Susanne Bergstedt

The next one is completely different, a cozy mystery set in a suburb of Kiel, where two women take up amateur sleuthing when a firend is found dead. The author writes rather better than I expected, and there is lots of local colour, so I wouldn't mind rescuing the next one in the series from the remainders bins.

ROOT #129 is Die Vegetarierin by Han Kang

The author won the Nobel Prize this year and it pushed me to finally take this off the shelf. Maybe not an ideal book for dark, depressing December. I pitied In-Hye, the sister, as she struggles to understand what is going on with her younger sister. That part I could relate to, but I cannot really picture what went on in Yong-Hye. It is almost alien.

ROOT #130 is Snow Flower and the secret fan by Lisa See

I liked this book very much as it gives a detailed picture of women’s lives in 19th century China.

And now I am signing off, for tomorrow I’ll be leaving for my usual Christmas holiday with my sister. No internet for two weeks which I actually look forward to. Every year we are forced to do more and more things online instead of facing real people at a service desk. It’s not a good thing. But for the next days I won’t let it bother me.

See you all in January for a new year of ROOTing!

>129 MissWatson: I remember really enjoying that book and being slightly obsessed with bound feet (ouchie).

Happy Holidays and enjoy your rest!

Have a wonderful time with your sister, Birgit, and we will see you in the new year!

I wish you and your loved ones a happy and blessed festive season.