rainpebble ROOTS in 2017

JANUARY ROOTS:

1. Lady by Thomas Tryon; (5*); acquired prior to L/T

1. Lady by Thomas Tryon; (5*); hardcopy acquired prior to L/T

In Thomas Tryon we were blessed with a marvelous story teller, the likes of which a reader does not often come across. His writing is like a warm fleece blanket unless you are reading one of his horror stories. Then this reader finds his writing to be terrifying.
With Lady, even though there are mysterious aspects to the tale, I found myself wrapped up in a Southern Comfort story. It is the coming of age story of our young protagonist, Woody, who lives across the town green from a widowed woman known to all the community as simply Lady, short for Adelaide. She is beautiful, smart, sophisticated, and sometimes both fun and funny but always mysterious about certain areas of her life. She lives in a large, beautiful and magnificent house and keeps largely to herself and her servants, a houseman and his wife, her housekeeper.
Our lad watches the goings on across the green and is fascinated and curious about Lady. He is just one member of a family consisting of a widowed mother and several children. The story becomes even more interesting when Woody and Lady meet, befriend one another and carry the story on to new levels for the better Woody comes to know Lady and the closer they become, the more curious he gets about her life and her past. Over time she reveals more to him than she ever has to anyone excepting perhaps her servants who have been with her for many years. She takes his family under her wing, so to speak, and they attempt to watch out over her. That is, when she is not suffering from one of her spells for our Lady has frequent spells brought on by memories of unhappy times and/or relationships gone by and is brought quite low by them. Often she remains reclusive for lengthy periods of time. During these times she sees and speaks with no one but her servants.
I have heard this book compared with To Kill a Mockingbird many times over the years and yet I fail to see or to feel the comparison unless one is comparing only the writing. I have always loved TKaM but I find Lady to be the superior of the two. (**gasp**; I know)
I loved reading this story and also loved the way Tryon grows his characters, even the minor ones, into fully rounded and fleshed out roles in his novel. It is sad that we do not have a larger body of of work from him to appreciate.

Welcome back, Belva and happy ROOTing.

Hi Belva, lovely to see you're back with us. Great review!

Welcome back! Hope you have a great reading year :)

Welcome back and have a great reading year!

Here you are!
Welcome back & Happy 2017 ROOTing!
& Congrats on your first ROOT pulled already -- and a 5* at that!

Thank you ladies. I hope that 2017 is a wonderful year of ROOTing for all of us.
Happy reading to you. :-)

Hi Belva, welcome back. I'm excited to see what you read this year!

I dropped out for a bit but was encouraged to return, so HERE I IS.
I will be catching up my ROOTs from my reading threading here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/251185

It may take me a few days but I should be all caught up by month's end.

>11 rainpebble: welcome back! just been looking at your thread, wow, lots of great reads - I'm going to go back when I have more time and read your reviews! :)

Can't catch up, but will start anew here!

Welcome back, Belva!

Welcome back!

>11 rainpebble: glad you returned!
Oh I've not seen the reading logs before...
And I see you have The Bear and the Nightingale on your list... can't wait to get to that one!

JANUARY ROOTS:
1. Lady by Thomas Tryon; (5*); acquired prior to L/T
2. All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West; (5*); acquired 9/30/2009
3. Still With Me by Thierry Cohen; (3 1/2*); acquired 10/12/2013
4. Deerbrook by Harriet Martineau; (3*); acquired 9/11/2009
5. The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart; (4*)
10/02/2013
6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen; (5*); acquired prior to L/T
7. Family Circle by Mary Hocking; (5*); acquired 4/17/2015
8. The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge; (3 1/2*); acquired 7/10/2014

FEBRUARY ROOTS:
9. The Very Dead of Winter by Mary Hocking; (4*); acquired 11/27/2012
10. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot; (4 1/2*); acquired 11/09/2009
11. The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge; (5*); acquired 7/10/2014

MARCH ROOTS:
12. The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne; (5*); acquired prior to L/T
13. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; (1 1/2*); acquired 10/17/2007
14. NORA: The Real Life of Molly Bloom by Brenda Maddox; (3 1/2*); acquired 4/01/2015
15. Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman; (5*); acquired 9/23/2008
16. The Snow Child: A Novel by Eowyn Ivey; (4*); acquired 12/15/2014
17. The Pyramid: The First Wallander Cases by Henning Mankell;
(3*); 5/17/2016;
18. Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones; (5*); acquired 8/22/2015; purged
19. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton; (5*); acquired prior to L/T; hardcopy purged
20. Good Daughters by Mary Hocking; (5*); acquired 11/27/2012
21. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; (4 1/2*); acquired 10/22/2009
22. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell; (3 1/2*); acquired 3/21/2013
23. Secrets by Kristen Heitzmann; (3*); acquired 10/19/2013
24. The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell; (5*); acquired 3/21/2013
25. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon; (5*); acquired prior to L/T
26. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear; (4*); acquired 4/05/2012
27. Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear; (4*); acquired 5/12/2012
28. Tom's Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce; (4 1/2*); acquired 6/09/2013
29. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys; (4*); acquired 9/08/2011
30. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck; (5*); acquired prior to L/T

APRIL ROOTS:
31. Harriet Hume by Rebecca West; (2*); acquired 8/05/2009
32. The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne Du Maurier; (3 1/2*); acquired 9/22/2011; purged
33. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger; (3 1/2*); acquired 3/09/2010
34. Indifferent Heroes by Mary Hocking; (4 1/2*); acquired 11/27/2012
35. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott; (4 1/2*); acquired prior to L/T
36. The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley; (3 1/2*); acquired 11/23/2011
37. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle; (5*); by Madeleine L'Engle; (5*); acquired prior to L/T
38. In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden; (5+*); acquired 12/10/2013

MAY ROOTS:
39. Welcome Strangers by Mary Hocking; (2 1/2*); acquired 11/27/2012
40. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery; (5*); acquired prior to L/T
41. Gentian Hill by Elizabeth Goudge; (5*); acquired 11/03/2014
42. Zoe: The History of Two Lives by Geraldine Jewsbury; (3 1/2*); acquired 7/29/2011
43. My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather; (4*); acquired 8/06/2013

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier;; acquired 9/21/2009
(was unable to complete this one)

As I mentioned up above my reviews, such as they are, can be found here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/251185

on my Reading Log.

As a dendrophile, I'm loving your tree images! I've already taken some BBs from your reviews so will check out the May ones. :)

Wow look at all those ROOTs - esp. in March! You are way past your _target - congrats!

Wow, all those roots! Good job!

Congratulations, Belva, on such great reading and ROOTing!

>23 floremolla:
>24 avanders:
>25 Tess_W:
>26 MissWatson:

Thank you ladies. I appreciate the encouragement so much. It is greatly needed this year.

In an aside Donna, I had to actually look up dendrophile. Love the word & thank you for that comment.

Hi Belva. That is really impressive. All the images (love them) and those books in March!

JUNE ROOTS:
44. The Black Echo by Michael Connelly; (4*); acquired 10/19/2015
45. Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski; (4*); acquired prior to L/T
46. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky; (4*); acquired 1/30/2013
47. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie; (4*); acquired prior to L/T
48. The White Lioness by Henning Mankell; (4 1/2*); acquired 3/24/2014

You can find my reviews, such as they are, here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/251185

on my Reading Log.

JULY ROOTS:
49. The Man Who Smiled by Henning Mankell; (3*); acquired 4/04/2013
50. Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs; (1 1/2*); acquired prior to L/T
51. Impunity Jane by Rumer Godden; (5*); acquired 2/14/2015
62. The Pearl by John Steinbeck; acquired prior to L/T; (5*)
63. The Kitchen Madonna by Rumer Godden; (5*); acquired 9/19/2011
64. Incantation by Alice Hoffman; (5*); acquired 10/06/2009
65. The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue; (2 1/2*); acquired 12/20/2012

Again, you can find my reviews, such as they are, here:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/251185 .... on my Reading Log.

Hi, Belva! Hope things are going good for you. I see the rooting is progressing at a good speed!

>31 Tess_W:
Hey Tess. I don't know why I waited to jump into this challenge and forced myself to backtrack for my info. I LOVE this challenge. :-)
Thanks for popping by. Good to 'see' you.

Just dropping by to say Hello!
And I really like him: >29 rainpebble:

>33 avanders:
Thanks Ava. Me too. :-)

Hi Belva, just stopping by to say Hi. I've been away from LT for some time due to RL things. But now I'm back trying to keep up with threads.

Thank you Connie. Welcome back dear lady and I hope things are a bit more relaxed & restful for you now.

AUGUST ROOTS:
66. The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama; (5*); acquired 8/06/2016;
67. The Quest for Christa T by Christa Wolf; (2*); acquired 1/20/2014
68. Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays by Christa Wolf; (3*); acquired 2/27/2012
69. No Place on Earth by Christa Wolf; (1*); acquired 3/18/2014
70. The Little Hotel by Christina Stead; (2 1/2*); acquired 9/22/2011
71. Year Before Last by Kay Boyle; (3 1/2*); acquired 9/18/2009

I just wanted to drop by to say hi :)
I couldn't possibly catch up on the threads here (explanation on my own thread), though I wish I could!
I hear that you feel like you have a little more time again at some point after having a kid... here's to hoping ;)

& continued kudos on your major ROOTs success!!!

SEPTEMBER ROOTS:
72. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez; (1*); acquired 2000
73. They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple; (5*); acquired 11/16/2009
74. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte; (2 1/2*); acquired 1/31/2013
75. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks; (4*); acquired 9/09/2007
76. The Memory of Old Jack by Wendell Berry; (5*); acquired 9/09/2007
77. The Little Grey Men by Denys Watkins-Pitchford or "BB"; (5*); acquired 8/30/2007
78. The White Garden by Stephanie Barron; (4*); acquired 10/22/2009;

>39 rainpebble: Wow, I love that picture. Very beautiful and strange.

Hi Belva! I think that I will not be reading any Marquez books---most of the reviews are like yours.

>41 Tess_W:
I know, right? What is up with that? I guess it is another example of "critics love but readers hate".

>40 connie53:
Thanks Connie. Feel free to snag. :-)

OCTOBER ROOTS:
79. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck; (5*); acquired prior to L/T
80. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett; (5*); acquired in my youth
81. The Black Fawn by Jim Kjelgaard; (5*); acquired in my childhood
82. When Crickets Cry by Charles Martin; (5*); acquired 9/07/2007
83. The Road by Cormac McCarthy; (4 1/2*); acquired 10/12/2007
84. Meeting Place by Mary Hocking; (4 1/2*); acquired 4/24/2015

>43 rainpebble: what a great start to October! I have #'s79-81 on my TBR shelves! They look like good reads!

They are truly good, Tess. I hope you enjoy them when (and or if) their numbers come up on your TBR.
Thanks for popping over. :-)

NOVEMBER ROOTS:
85. After Abel and Other Stories by Michael Lemberger; (4 1/2*); acquired 2/26/2015;
86. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware; (4*); acquired 9/29/2015;
87. Never Mind Miss Fox by Olivia Glazebrook; (4 1/2*); acquired 7/07/2014
88. Too Close for Comfort by Ellen Feldman; (4*); acquired prior to L/T
89. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri; (2 1/2*); acquired 10/12/2007

Hello... sorry for such a long absence! I kept seeing that "unread" number get higher and higher and was completely intimidated... Finally, I figured it's better to just stop by and say HI. :)
I wish I had time to go through these threads and read all about what you've all been doing and reading! But, alas, I very much do not. But I think of you often!! And my "hello" is heartfelt and repeated often in my own head ;)

I'm not sure how I will remain involved next year, but I will be around in some fashion!
xo

DECEMBER ROOTS:
90. The Girl Who Chased the Moon: A Novel by Sarah Addison Allen; (4*); acquired 3/18/2011

Hi Belva!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas & Happy New Year!