Back for some longer ROOTs

Hello, fellow ROOTers. I’m aiming for 12 this year, so that I will read some of the longer tomes that I have on my shelves. Thanks for your company.

*edited to add missing words!*

Good morning, KWharton. Happy New Year and happy ROOTing.

Welcome back, hope you have a good year reading! You're very brave, I find long books quite intimidating and they usually take me months and months!

Welcome back and have a great reading year!

Good luck! Looking forward to which tomes you choose -- I'd like to tackle a few of mine.

Welcome back and good luck with those hefty tomes!

Happy reading in 2020!

I am not doing very well so far, however I have just finished The Fifth Season which I really enjoyed. It was very thought-provoking. I was feeling very clever for having picked up on some of the author's hints and realised something, and then she surprised me with something else that I had not picked up. I plan to read the other books in the series (even though they're not in my ROOT collection).

I have now deleted the ticker that I'm not using.

Hi KWharton, I love the books by Jemisin. Book 2 is on the shelves.

Just one question. Why did you start a new ticker. You have one on top you can update. Or is the last one meant for big books?

Hi Connie,

I'm sorry, I seem to have found many ways to stuff up my tickers during my time in ROOT! I think I couldn't get my password to work. I am only intending to have one ticker for everything this year.

I have now read Genetics for Beginners which was good, but I still have a few things to get my head around. I do enjoy Steve Jones' writing.

I have also read In the land of Blue Burqas. I learnt a lot about Afghanistan, and I do admire the author, but I wonder if the tables were turned and a Muslim from Afghanistan went and lived among Christians in the West, if they might think that Islam would solve a lot of our problems!

I have not read any of my longer books yet. Oops.

>13 KWharton: I understand. Sounds like a good decision.

One large ROOT complete - La vérité sur l'Affaire Harry Quebert which I hated! All the women were only there to tell the men how great they were, and the author was trying so hard to be clever with twists at the end that everything was a twist and it became predictable. The central "love affair" sounded like an abusive infatuation, and I wasn't convinced by it at all. I was very surprised, because this book has won awards. However, I am glad that I have now read it so I can warn other people not to read it (unless they really want to!). Some people have suggested that it might be satire, but then it should have been shorter, in my not-so-humble opinion.

On the other hand, I loved Big Blue Sky. I learnt a bit more about the world in the 1980s, when I was growing up, but not aware of many things that were going on in the world. I loved that Peter Garrett has his strong convictions and protests about indigenous land rights, environmental protection, and other things, but was also willing to go into politics to try to change things from the other side. I am always trying to work out what I can do to make the world a better place but also know what my limits are, so hearing how other people deal with similar questions is fascinating.

I am currently reading The Story of Suzanne Aubert. I think Jessie Munro wrote it at the request of the Sisters of Compassion, so it may not have been intended for a larger audience, even though it did win the Montana book prize in New Zealand. It is full of facts and I am learning a lot, but I do keep putting it down (partly because it is my book and so there is no due date!). I get a little confused with the Catholic terminology (secular priest, lots of mention of diocesan and other sorts of orders, and whether Suzanne Aubert is a proper nun or not). Suzanne Aubert sounds like she could have been fun to hang out with, but also she would make you work hard!

Hi, KW, Just popping is to see what you are up to. I hope you are fine.

>17 connie53: Hi Connie! Yes, I am fine and still trying to read through some ROOTs to reach my _target at the end of the year, as usual! I update my goodreads regularly and have to remember to pop in to LibraryThing from time to time.

Good luck with your ROOTing. I don't hope you's ticker is up to date, because you have 7 more ROOTs to go before you reach your goal.

I have just finished The Story of Suzanne Aubert which did count as a longer ROOT. However, to reach my goal, my ROOTs are now going to be shorter!

I finished Doc: a novel today. I love The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. It is an amazing book which touches on faith, language, civilization, and so many other things. I felt that there were so many worlds behind it. I enjoyed Doc, and learning about some of the people and places whose names I've heard but didn't really know anything about (Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Dodge City), but I felt that it ended in an odd place.

I finished One World: the ethics of globalization by Peter Singer last night and I have started Jesus and Non-violence by Walter Wink, which seems a little bit like cheating, because it is very short indeed (103 pages)!

I know that disability advocates have some good points against Peter Singer. I decided to still read One World because I find that he often has some good points to make and has thought of things that I had not considered. I do not always agree with him, and even if I do agree with him I do not always act on it. I think I read One World a little too quickly and didn't let the ideas sink in very well. I was reminded that it is not only recently that the US has not joined in global movements. I thought the discussion about when countries might justify intervention in other states' internal conflicts was interesting and brought up some ideas I would not have thought of.

There is a second edition of One World available.

I love Walter Wink's work. He seems to have so much energy and not get caught up in only answers A and B, a bit like Jesus. So he rejects that the only responses to violence are passivity or violence, and suggests instead "militant non-violence".

Jesus and Nonviolence is great. Inspiring and practical. Now I need to find some non-violence training.

There's nothing like a deadline! I started two more ROOTS today Le premier jour and The Bible Tells me So: why defending Scripture has made us unable to read it.

I have finished The Bible Tells me So! I loved it. So refreshing and liberating. It also has lots of dad-type jokes in it. God is not stuck in the Bible.

Happy Holidays from the Netherlands!

I have finished Le premier jour It was a bit silly, but now I have to read the sequel to find out what happens. Aaargh. I have started http://www.librarything.com/work/81111 "Living Dangerously" by Katie Fforde which I hope will be a quick read!

*edited to link author*

>25 connie53: Thank you so much, Connie! Merry Christmas to you too, from New Zealand.

I did it! Finished Living Dangerously today. I can’t figure out how to link it easily.

It was quite fun and sexy, but I do agree with a review I read on goodreads that there was some problematic almost abusive behaviour that was supposed to be manly. It was written in 1995, so I guess I have learnt a few things since then and Katie Fforde probably has too.