Pigletto's Roots

Any book obtained before 2014 counts:

Welcome back, Pigletto! Glad to see you again.

Welcome back and good luck!

Glad you're here again!
Please remember to copy your ticker to the ticker thread. Thanks!

Thanks all. I hope I manage to complete my goal again this year.

Hello Pigletto and good luck with your challenge.

January

1. Bleak House 4 stars
2. The Mangle Street Murders 4 stars
3. The Horse and His Boy 4 stars
4. My Family and Other Animals 4 stars
5. Wool 4 stars
6. The Book of Lost Things 5 stars
7. The Knife of Never Letting Go 2 stars
8. Sabriel 4.5 stars
9. Rules of Civility 5 stars
10. The Railway Children 3 stars

You are doing great! I have yet to complete one read this year. :-(

Me too! So thumbs up to you, Pigletto.

Wow Bleak House already finished in January. Congratulations on that great start. What did you think of it? I read it a few yers ago and really enjoyed it.

Oh, Bleak House! I've read it a couple of times at least. At first I found Esther so grating, but as the novel progressed, it becomes apparent why she is such a doormat. Fascinating character. What did you think of her?

I was on leave from work last week and I thought if I don't read it now I'll probably won't read it at all this month. It's a group read in another group.

I enjoyed it but sometimes got quite frustated when Dickens would part way through introduce a new character like Mr George and then spend time writing about their life and history. At times I was really into the story and at others would feel that it was never going to end.

I own the recent BBC adaptation and having watched it several times I found it really helped me with keeping straight all the different storylines, who is who and how it is all connected. It was interesting the actors from it that I couldn't help picturing or hearing their voice while I read.

I also found Esther to be rather grating at first - all that I'm not worthy stuff and the constant endearments re Ada - but when that decreased I liked her better. Funnily enough I never could quite picture Anna Maxwell Martin when reading Esther's sections. I much prefer the portrayal of her in the mini series.

I also got sick of the many 'I'm only a child' Skimpole speeches. However, as the book was published in serial form I can see why Dickens often restated things as it may have been several weeks since the reader had read about that character or situation.

I was surprised that I never really warmed to Jo and was rather unmoved at his death.

In hindsight I wonder if I would have liked the book better if I had read a bit each day over the month rather than reading it in such large chunks. Reading The Mangle Street Murders alongside did help as it was also set in Victorian England but was a much easier and funny read. I'm hoping to read Little Dorritt next month and may try the softly, softly approach for it.

Bleak House is one of my favorites by Dickens. I seem to remember that the first time I read it I was annoyed by the Jo sub-plot and couldn't figure out for the life of me why it needed to be in the book. I also like Esther better when I re-read the book after seeing Anna Maxwell Martin's portrayal in the miniseries. And Skimpole just needs a big slap upside the head.

Have you seen the recent BBC miniseries of Little Dorrit? It's wonderful. I saw the miniseries before reading the book and I think it really helped me keep things straight...much like your experience with Bleak House.

Happy reading!

I seem to remember reading that Skimpole is a thinly-veiled caricature of Leigh Hunt. Dickens was not a subtle man.

I haven't heard of the BBC versions of BH or LD. Something to look forward to.

Yes! I wanted to slap Skimpole too. So infuriating. But well played by Nathaniel Parker.

>13 shinyone:, 14, 15 Yes! Those BBC adaptions are great and Charles Dance playing the bad guys is way beyond scary, especially his turn in Bleak House. But my favourite is Our Mutual Friend. David Morrissey as Bradley Headstone is marvellous.

I love David Morrissey and will have to track down Our Mutual Friend immediately! Thanks for the tip.

I hope I'm not giving too much away, but I actually felt sorry for his character who is pretty unlikeable in the book...

I own the BBC's Little Dorritt and a box set that contains Our Mutual Friend. I really enjoy their period dramas.

February

11. Girl in a Pearl Earring 4 stars
12. The A.B.C. Murders 4 stars
13. Dead Man's Folly 3.5 stars
14. The Picture of Dorian Gray 3.5 stars
15. Daughters of the Witching Hill 4 stars
16. Catering to Nobody 0.5 stars
17. The Innocence of Father Brown 1 star
18.The Burglar Caught by a Skeleton: and Other Singular Tales from the Victorian Press 4 stars

March

19. My Life in France 3.5 stars
20. The Sisters Brothers 3.5 stars
21. Jasper Jones 4 stars
22. Hercule Poirot: the Complete Short Stories 4 stars

I'm impressed, Lori!

Thanks. I've really been trying to avoid reading recently purchased books.

Well, you did alright then!

Well done! But be careful that the new ones don't pile up, because they will be ROOTs next year. :-)

Amazing progress. I'm so behind with my own ROOTs...

>25 Tallulah_Rose: Well, that would be a reason to join the 2015 group!

>27 connie53: connie: Yeah probably, but at least it's my goal to one day have only a little TBR stack left and being able to freely get new books. And not restrict myself the way I do now. :-)

>28 Tallulah_Rose: Believe me, I know exactly what you mean. I bought more books this year than I've read.

I try this restricting thing but I'm so eager when it comes to books!

I don't think I'll ever have a small tbr pile.

I think the same thing!

April

23. Joyland 3 stars
24. Red Dwarf Omnibus 3 stars
25. The Lady and the Unicorn 4 stars
26. Property 4 stars
27. The Handmaid's Tale 4 stars
28. Daphne 4 stars
29. Remix 1 star
30. Trouble at the Little Village School 3.5 stars
31. The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse 3.5 stars
32. Magus of Stonewylde 4 stars
33. Lost Boy, Lost Girl 3 stars

Nice reading! :)

Thanks

May

34. The Magician 4 stars
35. The Surgeon of Crowthorne 3 stars
36. Fragile Things 4 stars
37. The Somnambulist 3.5 stars
38. Elephants Can Remember 2.5 stars
39. The Fate of Mercy Alban 3.5 stars
40. The Queen and I 3.5 stars

June

41. Prince Caspian 4 stars
42. The Ocean at the End of the Lane 5 stars
43. Lottery 4 stars
44. Persuasion 5 stars
45. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader 3 stars
46. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand 4.5 stars

Wow! At this rate you'll be to your goal next month. :)

July

47. The Diary of a Nobody 4 stars
48. Songs of Innocence and Experience 3 stars
49. Orphan Train 4.5 stars
50. The Hollow 4 stars
51. Peril at End House 3 stars
52. Isabel's Skin 3 stars
53. Unholy Ghosts 4 stars
54. Unwanted 4 stars
55. Outbreak 2.5 stars
56. Unwind 4.5 stars
57. Deadly Inheritance 4 stars
58. Omens 4.5 stars

Only two more to go, Lori. Good job.

Thanks. I should be able to finish in August. Yay!

Wonderful reading! Won't it be funny in August when you tell someone, "Shh...I have to finish this book!" and there's a whole new layer of meaning to it, lol.

August

59. Murder in Mesopotamia 4 stars
60. The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man 4 stars
61. Playing with Fire 3 stars
62. Angelfall 4 stars
63. The Adventures of Inspector Lestrade 2 stars
64. The Silver Chair 3.5 stars

Congrats!

Hey, you did it! Cheers!

Thanks.

Yeah, Yeah! congrats.

Made your goal! Congratulations! :)

Congratulations! Also, LT keeps telling me you and I have similar book tastes..... :)

Thanks and to you to for reaching you goal in July. We do have quite a few books in common.

Thanks! It's always interesting to find people w similar reading tastes.. :)

September

65. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 4 and a half stars
66. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan 4 and a half stars
67. The Painted Girls 2 stars
68. Unbearable Lightness 3.5 stars

Oh I love Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I cried for 2 hours after I finished it!

It's a great book and very sad. I loved that it felt very realistic. So many historical fiction books have a lead character whose ethics and thinking are much more in tune with modern times than they are with the period the book is set.

October

69. Defending Jacob 4.5 stars
70. The Last Battle 1 star
71. NOS4A2 4.5 stars
72. Five Little Pigs 4 stars
73. A Trail of Ink 3 stars
74. Five Children and It 4 stars
75. The Midwich Cuckoos 4 stars

Getting closer to that goal!

November

76. Outlander 0.5 stars
77. Cinder 3.5 stars
78. The Keeper of Lost Causes 3.5 stars

>56 Pigletto: 1/2 star!! Really?

LOL, I just d/l that book on my Kindle and thought I would read it over Christmas break!

>57 connie53: I was wondering the same thing.... ;)

Outlander - I couldn't finish it. Any book I can't finish gets 1/2 star. There was nothing I liked about this book.

I must admit this didn't sound like my kind of book. Way too much romance and I tend to find 'erotic' scenes in books very unerotic. I gave it a go because I'm trying to read at least 150 of the top 200 books from the BBC's Big Read and I saw it in a sale.

I often don't like books that everyone else seems to love - The Book Thief, The Kite Runner, Twilight, Life of Pi... I wouldn't touch the Fifty Shades series with a bargepole.

Pigletto......you and I must have the same taste in books...I also did not like The Book Thief, The Kite Runner, Twilight. I have the Life of Pi in my TBR pile. Fifty Shades...no way!

Oh. Oh I didn't know that.. It'd been recommended to me .. I'm not into erotic fiction either. Disappointing.

There are sex scenes but it's not erotic in the way 50 Shades is.

Ahh.. Good things to know!

December

79. Before I Fall 0.5 stars
80. Olive Kitteridge 4 stars
81. Bad Blood 4 stars
82. The Turn of the Screw 4 stars
83. Wizard's First Rule 2 stars
84. Little Women 4 stars
85. Gathering Blue 4 stars

>64 avanders: I absolutely love the Outlander series. And I don't mind the 'erotic' parts. (NOTHING like fifty shades) they just feel natural to me in this books. Claire and Jamie are that much in love, so there is sex and it belongs there (In my mind anyway).

>66 connie53: Got it. Thanks! Helps to know :)

And wow Pigletto, you are just tearing up those roots!