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The Roots of Heaven
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
16 posts | 7 read | 6 to read
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MayJasper
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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I am having fun with the #augustisatrip photo challenge. So here's a book I had forgotten was on my TBR list. Perhaps I will track down a copy soon. #heaven
Thanks @vkois88 and @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

At the heart of the story we find Morel and his passion for saving the elephants who are being killed by ivory hunters and tourists and the natives. The demonstration of his value of life lies at the heart of Gary‘s novel.

Leniverse It's hard to come by, that one. I was thrilled when I found a physical copy, even though it wasn't in the best of conditions. It is available online though, and for free. I first read it on the computer. (It can be downloaded to Kindle, but is practically illegible due to formatting.) 6y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thank you for participating!! We are loving seeing your posts!! And I love elephants 🐘❤️ 6y
vkois88 We are glad to have you ❤ this sounds like a good one. 6y
82 likes3 comments
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Leniverse
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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#BirthdayBookhaul Day 2. Post 2/2.
Here are the rest of my purchases today! Hardcovers to the left and soft to the right. I'm really chuffed about some of these! I spent 4 hours in the Hay Cinema Bookshop and selected 19 books. The shop attendant who helped me carry them to the till cheerfully informed me I was absolutely bonkers, and I confided that I had actually shown great self-restraint. 😂

Kristelh That‘s a nice haul, I‘m feeling some Book envy! 6y
LeahBergen 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 6y
Moray_Reads Great haul! The Mandarins is eyeing me with disapproval as it's still sitting unread on my shelf after 4 years 😳 6y
See All 16 Comments
Leniverse @Kristelh I was really pleased to find The Roots of Heaven, even though it's a bit scruffy and worn. Such a good book, and hard to find. But I've been unable to find A Ballad Georg Henig and several other 1001 books I've been keeping an eye out for. 6y
Leniverse @Moray_Reads I read the first part of The Second Sex in November 2016, and has been on a break from it since. I'm hoping that reading some of her fiction will help me get back into her non-fiction. 6y
BarbaraBB Great haul! So many #1001books! Loved the tagged one and The Mandarins! 6y
Moray_Reads @Leniverse I love All Men Are Mortal but I just never seem to get to the Mandarins 6y
squirrelbrain I‘m halfway through Suite Française at the mo, but I‘ve stalled... I‘ve also read that the first part is better than the second, so Im hoping that isn‘t the case.... 6y
vivastory Happy belated birthday! 📚🎂🎉👏 Great haul! 6y
Leniverse @squirrelbrain I was actually looking for her "The Wine of Solitude" more than this one but only found Suite Francaise. ? 6y
DreesReads Great haul, wow!! 6y
Kristelh Yes, I think your book of The Roots of Heaven is as good as you can find according to my research. I would buy it if I ever find it because it is really good. I was able to find a ILL of Ballad for Georg Henig. There were 3 in Minnesota universities. 6y
Kristelh I think your find of The Tale of Gengi is a great find too. Hard to find a full edition. 6y
Leniverse @Kristelh Yes, I searched for The Roots of Heaven when I read the digitalised copy, but it just wasn't possible to find. I felt positively elated when I saw it on the shelf. 😃 And The Tale of Gengi too. I was a bit worried it might be abridged, as the volumes aren't that big, but the print inside is tiny and it appears unabridged. Might become a strain to read, but I'm very happy with it nonetheless. 😁 6y
Leniverse @BarbaraBB Yes, I seem to be always on the lookout for 1001 books now, but as I can't actually fit all 1001++ books into my home along with my other books I try to keep lists of "library", "ebook", "no rush", and "grab 'em when you find 'em"! ? 6y
BarbaraBB That must be interesting lists I guess 😀 6y
61 likes16 comments
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Kristelh
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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#best #30daysofreadathon. Read these in September. Roots of Heaven was the best of the bunch.

19 likes2 comments
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DreesReads
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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Not the best month, but school events (and driving to/from) have eaten into my reading time--which is fine! 3 1001 list books and 5 (!!) in translation (2 French, 1 German, 1 Japanese, 1 Chinese). I'll take it! Best of the bunch is tagged.

Nat_Reads I'm also looking to up my translated book reading! Happy to follow kittens who give me such good ideas! 7y
21 likes1 comment
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Leniverse
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary

"It was in fact a great cause, with the company a great cause always keeps: men of good will and those who exploit them, generous endeavour and sordid calculations, an ideal over the horizon, but also the treachery of ends justifying means. Man's oldest company, I tell you, a noble cause and a pack of scoundrels behind it, a generous dream and all the purity that's needed to cause great massacres..."

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Leniverse
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary

'How can we talk of progress when we're still destroying, all around us, life's most beautiful and noble manifestations? Our artists, our architects, our poets, sweat blood to make life more beautiful, and at the same time we force our way into the last forests left to us, with our finger on the trigger of an automatic weapon, and we poison the oceans and the very air we breathe with our atomic devices."

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Leniverse
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary

'He was the first to recognize the enemy and to cry tally-ho, and he had gone on the attack with all the passion of a man who feels himself challenged by everything that makes too-noble demands upon human nature, as if humanity began somewhere around thirty thousand feet above Orsini. He was determined to defend his own height, his own scale, his own smallness.'

JenP I really loved this book. 7y
Leniverse @JenP Now that I have stopped struggling with the kindle version I love it too. I started over again on the computer. A completely different experience. 7y
JenP @Leniverse yes, the kindle version is dreadful 7y
JenP Glad you're loving it too now 7y
28 likes4 comments
review
DreesReads
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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Pickpick

This book is intense, strong, upsetting, infuriating, and frustrating. It's also very very good. Written post-WW2, it looks at the issues of colonialism v nationalism v conservation in Africa. His characters are fascinating, and 60 years on things have certainly changed--yet some things have not. And some things have turned out just as his characters predicted. #1001books #192019 #1956

DreesReads Also, how about that cover repair job someone in my library system pulled off? 7y
BarbaraBB Is this the book about elephant hunting? 7y
DreesReads @BarbaraBB yes, but it's really about colonialism v. nationalism v. tradition. But don't get me wrong, there are parts that are very hard to read (if it were more graphic I would not have made it through). Excellent book, but I wouldn't say I enjoyed it. 7y
Liz_M You have an fabulous library -- signed editions, excellent cover repairs, and books from the penguin drop caps series! 7y
DreesReads @Liz_M it's a huge system--the Los Angeles Public Library--and IMO the best thing about living here lol. This is the first time I've had such a great repair though, in 17 years of living here. 7y
19 likes5 comments
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Kristelh
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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#1001 books. Not much has changed in almost 60 years.

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DreesReads
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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Gary wrote this 60 years ago, and it is spot on.

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DreesReads
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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I thought this book was going to be too much--I made it all the way to page 16! And then I started over and made a character list. I already have 3.5 sides! It's going much better now, definitely the right decision!

MayJasper I had to do that recently - make my own character list (for a different novel). And the author couldn't supply one because? That was my thought. 7y
16 likes1 comment
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DreesReads
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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A #1001books #libraryhaul I'll be starting the Gary first (it's a group read) but the other two both sound better to me lol!!

BarbaraBB I enjoyed The Roots of Heaven a lot! 7y
17 likes1 comment
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Kristelh
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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#tbr #september2017, #1001 Roots of Heaven Romain Gary and Legend by David Gemmell. #awesomeautumnbooks.

7 likes1 stack add
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JenP
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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Our #1001books books of the month for September. Legend was published in 1984 and is the first and most famous move by British fantasy writer David Gemmell. RoH is a 1956 novel by the Lithuanian-born French writer and WW II aviator, Gary. It received the Prix Goncourt for fiction.

Want to discuss either or both of them? Join our group -discussion sep 1 https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/180736-reading-1001?ref=discussion_newsfeed...

JenP And Legend happens to have one of the ugliest covers I've seen 😂 7y
Simona If you really want to see the ugliest cover in the world http://litsy.com/p/YWxFSUJxN0NT I hope that the link works. 7y
tstan I bought the ebook so I don't have to look at it! It's pretty unappealing- I hope this is one of those don't judge things... 7y
See All 6 Comments
LeahBergen @Simona 😂😂 7y
JenP @Simona that's pretty ugly but I have to admit I'm still more inclined to read a book with that cover than with the cover of legend 7y
JenP @tstan 😂😂 7y
30 likes6 comments
review
BarbaraBB
The Roots of Heaven | Romain Gary
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Pickpick

This book tells the story of this strange, charismatic man, Morel, who is convinced that man is generous enough to care about the fate of the elephants.
With this mission he travels through Africa, surrounded by a group of characters at least as interesting as Morel himself. They tell us the story and by their points of view sketch us this period in Africa after World War II, of French colonization and elephant hunting.
#1001books

6 likes1 stack add