Journal Entry 1 by wyldanthem from Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA on Tuesday, December 16, 2003

After eighteen years of marriage, an art historian wakes up one morning to find his wife standing in the bedroom doorway with her bags packed, leaving him with no explanation. Alone in his Copenhagen apartment, he tries to make sense of his enigmatic marriage and life. The more he thinks of his wife, however, the more mysterious she becomes to him. Slowly he realizes that two people can live together for years without ever really knowing each other, and that the most important encounters in one's life are dictated by chance, not design.

Exploring with great subtlety the secret, unpredictable connections between men and women, Silence in October is a psychological novel of immense acuity and masterful storytelling. 

Journal Entry 2 by wyldanthem from Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA on Sunday, October 03, 2004

Reserved for SqueakyChu! 

Journal Entry 3 by wyldanthem from Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA on Thursday, October 07, 2004

I just finished reading The Pilot's Wife, by Anita Shreve, and I think had I not read it first, I would've enjoyed this book much more. Although the specific events leading to the main characters' situations are different, the end result is the same: they are alone.

In The Pilot's Wife, Kathryn's husband dies in a plane crash, leaving her with many unanswered questions, the most important of which is how well did she really know her husband? In Silence in October, the main character wakes up one morning to learn his wife is leaving him. Again, throughout the story he asks himself how well he really knew his wife. As it turns out, none of them seems to know very much about each other, which could have a little bit to do with the fact that they don't know themselves -- their wants, their needs -- very much either.

I preferred Shreve's to-the-point approach to this book's cumbersome, drawnout paragraphs, but Jens Christian Grondahl painted more beautiful scenery (maybe because Grondahl's main character is an art historian and Shreve's was a music teacher). If he had included more dialogue to break up those Mitchneresque chapters, he would've held my attention longer, but what had started as a promising story ultimately wound up falling a few feet short of my expectations. 

Journal Entry 4 by wyldanthem from Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA on Friday, October 08, 2004

On its way to Maryland for SqueakyChu to enjoy -- hope you like it! :o) 

Journal Entry 5 by SqueakyChu from Rockville, Maryland USA on Saturday, October 09, 2004

I got this book today. It looks really interesting, and I and can't wait to read it. Thanks for the nice note, wyldanthem. By the way, it was rather nice to get a book with a bookplate from the artist series. It's the first one I've gotten like that. I find BookCrossers to be such generous people. Thanks, again!

This book (10.4 ounces, trade paperback) is destined to travel as a bookray! The bookray will remain open, but the mailing order will be subject to change at any time due to geography or mailing preference. If you'd like to participate, simply PM me with your mailing preferences.

International Bookray: Begins 01/30/05
SqueakyChu (Maryland) done
cat02886 (Rhode Island) done
mysteryfan03 (Missouri) done
florafloraflora (DC) done
Gyd (Spain) done
blaisezabini12 (Romania) done
arier (Greece) done
miss-gonewest (Australia) done
mummafour (Australia) done -- 1 year of travel
ldpaulson (California) done -- stop # 10
LPree (Nebraska) done
J-Emily (New York) done
tania-in-nc (North Carolina)
International Bookray: Ends 01/14/07

This bookray was discontinued due to no further movement for a period of 7 months and no response to the 2 most recent PMs to tania-in-nc. The book traveled to 7 states plus the District of Columbia and 5 countries over a period of two years. All remaining participants were notified by PM and deleted from the list. To those who moved the book along, many thanks! 

Journal Entry 6 by SqueakyChu from Rockville, Maryland USA on Tuesday, February 08, 2005

I found this book to be just beautiful. The mood was very melancholy...that of a man trying to examine why happiness was missing from his life...or if it was. Happiness is such a fleeting thing, often not recognized as one is in the midst of it.

Here's a memorable quote from this book:

‘Eventually I had stopped asking myself if I was happy. It had become unnecessary, but also futile to ask. After all, you can’t be happy all the time, gasping and salivating in one trembling spasm of happiness from the time you get up until you finally fall asleep with an idiotic smile on your wet lips.”

Wyldanthem, I'm sorry that you didn't find this book as wonderful as I did, but thank you so much for sharing it with me. I made a good choice from your bookshelf, or I'd never have read this author of whom I'd never heard before. Oddly enough, this is not the kind of book I would normally pick for myself. No dialogue, a plot that continuously turns in upon itself. Time and people move in and out. Yet, for some strange reason, I found it mesmerizing. I guess it was simply the gorgeous writing.

This book is now in the mail to cat02886. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 7 by cat02886 from Warwick, Rhode Island USA on Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Received this in the mail today. I have one book that i am reading right now and when I am done with that I will start on this. 

Journal Entry 8 by cat02886 at post office in Moberly, Missouri USA on Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Released 7 yrs ago (2/22/2005 UTC) at post office in Moberly, Missouri USA

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RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to mysteryfan03 as part of bookray...I couldn't really get into this book. I couldn't finish it. Thanks for letting me a part of the bookray!! 

Journal Entry 9 by mysteryfan03 from Moberly, Missouri USA on Sunday, February 27, 2005

Got this yesterday in the mail! Thanks! 

Journal Entry 10 by florafloraflora on Wednesday, April 06, 2005

This has arrived, in a very cool wrapper! Thanks, mysteryfan03 and wyldanthem. Based on the first page, it looks like it will be good. The way the weather's warming up already, it will be nice to read about lovely cool autumn in Scandinavia. I'm nearly finished with Love in the Time of Cholera, and I will read this one next. 

Journal Entry 11 by florafloraflora on Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Well. This book was well-written, I guess, but it was hard to read. The main character is not so much unlikeable as he is a yawning spiritual and emotional void. His every material, intellectual and physical need having been satisfied, he's left to scrabble around in the sparse landscape of his psyche, shaped as it has been by a tedious litany of alienating relationships (prima donna mother, distant father, cruel lover, beautiful but aloof wife), for the meaning of the latest event in his life. Reading this book made me want to put on a burqa and go marry a sheep farmer in Afghanistan, anything to find some meaning and a sense of belonging.

Weird little side note: I was reading this book while I served on a jury. One day I was waiting for my bus home from downtown DC, reading this book, when by total coincidence a couple of Danish teenagers walked up and asked me for directions. They were staring at me like I had three heads, as tourists will, and I was gawking at them too in their unseasonable shorts and camo flipflops and long tangled beach hair. Then they found their bus and moved on. I'm not sure what this has to do with the book, except for the Danish connection. It was an interesting little moment of cultural exchange. 

Journal Entry 12 by Gyd from Barcelona, Barcelona Spain on Thursday, June 16, 2005

Received, safe & sound from the other side of the ocean :D.

Thanks for the book and the very nice postcard, Florafloraflora!
I'll get to it as soon as I finish the one I'm currently reading (I won't be long). 

Journal Entry 13 by Gyd from Barcelona, Barcelona Spain on Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Sorry, it's taking me forever to read this book :P. I'm going to give myself a week more and then will send it to the next one.
Thanks for your patience!. 

Journal Entry 14 by blaisezabini12 from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania USA on Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Picked up today from the post office. I am going to read it after I'll come back from the seaside, next week. Thank you Gyd for mailing the book.

28 August 05: this book had a certain rhythm to which I had to adjust my reading but after I managed to do this I spent some enjoyable hours. For example, it was nice that each new paragraph could take you to another moment in time - sometimes I couldn't even remember to which New York trip the narrator was referring to:)
Like other readers before me noticed the atmosphere of the book is melancholic.
For me, the most interesting was the way in which the narrator aknowledged the fact that whenever you make a choice you sacrifice the other paths.
And now, because I am a big Terry Pratchett fan who has just bought The Discworld Companion and also because the book made me think about the concept of the Trousers of Time, I am going to copy their definition in this Journal Entry.

"the Trousers of Time are used to demonstrate for very slow people the bifurcating nature of Time - how for example, one simple choice can cause the universe to branch off into two separate realities (This One, and the One You Should Have Been In Where the Bus Wasn't About To Hit You)"
- nice methaphor, isn't it?

I have pmed Lillyanna for the address. Thank you SqueakyChu for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

8 September 05: mailed today to arier 

Journal Entry 15 by areir on Thursday, September 15, 2005

I just received the book... I'll read ASAP...

I'm really angry though... The envelope has been opened! I hate it! Why should anyone do something like that?

Journal Entry 16 by areir at to a bookcrosser in sent by mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Monday, October 24, 2005

Released 6 yrs ago (10/25/2005 UTC) at to a bookcrosser in sent by mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

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RELEASE NOTES:

I'll send it to miss-gonewest tommorow! 

Journal Entry 17 by miss-gonewest from Perth, Western Australia Australia on Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Thanks so much to areir for posting this book... it was happily waiting in my mailbox this evening, adorned with such lovely stamps!

I am currently powering through another rather hefty bookring, but this is next on to be read - and I'm looking forward to it.

As soon as I'm done I will pop back with my thoughts. And many thanks to squeakychu for sharing this book. 

Journal Entry 18 by miss-gonewest from Perth, Western Australia Australia on Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Look, I feel rather bad, but as others have said, I am finding that it is really hard to sink my teeth into this book. I don't even have an excuse as I've just had 2 weeks off work, but I can only get so far, before my mind wanders. Then when I pick this up again, I can't remember what happened previously, so I have to go back a wee bit... I am just not going anywhere fast!

I don't like hanging onto books, so I will give myself a few more days, and if I can't crack it, I will send this along. I think I'd love the chance to read this snuggled up in front of the heater with a glass of red wine, but given our 30'C + temperatures, I can't see it happening for a while!

I really appreciate the chance to read something different, so thanks to all for sharing this book.

Updated 18/12/05: Yep, I've been defeated, and rather than hold this up any longer, I am going to attempt the post office queue tomorrow and get this off to mamafour in South Australia. Give or take a few christmas postal panic days, this should be with her soon.

Apologies for hanging on to this so long, its a crazy time of year! 

Journal Entry 19 by miss-gonewest at BookRing in Book Ring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Released 5 yrs ago (12/29/2006 UTC) at BookRing in Book Ring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Ooops! This was posted off last week, but with all the excitement of heralding a new year, I forgot to journal it!

If the book hasn't arrived already, it will be there very soon. 

Journal Entry 20 by mummafour from Adelaide, South Australia Australia on Sunday, January 08, 2006

Thank you miss-gonewest. This book arrived early this morning I will start reading it tonight. 

Journal Entry 21 by mummafour from Adelaide, South Australia Australia on Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Thank you Squeakychu for sharing this book. I really enjoyed reading this beautiful story of a man looking or trying to figure out if anything was missing in his life. Thanks again!


Posted to Idpaulson This afternoon 

Journal Entry 22 by ldpaulson from Ventura, California USA on Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Arrived from Australia. Thanks! It is now added to the growing pile of rings and rays that must be read. 

Journal Entry 23 by ldpaulson from Ventura, California USA on Monday, February 27, 2006

Probably nothing I write will add appreciably to the comments previously posted about this book. SILENCE IN OCTOBER is well written, but an existential bore. Questions. Questions. Questions.

One of the problems is that the narrator vacillates so much in his views of the people in his life that, just as is the case with him, we never feel a connection. The protagonist isn't particularly dimensional, he just IS as are many of the characters in the book. Elisabeth was the only vivid, dimensional main character. The curator and Rosa are the only other persons who feel real or solid.

Some of the prose is wonderful, electric and moving, but it is contrasted with monotonous stretches of probing angst that don't further the story or our identification with with storyteller.

For some reason, while reading this I kept thinking about the Don Roos film BOUNCE. The story surrounds a series of relationships built on lies and half-truths. None of the characters are particularly truthful or interesting. They just exist as best they can and the audience is supposed to appreciate this, but ... it's as aggravating at this book. 

Journal Entry 24 by ldpaulson from Ventura, California USA on Monday, February 27, 2006

The book is en route to the next reader. 

Journal Entry 25 by Lpree from Omaha, Nebraska USA on Sunday, March 12, 2006

This arrived in yesterday's mail. I have some other rings ahead of this, but will read it as soon as I can.

I read the excerpt of this on amazon.com and it sounded like an interesting story. I'm looking forward to reading it! 

Journal Entry 26 by Lpree from Omaha, Nebraska USA on Monday, April 17, 2006

Well, like others, I've given up. I agree that it was pretty hard to read with no dialogue, long paragraphs, etc. I enjoyed what I read, but it just isn't the right time to read it as I have other rings calling me. I might pick it back up one of these days when I have a bit more time to leisurely read this and really absorb it all. I'd really like to know how it unfolds.

Thanks for sharing this book! I'll get it mailed out to the next person, hopefully this weeek.
 

Journal Entry 27 by ffortsa on Sunday, April 30, 2006

Just got home from a family gathering in Ohio and found this lovely-looking book in the mailbox! This is the first time I'm partipating in a bookray, and scanning down the previous journals, I'm curious to see how I fare with a book that has engendered such diametrically opposing reactions. I have a difficult book to for my May bookclub meeting (Canetti's Auto Da Fe)- but this will be next. It fits nicely into the Olympic challenge too. Thanks to all my predecessors!

Edited 5/16/06: I'm about 100 pages in and having as hard a time as the others who posted their difficulties here. The long paragraphs get me a bit glassy-eyed, and just now passive men really annoy me, so it's tough sledding. I just discovered there's a reading group guide in the back, however, so maybe I'll avail myself of that to see if I can change my viewpoint. I almost always finish books I start (two exceptions, Auto-da-fe, and Snow Falling on Cedars, both of which upset me terribly), so I'll persevere a bit longer with this.

Edited 05/18/06: Sometimes good things are worth slogging for. After much too much of the aforementioned troubles with this novel, the book finally came alive to me. The author had been circling, the way we do when we approach a hard and painful realization; when the narrator finally arrived in New York, the book really came together for me. Was it because I knew every street he spoke of, the museum garden he sat in, the views and people he described? Maybe - it certainly didn't hurt. But he also, finally, revealed what had been hidden all those paged before. The last 50 pages or so were as gripping and meaningful as the prior 200 were frustrating. So I'm not sorry I persevered.

I'll be sending this out to the next reader after the weekend.
 

Journal Entry 28 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Friday, June 02, 2006

The book arrived safely today. I should be able to get it started by the end of the weekend. Thanks for sharing!

Current read: False Light by Caroline Llewellyn, c. 1997

I collect quotes as I read. These ones are fun, poetical, or even philosophical. Take what you like, and leave the rest. Note that these aren't necessarily the "best" in the book. These happen to be close to the spot where I stopped reading each night.

In a short while, when I had taken a bath and changed my shirt, I would go down in the elevator and mix with the crowd at the bottom of the shaft among the columns of shining glass. I would reduce myself to a particle among particles fluctuating beneath me, each with its own direction and yet swallowed up in the same stream of continual, unstoppable, directionless movement. p101

I mused that time is not only a river, but a river that constantly breaks its banks so you must flee from it as it covers everything behind your back, flee into the future, empty-handed and dispossessed, as the river obliterates your footprints with every step you take, your every passage from one moment to the next. It is only our own helpless lack of synchronicity, the inertia of our senses, the illusory power of memory and habit, that shields us from facing the unknown when we open our eyes in the morning, washed up on the shore of yet another alien day. Every morning we tread an unknown path, and we only have faint and falling memories to tell us who we might be. Disconnected, frayed memories, that no longer distinguish between the world we passed and the shadows it cast in our hollow, clean-swept head as we fled onward, on and on. Now and then we overcoe our fear of stumbling and turn around to look back one last time, and again one very last time, because we do not understand the strangeness that approaches, and the words we have to name it will be hopelessly inadequate , and so we flee from the havoc of time, backward, until we are nothing other than the story there is to tell of all we have lost. p292

--
Wow, this is a deep book. I had to really concentrate when reading this one. Great food for thought ...