Great beginning to a wonderful series...

The eleven books of Winston Graham's Poldark Sage are historical fiction, set in the copper mining regions of Cornwall. The series begins when country gentleman Ross Poldark returns from fighting in the American revolution (where he was missing, presumed dead) to find his father has died, the farm and mines have been neglected, and his fiancee Elizabeth is marrying his cousin.

These are riveting books with great plots and vivid characters. The history (dealing with the Napoleonic wars and the beginning of industrialization) is all very well researched and well-integrated into the plot lines.

I have the entire series and love them dearly, so I figured to start with the first one and then send the following ones out depending on interest.

The ring so far:

1.) morpha (Astoria, Oregon)
2.) PokPok (Vista, California)
3.) mlbish (Chicago, Illinois)
4.) Koalabare (Fetcham, England, UK)
5.) DianeO (Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK)
6.) Zarylia (Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland)
7.) sfbookgirl (San Fransisco, California)
8.) carpediva (San Fransisco, California)
9.) CelloRocksMyWor (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)

After moving mayhem, I'm finally ready to get going with this, just waiting for address info (as of 3/24/04)...

(thanks to Georg-und-Co for the great bookring image!)

Released on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 at Fellow BookCrosser in Postal release, Postal Release Controlled Releases.

Sent out to morpha.

Released on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 at Fellow BookCrosser in Postal release, Postal Release Controlled Releases.

Sent out to morpha this morning

Caught, read, and thoroughly enjoyed. Can't wait for the next one! On to PokPok next.

I rec'd this today, thank you. I'm glad this bookring did eventually get going. Thanks drommie!

Fair warning: I am beyond slammed at work for the next 2 weeks. that means no time to read (16ish hour days) plus no train commute, as I'll be driving. So I'll be keeping this about a month or so. I will try to apprise you of the status, if I am not ready to move it on by Oct 15th. (On the plus side, I take vacation that week, so it will move by then, or shortly thereafter).

PokPok

Before I start my review, let me start by thanking drommie1810 for passing this one. Part of bookcrossing is seeing how others love books you loved, as well as seeing differing opinions. So I truly do thank you...

That's my prelude to saying this failed the "50 page test" for me. I made it to page 56, and just skimmed a few other pages in the middle. I'm passing it on. I'm not even going to rate it.

I found the characters poorly drawn, caricatures. The main character, Ross Poldark, I thought was a macho s**t. That's really why I can't get through this. I found him annoying and sexist and the characters to not act very well. The writing to me read look a poorly written romance novel.

Frankly, if I had a smaller TBR, I might consider finishing more of this, but at 400+ and ever growing, I don't continue any books that don't grab me. This not only didn't grab me, but more than once in the 50 pages, I found the lead character to be utterly obnoxious and he disgusted me.

Again, drommie, just one person's opinion. Thanks for sharing!

PokPok

RELEASE NOTES:

Caught. Thanks, Pokpok! I will read it and pass it along ASAP.

Well, let me first say that I am hugely embarrassed about this. Somehow, poor Ross got put into a box when I moved from Chicago and then never surfaced again. I tore the house apart looking for him. I accused both my mother and mother in law of having him at their houses. To no avail. But now that we have moved again and are unpacking boxes, I found him hiding in one that never got unpacked from Chicago. I am so so so sorry to everyone involved. It was, of course, never my intention to hold up a ring this miserably. I apologize to everybody and especially to drommie, who was kind enough to share her book with us.

But, now Ross has been found, he has been read, and will be traveling across the pond to the next person so he can continue his travels. And it's possible that my review will contain spoilers. So be careful!

I enjoyed the book well enough. After reading PokPok's comments, and hearing my mother in law's memory that the PBS movie version was 'racy', I was a little wary. But, I didn't hate Ross, and didn't find the book racy in the least, so I think I came out okay.

The story did seem to drag somewhat, especially in the beginning. In my opinion, it didn't really pick up until about 100 pages in, which is too bad. I had trouble keeping up with all the minor characters, which is a frequent complaint of mine. In my estimation, there were really too many, but I know this is a huge series, so I can see how one would be able to track them over a generation and be interested in all of them.

The historical detail was nicely integrated. I don't know that much about this period, but it did seem like Winston Graham has done his research. And I know this is silly, but I always feel like the descriptor 'Cornish' sounds much more exotic than just 'from Cornwall'.

There was one thing I thought was really weird. And that was Demelza's attempt at seducing Ross. I just didn't know where that came from. It didn't seem to me that there was really any buildup to that particular action and I found myself wondering if I had skipped a chapter somewhere. And shortly after that, Elizabeth came around and there was apparently a great deal of sexual tension between she (her?) and Ross. I hadn't really detected a lot of open sexual tension previously in the book. I mean, yes, they had had a relationship, but that just seemed out of the blue. And then the two women were suddenly jealous of one another? That was the only chapter I thought didn't fit. After I got past that, the rest of the story made sense. It's not as though these things were a surprise. I could see where the plot was going, it just seemed as though they were dropped on the reader with not enough explanation.

As I have a huge TBR pile of my own, I doubt if I'd move onto the next book in the series anytime soon. But I am glad I know about it, as I wouldn't rule it out for the future. I'm glad you introduced me to it, drommie. And I am also glad to be able to tell my mother in law that Ross Poldark is, in fact, not racy, and that she should read it!

Again, my deepest apologies for keeping the book so long. I really hope that I haven't totally wrecked the ring. I suppose time will tell. Off to the next person.

RELEASE NOTES:

This is going in the mail to KoalaBare in the UK.

I hope you enjoy it! I have included a postcard of Pittsburgh, where I live. It is yours to keep, if you like, or you can let it travel with the book.

I'm sorry, again, to everyone, and am hoping that the ring will travel well after me!

Arrived this morning. Will be jumped to the next in line of the TBR pile.

Thanks mlbish and drommie1810!

This took me back to when I was 15 and reading the Poldark series in bed when I was sick with the flu!!

I'd forgotten almost all of the story except for the bit where Ross rescues Demelza from the fair, and it was good to re-read. I can totally see why Pok-pok thought Ross was so bad - a couple of times I agreed totally - he's patronising and arrogant to Demelza, and even when they are married, still manages to treat her as a child.
However, this was also a look into 18th century Cornwall, and was interesting for that reason. Men probably were that patronising then, so perhaps Ross is merely a product of his time!! :)

However, I really enjoyed this, and may look out for the sequels in the future.

Thanks drommie1810 for sharing this and giving me a book blast from the past!! I've contacted DianeO for her address and will send on ASAP.

Update. I've tried (via PMs and ISO messages in the Bookring forum) to contact DianeO who is next in line for this, but have had no response.

I've also tried to contact Drommie1810 to let her know but similarly haven't been able to make contact.

Have now skipped DianeO and contacted Zarylia (as of 4th Feb) as I don't want the book to wait around not being read!

In the meantime, this book is sitting around feeling a little sorry for itself. *sigh*

Hooray!! This book is now on it's way again - to Zarylia in the US as of today (11th Feb)

Oh dear, I am terribly sorry!! This book arrived, well, several weeks ago and managed to go rather unoticed until I picked it up recently, began reading, and was suddenly struck by guilt when I realised that it was a BOOKRING! Once again, I am terribly terribly sorry! Anyway, the book is in good health, and I should be finished in the next couple days. I will PM sfbookgirl and journal again when I've finished it. Thank you to everyone for your patience!

This book seems to be getting quite the spectrum of journal entries, and I am finally about to add my bit. I would heartily agree that this book takes AGES to get into, but as I was reading it on a 7 hour train to Scotland this was not enough to turn me off the book completely. Once I had realised that this book was part of a series (must remember to pay more attention when joining book rings) a lot of the writing style made more sense and the leisurely way in which the book proceeded seemed more logical. In the end I found myself rather enjoying the book as a way to pass the time, though I must say that if it hadn't been for that train ride I may have given up completely. I feel that this is a book you must be in the correct midset to enjoy; you have to be prepared to spend some time slowly immersing yourself in another highly developed world with a multitude of characters and plot lines. This is a slow process and, if properly mentally prepared, a thoroughly enjoyable one. Whilst I canot say that I am clamoring for the next book, this one was an enjoyable and relaxing way to spend my time. Thanks drommie for starting it, and I sincerely apologise for taking up so much of this book's time. I'll get it in the mail ASAP. :-D

3 July Update: I've PMed the next two people on the list, neither of whom have responded, I am going to give carpediva one more PM before moving on to the next person.