Jam

Where Has This Book Been?
by Yahtzee Croshaw | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
ISBN: 1595829571 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 9/18/2014
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7 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, September 18, 2014
I first read this book via an Audible.com download, read by the author, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was glad to find this good-condition paperback at Annie's Bookstop, for another release copy.

The story's set in Brisbane, Australia, which has been covered in man-eating jam. Seriously - it opens with the sentence "I woke up one morning to find that the entire city had been covered in a three-foot layer of man-eating jam," which sums up the plot quite well {grin}. I feared it might be a one-joke story, with the concept wearing thin early on, but that's not the case; it's very amusing and often surprising, and has a nice mix of dark humor, gruesome deaths, narrow escapes, and snarky backchat, reminding me rather a lot of the movie Shaun of the Dead.

The story brings together some unlikely comrades, including Travis, the narrator - something of a slacker, as are his roommates, Tim and Frank (Frank suffers death-by-jam early on, tipping off the narrator as to the danger). Then there's the tightly-wound neighbor Don, a software developer, who - having finally been convinced of the hazards of the jam - is determined to make it to his office to retrieve the storage drive containing the build of his latest project. Then there's Angela, a young woman from another apartment - oh, and Mary, a Goliath birdeater tarantula, rescued by our narrator somewhat against his will. Later on they are joined by a blatantly secretive woman and her hyper-comptent-soldier bodyguard; they're known as X and Y.

As they make their way across the city, first via a sailboat that somehow floated into town on the jam (it's made of fiberglass and thus is safe from the substance) and later via armor made from plastic bin-liners, they encounter other survivors, some relatively sociable, others outright hostile. There's a shopping center that, within the first few days of the disaster, has become host to a society based mainly on online-gaming personas (and where Travis gets in trouble through his choice of food for his tarantula), and an office building whose personnel have formed into a highly-regimented (if not always very practical) task force (they're trying to start a garden by planting anything that's in their snack machines - apples, crisps...).

Will our heroes find refuge, or will they throttle each other first? Will they ever learn what caused the jam, or whether it's spread worldwide? Will Don ever get his build back - and, if so, will there be anything to load it on?

There's humor, unexpected violence (and expected violence too), surprising revelations, and lots and lots of jam. Great fun!

[There's a TV Tropes page on the book with some entertaining tidbits, but do beware of spoilers.]

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Monday, September 22, 2014
I'm offering this book for a bookray - see forum thread here.

The book is a mass-market paperback weighing just under 8 ounces, something to keep in mind when estimating postage costs. I'm willing to make it an international ray if I get enough participants who can mail internationally and cover all the necessary hops. [US participants can get postage estimates at the USPS site here ( http://www.usps.com ).]

Please post a reply in the forum thread if you'd like to participate, and include any mailing restrictions or list-order preferences you may have.

My typical bookray instructions follow, so you'll know what to expect.

When you receive the book, please journal it, and PM the next person in line for their address so you'll have it ready when you've finished the book.

Note: even if you've sent books to that person before, please PM them before mailing this one, to confirm that the address is correct and that they're able to take on a bookray book at this time.

Try and read the book promptly - ideally, within a month of receiving it. (If you expect to take longer, you can request to be put at the end of the list. If you find you're swamped with other books when the person before you contacts you about the book, you can ask to be skipped, and then let me know whether you'd like to be moved down the list or dropped entirely. If you receive the book and find it's taking longer than you'd planned to get through it, I'd appreciate an update in its journal entries or on your profile, just to let me and the other participants know you haven't forgotten it.)

When you're ready to pass the book along, please add your comments about the book and indicate where you're sending it, either through a journal entry or through the controlled-release-note option with your own country/state/city as the location. If you find that you're having problems contacting the next person in line, or don't think you can manage to mail the book as originally agreed, please let me know; I'll be glad to try to work something out.

Participants:

Vekiki [UK]
Dani75 [Germany]
Minerva101 [Canada]

Journal Entry 3 by wingGoryDetailswing at Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, October 2, 2014

Released 9 yrs ago (10/2/2014 UTC) at Nashua, New Hampshire USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I'm sending this to BCer Vekiki in the UK. Enjoy!

*** Released for the 2014 Spook-tacular Halloween Challenge, for the spider on the cover. ***

*** Released for the 2014 TICK TOCK release challenge, for the embedded "AM" in the title. ***

Journal Entry 4 by Vekiki at -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Perfect holiday reading for my trip to the seaside next week, so the arrival of this is timed expertly ;)

Journal Entry 5 by Vekiki at -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Released 9 yrs ago (10/30/2014 UTC) at -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This was fun :) thanks for sharing - it's on it's way to the next reader

Journal Entry 6 by Dani75 at Rudersberg, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Saturday, November 8, 2014
The "Jam" has safely arrived here in Germany -I´m really looking forward to reading it :)

Journal Entry 7 by Dani75 at Rudersberg, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Saturday, January 3, 2015
This book was so much fun - I thoroughly enjoyed reading it! I got some rather strange looks from people around me when I suddenly burst out laughing or just sat there giggling to myself :)

I´ve already contacted minerva101 for an address to mail the book on as soon as possible!

Released 9 yrs ago (1/15/2015 UTC) at -- Per Post geschickt/ Persönlich weitergegeben --, Baden-Württemberg Germany

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The book is now off to Canada by mail to Minerva101 - happy travelling :)

Journal Entry 9 by Minerva101 at Calgary, Alberta Canada on Monday, February 16, 2015
This book arrived safely in my mailbox on Friday. I've had a busy weekend, but am finally journalling :)
I will start it as as soon as I am finished the book I am currently reading and will journal again soon. Thank you so much, Dani75, for posting overseas and thank you, Gorydetails, for including me in this ring!

Journal Entry 10 by Minerva101 at Calgary, Alberta Canada on Monday, February 23, 2015
The first hundred pages of this sucked me right in! Very fun! But then things dragged a bit - the book feels about a hundred pages too long. I quite enjoyed the twist on apocalypse fiction. It definitely had some laugh-snort moments, but by the end I was fed up with all the characters and realized I didn't really like any of them..... except maybe Mary, but even then I am still not happy about what happened to Whiskers.....
Yahtzee Crowshaw definitely has an imagination and a unique voice. Worth reading for the quirk factor.

Journal Entry 11 by Minerva101 at Calgary, Alberta Canada on Saturday, June 11, 2016

Released 7 yrs ago (6/11/2016 UTC) at Calgary, Alberta Canada

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I completely forgot I had this book until I found it this morning when I was going through my Bookcrossing shelf to get my books for today's Calgary Bookcrossing meeting at Cravings. I took the book to the meeting to pass along to another reader in our group - once everyone who wants to read it is done I will wild release it in an appropriately "jammy" place.

Journal Entry 12 by locker-monster at Calgary, Alberta Canada on Monday, June 13, 2016
Picked up this book at the Calgary BookCrossing June meet-up. This sounds like a crazy book. I didn't recognize the author until I looked at the back and realized that he's the Zero Punctuation guy who does awesome video game reviews on The Escapist. He's got a wicked sense of humour so I hope that wit is in this book, too.

Journal Entry 13 by locker-monster at Calgary, Alberta Canada on Thursday, June 23, 2016
This is a ridiculous book, but in a very entertaining way. Post-apocalyptic books are all very girm and dark, but Croshaw injects a lot of humour into his narrative. Instead of having the usual kinds of characters who manage to do quite well in the upheaval, we get the slackers. Travis lacks the decisiveness a main character should have and you can't help but laugh, and sometimes roll you eyes, as he tries to navigate this jammy new world. I'm fairly confident I'd be like Travis in an apocalypse.

Croshaw's Zero Punctuation game reviews are known for the metaphors he uses to describe how horrible a game is. They're funny in a short five minute video, but when it's an entire book of over the top metaphors, then it starts to become less funny. I appreciated the creativeness that went into the descriptions, but after a while I was just craving a plain statement of the action. So, the book loses a couple of stars in that regard, but this was still a fun read.

But now I'm freaked out about working in a high rise office building in the downtown. What if there's a jampocalypse? I could end up like the Hibatsu people!

Journal Entry 14 by locker-monster at Calgary, Alberta Canada on Friday, July 8, 2016

Released 7 yrs ago (7/9/2016 UTC) at Calgary, Alberta Canada

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Passing on this book to the next reader at the Calgary BookCrossing July meet-up.

Journal Entry 15 by megami-no-ushi at Calgary, Alberta Canada on Saturday, August 13, 2016
Uh Oh! I got this last month!

Journal Entry 16 by megami-no-ushi at Cravings Market Restaurant in Calgary, Alberta Canada on Saturday, January 14, 2017

Released 7 yrs ago (1/14/2017 UTC) at Cravings Market Restaurant in Calgary, Alberta Canada

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Taking to the January meet up - theme "One for the Money"!
"I woke up one morning to find that the entire city had been covered in a 3 foot layer of man-eating jam." is the beginning to this hilarious romp about the end of the world. Excellent to read beside the pool in Florida last month!

To the finder:
Calgary has an active group of BookCrossers that meet to swap books and discuss book crossing every second Saturday of the month at 11am at Cravings Market on Fairmount Drive SE. We always love to meet new crossers, so please join us any time you like!

Journal Entry 17 by BookyMcBooks at Calgary, Alberta Canada on Saturday, January 14, 2017
Picked this up at the January Calgary BookCrossing meetup.

I didn't know this was the same Yahtzee Croshaw that does video game reviews on YouTube. I'm looking forward to his humor in print form.

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