Journal Entry 1 by Readinator from Woodend, Victoria Australia on Monday, January 26, 2004

One of my favourites. An epic of one family's making and undoing in postcolonial Africa.  

Journal Entry 2 by Readinator from Woodend, Victoria Australia on Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Being offered as an international bookring. Bookring is now closed for new participants

Final shipping order (subject to change without notice)
markmcg (anywhere)
PrairieFirefly, Canada, (anywhere)
sonnet116 (US only)
sweetpea0678 (US or Canada only preferred, anywhere if need be) Asked to be skipped
spiderchic, UK (anywhere)
miss-gonewest, Perth (Aus preferred)
tqd (anywhere)
Mistlerose (Aus only)
Ravenbear (Aus only) <<-- Currently here
e-i-pi (Aus only)
jassy-m (Aus only)
princessrica, US (US or Canada only...skipped as no response)
...and eventually back to Readinator

How-to-bookring
1. Read and enjoy the book.

2. When you are nearly at the end of the book, pm the next participant to get their postal address.

3. If the next participant doesn't think they can get to the book within the next few weeks, they should pm me and I can move them further down the list.

4. When you are finished, leave a journal to tell us what you thought, and ship the book to the next player!

**please try not to hold onto the book for longer than 4-6 weeks** 

Journal Entry 3 by Readinator from Woodend, Victoria Australia on Friday, August 20, 2004

This bookring has begun! Sent to the first participant in the list, markmg, by parcelpost satchel. It should reach you in a week. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 4 by Readinator from Woodend, Victoria Australia on Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Markmcg advised he has received the book, will begin reading it soon, and will pass it on to the next participant as soon as he's finished. Thanks! 

Journal Entry 5 by markmcg from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Tuesday, September 07, 2004

What a wonderful book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The images of the people and places were so real. The 'funeral scene' actually brought a tear to my eye. Picture a middle aged guy sitting in a park having to stop reading for fear of choking up... sad hey! Thank you Readinator for giving me the chance to read this great book. It will head off to Canada later this week. 

Journal Entry 6 by PrairieFirefly from Ottawa, Ontario Canada on Tuesday, October 12, 2004

This book arrived safe and sound. I have a few other books to finish before being able to get started on this one, but should hopefully be able to get started by the end of next week. I have been looking forward to reading this book for some time. Thanks for sharing! 

Journal Entry 7 by PrairieFirefly from Ottawa, Ontario Canada on Monday, November 22, 2004

What a lovely read! Every time I picked up the book I truly felt transported into the story. It was a beautiful read but left me feeling sad for how the family pulled apart. Adah was my favorite. Rachel and Nathan made me angry. Ruth May brought me tears. The chapter where Leah chose to hunt was one of my favorites. And I so appreciated the reflections the mother. I will send a PM to the next person on the list today so that this book can continue its journey. Sorry for hanging on to it for so long. :)

I PMd the next bcer on the list a couple of times and did not hear back, so I went ahead and PMd the person afterwards - once I get an address I will send the book on its way :) 

Journal Entry 8 by sonnet116 from Aurora, Illinois USA on Sunday, December 19, 2004

This arrived yesterday...just in time to be my reading for Christmas break! 

Journal Entry 9 by sonnet116 from Aurora, Illinois USA on Monday, January 24, 2005

I finally finished this one up while in Vegas last week. It's been a while since I've read a 600+ page book, and had forgotten how much time they can take. So, I didn't quite get to finish it up over Christmas break as I had planned. :)

This was an enjoyable read. It touched on some pretty deep religious and political issues. I was intrigued and saddened as I read about how deeply the Price family was affected by their time in Africa.

Adah and Ruth May were my favorite. I really enjoyed Adah's references to literature- especially her mention of “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams. This is one of my favorite poems of all time!

I PM’d princessrica over a week ago for her address, but haven’t heard back yet. I’ll try again today. Once I have an address, I’ll be mailing it right away! 

Journal Entry 10 by sonnet116 from Aurora, Illinois USA on Wednesday, February 02, 2005

This book is officially on its way to spiderchic. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 11 by spiderchic from Droylsden, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Friday, February 11, 2005

Received in the post yesterday - shall start it straight away as have just finished a book - good timing. Thank you 

Journal Entry 12 by spiderchic from Droylsden, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Sunday, February 20, 2005

Finished this yesterday, what a lovely book. When I read the first page I was thinking "uh-ho, how am I going to get through this?" But before I knew it I was hooked.
Thank you so much for sharing, shall pass on to miss-gonewest next. 

Journal Entry 13 by spiderchic from Droylsden, Greater Manchester United Kingdom on Monday, February 21, 2005

Sent to miss-gonewest today - enjoy! 

Journal Entry 14 by miss-gonewest from Perth, Western Australia Australia on Thursday, March 10, 2005

Received today with thanks from Spiderchic... and I too was impressed with the size of the book! I wasn't expecting it to be so BIG!

I'm half way through another (also big) book ring book, but should get to this one early next week. I'm glad I have this as the Easter break is coming up and I will need something to read while I rest on the beach!

Thanks for posting this on to me - I'm really looking forward to reading this. 

Journal Entry 15 by miss-gonewest from Perth, Western Australia Australia on Monday, March 28, 2005

Oh my goodness, I really hate to say this but... I just can't seem to get into this book (and its the first ever Bookcrossing book to do this to me!).

I have been trying so hard - I was even naughty enough to skip a few pages trying to get into the meat of the story and alas, no luck.

I'll keep trying over this week to get into it, but in the meantime I will PM tqd for her address so I have it on hand.

It seems like a fascinating tale, however its not gripping me yet. It may also be the guilt I am experiencing as I have two other bookrings sitting by my bed, crying out to be read...

Readinator, I'm so sorry - maybe I can catch the book on its way back to Oz and I can give it another go? 

Journal Entry 16 by miss-gonewest at BookRing in Book Ring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, April 14, 2005

Released 7 yrs ago (4/14/2005 UTC) at BookRing in Book Ring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Posted off today (my biggest apologies for the delay) to TQD in New South Wales.
I hope the book arrives quickly and its enjoyed by her...

Thanks again for letting me try this book, hopefully at another time I will get a better chance to read it. 

Journal Entry 17 by tqd from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Monday, April 25, 2005

Turned up in the mail the other day, sorry it's taken a while to get online and make a journal entry. I'm moving house at the moment, and have one other book on the boil, but I should be reading this soon! Thanks all for getting this to me. 

Journal Entry 18 by tqd from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Monday, May 30, 2005

Sorry about the delay in reading this! It arrived, it got carefully packed for the house move, and then only just unpacked after the baby (a terribly gorgeous little Nell) threw out all our plans by arriving a month early. Phew!

I have to say that I found this fairly difficult to get into (although I shall point out that having a newborn and a toddler in the house does not leave a lot of quality reading time, so it's probably my fault, not the book's). We knew that the mission was going to be a disaster (otherwise why write about it? Conflict is what makes great drama), and I just found most of the book fairly inevitable (Nathan cheesing off the Congolese and misunderstanding everything). But then towards the end when they finally leave, it entered new territory - I didn't know what was going to happen, and I found it hard to put the book down.

I think Rachel wins a prize for being the shallowest character I have ever read about. She was brilliant, I kept on wanting to skip ahead to see how she could interpret everything to being all about her. Would hate to meet her in real life, but great to read about her.

Will pass this onto Mistlerose asap. Thanks Readinator for starting this ring! 

Journal Entry 19 by Mistlerose from Frankston, Victoria Australia on Thursday, June 09, 2005

arrived today. Thankyou for the chance to read this book. 

Journal Entry 20 by Mistlerose from Frankston, Victoria Australia on Thursday, June 30, 2005

I finished this today. I really enjoyed it. I especially liked reading things from Leah and Adah's points of view. I found Rachel incredible selfish and self absorbed.

Thanks for the chance to read this book. Will be sent on to Ravenbear tomorrow. 

Journal Entry 21 by Ravenbear from Brisbane, Queensland Australia on Saturday, December 03, 2005

I have been searching my house for a book that may be here, and I came across an unopened parcel in one of my cupboards...I think it arrived when I was away in Vietnam, and since then life has been very hectic, and I have spent most of the year in Vietnam...so I do apologise for sitting on this book for so long...I will endeavour to read it over the Christmas break and then try to get it moving along again.