Journal Entry 1 by lellie from Trimley St Mary, Suffolk United Kingdom on Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Journal Entry 2 by lellie from Trimley St Mary, Suffolk United Kingdom on Wednesday, April 14, 2004

On it's way to gaotgrrl.
Happy trails little book. 

Journal Entry 3 by goatgrrl from New Westminster, British Columbia Canada on Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Journal Entry 4 by goatgrrl from New Westminster, British Columbia Canada on Friday, April 23, 2004

Journal Entry 5 by gill846 from Victoria, British Columbia Canada on Monday, April 26, 2004

Found this waiting for me when I got home from work today. This is my first Bookcrossing-received book ever!!!! 

Journal Entry 6 by gill846 from Victoria, British Columbia Canada on Monday, May 17, 2004

Well, what can I say after goatgrl's expansive review? This was quite an interesting book. However, I'm not sure that I found this more moving than basically just "a good story" or a nice read. It was good, but it didn't exactly make a lasting impression. Thanks for sharing, redhouse!
This was mailed to jenvince today. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 7 by jenvince from Scottsdale, Arizona USA on Monday, May 24, 2004

Received this today - thanks! :) Will read and get it on its way to the next person. 

Journal Entry 8 by jenvince from Scottsdale, Arizona USA on Friday, May 28, 2004

Interesting story - thank you for sharing it. :)

Am mailing to seekmyface today. 

Journal Entry 9 by Beloved49 from Lynbrook, New York USA on Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Journal Entry 10 by Beloved49 from Lynbrook, New York USA on Thursday, June 17, 2004

This was a very good read and I loved it. It was so much like the Granda TV production and really a sequel to "The Jewel in the Crown" quartet which you will also love.The "Ironies of the human condition" in Staying On is both absurd and compelling. We are drawn into the everyday lives of the Colonel and Mrs. Smalley and a host of Indian characters. Thier world is a dying one filled with military trappings and old world charm. A winner all the way. Next stop is Portugal, to a fellow BC'er Mattellaca 

Journal Entry 11 by mattellaca from Águeda, Aveiro Portugal on Friday, June 25, 2004

I received it yesterday. I'll come back after reading it.
 

Journal Entry 12 by norafrvr from Kuwait, Kuwait Kuwait on Saturday, January 08, 2005

I received the it yesterday. MANY THANKS "redhouse" you too "mattellaca" for mailing it to here :)
i will read it and send it off to the nest person as soon as possible.
 

Journal Entry 13 by newk from Adelaide, South Australia Australia on Thursday, February 03, 2005

I have it thanks. 

Journal Entry 14 by newk from Adelaide, South Australia Australia on Sunday, February 27, 2005

sorry to be so long. I better PM fushy again 

Journal Entry 15 by newk from Adelaide, South Australia Australia on Wednesday, March 02, 2005

thanks redhouse. But I have been unable to get into this book. And I have so many more (oh so many) waiting to be read.

So off it went to fushy. Posted today in red aussie post bag.

With a surprise


hiya all 

Journal Entry 16 by fushmush from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, March 20, 2005

Haven't been at work all week because I'm on leave. I popped into work today to pick up some stuff and there was a HUGE pile of packages on my desk. Aragh! More books!

Have a couple ahead of this (both Booker prize bookrings too) but should get to it soon. 

Journal Entry 17 by fushmush from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Friday, April 29, 2005

A very sad and depressing book. By the end, I almost dreaded finishing it as I knew what was coming.

I must admit, that I did initially find it difficult to get into the book. The jumping timeline was a little hard to keep track of. However, I've made a promise to myself, I'm going to persevere with all the Booker books.

Poor MeganH, I'm sending another Booker bookring her way! 

Journal Entry 18 by meganh from Thornbury, Victoria Australia on Thursday, May 26, 2005

Staying On has arrived - thanks fushmush for the 2 Booker ring books which came together. This ring is moving very quickly. I have not long finished Heat and Dust so it will be interesting to see the parallels between the two books.
I will start it soon - hi to newk and fushmush - see you in Brisbane. 

Journal Entry 19 by meganh from Thornbury, Victoria Australia on Monday, July 25, 2005

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The very dignified relationship between the English Smalley couple as opposed to the flamboyant Bhoolaboys was interesting and really showed how different cultures can be.
I thought the story of Tusker and Lucy 'staying on' in India into their retirement was as much about staying on in the country as in their marriage. Lucy got her romance through the movies at which she was a regular spectator, and it was only at the very end that she received a written token of her husband's love.
I will now send this on to tantan. 

Journal Entry 20 by tantan from Gympie, Queensland Australia on Thursday, August 11, 2005

Received from meganh today. I'm looking forward to this one. 

Journal Entry 21 by tantan from Gympie, Queensland Australia on Friday, October 14, 2005

This took me a little while to get into, but once I got going I really enjoyed it and found it difficult to put down. Nobody else has mentioned it, but I actually found many parts quite amusing - maybe I'm just different! :-) I can't really add much to the reviews already given, but thanks to redhouse for sending this book on its travels. It will be heading off to tania-in-nc next.

***

Edit October 20th, 2005: Posted to tania-in-nc today via airmail. 

Journal Entry 22 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Thursday, October 27, 2005

This arrived safely in my box this afternoon. I have a couple of Booker winners ahead of it but will get to it ASAP. Thanks for sharing :)

Update October 28th, 2005 -- I am going to sneak this one in the middle of the trilogy by Pat Barker. The book I'm reading now is Regeneration by Pat Barker, c. 1991. This book will be next. 

Journal Entry 23 by tania-in-nc from Mooresville, North Carolina USA on Tuesday, November 01, 2005

I'm making a start on this one this morning - as soon as I drop my young'un at school!

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.

Ibrahim went his barefoot way through the kitchen and squatted on the narrow verandah at the back. He lit a Charminar. What, he wondered, was a daybarkle? Daybarckle, Day Barkle? Night barkle? Whatever it was he fancied he was in the middle of one. p39
{comment: ah the wonders of the English language. Subject overheard a conversation with the word "debacle".]

... to know where you could get beer ad lib but needed a permit for hard liquor, where what could be drunk in public or only in a permit room, which states were dry but had capitals as wet as a Sunday afetrnoon in Wales (as he put it), where your car might be searched ... p89
[comment: I liked the Wales analogy.]

Update: November 3rd, 2005 -- I have to admit that this book has just started to pick up for me and I'm on Chapter Six. Am I the only one to find the beginning difficult?

Update: November 5th, 2005 -- Finished this one this evening. The book was nothing to write home about but passed the time of day.


sent off to dospescados 11/29/05 

Journal Entry 24 by dospescados on Thursday, December 01, 2005

Ah, the wonder of the Bookers. This looks like a book (yeah, yeah, don't judge a book by the cover) that I'd ordinarily pass by without a second thought. But it gets a chance and I just might like it and discover a wonderful new author. =)

Thanks! 

Journal Entry 25 by dospescados on Saturday, January 07, 2006

The holidays slowed down my reading schedule so I'm finally starting this today. I'll PM blurbren today too. 

Journal Entry 26 by dospescados on Sunday, January 08, 2006

Well, I tried. I read a bit over 50 pages and just couldn't get into it. The author has some great little passages of wonderful dry British humor but he seems to go off on way too many tangents and the main forward movement to this point just doesn't do it for me (finding a boy to cut the grass?!). My Mt. TBR is too high for me too spend more time on a book that isn't winning me over. 

Journal Entry 27 by dospescados on Thursday, January 12, 2006

Blurbren asked to be skipped so I will offer it to martinburo. 

Journal Entry 28 by dospescados on Thursday, January 19, 2006

Yeesh, I can't get rid of this book. Martinburo didn't answer so I'm PMing Lillyanna. 

Journal Entry 29 by dospescados on Monday, January 30, 2006

It's finally moving again. I had gotten Lillyanna's address and have another ring that goes to her next so I was holding it to ship together. Martinburo answered my PM last night after being away on holiday so it is on it's way to him. 

Journal Entry 30 by martinburo from Norwich, Norfolk United Kingdom on Saturday, February 04, 2006

That was fast. Thanks. 1.5 books to go before this one, will ask Lilyanna for an address. 

Journal Entry 31 by martinburo from Norwich, Norfolk United Kingdom on Saturday, February 25, 2006

The middle bit gave me some difficulty, because I find it painful to watch people show they love each other by continuously arguing, even in fiction. But then I liked the ending, which also made the beginning all right; I tend to like books that start at the end, though in this case I was confused about the chronological order halfway through the book, which also added to my having difficulty with the middle part and which likewise was cleared up towards the end.
I haven't heard from Lilyanna, so this book will be reserved until that is resolved.
18 March: After some more tries to get participants' addresses I sent it to jazz-ee2. 

Journal Entry 32 by dodau from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire United Kingdom on Sunday, November 12, 2006

This actually arrived with me earlier in the week but I immedinatly started reading it and being a bit wary of leaving books by the pc (new puppy) I kept forgetting to journal it. Anyway I have now finished it so will pm the next participent today re sending it on. 

Journal Entry 33 by jazz-ee2 from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire United Kingdom on Monday, November 13, 2006

Oh my, I can't believe I had this book all that time and didn't journal it once! It really was a complete oversight, and all I can say is I must be losing it!!

Well, this is one of those books that I thought I would hate, struggled with to start with and ended up loving! Following the lives of people who have 'stayed on' in India after the collapse of the British Empire, and those who have come to India since, it makes comment on the people and the times with such a sense of irony, very subtle and sometimes outright humour. I loved the way the characters develop from being almost cardboard stereotypes to people that you really care about, exposing human frailties and emotions in even the most apparently emotionless characters. I will certainly remember whats-his-name (Tusker!) for some time to come. I also loved the parallels drawn between the changing cultural world and the relationships / marriages of the different characters, just brilliant.

Dodau is now sending the book back to redhouse, from whence it came. 

Journal Entry 34 by lellie from Trimley St Mary, Suffolk United Kingdom on Friday, November 24, 2006

Staying On has come home, and look how far it has travelled!
From the UK to Canada and America and back accross the Atlantic to Portugal, then to Kuwait and on to Australia, back to Amaerica and then back to Europe and the UK via Germany.
Well done little book and thank you all for returning it to me safely, if a little dog-eared.

I think I will retire this to my permanent collection. 

Journal Entry 35 by lellie from Trimley St Mary, Suffolk United Kingdom on Sunday, November 25, 2007

I've changed my mind and taken this book out of retirement to put into soffita's Asian themed bookbox.

Please be gentle with this one, look how far it's travelled :) 

Journal Entry 36 by soffitta1 from Ávila, Ávila Spain on Friday, December 21, 2007

Arrived in the Asian bookbox.

Very different from the Raj Quartet. We return to India to see the fate of the Smalleys, incidental characters in the quartet. They have lived through the war, independence and partition. They are still marginal figures, living in the lodge.

A lighter read than the quartet, but still good.

Sent to the States on 28 March. 

Journal Entry 37 by Rororosie from Tempe, Arizona USA on Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Thanks for sending this ... Oooh started reading through the Book Rings' comments and realized there will spoilers. Will read later when I journal which will be a while as I have recieved the entire Raj Quartet from soffitta1 all the way from the UK to sunny Arizona where the temps will soon be in the 100s... So very much looking forward to reading them and then will most likely RABCK them at the end... so they can continue their journeys!