TBR

This is a story rich in vocabulary. There isn't really very much happening but the vivid descriptions of the mountain scenery, flora and fauna really do draw you into the book, although it took me a good 50 pages to feel relaxed with it. The author, to me, is a little like the american equivalent of our own Rosamunde Pilcher who writes in a similar style and once you've read one of her books you feel like you've read all of them so I'm not sure whether I will pursue her other novels, but maybe I could be persuaded otherwise!

I shall hand deliver the book to Ziggythecat sometime this week as it is on her wishlist!

What a lovely surprise to arrive home and find this leaning against my front door. Thanks Mojeden :o)
My little boy was impressed too "look mummy its one of those 'running away' books"!

Oh I loved this, loved it, loved it, loved it. One of the very few books I've read that I really wish I could have written!
The detail is wonderful - you could be walking those woods, listening to the birdsong and smelling the moss, lol. I love the way the stories weave together, sort of mirroring the intertwined forest ecosystem.
Its all so hopeful and open-ended too. I can feel a bookring coming on!

Off to Ermintrude75. Open to anyone else......

Waiting for me on the dormat yesterday... better read it before summer finishes (again) :o)

What a gorgeous book! I loved the way everything intertwined in a subtle way, and while the open ending initially annoyed me ("what? no! I need to know what happens next!") I can hope that there might be another instalment, or hang on to the happy ending that had wormed its way into my mind. The love for and understanding of nature, not to mention a whole lot of research, flows strongly throughout the book, and while it didn't make me want to spend my days in an isolated log cabin, I shall pay more attention to my surroundings now. I only wish my honeysuckle would grow so fast :)

Hopefully I can pass this on to another reader, it deserves to be enjoyed! PM me to join the ring (going back to ziggythecat in the end)

Off to:

kangaroo
ReetPetite

- anyone else?

I didn't think there had been any post today, but then my dad handed me the envelope with the immortal words: "There's a book for you."

I wonder how he knew....


The postcard's beautiful - thank you Katy!

Thank you for this! It was a brilliant read. One of those books that makes you wish there were no cruddy books - that they were all like this. (Though then we wouldn't appreciate them as much I suppose.)

I haven't read any Rosamunde Pilcher, so not sure how she measures up, but I wouldn't say that Kingsolver's books are much of a muchness. Mind you I have only read The Poisonwood Bible, which while set in a rainforest (....) definitely has more of a narrative plot to it than this one.

Travelling on soon!

Received today. Thanks kangaroo. I loved the postcard and the stuff about the travels of the envelope, I'll try to re-use it.
I hope to get started reading this soon ;)

I really loved this book, it made me think that I should know more about the names of trees or moths. I suppose I did learn something. The only thing I didn't like was how Deanna couldn't convince Eddie Bondo about the coyotes, their conversations seem to go round in circles not getting anywhere.
Anyway a really good story, I'd read The Poisonwood Bible & enjoyed it.
Thanks to ziggythecat & ermintrude75 for sharing.
If you PM me with your address ziggythecat I'll return your book.

Glad you all liked it too! Its found a few more takers before it returns:

aubriel
winterson
skribble

Will be going to aubriel soon.

Arrived this morning - many thanks

I really loved this book. Has been a while since I enjoyed a book so much and it was one of those stories you didn't want to end and sparked the imagination of how the tale could continue in many different directions after the book ended.

It was odd really it almost seemed that very little happened to the characters in the course of the summer, but in many ways a lot of thing did they were just were not the emphasis of the story.

Thanks Aubriel for sending this through. I'm a bit late journalling - I'm blaming the christmas brainfreeze. Will add it to the mountain and journal again when I'm done. I hope to have atleast a week to read and catch up on Mount TBR before I'm dragged back to real life kicking and screaming.

I loved this book too. One of those that you don’t want to finish, where you could so easily read the last page then turn straight back to the first and start over. Unfortunately this copy needs to go and sparkle in Skribble’s house for a while, but I will be hunting for a PC copy to read again.

I too loved the way it was written, very subtle and evocative, with beautiful descriptions and symmetry. I didn’t feel cheated by the ending, infact I think the way all the characters come together towards the end does give an element of closure, as you are given an idea of where they are headed and what their futures may hold for them. Just gorgeous, thanks everyone.

The book arrived a couple of days ago.
Thanks for the handy bookmark Winterson!

I was very concerned that I wasn't going to like this, I couldn't get going on it. The first third took me a long time to read and I got annoyed at the jumps between characters, but before I knew it I was gripped and running out of pages much quicker than I was comfortable with - by the end I wanted it to go on and on and on.

It is really rather beautiful, so incredibly evocative and sensuous. Like other readers, I loved the way the subtle way that the storylines with the human characters were mirrors or demonstrations of different natural phenomena described in the ecosystem surrounding them. Once you start looking for these themes they seem to multiply and interweave more and more - very skilled writing indeed.

ziggythecat - are you ready for this back or would you like me to advertise it further?

Thanks! Again recommended by USA singer sonmgwriter - her taste v similar to my own...
I'll let you know what make of it....
Where;s it off to when I'm done - few library books forst then will get onto this!

almost 05/05/05

Half way through and REALLY struggling with it. You all seem to have loved it, as did the person who recommedned it to me initially (our literary taste is nortmally so similar it's freaky!) I will perserrveree, purely as I want to see what happens with the coyotes, and if as the last half unfolds, i discover what you lot all loved about it! For all I lopve decriptions which draw you in, I feel she overdoes the landscape, and animals, and it is at tiems reminiscent of Thomas Hardy's 'The woodlanders' which I DETESTED at @A level' for the same reason - all about trees and nothing else lol
I didn find Kingsolver's reference to the Dixie Chicks amusing!
I will keep you posted, as I really do want to like this one!

Ok have finished and I;m sorry to say I didn't feel it got a lot better.
The Best bit about it was the beautiful quote at the end - 'Solitude is a human presumption. Every quiet step is thunder to beetle life under foot, a tug of aninpalpable thread on the web pulling mate to mate and predator to prey, a beginning or an end. Every choice is a world made new for the chosen'

That is stunbning, and so perfectly true - her connection to nature right the way through the book leads us to that quote.
I have no doubt that the language at times used was gorgeous - maybe it just didn't work for me, i don't know.
I did love how she evoked the sense of the whole wilderness being alive, apart form thr creatures dwelling within, ans there is some beautuiful personification.
I jjust didn't feel satisied by the story of the people, of her, or , really, of the coyotes, who grabbed my attention more than the human characters....


I will see if anyone wants to read this at the newc meet next thursday - then it can travel a little nore before it returns.
Thanks for sharing!

Wow i loved this book. I know hellie didnt like it much but once i started i couldn't put it down. Dena wolfe has a job i'd love and the parallels of the characters with the ecosystem surrounding them was well written and thought provoking. Although i do feel some references such as kin selection theory may be a little out of place and may be irrelevant to anyone who has not studied biology. In responce to another comment made i think rather than frustrating the fact that eddie never changed his view is realistic, she had no hope of doing that but the point made was she tried and stayed true to her own belief and that they managed to carry on despite this appretiating that neither could change the others view. A fab book will take this back to the meet and either return to hellie or find another taker (then go and find myself a copy)

Hi ziggythe cat

i picked this at the Newcastle meet as I loved the poisonwood Bible. Looking forward to reading it and will take it back to the meeting in september or could post it back to you if you are ready to claim it back

Loved this book, need my own copy! passing this one on to Princey at the September newcastle meeting.

Picked this up at the Bookcrossing meeting- started it last night & so far I'm unsure. Maybe it'll grow on me.

I didn't read any of the journal entries above before starting this novel- I always feel too much pre-reading will colour my own impression of a book- so I was kind of surprised that so many of them exactly reflected what I thought of it! I was completely caught up in it, it was so absorbing. I think the ending is perfect- leaving so many loose threads for you to play with- except that it came far too soon! I DID find myself feeling all wistful for a log cabin in the woods though- or maybe just a bit of peace & quiet would do!

This much-travelled book (its been away 13 months!)finally returned home today. Thanks to princey & everyone else who read it for taking such good care of it & thankyou too for the journal entries :o) I think nearly everyone felt the same way about it as I do.

Its going to have a short rest & then its off to try & persuade a few non-BC friends to join up.