In th Country of Last Things is a haunting story, I don't know a better word. Someone writes a letter from an unknown city in the country of last things. She describes her life and the city-life there. But where? THat is the question that keeps haunting me. There are so many ways to read this book and so many levels on which it touches the mind and the heart.

The story chilled me to the bone, but also warmed my heart. The persons described will certainly stay with me for a long while and I will probably be able to summon pictures of the city in my mind for the rest of my life.

A wonderful Paul Auster again, which makes me happy I bought this book. I bought it solely on the notion I wanted a Paul Auster, but which one? The back cover read (citing Time Out): 'As harrowing and intellectually playful as Beckett...' And as I'm a big Beckett fan, I decided on this one. Fortunately,a short while after my mum bought two other (hardback, discounted) Austers. So I have still two books waiting for me and I'm sure now that I will like them.

This book will definitely be in my top list of books read in 2005. Therefore, even though I'm afraid of losing this book out of sight, I will make a bookring of it. It is small enough to go into the mailbox, and it isn't very heavy.

RING RING!

Op reis mag dit boek! Kom ook weer veilig thuis, hoor!

Op reis naar (de volgorde kan veranderd worden):

*croixdeguerre
*yvonnep
*Suzy26
*Plinius
*iiwi (wil laat in de rij, beslist met violoncellix wie eerst en wie laatst;-))
*violoncellix(wil laat in de rij)
*...


en uiteindelijk weer terug naar huis.

Fijn, een Paul Auster die ik nog niet ken. Kan me er al helemaal op verheugen! Dank je wel Lot12 voor 't ringen, ik zal goed voor 't boek zorgen ;-)

Wat een geweldig boek! Mooi, somber, afschuwelijk, hartverwarmend. En dan ook nog eens verschrikkelijk mooi geschreven. Dit boek hoort ook voor mij tot 1 van de hoogtepunten van dit jaar & ik denk dat ik het nog lang bij me zal dragen.

Dank Lot voor het ringen. Het boek gaat nu naar Yvonnep.

A bookring a day keeps the doctor away... this is a special one. But is not any Auster a specialty? Well...to be honest I didn't finish 'Invention of Solitude'. But all his other books are specialties. And Lot's journal makes it super special. I will take care of the book.

This is a great book and to be honest I want to have it myself. I found a very nice review of another reader. The book impressed me. It was written in 1987 and I found traces of Austers ideas about 'the concept of communist society' in it, complete with the building project of a Sea Wall. When I heard about the riots and rooting in New Orleans after the hurricane, it made me think about te book too. Is there hope, can there be hope, in a desperate situation? Thank you, Lot, for sharing this important book. It belongs for me to the category of Orynx and Crake (the eco-disaster) en Handmade Tails, both Margaret Atwoods. And there was another book, I can't remember it now, which belongs to the same 'bunch': Books that warn us.

Received by mail yesterday. Thanks for sending it to me, yvonnep. Also many thanks for the beautiful postcard. Your recommendation and lot12's personal message inside the book lead me to believe that I am in for an extra special reading experience......

This novel really took my breath away. Boy, can this Paul Auster write! It is a very grim story, but so very, very beautifully written. It takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions and even if you put the book away for a while, the story continues to haunt you and keeps you thinking. I am definitely going to buy my own copy, so I can read Anna Blume's story again and again and savour it every time.

On to Plinius now.

I should have checked the postbox yesterday, now there are THREE ringbooks in it! Your journal-entries are enticing...

The utopias are always peopled by cardboard cut-outs, but you need a dystopia to find real people. (What about the developments in utopia?)In the country of Last Things shows a good knowledge of people and their wonderful (often rather unprepossessing) adaptability, and it is full of despair and hope.
I enjoyed this story very much, and the people in it will stay with me for a long time. Thanks very much for ringing, Lot!
Perhaps I can take this to the post today..

What a surprise to receive this book already now, barely a day after Plinius journaled it. Thank you, lot12, for ringing your Auster, and thank you, Plinius, for the beautiful card. After your words ("Fijn je een boek te kunnen sturen dat je vrijwel zeker bijzonder gaat vinden!") I look forward very much to starting it! First I'll finish the October challenge, though.

The book lies -- finished -- in Groningen, while I'm in Italy for three weeks. Will write a real journal entry and send the book on to iiwi around 23 November. A haunting book indeed!

A real dystopia, extremely well-written. The images stay with me.
The book made me rather sad, though there are hopeful moments as well as some love among the horror.

Boris Stepanovich never really expected you to believe what he said, but at the same time he did not treat his inventions as lies. They were part of an almost conscious plan to concoct a more pleasant world for himself -- a world that could shift according to his whims, that was not subject to the same laws and bleak necessities that dragged down all the rest of us.

I recieved the book, together with an envelope with wild rosemary! Tnx a lot violoncellix! It is number 4 in the aray of BC-ringbooks...

'In the country of last things' is back home again!

It goes back into my permanent collection.