Funny in parts, sad in others - I really enjoyed this book - very different.

Sent to syrin in Portugal as a RABCK.

Just picked it up from the mailman.
Thanks for sending, raeliz64!

Wow, this was a really nice surprise. I'd heard a lot about this book, and the opinions had been a bit mixed: some had loved it, some had found the hype too much. I'm on the side of the ones who loved it!

Christopher is a great narrator, and it's interesting that the author made him out to be a special boy; Haddon tries to get into the mind of a person that doesn't deal with other people very well, and prefers numbers. I don't know if this is how someone with Asperger's syndrome thinks, but it's an interesting exploration of a different type of person.

But even though Christopher's views on the world were interesting, I have to say that what I loved the most was the relationship between him and his father. It really breaks your heart to see how much the father tries to be there for his son. Hopefully he succeeds.

In the end, this was a great book, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it. Thanks for sharing it with me, raeliz64.

This is wonderful book that deserves to travel some more, so I'm sending it to Sobergirl, in Norway, as a RABCK to celebrate my first bookcrossing anniversary, on November 25th, 2005.

There were some blank pages in the end of the book, so I decided to create a little journal... I hope the next readers can add something of their own. For now, it'll have a picture of my University.

THANK YOU SYRIN! Thank you also for the bookmark!

I just couldn't get a grip of this story.
It was like a cosy murder mystery meets Bill Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything".
This is a very weird book.

Got this from Sobergirl at the Turku BC June Meetup Part I (we're having TWO meetings this month!). It's a little bit of a cheek, my taking this book, since I already have a copy set aside for me (or possibly even already in the post). But I couldn't resist a copy which was already in Turku and there for the asking! Especially since summer is when I am likely to have the most spare time for reading.

This journal entry is for four books: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Codex, The Fifth Woman, and Man and Boy. I’m packing these books to take with me on vacation. I certainly don’t guarantee that I’ll read them all while we’re away, but any that I do finish I might wild-release. I’ll plan to make proper release notes when I get back, but possible release points will be various ports in Iceland (it’s a cruise!!), as well as Tórshavn, Lerwick, Copenhagen, Visby, and Helsinki.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Mr. Potok also read it, and we talked about it together - a really thought-provoking novel. If I recall correctly, the author never calls Christopher's syndrome "Asperger's" - that is written on the back cover, presumably by the publisher. I'm no expert, but it seems to me that what Christopher displays is autism, which I think is more extreme than Asperger's. A minor quibble.

I hear there is a children's version of this book - I would also be interested to read that. Spoilers follow in white (select text to read them). So many people had commented that the book was sad that I think I was sort of prepared for the directions the book took. But it would be a real shock if all you were expecting was a slightly unique detective story. The thing I found saddest was how completely unaware Christopher was of his parents' feelings. He surely has no conception of how he has ruined his mother's relationship with Shears. It is ironic that he should have forced his mother back into caring for him, while finding himself unable to trust the one parent who truly was willing to sacrifice everything for him. If this is typical, it must be the hardest part of coping with an autistic family member.

I considered releasing this book in Copenhagen, but once I had seen Syrin's journal entry in the back of the book I thought I could not release it until I had added my own journal entry. I have now pasted in a picture of our cruise ship, and added a small note explaining that I read the book in July 2006, while cruising from Iceland to the Faroes and Shetlands. Also (before leaving on the cruise), I added two very small BC labels to the back cover, one in Finnish and one in Swedish.

Suefitz picked this book from the "Virtual Book Box" of mysteries at the bookrelay forum, so I'm mailing it to her today.

Have heard great things about this book. Thanks for sending it.