Loved this story; can't wait for the sequel.

Earthly Joys is on its way (by ship) to LinyLouMac, in Italy. Enjoy!

Another hefty volume received from Feral Reader along with another Philippa Gregory yesterday. Thankyou so much when these reach the top of TBR they will give me many many hours of reading........goody

Oh Feral Reader what must you think of me taking so long to choose this title from Mt TBR. It is not that I do not appreciate your generosity but I always read bookrings and rays first. No more excuses, looking forward to reading at last.

Another excellent and enjoyable read from Philippa Gregory who brings history to life in her novels.
This title was kindly sent to me by fellow Bookcrosser Feral Reader from Davis, California and the agreement was that I would arrange a Bookray when I had finished reading it. I am now in the process of setting this up, hope to get lots of interest as this author appears on lots of Wishlists.
Synopsis Amazon.co.uk
Tremendous historical novel of the early 1600s, as seen through the eyes of John Tradescant, gardener to the great men of the age. A traveller in a time of discovery, the greatest gardening pioneer of his day, yet a man of humble birth: John Tradescant's story is a mirror to the extraordinary age in which he lives. As gardener and confidante to Sir Robert Cecil, Tradescant is well placed to observe the social and political changes that are about to sweep through the kingdom. While his master conjures intrigues at Court, Tradescant designs for him the magnificent garden at Hatfield, scouring the known world for ever more wonderful plants: new varieties of fruit and flower, the first horse chestnuts to be cultivated in England, even larches from Russia. Moving to the household of the flamboyant Duke of Buckingham, Tradescant witnesses at first hand the growing division between Parliament and the people; and the most loyal of servants must find a way to become an independent squire

1. SIGN UP for this bookray by sending me a Private Message. Order of participants will be juggled between geography, date of request and shipping limitations. Late additions may be added to the end of the list.
2. When the person before you on the list finishes reading the book, they will send you a Private Message for your postal address. If you no longer wish to read it, or wish to be moved in the list let them (and me!) know and I will move you down/off the list.
3. WHEN YOU RECEIVE THE BOOK please make a journal entry so everyone knows it has safely arrived.
4. WHEN YOU FINISH THE BOOK, make another journal entry telling us what you thought - did you like it?
5. CONTINUE THE BOOKRAY by sending a Private Message to the person after you on the booklist and request their postal address. Please check back here for the latest list.
6. END OF THE RAY, The last person on the ray could try and continue the ray or just give/mail the book to someone else who might like to read it, a RABCK perhaps, look at cliff1976.com wish list web site or release it into the wild.
Currently working on the order as mentioned in 1 above. 15 particpants to juggle!!

OK I have finally worked out what I hope will be an acceptable running order for everybody. Also I think with 19 participants that the list should be CLOSED for now. This ray will end in the USA where the participants prefer to post within USA.Unless one of them will post international it is going to be difficult to add late requests to the end of the ray. PLEASE READ AND SEND THIS TITLE ON AGAIN AS SOON AS YOU CAN.....THANKYOU.

different-girl KUWAIT
Bookmaniac70 BULGARIA
Lizzyblack ITALY
Sarina79 ITALY
Maireen ITALY
Honeymoon83 ITALY
Bestfriends FRANCE
Iwanttobeinital ITALY
laura0141 UK.(Asked to be skipped)
Milliejinx UK
Ladyridercymru UK (Unable to contact so skipped,Jan 08)
lellie UK (Asked to be skipped)
abrokenstarr UK (no contact so skipped)
Angellica UK (no contact so skipped)
Mochagirl UK en route and In post since April so fear lost!!!!!!!!
Fuzzywuzzy NZ
amber-h USA
Flakes USA
Dospescados USA

Have informed the remaining Bookcrossers on the list of the situation by PM apart from Dospescados who does not have PM,s enabled so no way of contact! June 13th 2008

OK I now have a mailing address for different-girl the first participant for the ray. I will be going to the post on Monday(12.06.06) morning to send the book to Kuwait. I hope it will not take too long to get there but we will just have to wait and see!

Hello LindyLouMac,
yes I've recieved the book but Im so sorry I was too busy to read it. I
cant find the address of the second person who have to recieve it can you
send me his mail so I'll send it to him immediately ?

The above is the pm that was sent to me by different-girl. At last we at least know the book is safe and will hopefully very soon be en-route to Bookmaniac70.
01.08.06 I have sent a pm to different-girl asking if this is now in the post??? Also asking her to please make a journal entry so that I can keep track of its whereabouts!
04.08.06 Different-girl assures me that this is now in the post.

Book is safely here in Sofia. Will start reading these days.

Just a note to let you know that I started reading few days ago and already reached the half of the book. I enjoy it. I shall write another journal entry when I finish.

Once more a good book by Philippa Gregory,with memorable characters and an intriguing moral conflict. The novel is set in a time of great changes. The order of society and the morality of people is slowly but unevitably changing.John Trandescant personalizes the old way and beliefs. I liked his patience and preserverance although at some moments it looked like stubborness. He is true to his ideals and understanding,and deserves respect. The female characters were also very interesting.The relationship between Trandescant and his wife Elisabeth represented the hard and problematic union of old and new ways. The story analized the concept of order and social development. I like that very much in Gregory`s writing that she always gives a food for thought on complicated,difficult moral questions and tempts you to evaluate the moral choices of her characters.

Ready to go on.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Italy.

Found it here yesterday :) It'll have to wait a little, I have 2 rings to be finished ;)

Well, the story is enjoyable, and I liked the subject and, more than everything, is placed on an history time that I love. Anyway, I found it "slowly" sometimes, and a bit boring.
Sorry for taking it so long :(
I read about asking Lindy Lou for the next reader, so I'll be waiting for the address :)

Thanx a lot!

Arrived today. The letter was all ripped (I suggest Lizzyblack not to use paper letter anymore, expecially for big books...better the bubbleletter!), but the book is safe and ok! I'll begin the reading today, I think...

Lovely story, a bit too long maybe...but enjoyed a lot. The book will be posted next week to Maireen! Thanks for the ring!

Received from Sarina about 8 days ago. At last another by Philippa Gregory thanks to LindyLou bookring. So enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl - looking forward to another good read

Finished at last! Enjoyed but found it went on a bit long. Loved the main character Tradescant and these historical novels are an amazing insight to how hard life was in those days.
Will keep a look-out for other Philippa Gregory books.

Arrived on Monday, thank you Cheryl for your postcard!

First of all, sorry everyone for being so slow. I''m working on my final thesis and I become a little lazy!
Second, thank you for this book! As for The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory chooses unusual and deep themes. This is the first time I read something so original about male friendship and affection. Unfortunately, maybe because I''m a woman, maybe for other reasons, I didn''t succeded in feeling like the protagonist. Never happened to me to feel such strange mix of feeling for someone, I dare say I''m too simple-minded or inexperienced of life, maybe my heart is still childlish! It was interesting reading and knowing about something I''m not used to: not just male friendship, but also gardening and Civil War period.
The historical pattern is really fascinating, I have a special interest on religion wars and it is amazing thinking how people can change his way of living so quick, and judge lustful what used to do little time before (and viceversa, judging extremely austere its former life).
Moreover, the author opened to me a new world: the gardening world. I could never imagine what gardeners could do centuries ago, just to let a rose or an orange tree grow. They were scientists, to me. They did experiments, they used to do researches, they were totally fascinated by discovering new plants and flowers. I think we can''t compare the feeling of create something new (or discover it) to anything else.
Thank you again, Linda!

Sent yesterday to Bestfriends.

In my mailbox today. Thanks Honeymoon83!

I liked "The Other Boleyn Girl", the first and only book by Phillipa Gregory I have read sofar. Looking forward to this one too. I only just started my current read and as it''s not a ring/ray (and none waiting either!), I think I''d better put it aside and start reading this one today. Thanks for sharing.

Finished reading and enjoyed it. A little less than The Other Boleyn Girl though. Maybe because it's indeed a bit slow in places; I skipped some of the battle paragraphes.

I loved the botanic information, especially the parts about his travels to the Low Lands and his purchase of the rare Dutch tulip bulbs. Here's a link to pictures and more info about the Semper Augustus
I never knew they were so precious at the time.

Will be send to Iwanttobeinital soon. I have her address and she assured me, that this time she will be out of the country for a shorter visit to the UK than the last time, when the ringbook I sent, just sat there waiting for weeks, because she was away from home.

Arrived today from France along with The Dangerous Sports Euthanasia Society.
Looks like I've got lots of reading lined up 8-))

I warmed to this book as I went along.
I could easily picture John as a warm-hearted big man that I'd like to cuddle and who would be very straightforward so was a little taken aback by the turn of events but because his character was so well drawn it was entirely plausible and I continued to love him and his philosophy.
And I came into the telly room last night when other half was watching an Inspector Morse film to hear a bit of script that mentioned John Tradescant, the gardener to Charles the first, which amazed me as I assumed him to be entirely fictional but obviously he is a historical character of some note!
Thanks for sharing this book as it is not one that I would have picked up on my own. (The joy of Bookcrossing - finding new avenues for reading!)
Already on its way to Milliejinx as laura0141 has asked to be skipped for now.

Arrived yesterday morning thank you. I have a few book rings in front of this one but will try to read ASAP and pass on.


Contacted next in list to send on but no response as yet, have sent another message today and said I'll wait till 25th January before contacting the next person in the list.

Still no response from ladyridercymru so I'm moving down the list and contacting Redhouse.

Contacted Lellie who has asked to be skipped and so moved on to Abrokenstar, I've sent PMs on 25th Jan and today so will give it to the end of the week before contacting the next in the list.

No response from Abrokenstarr, so I've PM'd Angellica today - 12/02/08

No response from Angellica as yet so I've PM'd again today - 20/02/08

Still having a nightmare trying to move this book on, I need a UK mailing address and someone that wants the book, running out of ideas sorry to everyone but will try and get this on the move ASAP - 28/04/08

PM'd Mochagirl today, hopefully this book will be on its way soon - 28/04/08

RELEASE NOTES:

Its on its way!!!! Many thanks to Mochagirl for a quick response, book is finally travelling again.

Milliejinx

Update 8th June - 100% posted that day.

I have a horrid feeling that this book is lost in the post!!?? As to date it has not reached Mochagirl.

I am going to contact Milliejinx and get her to confirm the mailing date but in excess of a month in the post is worrying.

June 13th :It appears this is lost in the post! As the remaining readers are all outside Europe I am going to suggest they try and find copies elswhere and hibernate this ray.

A great shame but it may resurface one day!