The prologue absolutely sparkles! The introductions to the characters and the setting are charming and perceptive. I read these few pages one early evening and couldn't wait to sit down with the rest of the book.

Maybe I just built my hopes up too high, but I was very disappointed. This isn't a really rubbish book, but it doesn't deliver on the promise of the prologue. It provides light entertainment, but the characters don't particularly come to life - and I didn't particularly care about their lives. I also could have done without the "Reader's Guide" section at the end.

The only real annoyance is the narrative voice - there are six people in the Jane Austen Book Club and the narrator is presumably one of them - s/he refers to the Club as "we". However, s/he also refers to all six of the characters in the third person - so who is the narrator? I can't tell whether the narrator changes in the different sections of the book (the charactors are just not alive enough for me that I could tell their narrative voices apart), or if it is just one person - and if so, which one? This is surprisingly irritating.

Overall, not a bad book, but not one I'll press on my friends with cries of "you must read this book".

I know quite a lot of people have this on their wishlists, so I'm going to send it off as a bookray. PM me with your shipping preferences if you'd like to join at any time and I'll add you to the list.

Book ray
nikel27, Ginsheim, Hessen, Germany - arrived 22 September 2005
greeneyemoony, Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - arrived 25 October 2005
morsecode, Buffalo, New York, USA - arrived 04 November 2005
BecFromMD, Washington, District of Columbia, USA - arrived 14 November 2005
DoveiLibri, Fort Myers, Florida, USA - arrived 23 January 2006
janey-canuck, St. Marys, Ontario, Canada - arrived 24 March 2006
WarEagle78, Hoover, Alabama, USA - arrived ~30 April 2006
Mamikaem, Maryland Heights, Missouri, USA - arrived 12 May 2006
Elsita, Almada, Setúbal, Portugal - arrived 07 September 2006
-Psyche-, Red Wing, Minnesota, USA - it's here 27 January 2007
uofigirl, Bloomington, Indiana, USA - arrived 20 February 2007
Alectoness, Kelburn, Wellington, New Zealand
lmn60, Spotswood, Victoria, Australia - arrived 23 May 2007
Satnam, Wilton, New Hampshire, USA
Fluffy-Owl, Cambridge, UK


Please could you all do four things for me:

1. Make a quick journal entry when you receive the book.
2. Read and send on within four weeks - or make a journal entry to let us know how you're getting on if you need longer.
3. Make a journal entry when you've finished.
4. Feel free to use the cheapest method of shipping available.

And, enjoy the book!

I'm off to the post office to send this to nikel27. Happy reading, everyone!

arrived safe at my house, will start reading next week.

update:
thanks for sharing this great book.
Will go out to the next member.

RELEASE NOTES:

EnJoy the book as I did

Welcomed me warmly tonight after a really tiring day and placed itself as No 2 on my MTBR

A really nice book that I enjoyed reading very much though I agree with Nell-Lu about the sparkling beginning and the disappointment afterwards.
It will travel on tomorrow.

Book arrived in Buffalo today.
It looks like customs opened the package (they didn't even bother to tape it back up), but the book seems to have survived just fine.

I plan to get this read over the weekend.

I'm sad to report that I agree with Nell-Lu and was disappointed in this book. It started off so well, but it ended up being lackluster. I love Jane Austen, but the addition of quotes and Austenisms really didn't make up for the lack of character development.
It reminded me a lot of a book I read recently, The Shop on Blossom Street. That book doesn't have the Austen connection, but I did become invested in the characters in a way that I didn't with this book.

The book is off to BecFromMD tomorrow.

It arrived this weekend and has one book ahead of it. I'll journal more later.

1/13/06 update:

I did enjoy this book, although I was embarrassed at how little Austen I remembered!

Mailing to DoveiLibri.

Oh! This book arrived safe and sound today. I have 2 book rings ahead of it (Small Island and The Way The Crow Flies.) I'll be up to this before you know it! Thank you for sending it along! I will update when I've started and then again when I'm ready to send it on!

Place Your Pin On My GUEST MAP! Click Here!

Added Feb. 4, 2006: Finished and sent along "Small Island," started "The Way the Crow Flies." Oh, my goodness, this is one H*U*G*E old book! I will read and read and read and read, though, because I'm enjoying it, and will be up to *our* Jane Austen Book Club real soon!

Added February 24, 2006: Just about halfway done!! Envelope addressed to "Janey-Canuck" and ready to mail as soon as I finish the book. I'll post a new journal entry when it's been mailed!!!

OK, I have a confession to make. I started reading Pride and Prejudice once, could NOT get through one chapter. Same with Emma. B*U*T I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book. To tell the truth, I kind of "skimmed" the parts where they got heavy into the book discussions, just read enough to catch the parallels Ms Fowler was drawing for us, and then got on with the rest of the story! Several interesting characters and situations.

Also, I liked the way the reading club "Questions for Discussion" at the end of the book were written in the characters' voices. Uhm, by the way, Jocelyn . . . I *L*O*V*E*D* the Wishbone version of Pride and Prejudice. Tee-hee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Will be mailed to Janey-Canuck on Thursday, March 2, 2006 via surface mail. happy traveling, little book! Happy reading, Janey-Canuck!
Place Your Pin On My GUEST MAP! Click Here!

Received in the mail on Friday, will try to read ASAP, but I have a lot on my plate right now, so it might take a few weeks.

I'm in the same boat as Nell-Lu and morsecode. It was a decent book, but not all that it was cracked up to be. I have a feeling I did enjoy it more than most as I had been told before that it wasn't very good. I felt that somehow there was a big jump in the story and I missed something - hard to explain, but I guess I just didn't understand how the ending really came about, it suddenly appeared without much warning. I felt like the book should have been longer, I guess. I also didn't appreciate the change in the way the chapters were written with so much detail from the book club in the first few chapters and then next to nothing by the end. I enjoyed the parts where they discussed Austen, but I read it knowing that all comments were written by one person, which is why I was okay with the book club bits being rather boring.

Anyway, thanks for sharing, I am glad I read it. I've pm-ed the next person in line and will get this out when I have an address.

ETA: mailed out 4/10/06

Bad me, I'm sorry, I neglected to journal this when it arrived last weekend. However, the book is safely in my hands. I've just completed it this evening, and while I like it, I was not blown away. Perhaps I'm not subtle enough. I did enjoy Jane Austen's novels, if that counts!

I have the next address and will mail off early next week.

NOTE: Mailed 5/8/2006

Received this in today's mail. I have a couple book rings in front of it, but will get to it as soon as I can.

Thanks!

UPDATE: 06/11/06 - I'm finally just starting this today (my apologies for being behind on my bookrings!) I will try to get it finished within the week so it will be on its way. Thanks for your patience.

Considering I've never read anything by Jane Austen (gasp!), I thoroughly enjoyed this story! It's also sparked my interest into actually reading some Jane Austen. Will mail this off to Elsita in the morning.

Arrived today.
Will read with deference, I love Jane Austen's books :)

I was a bit disapointed with this book, because I expected more conversation about Jane Auten's books and it was almost all about the persons of the book club... And they only mencioned my beloved Mr Darcy once or twice :(

It's goig to the next on the line, as soon as I get the adress.
Thanks for sharing, Nell-lu!

Thanks! I'll send off to the next bookcrosser shortly!

RELEASE NOTES:

And the journey continues...

Snow and sleet doesn't stop the Postal Service... but it sure does slow it down! Book arrived yesterday. Will read when finished with my current book.

Such a delightful book! I had to set it down for a while when I realized I couldn't remember any of the details of Mansfield Park (necessitating a quick re-read). I loved the way that tones of Austen's works were accenting the lives of the bookclub members without being heavy-handed.

Thanks for sharing!

Arrived safely in Wimbledon, UK (my new adddress) today. Thanks uofigirl for sending it on!

Sorry about double-posting this... I forgot to log out of my husband's account.

I don't think I was familiar enough with the works of Jane Austen to fully 'get' this book. And, like Nell-Lu has said, it frustrated me not to know who the narrator was.

That said, I enjoyed the stories of each of the characters for their own sake, and I liked the way that, right at the end, there were questions about "The Jane Austen Book Club" from the point-of-view of each of the characters. Very 'pomo' ;o)

Will PM lmn60, and get this book in the mail to Australia as soon as I can.

Arrived safely in Australia today and is already languishing on Mt TBR. I'll get to this one ASAP!

This was an enjoyable 'easy' read that was perfect for me whilst stuck in bed with a nasty virus!

I'm in the Nell-Lu and morsecode club here - as a big Jane Austen fan, I found the book a bit disappointing and without much to offer those of us who have read and loved her works. And I don't think a great love of works comes across in this novel's characters either - which is surprising given the premise of their book club!

I guess I had hoped for something with a bit more depth - perhaps a modern attempt at Austen's irony and study of modern manners. If that was what Fowler had aimed at... then I'm afraid she didn't succeed.

It's not a dreadful book by any means... just one that doesn't live up to the expectations I had created for it!

Thanks for sharing this one Nell-Lu - I have PMed Satnam for her address, received it, and will send this off tomorrow.