Journal Entry 1 by sqdancer on Monday, November 07, 2005

duplicate copy.

On the way to Ibis3 for her CanLit project.



 

Journal Entry 2 by Ibis3 from Newcastle, Ontario Canada on Thursday, November 10, 2005

Thanks sqdancer! Came in the mail today. 

Journal Entry 3 by Ibis3 from Newcastle, Ontario Canada on Thursday, February 08, 2007

From the back cover:
"Ramsay is a man twice born, a man who has returned from the hell of the battle-grave of Passchendaele in World War I decorated with the Victoria Cross, and destined to be caught in a no-man's-land where memory, history, and myth collide. As Ramsay tells his story, it begins to seem that from boyhood he has exerted a perhaps mystical, perhaps pernicious influence on those around him. His apparent involvement in such innocuous events as the throwing of a snowball or the teaching of card tricks to a small boy proves, in the end, neither innocent nor innocuous.

The first novel in the celebrated Deptford Trilogy, Fifth Business stands alone as the remarkable story of a rational man, who discovers that the marvelous is only another aspect of the real." 

Journal Entry 4 by Ibis3 from Newcastle, Ontario Canada on Monday, March 26, 2007

This was a *really* good book. The story of four lives beginning with the boyhood of the narrator in a small Ontario village in 1908 and a fateful throw of a snowball, through the battle of Passchendaele with all the mud and horror seen with all the myopia of a single soldier, manhood with all its politics and passions. A mythic story too, complete with a Wise Old Man, a Holy Saint, a Magus at the height of his power, an Androgynous Catalyst, a King (or at least a wannabe one), and of course, our narrator, the Fifth Business. Great. Great. Great.

I can't wait to read the other two.

For Davies fans, this book is a bit like What's Bred in the Bone. 

Journal Entry 5 by Ibis3 from Newcastle, Ontario Canada on Saturday, March 31, 2007

Sent out on a bookring today.

Order of go:
1. Sujie (New South Wales, Australia)
2. ldpaulson (California, USA)
3. bakerwhencan (California, USA)
4. Rrrcaron (New Hampshire, USA)
5. Bug2004 (Nebraska, USA)
... Back to Ibis3 (Ontario, Canada)

You know the drill: journal when you get it, read it within a month, contact me if you take longer than a month to let me know the status, make a journal entry when you send it to the next person. Thanks and have fun reading! 

Journal Entry 6 by Sujie from Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Thursday, April 12, 2007

Arrived today, thanks Ibis and sqdancer. I really, really hope this one gets safely to you ldpaulson! Just successfully sent Spedbug's journal back so I hope that "Blue Mountains of China" was an aberration.
I am squarely in this period with Faulks' "Human Traces" so it will segue nicely. 

Journal Entry 7 by Sujie from Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Yes, always felt I was reading a myth...something epic that was not quite real. Some amazing scenes such as the ones with Mrs Dempster in the pit and Liesl V in the hotel room will be unforgettable. I found the search for and obsession with saints a bit overdone for such a rational sounding narrator. All a bit too allegorical and theatrical for me but in a highly readable style so I shall look for the next one in the Deptford trilogy.
Thanks, sqdancer and ibis.
On to ldpaulson... 

Journal Entry 8 by ldpaulson from Ventura, California USA on Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Arrived in the post Saturday. Another CanLit book is in front of it in the queue. 

Journal Entry 9 by Ibis3 from Newcastle, Ontario Canada on Sunday, May 11, 2008

ISO ldpaulson: Did you finish and send this book? If so, please journal it and let me know its status. Thank you.