John Le Carre is one of my favourite authors. This is his 18th novel.

"Frightening, heartbreaking and exquisitely calibrated, The Constant Gardener is a profoundly moving story of a man enobled by his wife's tragic murder, and a magnificent exploration of the dark side of unbridled capitalism."

Seeing the movie brought the whole book back to me, as it's been a long time since I've seen it.

I'm offering this book up for an Australian booking.

AUSTRALIAN BOOKRING:

What should I do when I receive the book?
1. Log on to Bookcrossing and write a journal entry so I know it reached you safely.
2. PM the next BC member on the list for their address.
2. Try and read the book within 30 days and then add another journal entry with your thoughts about the book. Tell the truth! Was it the best thing you ever read or a complete and utter waste of time? - you can write one sentence or a hundred.
3. Send the book onto the next reader.

The order of reading is:

* Scoopy-Doo (Brisbane, Qld)
* fushmush (Sydney, NSW)-
* Melanie2474 (Narrabundah, ACT) - to be skipped
* Arrietty (Adelaide, SA) - to be skipped
* kalasue (Perth, WA)
* xoddam (Sydney, NSW)- toward end
* back to me - THE BOOK HAS MADE ITS WAY HOME AGAIN

RELEASE NOTES:

Passed this book to Scoopy-doo at the Brisbane BookCrossers' Christmas get-together to start off the bookring.

Happy reading!

I ran out of time to read this book and am passing it on :)

Not replying to PMs?

I have the book in my hot little hands and I'm about 100 pages in. Should have it finished and on its way in the next couple of weeks.

A beautiful book with wonderfully drawn characters. Very powerful and very moving. "Heartbreaking" is a very apt description.

Although, it did take me at a while to get into it. Don't give up if you find it hard-going earlier on!

Thanks for sharing Aleonblue. Posted today, 16/06/2006.

Received today...

This was a good story but I didn't really engage with it. It didn't draw the pictures well enough. I think it could have done with some heavy editing, but I did enjoy it all the same...

I found the movie interesting but somewhat unconvincing. We'll see if the book does any better :-) Thanks kalasue, aleonblue and all!

This did address some of my problems with the movie, fleshing out the conspiracy theory enough for it to be believable, if not entirely convincing. (The problem I had with it was that there are enough obviously evil things going on in the world that to invent something even the slightest bit implausible is frivolous). Le Carre's characterisation is very impressive, though I got less of a sense of Tessa herself than I might have liked.

Actually the movie follows the book so closely -- despite the inevitable abridgment -- and I enjoyed the book so much, that my opinion of the movie has actually improved on reading the book. I might like to watch it again sometime :-)

Le Carre's afterword mentions that no crimes such as those depicted in the book are known to him (amongst other disclaimers), but, ominously, that what really does go on in the pharmaceutical world is, if anything, worse than the picture he paints.

A very dear friend of mine is now working in Kenya for Medecins sans Frontieres, and after reading this detailed and frightening novel I am filled with a great respect of and fear for such people who are prepared to put themselves out in such a way.

Forgot to rate the book! I'm giving it an eight. Aleonblue, I have now completed all but one of the bookrings I owe you -- one other has been borrowed and I'm out of touch with the borrower (a workmate who has since left the company), so if I can't hunt her down shortly I will replace the book. I remember you asked for My Side of the Matter to accompany your bookrings in the parcel -- any other requests from by TBR or AVL lists, or shall I send them all forthwith?

This book has returned home again - thanks Xoddam (and thanks for the teabags - I'm a big tea drinker, so they'll go down well!)

Thanks to all who participated in the bookring.