Lighthousekeeping
11 journalers for this copy...
The Blurb:
Orphaned and anchorless, Jeanette Winterson's red-headed heroine, Silver, is taken in by Mr. Pew, keeper of the mysterious Cape Wrath lighthouse on the northern tip of Scotland. Sightless Pew cares for her as best he can and teaches her to "man the light". But most importantly he expands her imagination with ancient tales of longing, including the story of Babel Dark, a nineteenth century clergyman, whose strange, mythical story opens out like a map that Silver must follow on her own journey. A magical tale of talking birds and stolen books, of Darwinian fossil expeditions and visits from Robert Louis Stevenson, Lighthousekeeping is Winterson at her storytelling best.
I love Jeanette Winterson´s writing. She is such a wonderful storyteller that I had to give this book nine stars.
Orphaned and anchorless, Jeanette Winterson's red-headed heroine, Silver, is taken in by Mr. Pew, keeper of the mysterious Cape Wrath lighthouse on the northern tip of Scotland. Sightless Pew cares for her as best he can and teaches her to "man the light". But most importantly he expands her imagination with ancient tales of longing, including the story of Babel Dark, a nineteenth century clergyman, whose strange, mythical story opens out like a map that Silver must follow on her own journey. A magical tale of talking birds and stolen books, of Darwinian fossil expeditions and visits from Robert Louis Stevenson, Lighthousekeeping is Winterson at her storytelling best.
I love Jeanette Winterson´s writing. She is such a wonderful storyteller that I had to give this book nine stars.
This book is being offered up as a ring with these participants:
Lpree
tkdtina
tania-in-nc
ladilee24
MrsDanvers
IWISHIWAS ------> asked to be skipped
al3xa
chrisim
BettyBoekwurm
symphonicca
ilove book is here 01/19/07
....back to me!
Please journal the book when you receive it, so we know you got it. Try and read the book within a month, or at least let the next person know you're going to be longer. If you wish to be skipped, please PM me. Please journal the release.
Lpree
tkdtina
tania-in-nc
ladilee24
MrsDanvers
IWISHIWAS ------> asked to be skipped
al3xa
chrisim
BettyBoekwurm
symphonicca
ilove book is here 01/19/07
....back to me!
Please journal the book when you receive it, so we know you got it. Try and read the book within a month, or at least let the next person know you're going to be longer. If you wish to be skipped, please PM me. Please journal the release.
Journal Entry 3 by ajsmom at By Mail in A fellow BookCrosser, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, February 23, 2006
Released 18 yrs ago (2/23/2006 UTC) at By Mail in A fellow BookCrosser, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Sent to Lpree, the first person on the bookring list! Enjoy, everybody!
Sent to Lpree, the first person on the bookring list! Enjoy, everybody!
This arrived in today's mail. I have some other rings ahead of it, but will read it as soon as I can.
And OMG, the chocolate! Yum! Thanks!
And OMG, the chocolate! Yum! Thanks!
Well, I just finished this - well, I ended up skimming the last third. The first half was pretty interesting, but still felt like the story was being set up. The second half I had lots of trouble keeping track of who was narrating. I don't know, this was just a strange book. Maybe it's one you have to read several times to really understand it. I'll certainly be curious to read everyone else's opinion on this book.
Anyway, thanks very much for the opportunity to read it! I'll get it mailed out to the next person soon!
Anyway, thanks very much for the opportunity to read it! I'll get it mailed out to the next person soon!
Received today. Perfect timing too, I just finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha bookring and was looking for something good to take with me to a retreat this weekend.
Ouch, I really had to force myself through this book. The story is choppier than the ocean waves around the lighthouse! Besides being tossed around during the entire story, there was such huge holes or maybe it was just huge sections I didn't understand?! Anyway, I am thankful for the chance to have read it. With all my complaining, my husband kept telling me to stop reading it if I didn't like it...but something kept me going hoping it would all come together somehow...
PMing next in line.
PMing next in line.
Goodie! This book arrived in the mail today. I'll start reading it in a couple of days after my current read. Thanks so much for sharing.
CR: Deep Cover by Brian Garfield, c. 1971
I collect quotes as I read. These ones are fun, poetical, or even philosophical. Take what you like, and leave the rest. Note that these aren't necessarily the "best" in the book. These happen to be close to the spot where I stopped reading each night.
He was just Pew; an old man with a bag of stories under his arm, and a way of cooking sausages so that the skin turned as thick as a bullet casing, and he was, too, a bright bridge that you could walk across, and look back and find it vanished. p95
We are lucky, even the worst of us, because daylight comes. p231
CR: Deep Cover by Brian Garfield, c. 1971
I collect quotes as I read. These ones are fun, poetical, or even philosophical. Take what you like, and leave the rest. Note that these aren't necessarily the "best" in the book. These happen to be close to the spot where I stopped reading each night.
He was just Pew; an old man with a bag of stories under his arm, and a way of cooking sausages so that the skin turned as thick as a bullet casing, and he was, too, a bright bridge that you could walk across, and look back and find it vanished. p95
We are lucky, even the worst of us, because daylight comes. p231
Finished this book a couple of hours ago. I found it quite strange that the plot disintegrates into a delightful form of philsophical writing. I'm not complaining as I enjoyed the stream of conscciousness. I ended up forgetting about the narrator to concentrate on the words/meaning.
It's one of those books that was worth reading for the experience. Shall get the next person on PM and send it on. Thanks again for sharing and I look forward to reading of other's views. Take care :)
It's one of those books that was worth reading for the experience. Shall get the next person on PM and send it on. Thanks again for sharing and I look forward to reading of other's views. Take care :)
Just arrived today. Thank you!
Jeanette Winterson's writing really is quite lovely. She has some beautiful turns of phrase. That said, I was confused by portions of this book. I enjoyed the early part of the story, as Silver moved to the lighthouse with Mr Pew, and learned the story of Babel Dark, a 19th century minister. However, once Silver left the lighthouse, the rest of the book seemed to be made of choppy incidents that had nothing to do with each other or what had come before. The whole book jumped around, really, but a lot at the end. This was certainly interesting, and not a book I'd have known about without the ring, but just not my kind of read. Thanks for sharing though.
Mailing to MrsDanvers via Surface mail in the next few days.
Mailing to MrsDanvers via Surface mail in the next few days.
Sometimes the speed of international mail is frightening! Arrived on the 6th May from Pennsylvania, US. Thanks ladilee24, and thanks to ajsmom for sharing.
A couple of rings in front of this, neither too long.
A couple of rings in front of this, neither too long.
Very typical Jeanette Winterson - set up a story then expand and wander into an exploration of love. I really enjoyed the first half with its references to the work of Robert Louis Stevenson Silver, Blind Pew and the story of Babel Dark, who may or may not be Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde. There was a magic about the village of Salts and its lighthouse. Silver's wanderings were glimpses into her life and her finding love, at last.
I was moved by the opening quotes and last sentences of the book :
"Remember you must die " Muriel Spark
"Remember you must live" Ali Smith ( I'm reading Hotel World where this comes from, at the moment)
and "Life is so short. This stretch of sea and sand, this walk on the shore, before the tide covers everything we have done"
I was moved by the opening quotes and last sentences of the book :
"Remember you must die " Muriel Spark
"Remember you must live" Ali Smith ( I'm reading Hotel World where this comes from, at the moment)
and "Life is so short. This stretch of sea and sand, this walk on the shore, before the tide covers everything we have done"
Journal Entry 14 by MrsDanvers at -- Controlled Release in Ely, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Friday, June 16, 2006
Released 17 yrs ago (6/16/2006 UTC) at -- Controlled Release in Ely, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
IWISHIWAS has acquired her own copy , so this is off to al3xa, in the post, today.
Thanks to ajsmom for sharing such an excellent book.
IWISHIWAS has acquired her own copy , so this is off to al3xa, in the post, today.
Thanks to ajsmom for sharing such an excellent book.
*catch*. I have two other bookrings before this one (one also being a Winterson bookring - theyr addictive :) but I will try to read as soon as I can... looks fantastic! thank you!
wow! i enjoyed 'Lighthousekeeping' immensley! Winterson managed to keep me entertained for the hours & hours & hours of waiting & train journeying on my way home from the UK BookCrossing UnConvention...
I love'd Winterson's humour...'Miss Pinch always said Females, holding the word away freom her by its tail.'... & philosophical musings... 'It's better if I think of my life like that - part miracle, part madness. It's better if I accept that I can't control any of the things that matter. My life is a trial of shipwrecks and set-sails. There are no arrivals, no destinations; there are only sandbanks and shipwreck; then another boat, another tide.'
...her lovely flow serendipty feeling is currently batelling my Life is a lonely leaking roofed bus shelter which swiftly morphs into a high speed ICE train, but this train is merely a leaking roofed bus shelter masquerading as such... i hope she wins my psyches metaphor life contest! :)
a wonderfully life influencing read, thank you!
...will be sending 'Lighthousekeeping' to Finland as soon as i find the £3 or so postage... *avidly searches the crumb filled cracks of her mankey student sofa* :)
I love'd Winterson's humour...'Miss Pinch always said Females, holding the word away freom her by its tail.'... & philosophical musings... 'It's better if I think of my life like that - part miracle, part madness. It's better if I accept that I can't control any of the things that matter. My life is a trial of shipwrecks and set-sails. There are no arrivals, no destinations; there are only sandbanks and shipwreck; then another boat, another tide.'
...her lovely flow serendipty feeling is currently batelling my Life is a lonely leaking roofed bus shelter which swiftly morphs into a high speed ICE train, but this train is merely a leaking roofed bus shelter masquerading as such... i hope she wins my psyches metaphor life contest! :)
a wonderfully life influencing read, thank you!
...will be sending 'Lighthousekeeping' to Finland as soon as i find the £3 or so postage... *avidly searches the crumb filled cracks of her mankey student sofa* :)
Journal Entry 17 by chrisim from Tampere, Pirkanmaa / Birkaland Finland on Thursday, August 17, 2006
Hi! I got the book at the end of last week I suppose. Sorry I didn't have opportunity to write JE earlier, I was in hospital and came home today. I'll read the book within a month.
Edit 8th october. Sorry I could't keep my promise. The book is still with me but finally I have read it and contacted the next reader. The story was a little bit difficult to read because of so many stories inside. (And I'm happy to notice that I'm not the only one who lose the tracks. The storyteller's voice was a mystery for me too.) Stories were interesting and sometimes very poetic. So it happened often that I started to daydream and I got drifted away from the book. Then it was hard to continue reading and I put the book down many times. That's why it took so long. Again sorry.
Edit 8th october. Sorry I could't keep my promise. The book is still with me but finally I have read it and contacted the next reader. The story was a little bit difficult to read because of so many stories inside. (And I'm happy to notice that I'm not the only one who lose the tracks. The storyteller's voice was a mystery for me too.) Stories were interesting and sometimes very poetic. So it happened often that I started to daydream and I got drifted away from the book. Then it was hard to continue reading and I put the book down many times. That's why it took so long. Again sorry.
I have sent the book to BettyBoekwurm.
Arrived! Thanks for sending chrisim. And thanks for sharing ajsmom!
I just read all the previous reviws and it's funny how this book seems to have mixed reviews. Personaly I loved it!
I discovered Jeanette Winterson through Bookcrossing, and I've loved everything I've read so far. She has such a beautiful way of writing and is such an amazing storyteller. I found this book quite beautiful.
Thanks for sharing ajsmom!
I'll be mailing it to symphonicca tommorrow morning.
I discovered Jeanette Winterson through Bookcrossing, and I've loved everything I've read so far. She has such a beautiful way of writing and is such an amazing storyteller. I found this book quite beautiful.
Thanks for sharing ajsmom!
I'll be mailing it to symphonicca tommorrow morning.
I continued to be shocked and awed by the incredibly short amount of time it is takes for books to get to me from Europe to my tiny little place high inthe Andes of Peru.... crazy!! I have things form my parents in Canda that were sent over a month ago and have yetto arrive, and yet things from Europe gethere in a week... stunning.
Anyway, i don't mean for my mail system shock to eclipse my general happiness and excitement at the prospect of reading this book ASAP! I will finish my current read, and then will be putting this beside my bed. Thanks for passing it along, and happy reading!! :)
Anyway, i don't mean for my mail system shock to eclipse my general happiness and excitement at the prospect of reading this book ASAP! I will finish my current read, and then will be putting this beside my bed. Thanks for passing it along, and happy reading!! :)
Yet another great book by Winterson--- reminded me at times of "The Powerbook" with its images of Capri. Laughed outloud at some of the stolen parrot passages. The character of Silver was great--- she maintained her innocence and wonder throughout the whole story, even into adulthood. A great story generally---- much more fable-like than some of her other work--- I prefer when she goes for the more narrative stuff. Thanks so much for sharing--- yet another Winterson reading experience that I thoroughly enjoyed!! PMed ilove, and will wait for a response.
Sent out to ilove yesterday, Wednesday Dec. 20---- hope it doesn't get lost in the holiday shuffle! :)
The book made it safe and sound. I received it about a week ago. I just finished reading my last one and will start on this next. I'm looking forward to it!!
