Journal Entry 1 by Thursday5 from Columbus, Ohio USA on Friday, February 17, 2006

I read this book 5 years ago and it still lingers in my mind.
Put into a class for slow learners, it turns out that Eliza really has an extraordinary gift for learning. As a teacher of gifted children, this book resonated with my experience with children whose intelligence is not understood and are labeled slow learners, when in fact they are actually brilliant and extremely bored with what is being taught in class or they have a unique learning style that is not appreciated by the educational establishment.
I agree with this excerpt from the back of the book: "With intense imagination and great emotional activity, Bee Season evokes a child's desperate longing for praise and acceptance and is a masterful portrayal of modern family life." 

Journal Entry 2 by Thursday5 from Columbus, Ohio USA on Sunday, February 26, 2006

Bookring Order (May change if new members are added):
1. bobbarama-USA/California
2. booknhand-USA/California
3. terra57-USA/Massachusetts
4. LisaGriffith-USA/Massachusetts
5. Jessibud-Toronto, Ontario/Canada
Back to Thursday5-USA/Ohio

I hope you enjoy this bookring. Make a journal entry when you recieve the book and again after you read it. When you are finished reading the book, PM the next person for their address. Please try to send the book on within a month. I will be interested to read the journal entries. If you have a problem with the bookring such as being unable to get the next person's address, let me know. Happy reading! 

Journal Entry 3 by moondawgger from Carlsbad, California USA on Friday, March 10, 2006

This book arrived today. I'll finish up The Egyptologist tomorrow ---- pretty good book, by the way ---- and jump right into this one.

Thanks Thursday5 ... for the book and the cool card! 

Journal Entry 4 by moondawgger from Carlsbad, California USA on Monday, March 13, 2006

This is a little like watching a train wreck in slow motion. It's not fun watching an otherwise well-meaning family unravel ... slowly, one scraggly string at a time ... but there are several underlying messages here for all of us to take to heart, however tough this book is to take sometimes.

It's a well-written, nicely-paced book, filled with lots of good insight on everything from the fragile nature of relationships and the consequences of our choices to how spelling bee contestants work words out in their heads.

You can see the end coming, but it still hits pretty hard, probably because it's so sudden and because it's both breathtakingly 'in your face' and liberating at the same time. And, without giving anything away here, my initial reaction of 'Yeah, OK ... good!' gave way quickly to a sort of sadness and disappointment that I'm still trying to work through ... not necessarily the 'what' of the decision at the end as much as the 'how.'

I think it's too easy to lay all the blame for the disintegration of this family on one character, although I think some readers will walk away understandably with that impression. I think all the characters can share in the unraveling ... and, personally, I think that's ultimately what the author intended us to take away anyway.

It's a quick but haunting read. I liked it for how much it touched me ... and yet I didn't like it for how much it made me want to scream at everyone in this book to wake up.

It certainly makes you think about things ... like how a quiet little book like this can make so much noise inside your heart and head.

Thanks for including me in this bookring, Thursday5. Very cool of you. I liked it quite a bit.

UPDATE: I mailed the book this morning (March 18) to booknhand. 

Journal Entry 5 by booknhand from San Jose, California USA on Friday, March 24, 2006

Received in the mail last weekend and have started reading it.

Hope to have it moving within a couple of weeks. 

Journal Entry 6 by booknhand from San Jose, California USA on Saturday, April 22, 2006

This book didn't do anything for me. I was into it in the beginning and lost interest about half way through. I continued to read some more thinking it would pick back up, but it never did and I found myself not even wanting to pick it up - so I am requested the next person's address to pass it on.

What I did read was about a family whose parents expected great things from their two children. This was not happening, especially for the younger daughter who eventually won the school spelling bee. This starts her on a path of living up to her parents expectations, yet not really understanding what it is her dad is trying to get her to do by letting the letters speak to her. 

Journal Entry 7 by booknhand at Controlled Release - Bookring in San Jose, California USA on Sunday, May 14, 2006

Released 6 yrs ago (5/9/2006 UTC) at Controlled Release - Bookring in San Jose, California USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent off to Massachusetts BCer next on the bookring list.

Sorry for the delay in shipping - took awhile to get to the post office (as usual). 

Journal Entry 8 by terra57 from Hopedale, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Just received and I have two other rings in front of this one so will have it done in a week or two. Thanks for the postcard booknhand. I love the ocean so that was perfect. 

Journal Entry 9 by terra57 from Hopedale, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, June 08, 2006

This book was really not my cup of tea so I sent it on to LisaGriffith. 

Journal Entry 10 by LisaGriffith from Cambridge, Massachusetts USA on Friday, June 16, 2006

Just received Bee Season in the mail from terra57. I have a couple of other books in the queue but I'm reading like crazy to catch up. If anyone needs or wants the book urgently let me know and I'll pass it on immediately.
 

Journal Entry 11 by LisaGriffith from Cambridge, Massachusetts USA on Wednesday, July 19, 2006

This book engulfed me while I was reading in. The characters all fascinated me and revolted me at the same time. In the end I guess they all found their way of escaping...literally.

I'm PMing Jessibud and will send the book on as quickly as I get an address. Thanks for sharing Thursday5. 

Journal Entry 12 by jessibud from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Monday, August 21, 2006

This book arrived today. I am in the middle of another bookring book at the moment but I still have 2 weeks before I go back to school so I don't expect to have any difficulty finishing it before those other commitments kick in! 

Journal Entry 13 by Thursday5 from Columbus, Ohio USA on Monday, October 02, 2006

Note to self:
Send to Sweetybeans after the book comes back home to fulfill her holiday wish. 

Journal Entry 14 by Thursday5 from Columbus, Ohio USA on Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Book was lost accidentally. Jessibud felt bad, but I told her not to worry because things like this happen and she is only human :-)
Being the thoughtful Bookcrosser that she is, she bought a replacement book and gave it a new BCID in case the original one shows up. You may link to the new journal by going to the journal address below:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4479849 

Journal Entry 15 by Thursday5 from Columbus, Ohio USA on Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Jessibud completed the Bee Season bookring by sending a replacement copy back to me. This is my first bookring to "come home". Thanks so much everyone for a sucessful bookring!

 

Journal Entry 16 by jessibud from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Sunday, March 14, 2010

Uh-oh. Oh no and good grief! Look what I just found!!

I swear, books have a life of their own. I found this *lost* bookring book in a box of books I had moved to the basement quite some time ago. How it ended up in that box in the first place remains the biggest mystery, and one which will undoubtedly never be solved. Sheesh!

In it I found 2 pressed autumn leaves and my bookmark on page 27. Sigh...

In view of the article I recently read in this forum post: http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/6/6637332/78

I think I may add this book to the list as excuse #11: I lost it and during the time it was lost, I seem to have lost interest....

I will bring this to a meetup we have scheduled in a couple of weeks, unless you'd like it back, Thursday5. Let me know; I am happy to send it back to you if that's what you prefer.



 

Journal Entry 17 by jessibud from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Friday, March 26, 2010

Bringing to the meetup 

Journal Entry 18 by pinkoeria from Basingstoke, Hampshire United Kingdom on Saturday, March 27, 2010

I got this at the Toronto meet-up today. I actually took it because of jessibud's hilarious story of how she lost and found the book, but I am interested in reading this, so it will be on Mt. TBR for now. 

Journal Entry 19 by pinkoeria from Basingstoke, Hampshire United Kingdom on Thursday, April 22, 2010

We are reading this book with my RL bookclub. I generally liked this book, but didn't love it. It really gripped me at first, but it sort of lost me halfway through. I thought all the characters in this book were slightly selfish, especially the parents. Eliza tries to keep the family together, but she is so young, that it is an impossible task. I guess Miriam had an excuse for her selfishness, but Saul doesn't really.

I was a little lost when Eliza starts to do the Abulafia techniques and Aaron becomes a Hari Krishna follower. I don't know why it made me feel unsettled, I think it was just that I felt it was a little far-fetched. And it just goes from bad to worse. The ending was for me a little unsatisfactory, although I read people say they really liked it. For me it was a little abrupt.

The style of the writing (present tense) was not the easiest to read, nor did I like the fact that the perspective of the narrative changed to each of the characters in the book. I generally prefer one narrator, but that's just me. All in all an enjoyable read, but not something I would read again. 

Journal Entry 20 by pinkoeria at Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre in Vaughan, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Released 2 yrs ago (5/12/2010 UTC) at Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre in Vaughan, Ontario Canada

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Somewhere in the shopping centre, not sure yet where.

Welcome to BookCrossing!

Please let me know where you found the book and what you thought of it. Feel free to join BookCrossing, it's fun, it's free and it's anonymous. No one knows you by anything else than your screenname, unless you want them to. If you decide to join, please note me as your referring member - screenname ckochlourens.

Thanks and enjoy BookCrossing!