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''You cannot pretend to read a book. Your eyes will give you away. So will your breathing. A person entranced by a book simply forgets to breathe. The house can catch alight and a reader deep in a book will not look up until the wallpaper is in flames.' Bougainville. 1991. A small village on a lush tropical island in the South Pacific. Eighty-six days have passed since Matilda's last day of school as, quietly, war is encroaching from the other end of the island. When the villagers' safe, predictable lives come to a halt, Bougainville's children are surprised to find the island's only white man, a recluse, re-opening the school. Pop Eye, aka Mr Watts, explains he will introduce the children to Mr Dickens. Matilda and the others think a foreigner is coming to the island and prepare a list of much needed items. They are shocked to discover their acquaintance with Mr Dickens will be through Mr Watts' inspiring reading of Great Expectations. But on an island at war, the power of fiction has dangerous consequences. Imagination and beliefs are challenged by guns.Mister Pip is an unforgettable tale of survival by story; a dazzling piece of writing that lives long in the mind after the last page is finished.'

All I can say is love it, love it, love it! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, would recommend it to anyone as a book about how books and reading can influence our lives in so many different ways. There are so many strands to the story, one of survival, honour, trust, faith, self-discovery and personal identity. I love how the story and book itself reflects Dicken's original book in so many different ways.

I had been having a bit of a reading lull, not being able to settle down to reading a book, and this book has brought me well and truly out of it, got me fired up about reading again. With such great books to read, how can I stop? It's only a short book - read it, now!

Happy Reading!

NB: As (a well-deserved) winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Best Book Award and shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize, I will be saving this book to pop into a Prizewinners BookBox which will be coming to me shortly.

Well, looks like I forgot to put it into the book box, will take it along to the BookCrossing Convention instead.

Picked this up at the Convention, looks a good read:0)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending onto halonhakkaaja, winner of my August Birthday RABCK, enjoy:0)

The book arrived couple of days ago. Thank you very much jillbe!!! Actually my husband has started to read it already :) He is surprised and thrilled by it and it's hard for him to lay it down. I'm waiting my turn to read it ;)

What a wonderful book! Thank you so much jazz-ee2 and jillbe for sharing this book. I've already started to read Great Expectations ;) The book will continue it's journey very soon to a next bookcrosser.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The book is going next as a RABCK to Nadezda, who just won a september-draw in the Finnish bookcrossing-forum. Congratulations!

Thank you halonhakkaaja!

Local meet-up.

What an intriguing setting! Thank you for the book and the meet-up today.

Okay, this is a story that keeps coming back to my mind like a boomerang. It's indeed a profound story and the character of Mr Watts is such a powerful one that there's no escape for the reader but to go on reading.

The end of the book gives me even more thoughts. Words and stories are more powerful than the storyteller itself? Think about songs. Some of them are real masterpieces and may have a real significance in some circumstances. The creators of the songs on the other hand are just human beings. The story of Mr Pip was a safety belt for Matilda. Mr Watts was a hero one of a kind in this particular circumstance. In some other circumstance not so much.

Yes, there are many levels in the story. One takes what one needs. The story gives us some comfort even though being so sad?

The book is travelling to a new reader via mail. Have a nice summer!

Thank you for the book, Joika! Have a nice summer, too!

9. Sinulle vieraalla kielellä (eli ei omalla äidinkielelläsi) tai murteella kirjoitettu kirja

This is a perfect book for a person who loves reading books - so I liked this book very much! It was interesting to read a story which locates on the other side of the world, on the island I didn't know much about. The kids on the island learn a lot about world outside their own island, and about life in general, thanks to Mr. Watts and Dickens' Great Expectations. Some things happening on the book made me quite horrified. Anyway, this book is absolutely worth reading and luckily I already found the next reader for this one.

I'll mail this book to em64 who's interested in reading this book.

The book arrived today, thank you Flower78 for sharing! Looks like an interesting read.

What a fantastic and mesmerising book this was, one of the best books I have read this year. The story just took you away to the faraway tropical island. I also liked a lot how Dickens' Great Expectations was entwined to Matilda's story. It was a truly enjoyable book.

Took this from our local meet-up :)