a great book, truelly a John Irving.
from amazon:
"When he is four years old, Jack travels with his mother Alice, a tattoo artist, to several North Sea ports in search of his father, William Burns. From Copenhagen to Amsterdam, William, a brilliant church organist and profligate womanizer, is always a step ahead – has always just departed in a wave of scandal, with a new tattoo somewhere on his body from a local master or “scratcher.”

Alice and Jack abandon their quest, and Jack is educated at schools in Canada and New England – including, tellingly, a girls’ school in Toronto. His real education consists of his relationships with older women – from Emma Oastler, who initiates him into erotic life, to the girls of St. Hilda’s, with whom he first appears on stage, to the abusive Mrs. Machado, whom he first meets when sent to learn wrestling at a local gym. ... "

In the end things are not what they seem to be. I liked this book because of the unexpected changes and the beautifull descriptions of peoples and towns. And last but not least all the nice little stories in between.

bookray here we go:

vinterstorm germany (world)
bilbi france (EU)
nao-asakura france (world)
arturogrande uk (world)
AuntNub usa (world)
BellaMack australia (australia)


Basic rules:
Please make a journal entry upon receiving the book - enjoy a good read - make a journal entry with a comment - PM the next bookcrosser for his/her address - put the book in the mail and make a release note.
If anyone wants to drop out of the bookray/-ring: please PM me so I can update the list.
In a bookray: last bookcrosser does a release wherever he/she thinks suitable - or you might consider to start another bookring or -ray with it. I will try to find more readers later on, in that case I may expand the ray.

Arrived today! Thanks!
Started reading on 11.04.2007

Thanks for the bookring... really a great book!
I will send it to bilbi during the next days...

What a huge book ! I'll do my best to read it before 2008 ;-)

Thanks for sharing \o/

Before BC I was never brave enough to read Irving : his books were so huge ! Then there was BC. I read "The world according Garp" and I hardly put it down. It was such a suprise to read such a huge book in so little time.

And now with every new book the magic's still there : the story is great, the characters are so attaching and the writing is so mineral - I mean, the story's like water, it runs so easily with nothing to stop the reader from reading it.

It's never easy to sum up such a plentiful plot.

Don't be afraid to open an Irving's novel \o/

THANKS FOR SHARING !

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May 2007 arturogrande's already read the book so it's on its way to AuntNub

I received the book today ~ wow ~ that was quick travel time! I look forward to reading it & sending it on its' way. Thanks for sharing!

RELEASE NOTES:

I must agree with everything Bilbi said...I couldn't have put it any better myself! This book was wonderful ~ & although long & almost intimidating by the looks of it, I couldn't put it down & sped right through it.

Will be on it's way to Bellamack as soon as I receive a mailing address.

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you Ben-Nevis for the opportunity to read the book, I am a huge John Irving fan. Have five bookrings to get through before it but will read it asap and probably ray it forward in Australia if thats ok

Available for selection