Into the rarefied atmosphere of the Hotel du Lac timidly walks Edith Hope, romantic novelist and holder of modest dreams. Exiled from home after embarrassing herself and her friends, Edith has refused to sacrifice her ideals and remains stubbornly single. But among the pampered women and minor nobility Edith finds Mr. Neville, and her chance to escape from a life of humiliating spinsterhood is renewed…

WINNER of the Booker Prize in 1985

Sent to fellow Bookcrosser geetheflea.

Had forgotten this was coming so was a real treat to see it arrive in the post this morning all the way from Japan! Thanks so much tanabata - i look forward to reading it.

This was a beautifully written book. I loved it so much i have bought my own copy!

I love this passage on what Edith (the romantic novelist) calls 'Tortoisedom':

"And what is the most potent myth of all?...The tortoise and the hare...Now you will notice, Harold, that in my books it is the mouse-like unassuming girl who gets the hero, while the scornful temptress with whom he has had a stormy affair retreats baffled from the fray, never to return. The tortoise wins every time. This is a lie, of course...In real life, of course, it is the hare who wins. Every time. Look around you. And in any case it is my contention that Aesop was writing for the tortoise market. Axiomatically, she cried, her voice rising with enthusiasm. 'Hares have no time to read. They are too busy winning the game. The propaganda goes all the other way, but only becasue it is the tortoise who is in need of consolation. Like the meek who are going to inherit the earth....You could argue that the hare might be affected by the tortoise lobby's propaganda, might become more prudent, circumspect, slower in fact. But the hare is always convinced of his own superiority; he simply does not recognize the tortoise as a worthy adversary. That is why the hare wins."

PS. Didn't get into teaching program so seems like i won't be going to Japan afterall... :(

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Plum-crazy and maybe it will then become a ray if anyone else wants to read it...

Some brief "rules"
* Journal the book when you receive it.
* PM the next person on the list for their address when you receive it so as to try to avoid hold-ups later on.
* If you don't hear from the next participant within a few days, PM them again. If after a few more days you still haven't heard from them, PM me to let me know, and move on to the next person on the list.
* Read (and hopefully enjoy!) Don't feel pressurised to read it in a rush (and life gets in the way sometimes!) but if you need to keep hold of the book for longer than say a couple of months, please journal to let us know.
* Journal again when you've read it to let us know what you think of it.
* The person at the end of the ray gets to decide what to do with the book.

Participants (new joiners will be added to the end of the list):
1) Plum-crazy
2) welshgem

Book arrived safely from geetheflea this morning. Looking forward to starting it in the next few days -thank you!

(will PM welshgem for next address now!)

Hmmm... not quite sure what to say... the manner of the characters in this story, the way they address each other & indeed, Edith's reason for being at the Hotel Du Lac, gave me the impression it was set in a much earlier period than the 1980s in which it was written... but there were the odd references which made it seem contemporary to the 80's, so I'm a bit unsure as to what time it was meant to be set in.

That aside, I did enjoy the book, in particular the chapter explaining the reason for Edith's exile- although I'm not sure I really liked Edith - I felt she needed a good shake in parts to stop herself being a bit of a doormat! But at least at the end, I felt she'd made the right decision about Mr Neville...

Thanks geetheflea for sharing this book & I will probably read more of Brookners work... this one will be on it's way to welshgem later in the week.

Sent to me as part of bookring. Was ok, n ot really my sort of book, but well written. Have added to RISI.com

Received this book thru readitswapit. My first ever bookcrossing book! Woohoo!

Received the book today from "sweepsmum" on Readitswapit. Going on the bookshelf with 40 other books I haven't yet read.

CAUGHT IN NORWICH NORFOLK UK

Finally got round to reading this book. I did enjoy it, but wouldn't bother to read it again. Released back onto RISI.