Another one of my favourite Oriental readings, this was an imaginative story, well written and most enjoyable.I am putting this up for a bookring

The list so far for this bookring

Fsr44
Scarlett07
LeishaCamden
Penelelopewanders

sunlightbub /uk
Lindyloumac/Italy
Maireen/Italy
Return to Pell
Have posted to USA Fsr44 today from Canino Post Office 18th June 2007

Received today. I shall read it and speed it on its way. Thank you!

This was lovely, but so very sad. Also, the combination of reading this book while also following several stories in the news regarding the abuse of women really had my feminist rant up!
The book was obviously exhaustively researched, so I learned much. I'll send to the next reader as soon as I have an addy.

Sending to Scarlett17 today.

Received this book today. I will get to it in a few days and pass it on. : )

I thought this was a very well written book about friendship and a different culture. The practice of binding the feet was very eye opening and has made me want to find out more about this tradition. I have sent this book on to LeishaCamden in Norway today 8/11/07. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

OMG ... !! I just discovered the package with this book in it (along with two other packages ... !!) on a chair in my living room, in a pile of mail that must have arrived during the week of August 19th-27th. :-o I'm so sorry for not journalling this book sooner! I only realized it was here like five minutes ago. I was out of town that week and my friends who came over to feed my turtles didn't mention that there had been any mail - I never stopped to ask if there had been any or to think what they would have done with it if there had. Obviously they put it in a pile on a chair ... ! :-D There were some newspapers on top of it, so I guess I've just been wandering around here for two weeks thinking that I must have put that stuff there myself. I'm sorry ... !! Better late than never??

Thank you for sharing, Pell! Scarlett07, I'm SO sorry for being such a scatterbrain. :-) Am red in the face now, I can tell you. I will journal again when I've read the book ... I have one other bookring ahead of it, but hopefully it won't take too long.

I started reading this book on the train this afternoon. :-) So far I've read about 45-50 pages. It's a truly gripping read. I was practically squirming with sympathy pain reading about the footbinding procedures - I was familiar with the custom beforehand, I have read a little about it and seen some shoes for bound feet in museums in China (a friend of mine here in Norway has a pair in his collection of memorabilia from his many travels so I have even handled and examined a pair) but reading this very graphic description in a first person narrative really brought it home to me how gruesome and inhumane this custom really was. How unnatural, really.

So far the book definitely has me hooked. I will journal again when I've read the whole thing.

I finished reading this book this morning.

What a wonderful, fantastic book!!! I'm so glad I joined this ring - thank you so much, Pell, for starting it and for making me part of it, and thank you to fsr44 and Scarlett07 for getting it to me. :-) This is definitely one of the best books I've read this year. Extremely well written, I don't think I would have changed a thing. And as nitpicky as I am, that's pretty rare. ;-) The language is just beautiful, and it fits the story so well - I could just hear Lily's voice speaking as I read. Fantastic.

The story was completely gripping - quite upsetting, to be honest, but gripping. It was so awful to read about the women's lives in that time and place - the footbinding especially just made my stomach churn. Like Scarlett07 I want to learn more about the practice. I don't understand how such a thing could get started. I mean, where did the idea come from?? Who was it who got to thinking that this would be a good idea?? I find it so hard to reconcile that this absolutely barbaric custom was so prevalent in such a society - I mean, there they were, embroidering these masterful pieces of everyday art, painting beautiful calligraphy, speaking to each other in poetry, for Pete's sake, and at the same time engaging in this revolting, barbaric practice. I so completely don't get it ...

The story is absolutely engrossing, I mean, you might think that living such an enclosed life a woman would experience very little of life. But that's certainly not true in this case. Lily's life is so fascinating and told so credibly ... at times I felt like I was reading memoirs rather than a novel. The story of these two women and their friendship was so moving - even though their lives are so infinitely far from my own life, their story really touched me. An absolutely wonderful read.

I'll PM Penelopewanders for her address and get the book moving again.

The blurb:

'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a story of two extraordinary women surviving in a time of strict rules and ancient customs. With the eye of a historian and the vibrancy of a true storyteller, Lisa See has written a wonderfully mesmerising novel filled with colour, fascinating detail and heartfelt drama.

'Only the best novelists can do what Lisa See has done, to bring to life not only a character but an entire culture. An engrossing and completely convincing portrayal of a woman shaped by suffering and the friendship that helps her to survive'
Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha

'Achingly beautiful, a marvel of imagination of a real and secret world that has only recently disappeared. It is a story so mesmerising that the pages float away and the story remains clearly before us from beginning to end'
Amy Tan

'I was entranced by this wondrous book ... Magical haunting fiction'
Maxine Hong Kingston'

RELEASE NOTES:

The book is finally on its way to penelopewanders in Switzerland. Thank you again to Pell for an absolutely fantastic read. :-)

Arrived by post this morning. One other ring in front of it, then I'll tackle this one which looks great. Thanks so much!

Such a sad story. It was a fascinating book and story. I had of course read about foot-binding and even seen some of the shoes, but this description brought home even more starkly how many generations of women suffered, and passed on that suffering. And excision is still being practiced in some parts of the world too... To think some feel there's nothing more to be said about women's rights. Thank you so much for making this beautiful book available. I have written for the next address.

RELEASE NOTES:

From the (wet) snowy alps, off to the UK. Thanks so much for making this available!

I've been wanting to read this for a while, so very pleased it's arrived here safely..I am howver a bit 'snowed under' no pun intended, but will get to it asap..Thanks for sharing xxx

Just an update from me:

I'm really sorry I've had this so long, but I am now reading it so should get it moving again some time this week.

Firstly, my apologies for taking so long with this.
When I finally, got around to it I loved it.
As others have said it made me want to find out more about chinese culture, particularly footbinding. I have a little girl of 4 and the mere idea of doing something like this to her is so distressing.
It also bought home to me how easily we mistake what someone has said or written and the reprecusions this can have..A lesson to us all to make sure we get our facts straight before leaping to conclusions!
A great read that I'm sure will stay in my thoughts for some time.

THanks so much for sharing. I've pm'd the next participant and will get this out asap.

I've just pm'd the next person again, as had no response yet.

This arrived in the post this morning, thanks sunlightbub for mailing on to me. From the reviews posted it sounds as if this will be an enjoyable read, thanks Pell for starting the ring.
I have today finished my current book so will read this next. Then hopefully when I meet up with Maireen again I should be ready to pass it on to her.

A very descriptive memoir style fictional account about the role of women in C19 Chinese Society; where friendships among the women were of great importance. Until comparatively recently Chinese women led a very controlled life. They were made to feel worthless for having been born female in the first place, with their only use in society to give birth to sons.

This is a beautiful story of the strong friendship between Lily and Snow Flower. As little girls of six these two became ‘laotong’ that is young girls that are matched by such things as date of birth and social standing to become soul mates for life. These relationships were considered as important as their eventual marriages would be.
The story follows the complex friendship from the beginning of ‘laotong’ pairing to the end of their lives. Together Lily and Snow Flower share the joys and sorrows of their lives; from foot-binding, arranged marriages, wedding feasts, birth of children and other festivals within the larger picture of disease, famine and war. Lily is now 80 years old and relating the story of her relationship with Snow-Flower and how they developed a lifelong bond through secret ‘nu shu’(a written coded language created by women for women exclusively) messages to each other over the years. In telling her story she feels she is seeking atonement for mistakes she made, which for forty years have worried her.

The process of foot-binding I have always found disturbing, but the account in this book is the most vivid I have ever read. Apparently perfect feet are 7cm in length! This practice is known to have still been carried out in rural China within the region that Tongku is located in until as recently as the early 1950’s.

I recommend this highly not just as a beautiful story but because it is one that will impact you deeply and teach you much about the role of women in the history of Chinese culture.

I will be passing this on to Maireen next time we meet-up.

RELEASE NOTES:

Meeting up with Maireen and Pell for coffee. A mini bookcrossing meet-up!

Seeing as this book goes home to Pell after I've read it, it will be the last one to be read of the four books received from LindyLou and Pell this morning.

Finally arrived back home after travelling for over a year. I will probally send it on its travels again soon.