Putting together a bookray!

1. pinkydinky
2. KiwiinEngland
3. LauraLeterboxer
4. Gealach
5. a-better-world
6. lot12
7. franaloe
8. ana-b
9. lundi
10. followdream
11. Mozette
12. hfitz5051 (Florida)

13. ladyveg (Wisconsin)

14. pulpmode(Minnesota - US shipping only)

RELEASE NOTES:

On its way

Arrived today. Thanks Earthdance.

Wow! I really,really liked this book. Very cleverly written with lots of clues about what is going to happen threaded through the book. All these threads gradually add up as you continue to read.
Have pm'd KiwiinEngland for address to send on.

Sent on to KiwiinEngland today

Thank you for this. I am really looking forward to reading it. I just hope I have not built up my expectation so much I am disappointed a bit.

Sorry for the delayed entry. It arrived with me on 10th October when I was away.

I am pleased to say I did not find this book disappointing, nor was it confusing to follow (which was another concern I had when it comes to a book set in various times).

The book is chronologically laid out in terms of Clare's age and Henry (her time travelling husband) changes time and place depending on circumstances. I was momentary confused when Henry was fifteen and fifteen as I couldn't figure out which one was "now" Henry and which was "future" Henry.

A lovely book about accepting things, and changing to live your life in circumstances you can't control. Where knowledge is power but where knowledge of the future can't change anything.

One query, would Henry really be a dense as his ex stated towards the end of the book when they leave a nightclub?? (You'll know what I mean when you read it)

Posted to LauraLeterboxer on Saturday 3rd Nov, 2nd class post. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did LauraLeterboxer.

Hiya,

Received the book earlier this week. Thanks very much KiwiinEngland. I'm in the middle of another bookring book at the moment, and will read this one next.

I too enjoyed this book. I'm just back from holiday abroad, and now I can't remember the place in the book referred to by KiwiinEngland. It rings a vague bell, but I can't quite remember (though I have the sense I might have stumbled over something along those lines as well). The rapid decay of my memory is truly frightening. I just bought some ginko biloba today in the hopes it might help. Now I just have to remember to take it. :)

I very much agree that this is a well crafted story, with puzzle pieces coming together delightfully at varying points in the book. I also felt it had interesting things to say about acceptance, human limitations and human transcendence. I didn't expect to have such an emotional reaction to it, and was glad I wasn't reading certain passages in public.

I have pm'ed Gealach and will send on later this week.

The book arrived today! I have to finish the book I'm reading right now before I get started on this one.

Thanks for the postcard, LauraLeterboxer! :-D

I just can't get into this one, it's just too strange. I'm sending it to a-better-world as soon as I get the address.

Will be sent to a-better-world tomorrow.

arrived about a week ago..but I forgot to journal it:P I've already started reading and for now I find interesting the flashbacks and forwards;) thank you Gealach!

I really enjoyed this book. I wasnt expecting but I got a little emotional about it. Mainly because it made me think about family bonds, that life isnt eternal, and how it would be confortable to know for sure that it will all work out..:)
Well anyway, I've already sent it to lot12 a few days ago, the man in the post office was a little weird so I hope it gets there safe:P
thank's for sharing the book!

I received this book last thursday, but I had some computer problems.
Luckily, it works properly now. I started tonight and am fascinated already.

Imagine one day you turn around and there he is: the man of your dreams. The man you dreamed of as a romantic, lonely child in a not so happy household (to say the least) stands behind you suddenly after all those years of waiting. Granted, he is not as mature as you thought he would be, but he is as sophisticated, charming and mysterious. You fall madly in love with him, and he, as in your fantasy, with you. Nice, huh?

Imagine you find out he is an alcoholic or a drug addict or has a mental disorder. Wouldn’t you think it’s your destiny to stick with him, whatever may come? Isn’t it fate? He would have a lot of good points, for example being excellent in bed and quoting Rilke at all the appropriate moments. Plus, he would tell you his condition gets better as long as he is with you. Down side is: he is not to be trusted and very likely to end up dead sooner rather than later. He is often away. You wait for him, not knowing where he is, what he is up to. But still, you love him.

Imagine you would want to write a story about such love, about such a girl. You do not want to write about all the social difficulties. You do not want to deal with the prejudices about drug addicts, alcoholics or people with a mental disorder. Because if you write a book about an alcoholic, a gambler or a schizophrenic, one will have fixed ideas about this character from the start. Gone will be the focus on the unconditional love and the complexities of that love.

Imagine Niffenegger wanted to write that story. How smart and lovely is her invention of this chrono-impaired man! Via Henry she can convey the intricate feelings for a person who is Mr. Trouble himself. The similarities between the chrono-displaced relationship and a relationship I tried to sketch above are many. I have seen such relationships close-by. I admire Niffeneggers choice to write this story about unconditional love in dire circumstances in this specific way.

Sad it is, then, that she wasn’t able to make my guts churn. The story of Henry and Clare does not rub on me. I don’t feel their love; I don’t feel their frustration. Sometimes I don’t even believe Clare is worried about Henry’s condition. (Who would leave a two year old alone in a shopping centre with a man who might disappear instantly?) Giving both Clare and Henry a voice is a wonderful instrument in showing self-reflection and introspection in this impossible, but happening relationship. In The Time Traveller’s Wife however, the voices just tell facts, so very impersonal that I often didn’t know who was speaking.

In contrast to what I thought would happen, I bought the time travel completely. I saw interesting dilemmas appear about cause and effect. Why does it have to be this way? Because it already happened that way. In the beginning, when Clare is young, Henry knows the future. But when they meet for real Clare is the one to say: we will get married. Successively, one of them possesses knowledge the other one can’t have yet. Such an intriguing concept, time travel! So hard to get it right! That time travelling is just a means to an end for Niffenegger is the reason, I would guess, that the concept has glitches later in the book. (Why would Henry look up the details of the child of David Kendrick in the birth registration, three years after it is born, and then bring those back, if he knows, three years later, the outcome of their talk?)

When the story is well on its way, it starts to stretch. The romantic side (getting married, having babies, celebrating with friends, making confessions) gets the upper hand and after some of that the plot has to unravel. Henry and Clare have a hard time to keep me interested in the second half of the novel.

This is clearly a first one. The idea wins over the writing. Lets hope Niffenegger has more brilliant ideas and time and stamina to make wonderful stories out of them. I would try them.

Thank you for letting me read this book! I wouldn't have wanted to miss it.

Found the book in my mailbox today. I've placed it on top of my TBR pile. Looking forward!
Lot12, thanks for sending, and Earthdance, thanks for sharing.

This is a difficult one to give an opinion about! I have to say that I've read the book in one go. As soon as I started it I wanted to know how it ended: What problems would occur due to the time travelling, and how would Henry and Clare deal with that, etc. However, I wondered whether I'd have to judge a book that apparently was so gripping as good or not. The idea of the book is very nice, and I really appreciated it. I mean, there is a reason I finished it in one go. But then I was not quite sure if I would recommend this book to anyone. The story was not particularly well written, and some things were just not convincing; i.e. Henry makes an amazing personality change as soon as he meets Clare in present time, and believes everything she tells him. Anyways, I think I'll have to go with Lot12's comment, that the idea wins over the writing. The idea was very interesting indeed.

The book is on its way to ana-b. Enjoy!

Received the book today. Thanks.

A difficult book to read. I did not really like the main characters. I don't think that travelling in time in this story makes the story so much better or interesting.So a disappointing story for me.
I'll send the book to lundi this afternoon.

RELEASE NOTES:

Have a nice read, lundi.

Sorry for the long radio silence. New year's resolution: finally sending this book on its way...

A very original view on time travel and very well executed. It's okay that the mind-boggling timeloops in the story are more important than the characters. Most of their actions and feelings I could understand well enough, but if Clare was my friend I would have a few things to say to her. When they were together more or less frequently Henry was totally unreliable and if she still wanted to be with him, well so be it. But waiting her whole life after his death for him to visit her for the last time. Too much, just too much....

I got the book a few days ago and started to read right away.
It's the most fascinating story I've read in a long time so far!

Thank you for this ring

This book arrived today. So, I'll get my nose into it as soon as I can as I have a bookring I'm doing right now. Thanks for including me in this.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

First I must apologise for how long it's take to post this book out. It's all to do with money... yep, the old foldin' stuff. I didn't have enough to post it and so I had to wait until this pay to get enough to get it going. So, here it goes... in the post on Thursday morning while I check the mail to the next person who replied to me on the list (as a few people told me to skip them... fair enough). Anyway, this book is going to take a rather long journey now across the Pacific Ocean to the USA.

Just received this. I am looking forward to reading it now!

I'm not one for philosophy and I'm usually not very good at the deep "reading group questions" at the end of some books. But just reading this as a story, not looking for hidden meanings or plot holes, I found it very enjoyable and read it in a few days. I thought it might be frustrating trying to keep up with what was going on but it was easier than I thought. I also got emotional at the end. Now waiting for an address from the next recipient. Thanks for inviting me into this bookray!