Journal Entry 1 by Giz-angel from Greenwich, Greater London United Kingdom on Thursday, February 14, 2008

I bought this copy from Ebay for the Best of 2007 swap on BookObs

Book Description
The Book of Dave is a misogynistic, racist, homophobic rant, written by a demented London cabbie, buried in November 2001 in the Hampstead garden of his hated ex-wife and addressed to the son he idealizes rather than fathers.

Several centures pass and, as sea levels rise, the only land left in central London becomes the isolated isle of Ham. There, the Six Families scratch a meagre living from the land. Their lives, however, are full of religion. For Dave's book has been disinterred and transformed into Holy Scripture. The peasants know his text by heart. The doctrines of Breakup and Changeover are rigid and absolute. Only one islander, Symun, remains incredulous. Rather than finding certainty in the Book and its Knowledge, he finds only questions. Desperate to discover answers, Symun embarks on an epic journey into the Forbidden Zone, and eventually to the terrifying heart of New London ...

Big, bold and dazzlingly inventive, Will Self's fifth novel is at once a profound meditation upon the nature of revealed religion, a love story, a caustic satire of contemporary urban life and a historical detective story set in the far future. A gripping read from start to finish, it proves there is at least one contemporary novelist prepared to take on the grand themes in the grand manner. 

Journal Entry 2 by Giz-angel at post office in By Post, a postal release -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, February 14, 2008

Released 4 yrs ago (2/14/2008 UTC) at post office in By Post, a postal release -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Going to Flicki who won it in the Best of 2007 swap - hope you love it as much as I did and I eagerly await your thoughts! 

Journal Entry 3 by Flicki from Emden, Niedersachsen Germany on Friday, February 22, 2008

Received this today! Thank you so much, giz-angel! :-) 

Journal Entry 4 by Flicki from Emden, Niedersachsen Germany on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Yayyyyy! I finished the f... Book of Dave, aka the BOOK FROM HELL for all non-native speakers of English!!! And it only took me 5 months! I only understood half of it, but I'm so proud that I made it all the way through this book, I give it a whole seven stars!! Then again one has to keep in mind that the book is not average at all. It is crazy throughout, but very true (as far as I can see...). The language is not the only problem I had with the book (and that was a problem because half of the book is written in an imaginary future dialect!!! At least according to the Wikipedia - I suppose the language of the future is based on something in the present, but I don't know what it is...), but also the accumulation of group rape scenes and the likes. I'm not very sensitive when it comes to mere texts, but I ran around with a bad feeling about me for a few days! I keep on wondering what the motos look like and also how most of the knowledge came from Dave to the future. He did write the book, okay, and we don't know what he wrote, okay, but I have no idea how the thoughts and names of people he only met after the books could have an influence on the future. So if anyone has any idea, please tell me! I'm sending this one off to VeganMedusa one of these days. Hope you enjoy the book! :-) AND YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT! (I wonder if people who did not grow up in London can??)
 

Journal Entry 5 by Flicki from Emden, Niedersachsen Germany on Wednesday, July 30, 2008

This is hilarious: Will Self Reading the 2nd Chapter of the book! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_NRCFWR7m4

The comments are even more funny. ;-)

And there seems to be someone else who didn't understand the book very well... ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrSDtroNUZY&feature=related
 

Journal Entry 6 by VeganMedusa from Invercargill, Southland New Zealand on Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Thanks Flicki! Sorry this book tormented you. I'm almost scared to read it now. ;) 

Journal Entry 7 by VeganMedusa from Invercargill, Southland New Zealand on Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Flicki, you're a legend for making it through this book! Seriously, I can't begin to imagine how difficult it was for you, knowing how hard I found it.
I imagine this book came into being a little like this:
Hmmm, how can I write the most difficult-to-read book in the world? I know! I'll write it in Cockney. Hmm, not hard enough - I know! I'll write it in a future dialect based on Cockney! Hmm, what else - I'll create a new spelling system for this language! Hmm, it just needs a little something else. I've got it - no speech marks, nothing to show dialogue other than the silly spelling. Genius!

I'm not saying it wasn't a good read once I got used to it all (about halfway through the book) but this took effort and I'm immensely proud that I made it.
Flicki - I hope you've recovered. :)
PS - the motos creeped me out bigtime.

Posted to Gategypsy. 

Journal Entry 8 by GateGypsy from Whitehorse, Yukon Canada on Wednesday, December 31, 2008

This arrived safe and sound -- and goodness, isn't it just huge? I had no idea of the size of it! It'll qualify as one of my Chunkster Challenge books :lol: