Journal Entry 1 by jubby from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Tuesday, March 04, 2008

The back cover reads:

Awaking in a room with no memory of who he is or how he got there, a man pieces together clues to his past - and the identity of his captors - in this fantastic, labyrinthine novel.

An old man awakens, disoriented, in an unfamiliar chamber. With no memory of who he is or how he has arrived there, he pores over the relics on the desk, examining the circumstances of his confinement and searching his own hazy mind for clies.

Determining that he id locked in, the man - identified only as Mr. Blank - begins reading a manuscript he finds on the desk, the story of another prisoner, set in an alternate world the man doesn't recognise. Nevertheless, the pages seem to have been left for him, along with a haunting set of photographs. As the day passes, various characters call on the man in his cell - vaguely familiar people, some who seem to resent him for crimes he can't remember - and each brings frustrating hints of his identity and his past. All the while an overhead camera clicks and clicks, recoridng his movements, and a microphone records ever sound in the room. Someone is watching.

Both chilling and poignant, Travels in the Scriptorium is vintage Auster: mysterious texts, a hidden past, and, somewhere, an obscure tormentor. And yet, as we discover during one day in the life of Mr. Blank, his world is not so different from our own.



I was able to mooch this book from Owlathome on www.bookmooch.com. It is an advanced reader's edition, and thus far I have only found two typos. 

Journal Entry 2 by jubby at Controlled Release in Controlled Release, --by post or by hand (ie ring, ray, RABCK, trade) -- Controlled Releases on Friday, March 07, 2008

Released 4 yrs ago (3/8/2008 UTC) at Controlled Release in Controlled Release, --by post or by hand (ie ring, ray, RABCK, trade) -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Passing onto TQD, after hearing the author discuss the book.

Sadly, Auster gave away the ending! 

Journal Entry 3 by tqd from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Monday, March 10, 2008

Well, Auster might have given away the ending when we saw him talk on Friday night, but I obviously vagued out during that bit! I think I was too excited to find out we'd get to meet previous Auster characters again (Mr Bones!).

Thanks very much Jubby. I shall try and get to this one sooner rather than later, so I can keep it moving!

UPDATE 14 March 2008: And already requested by BellaMack on the relays. I shall pass it along once I've finished reading it. (Hurrah! An excuse to read this one sooner rather than later!) 

Journal Entry 4 by tqd from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Monday, June 16, 2008

Well, thank you very much Jubby for this quite delightful and, being Auster, surreal read. It was lovely seeing some old characters again (I can't remember where I met Fanshawe, but I read the one with Daniel Quinn and the Stillmans (Stillmen?) recently, and John Trause even more recently).

It was a lovely self-referential mediation on writing and characters. Yet again, I think he's pushing the borders of very intellectual sci-fi; and, yet again, he seems to despise the sci-fi genre (Mr Blank's comments about the sci-fi-esque manuscript he's reading). I continue to wonder if Paul Auster really doesn't like sci-fi, or is just being tongue-in-cheek about sci-fi's lack of literary acceptance. Being Auster, nothing is ever straightforward. (Or maybe I just always over-complicate his books.)

I do have to take a star off my rating, because I feel this is a book for pre-existing fans of Auster's books rather than a new reader.

Anyhow, I have BellaMack's address, and shall pop this in the mail to her asap.

UPDATE 25 JUNE 2008: And in the post to BellaMack this morning! Happy reading! 

Journal Entry 5 by BellaMack from St Helens, Tasmania Australia on Monday, June 30, 2008

Received today, thanks tqd 

Journal Entry 6 by BellaMack at St Helens, Tasmania Australia on Monday, May 31, 2010

Absolutely loved this book and did consider keeping it for a while longer for another read but its just too good to sit on a bookshelf so now its Reserved for OZVBB. 

Journal Entry 7 by dolphin-au at Bellingen, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Received this yesterday, after the normal mailrun, so suspect it went via our neighbours. Looks like an interesting read. I've read a few of Auster's books now and have really enjoyed them. Will try to read this fairly soon.