A fantastic book which can be read over and over, I have two copies so releasing this one

RABCK OR RAY? Names

pinkydinky (uk, pref eu)
seethroughfaith (ship in finland or eu
nemostar (Scotland, )
Tubereader (UK, INTL)
Wandering-B (Hong Kong, INTL)
FarheenAltaf (us, pref usa)--- it's here---
literarylover (USA, pref US)
afraberg (Netherlands, intl)
iliotropio (to go at very end, belgium)

RELEASE NOTES:

on its way to the first person in the ray

Received today. Will put on the top of my TBR pile. Thanks katrinat.

A book written with immense compassion. I saw the film a long long time ago. The book is about Celie and her very eventful life. In a world dominated by men she eventually makes female friends and deals with everyone fairly even when she is not dealt a fair hand. Lovely!

I have seethroughfaith's address so will send on asap

RELEASE NOTES:

On it's way to Finalnd.

Crazily - in the time between pinky dinky getting my address and this arriving someone else sent me a copy of the book as a RABCK. No problem though I'll read this one and get it on its way in the ring - and the other one I can now donate to the 1001-library :)

thanks for this - I'm really looking forward to it and as it's a ring means I put it at the top of the TBR pile. One more ring first though.

This isn't at all what I expected but I'm really enjoying it.

The language takes some getting used to though ...

What an interesting read!

Once I got into the style of this (the shock of not reading ‘proper’ English was quite high at first!) I loved this book. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me think … I really recommend this book to anyone who wants to get inside the heart, mind and soul of an African American woman (and her sister) in the years prior to WW2 and when segregation was – sadly – the way of life for all in the deep south USA.

The book is a series of letters – thought they are more like journal entries really (not that dissimilar to a blog –without comments!) – firstly Celie writes to God, then there are letters to her from her sister. In the middle of the book, Celie stops writing to God and addresses the letters to her sister Nettie instead.

What I found most interesting however was Celie, Nettie and Shug’s view of God /the Bible and church … which mostly comes in/after the middle of the book

What God do for me? I ast

Shug say, Celie! Like she shock. He gave you life, good health, and a good woman that love you to death.

Yeah I say, and he give me a lynched daddy, a crazy mama, a lowdown dog of a step pa and a sister I probably won’t even see again. Anyhow, I say, the God I been praying and writing to is a man. And act just like all the other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful, and lowdown. (p164)

There’s also a lot of speculation about God being white or not … e.g. Nettie’s musings on why it is that people have an image of God being white “the Bible says that Jesus Christ had hair like lamb’s wool. Lamb’s wool is not straight, Celie. It isn’t even curly” (p113) and Shug’s admission that there “ain’t no way to read the bible and not think God white, she say. Then she sigh. When I found out I thought God was white and a man, I lost interest. “ (p166)

What was also very interesting to read were the accounts of what happened to indigenous populations / tribes in Africa (through the eyes of Celie’s sister) because of the new roads, the planting of rubber and other cash crops and the war effort. We have a lot to answer for – we really do.

BTW If you want to know why the book is called The Colour Purple – you need to go to page 167. I won’t spoil it here.

I have Nemostar's address in Scotland - so I'll either post it from here in Estonia tomorrow on next week from Finland.

Edited to add: this was posted back in June. But I don't know whether it arrived or not cos Nemostar hasn't yet JE:d or responded to my PMs. I contacted K. (ring organiser) this week ...(August 12th)

Nemostar has said this will be posted to Tubereader this week.

This book has arrived safely! Thanks katrinat for sharing it and Nemostar for posting it to me.

Unless anything extraordinary happens, I should be starting to read this one once I finish with the book that I am currently reading so it should not be too long. Please bear in mind that I will be moving countries next week so it might delay things a little, but I sincerely hope that things will run smoothly so it shouldn't be a problem.

I will update this JE when I start reading the book.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I have finally started reading this book. Unfortunately, my move to Luxembourg has had an impact in my reading speed (and also the fact that I was not really enjoying the previous book that I was reading!).

Anyhow, I have already read 70 pages of this book so hopefully I will finish it over the weekend or at the beginning of next week. I will update this JE and contact the next person in the line once I have progressed further in my reading.

Thanks for everyone's understanding with this delay.

OCT 6TH UPDATE: I have read more than half of the book so I have PMed Wandering-B for their address. I'll post a new JE with my review of the book once I have finished it.

I have finished reading this book. I think it is very beautifully written. When I started reading it, it was a shock to see the English used by Celie to write her letters, but then I got used to it.

I understand why the book is on the 1001 books list as it touches upon many difficult subjects in a way that makes you think a lot. Sometimes things are just mentionned in passing, sometimes they are more fully developed, but when you finish each of the letters you have something to think about. I think the story is sad, but it is written in a way that doesn't make you feel so sad after reading, I guess it is because you feel the strength of all those women, despite all their difficulties.

Thanks so much katrinat for sharing this book and nemostar for sending it to me. I have Wandering-B's address so will try to post the book to them today.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The book was posted to Wandering-B.

Happy reading!

Received today in the post. Was glad it managed to get here as the wrapping was pretty much vanished from one end of the book. Looking forward to reading it. Thanks katrinat for sending it out and Tubereader for sending it to me (btw, I love the stamps on it!).

What a well-written book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. I was reared in the South and have lives in parts of the Deep South, so I really didn't have much problem with the language - I had heard a lot of it before. The characters are so well developed that you feel as if you have known them all of your life. Celie was rather sad and Shug was rather perplexing on her life goals, but you had to admire both of them in different ways.

Thanks again for sharing. I have PM'd the next in line twice and am waiting for a reply. Will get it moving as soon as I have it.

Received the book from Wandering-B. Excited to read it and will pass it along soon.

literarylover asked to be skipped.

Afraberg also asked to be skipped.

PM'd iliotropio for addy.

On its way to iliotropia... Happy Holiday!