Journal Entry 1 by goodthinkingmax from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Thursday, September 24, 2009

Bookring participants:

Any order is fine by me:


FreePages
livrecache
jubby
fleebo
miss-jo
star-light
sujie
lakelady2282 

Journal Entry 2 by FreePages from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Thursday, October 08, 2009

Wa Hoo, Wa Hay !!!

Caught "The Little Stranger" in Canberra today!

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to resist this book, I think it might get bumped up the queue of bookrings that I have here at the moment. I just finished my previous book last night.

Thanks GTM. 

Journal Entry 3 by FreePages from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Friday, October 23, 2009

I did end up reading this one the weekend I got it.
It had me completely hooked! I don't think I normally devour 500 pages in two days.

I have my own ideas about the narrator and his seemingly obsessively interest in Hundreds Hall, but I don't want to give any spoilers, so I won't say anymore.

It's the first of Sarah Waters works that I've read and I'm looking forward to reading her earlier works now, many are on the 1001 list. I just received Fingersmith today and I'm going to be hard pressed to resist it this weekend.

I am hoping to send this on to Livrecache next, with one other, as soon as I've read it, to save on postage and packaging. I hope that works with everyone else.


 

Journal Entry 4 by FreePages at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Saturday, November 21, 2009

Released 2 yrs ago (11/21/2009 UTC) at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:


Placed in the post to Livrecache today with one other,

Thanks GTM for the opportunity to read it. I'm a confirmed Sarah Waters fan now.

To all the readers to follow me "Enjoy"!

:-) 

Journal Entry 5 by livrecache from Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Sunday, November 29, 2009

Woohoo! I've been wanting to reading this for ages. Thanks to all for sending it on its travels. 

Journal Entry 6 by livrecache from Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Saturday, January 02, 2010

I loved this book. Unfortunately I read it well before Christmas, so it seems like a lifetime ago, and I can't think what I particularly liked about it. The ambience and the writing have stayed with me. And as FreePages alludes to, there is something that is slightly ambivalent about the whole story. It's pretty gothic in a way: I can't say I warmed to the characters, but it is just so wonderfully written.

I promised to send it to jubby around Xmas time, but that seems to have gone, and as she's been away, I'll pop it in the post this weekend, and it will finally be on its way again. Sorry about the delay. As for most people, a lot has been going on in my life and BC has been not quite at the top of my list of concerns. Thanks so much, GTM, for sharing. 

Journal Entry 7 by livrecache from Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Sending to jubby today. Sorry for the delay, but as you seemed to be away, I thought I'd wait. Happy New Year. 

Journal Entry 8 by livrecache at Melbourne, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Released 2 yrs ago (1/5/2010 UTC) at Melbourne, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way to another bookcrosser. I hope you enjoy it. 

Journal Entry 9 by jubby from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, January 10, 2010

Opps!

I received this in the post last week, but it completely escaped me and I just found it in the toy box (how did it get there Little Jubby?).

Received safe and sound and hope to read in the coming weeks, along with many, many other books :)


Edit 22/1/10:
It was lovely of Livrecache to post this book onto me, but I actually have a copy of my own (still unread), so I thought I would pass this one onto Fleebo to keep it moving (as my holidays and reading time are drawing to an end).

Goodthinkingmax I am very sorry for the biro marks on the front cover. I didn't notice them until I handed the book over to Fleebo, and I have a very good idea who did it. I definitely owe you a drink or two. 

Journal Entry 10 by Fleebo from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Thursday, January 21, 2010

Received in person from jubby (and son) at Sydney's Entertainment Quarter. I really shouldn't have opened the book while waiting for a coffee to take back to work... as one would expect from a Waters book it pulls you in immediately, and now I will be tempted to sneak a look at a page or two every few minutes, for the rest of the afternoon.
So good to see you, jubby, and thank you for the book! 

Journal Entry 11 by Fleebo from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, March 21, 2010

I really enjoyed "The Night Watch" by this author, and I fully expected to love this one too. But I didn't.

The story is well told, but it a) took a very long time to get going and b) answered no questions.
I think that the most interesting aspect of it was the view of the British class system, and the decay of the country gentry.

It didn't occur to me to question the title of the book until halfway through it. When it was finally linked in, it didn't really seem appropriate - the entity referred to may have been little, or a stranger... or not.

In the end, I found this book to be unsatisfying.

I will pass this book on to miss-jo this week. 

Journal Entry 12 by miss-jo from Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Thursday, May 20, 2010

... and if I'd actually known my own mailing address I may have received it sooner! Here safe and sound now (and looking at me accusingly waiting to be read) 

Journal Entry 13 by miss-jo at Sydney, New South Wales Australia on Saturday, July 03, 2010

Like fleebo, I enjoyed this far less than I expected. The characters were interesting, the decay (and pride) of the gentry is sad, the class-consciousness rings true - but the little stranger jarred. Not only did it annoy me all the way through, but the lack of any answers (I didn't expect full closure, but some sense of reason would be nice) made it seem even more pointless.

To me, this was a classic Booker book - well-written, mildly interesting, yet ultimately unsatisfying.

Thank you for this one goodthinkingmax. I'll pm star-light and try to get it moving again. 

Journal Entry 14 by star-light at Melbourne, Victoria Australia on Saturday, July 10, 2010

Caught! Thanks miss-jo. Looking forward to this one. 

Journal Entry 15 by star-light at Melbourne, Victoria Australia on Sunday, August 29, 2010

I didn't enjoy this as much as I expected either. I found the plot too predictable. The story dragged on and didn't creep me out like ghost stories are supposed to. It was a relief to get to the end.

Sujie is away and has asked to be moved down the list, so I'll be sending this to lakelady2282 as soon as I can get to the mailbox. 

Journal Entry 16 by lakelady2282 at Lake Macquarie, New South Wales Australia on Saturday, September 04, 2010

Arrived safely Friday. I look forward to reading it but I have one book in front of it. Two if you count my book
http://www.marycelestepress.com/images_books/Robson_Crossing_Paths/Crossing_Paths.jpg which I'm doing the final readthrough on for the my publisher.Yay!

Debbie 

Journal Entry 17 by lakelady2282 at Lake Macquarie, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Well I know this was supposed to be a sort of alternative ghost story but hey suspension of belief is still very necessary and I'm afraid that by page 352 (even taking into account the ending) I really just wanted to bop Faraday over the head with his doctor's bag. The fact of the book being so drawn out made me decide on two stars.
Good characterisation and a very successful evocation of an interesting time in history bumped it up a star.
Thanks goodthinkingmax and everyone involved. I will bring this to the convention as I seem to be the last on the list. 

Journal Entry 18 by livrecache at Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Reading through the JEs of this book again brought its ambience back to me, which says something about the strength of the writing, or maybe I was actually paying attention. The story itself was puerile, and yes, it did talk about the decaying English class structure, but I agree with most readers: in the end it was totally unsatisfying. I'm surprised that I commented on how much I liked it; I don't think I did –– I expected to like it. But then I'm surprised by how well I remember it. That's pretty rare for me.

I hope whoever picks it up and reads it next continues the discussion. 

Journal Entry 19 by lakelady2282 at Lake Macquarie, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, November 10, 2010

This book is now making it's way to Sujie. 

Journal Entry 20 by Sujie at Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Thursday, November 11, 2010

Book arrived today. My first day off for ages! I've been eagerly and impatiently waiting to read this book by one of my favourite writers, and have often eyed it in the bookshop or library, but I've been good....even the last couple of weeks when I thought it was lost in the post, lakelady!!!
I've skimmed the comments and listened to several other reader friends, all of whom tell me it's not her best, but I love her style so I'll just immerse myself for a whole day and suspend my critical faculties. 

Journal Entry 21 by AnonymousFinder at Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Saturday, November 13, 2010

I think I definitely did suspend my critical facilities, because for all its flaws it had me totally absorbed for two sittings. It was sort of Dickens meets Daphne Du Maurier (especially the Great House being a character) and I think it's the Du Maurier bit that worries - a tad sentimental and overly romantic in the ghost department. However it's the post-war social commentary and characterisation that stand out for me. I really liked the ambivalence of Dr Faraday's character and would have been pleased if he'd dunnit!
I am a wuss and I read very few creepy stories -I've become adept at skim-reading torture and rape scenes in books, so this did "creep me out", in the old "Turn of the Screw" classic sense, and, particularly as I've had experience of psychoses, I thought Roderick's "delusions" were expertly written, thus creating a real sense that the whole thing was a delusion.
Not my favourite Sarah Waters; like Fleebo, "The Night Watch" remains the pick. I am still greedy for more of her work though; her style of writing is so seamlessly realised .

PMing goodthinkingmax to see where it goes. 

Journal Entry 22 by Sujie at Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Saturday, November 13, 2010

Sorry, that's me above, suspending technical competence...
goodthinkingmax has asked me to release the book so soon it will be off to Jing Jo's OBCZ. 

Journal Entry 23 by Sujie at Jing Jo OBCZ in Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (12/15/2010 UTC) at Jing Jo OBCZ in Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

In bookshelf at end of counter.