Journal Entry 1 by davemurray101 from Maryville, New South Wales Australia on Thursday, October 08, 2009

London, 1958-Soho, Notting Hill . . .a world of smoky jazz clubs, coffee bars, and hip hangouts in the center of London's emerging youth culture. The young and restless--the absolute beginners--were creating a world as different as they dared from the traditional image of England's green and pleasant land. Follow our young photographer as he records the moments of a young teenager's life in the capital--sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll, the era of the first race riots and the lead up to the swinging sixties . . .

A twentieth century classic, Absolute Beginners remains the style bible for anyone interested in the Mod culture and paints a vivid picture of a changing society with insight and sensitivity. 

Journal Entry 2 by davemurray101 from Maryville, New South Wales Australia on Thursday, October 08, 2009

Some novels offer a snapshot of the time in which they were written. Absolute Beginners is one of those books. It offers an insight into the youth culture of the time 'teddy boys', mods etc. The intergenerational clash - the war generation and the post war generation. As well as the racial tensions that started to rise at the time. One can certainly see why it is a cult novel as well as an addition into the 1001 books you must read before you die. 

Journal Entry 3 by davemurray101 from Maryville, New South Wales Australia on Friday, October 09, 2009

Now a 1001 bookring. Participants so far....

1. EmgeeNL (Netherlands)
2. Jujuks (Portugal)

3. Danielle23 (uk)
4. Rach-489 (uk)
5. Tubereader (Luxembourg)
6. Pellu (Finland)
7. Caroley (UK)
8. Perryfran (USA) - asked to be skipped -
9. Cat207 (Australia)
10. Freepages (Australia)
11. livrecache (Australia)
12. lakelady2282 (Australia)



Then return to me and the 1001 Library. 

Journal Entry 4 by davemurray101 at A Controlled Release, a fellow bookcrosser -- Controlled Releases on Monday, October 12, 2009

Released 2 yrs ago (10/12/2009 UTC) at A Controlled Release, a fellow bookcrosser -- Controlled Releases

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sent to EmgeeNL in the Netherlands. Hope you enjoy this one. 

Journal Entry 5 by EmgeeNL from Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland Netherlands on Monday, October 26, 2009

The book arrived. It's going on my TBR for now

Finished reading the book. To be honest I found the book quite borring except for the final twenty pages or so. That could be due to the fact that I'm not a native English speaker and found that I had difficulty understanding some words, happily there is wikipedia so they could help me on the Ted- and some other stuff. I will PM the next one on the list for their address.
 

Journal Entry 6 by EmgeeNL at A Controlled Release, a fellow bookcrosser -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Released 2 yrs ago (11/9/2009 UTC) at A Controlled Release, a fellow bookcrosser -- Controlled Releases

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The book is on it's way to the next reader 

Journal Entry 7 by Jujuks on Saturday, November 21, 2009

This book arrived yesterday. I'll start reading it soon. 

Journal Entry 8 by Jujuks on Monday, November 30, 2009

I have just finished reading this book. I found it kind of boring, the only parts I really enjoyed were the interaction between the narrator and Suzette. I also found that some of the expressions used by the characters made it hard to understand what was being said.

I'll send this book to Danielle23 next week. 

Journal Entry 9 by Jujuks at BOOK RING, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom on Monday, December 07, 2009

Released 2 yrs ago (12/7/2009 UTC) at BOOK RING, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom

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Sent to Danielle13. Hope you enjoy! 

Journal Entry 10 by Danielle23 from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom on Monday, December 14, 2009

The book has arrived safley and I'll get to it as soon as possible xx 

Journal Entry 11 by Danielle23 from Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom on Saturday, January 16, 2010

I really enjoyed this book, especially the way it was written. The race issue I found difficult to read but still interesting as it was new to read about it from a teenagers perspective.

Thank you for sharing and I will get the book posted along as soon as possible xx 

Journal Entry 12 by Danielle23 at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom on Monday, January 18, 2010

Released 2 yrs ago (1/18/2010 UTC) at Sunderland, Tyne and Wear United Kingdom

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Off to Rach-489, the next in line xx 

Journal Entry 13 by Rach-489 from Woking, Surrey United Kingdom on Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Postman delivered this to me today, thank you to davemurray101 for starting this ring and danielle23 for getting the book to me so quickly! I will start to read this one tomorrow :) 

Journal Entry 14 by Rach-489 from Woking, Surrey United Kingdom on Wednesday, February 03, 2010

I am afraid I couldn't finish this book, I found it so hard to like any of the characters that it became hard for me to keep an interest in their daily lives. In the end I was reading just to get through it and felt it was time to move it on to someone who will hopefully enjoy it more.

It will be winging its way to Tubereader tomorrow :) 

Journal Entry 15 by Rach-489 at Snail Mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, February 04, 2010

Released 2 yrs ago (2/4/2010 UTC) at Snail Mail, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

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Sent out to you today! 

Journal Entry 16 by Tubereader from Bruxelles / Brussel, Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium on Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The book has arrived safely to Luxembourg. I was on a short holiday and here it was waiting for me at my return!

Will update this JE when I start reading it.

Thanks davemurray101 for sharing and Rach489 for sending it to me!

11th MARCH UPDATE: Quick note to let everybody know that I have started reading this book!hth

12th MARCH UPDATE: Just letting everybody know that I have read half of this book and I am PMing Pellu for their address.
 

Journal Entry 17 by Tubereader from Bruxelles / Brussel, Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium on Saturday, March 13, 2010

I have very much enjoyed this book. Perhaps because it is set in London? Don't really know...

I think sometimes it was not very credible that the narrator was a teenager but, otherwise, I think it was very well written (although part of the language I did not fully understand) and the topic was interesting, something I did not know much about (the racial issues in post-war London).

Thanks davemurray101 for sharing! I have Pellu's address and, therefore, the book should be on its way shortly. 

Journal Entry 18 by Tubereader at Luxembourg, Kanton Luxemburg Luxembourg on Monday, March 29, 2010

Released 2 yrs ago (3/27/2010 UTC) at Luxembourg, Kanton Luxemburg Luxembourg

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The book was (finally) posted to Pellu last Saturday.

Happy reading! 

Journal Entry 19 by Pellu from St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg (Federal City) Russia on Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Book is here in Lappeenranta. I have quite a few rings and rays with me at the moment, but I'll try to get to this soon. 

Journal Entry 20 by Pellu at Lappeenranta, Etelä-Karjala Finland on Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Released 2 yrs ago (5/5/2010 UTC) at Lappeenranta, Etelä-Karjala Finland

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Interesting book though all the descriptions felt little boring in some parts, but they also gave feeling that the narrator really is a teenager: I'm not that interested in clothes but teens seem to categorize each other by the way they are dressed. The race issue was interesting to read, because race issues and debate on immigration are one of the hot topics in Finland at the moment.

I already got Caroley's address and I'll post this today. Thank you davemurray101 for organising the ring. 

Journal Entry 21 by Caroley from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Saturday, May 08, 2010

It arrived this morning, thanks Pellu. Thanks for the lovely bookmark too. What a great quote on it!

I have one other bookring to read first, but should get to this one quite quickly. 

Journal Entry 22 by Caroley from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Friday, May 14, 2010

I 'thought' I was really going to enjoy this as it sounded just the sort of book I would enjoy. I did try hard to like it too but I just couldn't get into it. It's taken me all week to read it as I could not engage with it. I think the problem was that I didn't like the narrator. He annoyed me. And so, I didn't enjoy the book.
Still, I did manage to finish it, and I did like the final chapter more than the rest of it so that's something.

Thanks very much for sharing the book Dave. I've already PMd Cat for her address so I'll get the book in the post asap. 

Journal Entry 23 by Caroley at Birmingham, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom on Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Released 2 yrs ago (5/18/2010 UTC) at Birmingham, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom

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Posted airmail to Cat 

Journal Entry 24 by cat207 at Lake Macquarie, New South Wales Australia on Friday, May 28, 2010

Arrived in today's mail. Thank you Caroley, and Dave for sharing your books. X 

Journal Entry 25 by cat207 at Lake Macquarie, New South Wales Australia on Friday, June 04, 2010

The difficulty I found with this one was the many different names used for each character - took me a while to work out he was talking about the same people!

And I don't know if it's just because of the time I grew up in, but the people on the front of the book look more like 30-somethings - nothing like teenagers!

This will go in Monday's mail to Freepages. 

Journal Entry 26 by FreePages at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Thursday, June 10, 2010

Arrived! Gosh, another 1001 bookray!
I've got a couple of others that I've just read and are due to go to livrecache, since she's next on this list too, I'll try to get stuck into it and send it on with the others.

Thanks for passing it on everyone :-)
 

Journal Entry 27 by FreePages at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Thursday, August 19, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (8/19/2010 UTC) at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia

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Ok I decided to turn to wikipedia to get the gist of this.

The novel is divided into 4 chapters that are each set on a day in one of London's summer months, in the life of the 18 year old 'teenage' narrarator,. We never find out the narrators true name- by the other characters, he's referred to as "blitz baby", "kid", "teenager", "child", "infant prodigy" and "son": all terms that emphasize his youth.

The language took me 'till halfway through the book to get used to. I'll have to look out for an audio version or a copy of the film. I'd love to hear the dialogue spoken. For example

'And why has Partner's pimpery taken their custom away from Dido's toilet-paper daily?' I asked Zesty-Boy.
'It may be that Dido's slipping, or the paper's slipping, or just that everything these days is falling in the fat laps of the jingle kings.'
'I wonder why Dido doesn't do a quick change and crash land in the telly casbah?'

Priceless! It was worthwhile reading just for passages like these alone, not that I understood half of it!

Unfortunately, I didn't find the 'teenage' main character believable at all, could be something to do with the author being about forty-four at the time he wrote it.
What an interesting author tho', from a very famous family that included Rudyard Kipling. I think in a way he got more of a sense of the culture in London at the time because he was looking at it from the view of an outsider, not just because of his age, but also because he had grown up in Australia and he looked at London, I think, with fresh eyes.

I got a sense of the race riots in Noting Hill of the time but because of the language it was hard to really register it.

Overall, I can see why it's on the 1001 list but it did take me a while to see why ;-)

Thanks for the opportunity to read it DaveMurray101.

Livrecache has sent me her new address details in Tassy, so it's off to the Apple Isle with the Absolute Beginner's! 

Journal Entry 28 by livrecache at Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Caught yesterday, thank you very much. I promise I won't this let this languish as I have been guilty of recently.

Thanks for the postcard, Kim. 

Journal Entry 29 by livrecache at Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Tuesday, October 05, 2010

I'm sorry, but this book really didn't engage me, and I gave it several tries, thinking it's so slim it won't take long. But it did. I've realised I'll never finish it. I'll PM the next participant in the ring now. 

Journal Entry 30 by livrecache at Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Sunday, November 21, 2010

Released 1 yr ago (11/21/2010 UTC) at Hobart, Tasmania Australia

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

Journal Entry 31 by lakelady2282 at Lake Macquarie, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanks so much Helen and Dave. I had forgotten all about this but it looks interesting.

best wishes
Debbie 

Journal Entry 32 by lakelady2282 at Lake Macquarie, New South Wales Australia on Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Surprisingly because of the subject matter I really enjoyed this book. I think there's three reasons. The biggy is because I love the 1950s. I think as far as fiction goes it is a very neglected decade and it was great how well MacInnes captured the Teddy boy/teenage mentality with the expressions of the time - cat/number for person, Daddeo! agricultural numbers (farmers), special investigators (curious kids) etc.
Also his asides to the reader like: 'You dig?' and even just the narrative itself (3rd reason) which I found kept moving at a steady pace with every now and then comments from our narrator such as: 'One thing you learn about the law is that they don't like running because their helmets usually fall off.' And from one of the other characters: 'With the law as it is being a poof is a full-time occupation for so many of the dear old queens. They're positively dedicated creatures. They feel so naughty in their dreary little clubs and service flatlets. Heavens, don't I know!'
I've just thought of a fourth reason. MacInnes has achieved such a strong sense of his main character not just through his thoughts but his actions and attitudes in the very restricting 1st person. A fun read.
Dave, hope to finally catch up with you at the March meeting in Newcastle where I can hand this book back. Thanks for sharing everyone. 

Journal Entry 33 by lakelady2282 at Cafe de Beaumont in Hamilton, New South Wales Australia on Saturday, March 19, 2011

Released 1 yr ago (3/19/2011 UTC) at Cafe de Beaumont in Hamilton, New South Wales Australia

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at the March meeting Sunday 20th at 9.30am 

Journal Entry 34 by davemurray101 at Valentine, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, March 20, 2011

Another bookring has returned home. May go on another journey. But I'm going to re-read it soon. Thanks again to all who participated. 

Journal Entry 35 by davemurray101 at Maryville, New South Wales Australia on Friday, December 09, 2011

Had another quick read of absolute beginners. Reading it again I do see one of Cat207's criticisms that the teenage characters are a bit more sophisticated and coherent than most teenagers are - particularly the main characters early discussion with his brother Vernon. But still not a bad book. 

Journal Entry 36 by davemurray101 at Mailed to bookmooch member, a fellow bookmoocher -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Released 5 mos ago (12/28/2011 UTC) at Mailed to bookmooch member, a fellow bookmoocher -- Controlled Releases

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Posted to a bookmoocher in the USA.