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Atonement
by Ian McEwan | Literature & Fiction
Registered by wingswan-scotwing of Inverness, Scotland United Kingdom on Monday, June 23, 2003
Average 7 star rating by BookCrossing Members 

status (set by swan-scot): travelling


This book is in the wild! This Book is Currently in the Wild!

1 journaler for this copy...

Journal Entry 1 by wingswan-scotwing from Inverness, Scotland United Kingdom on Monday, June 23, 2003

7 out of 10

Atonement is a challenging read, with a slow start, but worth persevering. It's a story of childhood, love, war and forgiveness.

The story begins in the 1930s England focusing on the life and imagination of 13 year old Briony. She makes a decision which has repercussions on her and her family for the rest of their lives. I felt horrified as the implications of her actions slowly unfolded and I wavered between wishing to read on to see if things could be put right, and not wanting to see the outcome. The later chapters see Briony trying to atone for her mistake for the rest of her life.

This is a powerful, gripping, haunting book, a good read.
 

Journal Entry 2 by wingswan-scotwing from Inverness, Scotland United Kingdom on Tuesday, July 08, 2003

This book has not been rated.

I deleted my previous comments, so rather than have a blank space have included a second picture of my trip up Ben Nevis to leave the book.

The way up the Ben - a very rare moment without hordes of other walkers in view.

Part of my Books on Bens project, see my bookshelf 

Journal Entry 3 by wingswan-scotwing at on Sunday, July 13, 2003

This book has not been rated.

Released on Sunday, July 13, 2003 at Ben Nevis in Fort William, Highlands Scotland.
The photograph shows the descent from the summit (having left the crowds behind), tricky going, across the boulder field.

Sunday morning dawned a glorious day of bright sunshine and clear blue skies, so we decided to go up Ben Nevis. For those not used to this particular corner of West Scotland – this is a pretty rare event. Indeed, the locals say, if you can’t see the top of Ben Nevis, it’s raining; and if you can see the top of the mountain, it’s about to rain. Today proved that old adage wrong, as not only could we see the top and it didn’t rain, but we could see the Mamores, and other mountain ranges for miles around.

We took the tourist path up the Ben – along with the world and his wife. It looked like Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday afternoon – or Piccadilly Circus or the Champ Elysees, or …insert a crowded corner of your country.

The summit plateau at 4409ft (1344m) is not a particularly pretty one, as Scottish mountains go, but it was great to arrive there after slogging uphill in the heat of the mid-day sun. I left the book on one of the small walls from the old ruined observatory, with a stone on top to prevent it blowing away, and went to sit at the edge of the cliff to eat lunch. Lunch over, we wandered around the plateau some more and I noticed the book was in the same place, but with a huge stone on it now …maybe someone has been to investigate but decided they didn’t want the book..? I rearranged so the book was more obvious to any intrepid hillwalkers.

We decided to take the scenic route back and leave the tourist path to the tourists. Our chosen route involved a long, hard scramble over huge boulders down the east side of the Ben and along a narrow arête above Corie Leis. The exposure on the arête was quite something as it was very narrow in places and I could not imagine doing this in the mist or low cloud. We climbed up the slope of Car Mor Dearg to the summit and wandered along the plateau heading towards Carn Dear Meadhonach.

Before the next top we descended to the CIC climbing hut in the corrie. (I left a book here too). This was a steep descent, initially grassy, but was scree on the lower slopes. I got a bad case of ‘jelly legs’ which made progress slow and uncomfortable for the remainder of the walk. We followed the path round to Lochan Meall an t’Suidhe and from there picked up the lower stretch of the tourist path, before hobbling back to the car at 10pm.



See the Ben Nevis webcam to get a wee reminder of your visit. 



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