TBR at some stage and released... if you're interested please PM me and I will move it to my TBR pile.

As I haven't had the time to read it, I thought to send this book on a trip around the world in form of a bookring, and I will read it when it returns to me...

The book is leaving today...all the way from Sydenham to Minneapolis!! Looking very much forward to all your comments on the book. the pic is the building where my office is located... seems grand, doesn't it?

Here the official shipping list, which is not going to be changed as far as the US bit is concerned, as some of the members are only prepared to ship within their own country:

USA: Flashgirl, Piper1, kymberlie, Lorelei03, caligula03
Canada: Dragonfly4
Germany: Dani75, goldloeckchen
Sossap - Portugal<--- the book is here!
Gatsbythesee - Italy
lavale - Italy
Solimano - Italy
beckys - Italy
Silviazza - Italy
Kernow8 - UK
loopy1 - UK
talkland - UK
Balham - UK
Benjaminread - UK ----->no longer BC active<-----
Theresa-A - UK
flajol - UK
laura0141 - UK
YowlYY - UK ----->start of the bookray<-----
veritas9 - Australia(moved at the beginning of the bookray as did not answer the PMs)


HOW TO USE MY BOOKRING…

1. First of all, as soon as the book arrives, please make a journal entry to inform about its safe arrival.

2. The book gets to be the first on your TBR pile – if problems, please contact me timely (see 3.).

3. PM the person next in line in order to obtain his/her mailing address and to find out if he/she is ok with receiving the book soon after… If the person is going away or on vacation for longer, please PM me and I will move him/her down the line (suggestions welcome).

4. Although the book is a second-hand one, please try to avoid eating while reading, especially if your fancy lies in chips, saucy currys, ice cream, spaghetti al pomodoro or anything that could stain forever the pages... However, if you promise to eat while protecting the book with a transparent plastic screen....

5. After reading the book, make another entry and add your comments as you like… pics uplodaded and quotes welcome

6. ship the book to the next reader (no release note pleeeze!) and…you've made it!!!!

Thanks to everyone who joined in, and I hope you all will enjoy the book – I look forward to reading all your comments in due time.

Calcutta has arrived safely in Minneapolis, and I'm already on Chapter 5! (Though the chapters are short, I admit...) Will read and report back ASAP. This picture is Minneapolis in some crazy parallel universe where everything is a funny color.

Thanks for sharing, YowlYY!

Friends who read this book after me: Do not make the same mistake I did! Don’t assume this will be just like all those mainstream mystery/thrillers where you don’t need to pay too much attention because you know everything will be neatly explained at the end. This is not one of those books! I read it, in fact, because a friend of mine asked me to. “PLEASE! Read it and tell me what happened,” she begged. Being one who prides herself on her logical mind, I took the challenge. But as I read, I was lulled into complacency by the oh-so-gradual thickening of the mystery plotline. The chapters were short, the story was interesting, and next thing you know I was three pages from the end, with a sinking feeling: “There’s no way the author could possibly wrap this up in three pages!” Lack of linear answers aside, this was definitely a good time. I enjoyed it for the delerious mystery, the hazy coincidences, the atmospheric metaphors. So what if I have no idea what happened? I even grew to like how irritating and abrasive the character of Murugan was.

Some thought-provoking questions follow (WARNING: may contain spoilers!). To read them, highlight the text with your mouse.

At the end of the story, Murugan is in a mental institution. Is he really crazy and all this was just in his head? (Seems like an awfully simple explanation.) Or has he been placed there so no one will take his crazy theories seriously (until Antar does)?
Murugan says that he is just a pawn of the "secret society," that he is putting together pieces of the mystery for someone else to solve later (which will cause a mutation of reality)... is Antar that person? What is the mutation the secret society wishes to create? And why? (In writing these questions, I feel like I am Murugan: just a pawn, putting together small pieces of this puzzle for someone else to solve later, once the big picture becomes clearer!)
When they are in the taxi to the station, Urmila promises Sonali and Murugan that wherever she goes, she will take them both with her. Years later in New York, Urmila/Tara has Sonali/Maria with her, but Murugan seems to have been left behind. Is the virtual reality SimVis that Antar experiences the beginning of a process for Urmila to live up to her promise to Murugan (giving him immortality by bringing him into Antar's body)? But wait, wouldn't that involve some sort of medical procedure that would have to happen in person?
What was the deal with the mystery train and the red railway lantern? Why did Phulboni give up shooting after this experience at the train station? What happened to him in the end? Did he finally "find the silence" he had been looking for all his life? What happened to Romen? Was he one of the cult of silence, or was he its victim? What does it all mean? HELP!

Calcutta is on her way to Piper1 in today's mail.

Just received this book from Flashgirl. Will read quickly and pass on. Thanks

Ok, so I finished the book, but I still don't know what happened. This is a very strange book - interesting, but strange. It's very disjointed, the chapters jerk you from one character to another, one time and place to another at breakneck speed. I found it disturbing that there were alot of questions left unanswered at the end of the book. Flashgirl was right, you're at the last few pages and it doesn't seem like the book is going to be wrapped up in time - it isn't.

It was interesting and I learned a few things about malaria that I didn't know before. But, there were things I just didn't get. You never know what happens to some of the characters, you never know the meaning of some events, or how they fit into the total picture. One of the threads of the plot has to do with immortality (I think), but it was never explained fully.

I'll be anxious to read the journal entries from the rest of the BCers in this ring. Maybe someone can explain the book to me.
Thanks, YowlYY for an interesting, head-scratching read

On it's way to Kymberlie today (10/8)

Some further questions generated in e-mail discussion between piper1 and I:

Piper1 asks, “was it just a chosen few [who became “immortal”], or everyone In that secret society? Like you said in your journal entry - what was with that train & red lantern? Did they just keep killing people they didn't want in on the secret?”

As for me, I keep wondering about the immortality piece. Remind me: how exactly did that work? It seems like it all started with the people with syphillis being treated with malarial cells. And something about the membranes in the brain being thin or weak. Antar has malaria, and I think it's implied that Murugan is intentionally infected by someone in the secret society... is that so he can HAVE immortality, or so he can be a host body to someone else?

The more I think about it, the more I realize that whether it's good or bad, a confusing book sure is fun to read in a book ring! I can't wait to see what everyone else thinks!

Received today. Going to start reading it as soon as I can so I can pass it along. Thanks for the opportunity to read this book!

I must say that I'm not sure what to make of this book. I think I'll go through the other journal entries and see if I can understand it better.

Going to mail this off as soon as I get an address. Sorry for the delay in the ring!

Yay! Just rcvd this in the post and will read immediately!

5/28 update
Sending this off to the next participant today. I have to say that I enjoyed this book. I truly felt as if I were in Calcutta, and now I think I can remember what it smelt like, how the colors and the air looked, etc. But it was a hallucinogenic experience, one that was very subjective - and I'm left feeling like I'm not sure that I "got" it.

The book arrived today along with three other rings. The cover art is beautiful. I will read it as soon as I can.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly but I'm left wanting greater closure. The resolution as it is leaves the protagonist knowing more than the reader thus ending in a state of suspense. Calcutta Chromosone will probably be one of those books torn apart and analysed in numerous literature classes. It unfolds its story by theme not by chronology. The path to discovery is perilous and only open to the chosen few. The Calcutta Chromone is about the journey on that path, not about the discovery itself.

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailing on Saturday.

This arrived a couple of days ago, and I've already started it. So far, it looks quite interesting.

Sent this one off to Dani75 today.

What a read! I was completely drawn into this story. I knew I was in for some confusion, but like some of the others have said, towards the very end, I was wondering how this story could possibly wrap up in the few pages left. Well, it wasn't. I have my own theory as wo what happens to Murugan at the end.

SPOILER!!

Was Murugan in the mental institution because he was not made immortal and went insane? Was he then made available at the end to make Antar "see"? I thought that they were going to use Antar in the way that they used the other man in India (sorry, already forgotten his name and the book is now mailed). I, too, didn't quite get the relevance of the mystery train. That sort of threw me for a loop. Anyhow, I'm curious to hear what others have to say. Thanks YowlYY!

The book has arrived in Germany today. I am really looking forward to reading it!

Hhmm ... a very strange but

tbr after one other book... that means I'll get to it next week.

thanks for sending this over!

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. Very tricky conspiracy, lots of persons and different places and times. I also liked to read about contemporary India and Indian life.

Will go on as soon as I get an answer.

Sorry for the delayed entry. This book was lost... in my neighbour mail box. Now, all ready a read, follows to next in line. Tanks and my apologies for the inconvenience.

It’s a very good book, I was curios about the author. Very well done, the story, the plot. Tanks Yowlyy for this pearl.

This book has washed ashore at the Lost Book Island after not being heard from for many months. This new arrival will be shown to a room and be allowed a bit of rest before being introduced to the many fun things to do here at the island.

All around there are books sipping cool drinks under shady palms while other books participate in a wide variety of beach sports. There is plenty of sand, surf and sun here for all of the lost and wayward books to enjoy.

It is hoped that very soon a new journal entry will come to rescue this book from the island and send it back out into the BookCrossing world so that it may continue on its journey. It is hoped that the new journal entry will tell all the interested parties where this book has been this long time and where it will be traveling to next.