Journal Entry 1 by maryzee from Taneytown, Maryland USA on Sunday, June 12, 2011

I read this book several years ago, and loved it. Connie Willis stretches the bounds of what you believe, but she makes it believable. Hope the next reader enjoys this book as much as I did!
I recently found this copy at the Book Thing.

From the cover -
Dr. Joanna Lander is a psychologist specializing in near-death experiences. She is about to get help from a new doctor with the power to give her the chance to get as close to death as anyone can. A brilliant young neurologist, Dr. Richard Wright has come up with a way to manufacture the near-death esperience using a psychoactive drug. Joanna's first NDE is as fascinating as she imagined - so astounding that she knows she must go back, if only to find out why that place is so hauntingly familiar. But each time Joanna goes under, her sense of dread begins to grow, because part of her already knows why the experience is so familiar, and why she has every reason to be afraid. Yet just when Joanna thinks she understands, she's in for the biggest surprise of all - a shattering scenario that will keep you feverishly reading until the final climactic page. 

Journal Entry 2 by maryzee at Birdie's Cafe - 233 E. Main St. in Westminster, Maryland USA on Saturday, July 09, 2011

Released 1 yr ago (7/9/2011 UTC) at Birdie's Cafe - 233 E. Main St. in Westminster, Maryland USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

This will be offered on our book buffet at our meet this afternoon at Birdie's. If no one picks it up, it'll be left on the bookshelf in the back room. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 3 by maryzee at Westminster, Maryland USA on Sunday, July 24, 2011

Since there's already a hb copy of this on the bookshelf, I brought it home after our meet. This'll find a new reader sometime :) 

Journal Entry 4 by maryzee at Birdie's Cafe - 233 E. Main St. in Westminster, Maryland USA on Saturday, September 17, 2011

Released 1 yr ago (9/17/2011 UTC) at Birdie's Cafe - 233 E. Main St. in Westminster, Maryland USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

This will be left on the bookshelf in the back room. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 5 by melydia at Westminster, Maryland USA on Sunday, November 06, 2011

Picked this up at yesterday's meetup at Birdie's in Westminster, MD. I recently read Doomsday Book by Willis and absolutely loved it, so I'm looking forward to this one. Thanks! 

Journal Entry 6 by melydia at -- Geocaches, Virginia USA on Sunday, April 01, 2012

Dr. Joanna Lander is studying near-death experiences, or NDEs. Dr. Richard Wright has discovered a way to chemically replicate what the brain goes through chemically during an NDE. Richard asks Joanna to confirm that what his volunteers are experiencing are indeed NDEs, but when funding and volunteers become scarce, Joanna goes under herself. I found this book extremely difficult to take, but in a good way: it's extremely suspenseful and the characters are likeable and sometimes infuriatingly realistic. At first I wondered if this lengthy novel could have been shortened, but the various stories and details shared become important eventually, and add even more to the realism. Though at times emotionally harrowing, this was one seriously excellent story. A little dark in places - it is largely about death, after all - but it never loses all hope. And now I need to go pick up everything else Willis has ever written.
 

Journal Entry 7 by 6of8 at -- Mail or by hand - rings, RABCK, meetings, District of Columbia USA on Sunday, April 08, 2012

Melydia and I arrived first at the mini-meet-up at Soho Tea and Coffee. She unloaded all of the books she had brought and specifically recommended this one. Since I recently read and really enjoyed To Say Nothing of the Dog, I was quite willing to give this one a try. On top of Mt. TBR it goes!