This is in my To-be-read pile ... watch this space!

Updated 4 April 2004: I'm amazed that I took so long to get round to reading this. It's brilliant so far ...

Summary from the back cover:

"A boy and his father on a journey from Norway to Greece, in search of the boy's mother; a dwarf who gives the boy a magnifying glass, and a baker who gave him a bun; a miniature book that tells the story of a sailor shipwrecked on a desert island in the year 1790; a pack of playing cards with a life of their own; a Joker, who looks too deeply and too much."

These are the ingredients in this fascinating story-within-a-story, in which fantasy and reality, the present and the past, are brilliantly mixed. Structured in 52 chapters like a pack of cards that are shuffled together and fall into place at the very end, it is a rich, teasing book that throws up endless questions about the way the world works, and why we are here."

"... Jostein Gaarder's extraordinary international bestseller, The Solitaire Mystery is a dazzlingly imaginative and stimulating book for everyone who enjoys exploring philosophical ideas."

I didn't go into this deeply enough to work out the philosophical ideas: it was a fantastic story, very cleverly structured. I loved it, at the level I read it. For anyone who wants to fathom it (or perhaps I'm just thick in that respect?) it's very cleverly constructed and will undoubtedly yield further food for thought than I gleaned from it.

I plan to offer it as a bookring, batting order as follows:

1. kert01
2. kangaroo
3. rainbowandrain
4. laura0141 - journalled 9 August 2004
5. Mastulela
6. chelseagirl
Last but not least:
7. tehuti
8. Gooner

Hi this arrived safely last week, but I failed to manage to get it and a computer together at the same place :-)

I haven't read much so far, I'll check back in a few days when I've finished.

Thanks very much for starting this ring.

Sorry for the delay guys, I've not been well, and I ended up at home with the book at work, which made it a bit difficult to post on, but it has gone now.

This book is certainly intriguing. I'm still not sure what I thought of it really... I loved the different threads that tied together although they made my head go loopy trying to think of them all in tandem!

Arrived in Barnet safe and sound.
I have the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books to read first, so might be a while - though given how fast my mum whizzed through them maybe not that long!

Whew!
This sat on my shelf unread until yesterday, when I read it all in one day (sitting on the Tube most of the day probably had something to do with it, though I couldn't put it down when I did get home!)
I've been waiting for years for the right time to read Sophie's World, so I was a bit daunted to find that this was lauded as a companion volume to it, and every time I should have picked it up I bypassed it for a different ring book.
But I'm so glad I did read it eventually - it was wonderful.
I loved the way it all weaved together and connected up, though the bakers did make my head spin a bit. Highly recommended. (I'll definitely read Sophie's World in the next few months, though maybe at a slower pace to give the philosophical bits time to sink in!)

EDIT: 22nd July
-Skipping Rainbowandrain, think she's got another copy, so sending onto Laura instead.

Received with thanks.

Mt TBR #2

Starting on this one tonight.

Having put this book down I'm unable to get back into it. I'm finding the characters very confusing and difficult to keep track of (probably because I'm unwell at the moment). Anyway, I'm going to send it on to the next person in the ring.

Arrived from Laura0141 today. I have John Sergeant's Give Me Ten Seconds to read first, then I will get started on this one.

I did not really enjoy this book although I thought it was well-crafted. Its basic plot of reality running in tandem with fairy tale fantasy was very ingenious. It is another crossover book written for adolescents but read by adults as well. I did not think the crossover worked well because it was too earnest. I would have loved it when I was in my early teens, but I am too old for simple rehashes of straight forward geography and Greek mythology, while philosophy leaves me cold.

On to Chelseagirl - post on Monday 23.

Arrived safely today. Typical - you wait ages for a ring book and then four arrive all at once ;0) It's taken its place in my "must read immediately" TBR pile and I'll get to it as soon as I can.

What a fantastic book! And so much easier to follow that Sophie's World.

The two strands of this story - the boy's search for his mother and the tale of the bakers - fit together seamlessly and the realisation towards the end of what it's all about is wonderful. I loved the philosophy on the island, although sometimes I found Hans' father's rants to be a bit annoying, I just wanted to get back to solving the mystery. A beautiful original fantastical book that has had me engrossed for the last couple of days.

Thank you so much for ringing this book, gooner. I'm definitely going to look out for it to add to my PC, as i think I'll probably get more of the philosophy the more I read it.

This will be sent to tehuti as soon as I have her address.

Received a few days ago - mega catching up going on today! Thank heavens I'm last on the list as I have several rings awaiting attention, including some very big books!

I enjoyed the whimsicality of this book, although I found the plot structure easily guessable. The philosophy contained in the story relates to the metaphysical questions surrounding the reality or otherwise of existence, as raised, for example in Plato's cave. I didn't feel these questions were elaborated or discussed in any great depth. However, if this was written as a children's book, I guess the level is appropriate for the 11-15 age group, because it is enough to get someone started on thinking about such things, without being overwhelming.

I am now waiting to hear from gooner whether this book is to travel further.

The ring continues with louiselouise following a handover at the Nottingham mini-meet (not so mini!) today.

Caught at the mini meet up in Beeston 4th June, where 12 people turned up, which was brilliant. I'll make another entry once I've read the book