BOOKRING: Affinity
10 journalers for this copy...
BOOKRING: US/CANADA/EUROPE ONLY - CLOSED
To join this bookring please PM (private message) me and include your location and shipping preference. I will start this out in Europe so that the US/Canadian participants don't have to send overseas. While I'll try to limit the ping-pong travel between countries, please be willing to send to either US/Canada if you are a North American resident. Thanks!
Once you're a member of this ring, you will receive the book from the person listed before you. When you receive the book please make a journal entry stating that you’ve received it, read it as soon as you can, and journal again with your thoughts, ideas, or opinions on it. You’ll then need to private message the person on the list after you for their address. Mail the book by media mail or surface (it’s cheaper!) and make a release note so that we can track it. Then sit back and watch the journey continue!
The mailing order is as follows:
Lisa-B Germany (int'l)
justabookhound Nova Scotia, Canada
KarinAlyssa Quebec, Canada
cestmoi Ontario, Canada
crazy-book-lady Ontario, Canada
vicki9170 - Florida
WarEagle78 - Alabama
sejent - Kentucky
janaqq - Texas
Lorelei03 - New York
...and then back to me!
To join this bookring please PM (private message) me and include your location and shipping preference. I will start this out in Europe so that the US/Canadian participants don't have to send overseas. While I'll try to limit the ping-pong travel between countries, please be willing to send to either US/Canada if you are a North American resident. Thanks!
Once you're a member of this ring, you will receive the book from the person listed before you. When you receive the book please make a journal entry stating that you’ve received it, read it as soon as you can, and journal again with your thoughts, ideas, or opinions on it. You’ll then need to private message the person on the list after you for their address. Mail the book by media mail or surface (it’s cheaper!) and make a release note so that we can track it. Then sit back and watch the journey continue!
The mailing order is as follows:
Lisa-B Germany (int'l)
justabookhound Nova Scotia, Canada
KarinAlyssa Quebec, Canada
cestmoi Ontario, Canada
crazy-book-lady Ontario, Canada
vicki9170 - Florida
WarEagle78 - Alabama
sejent - Kentucky
janaqq - Texas
Lorelei03 - New York
...and then back to me!
Wow! What an ending! While the book didn't capture me from the start, about halfway through it started to pick up and by Part 3, I was hooked. From that point forward, I couldn't put it down. The ending surprised me - I didn't see it coming. Overall, a good read. The dismalness of Millbank Prison made me shiver - not a place I want to be, let alone visit.
I look forward to seeing what others think about Affinity. I enjoyed this, but not nearly as much as Water's first effort (Tipping the Velvet).
I look forward to seeing what others think about Affinity. I enjoyed this, but not nearly as much as Water's first effort (Tipping the Velvet).
In my mailbox today! I am putting aside the book I started yesterday and I'll begin this one, for I guess everybody is eager to read it.
Very good, although I liked Fingersmith better. I think this is because Affinity is a rather slow read, and full of details about the woman prison, as I think very well researched. Sarah Waters is brilliant in finding the language and the feel of the time of her story.
I am going to mail it to Canada tomorrow. Enjoy!
I am going to mail it to Canada tomorrow. Enjoy!
I was very happy to receive this book (especially since I had to wait in line for a long time at the post office) and look forward to beginning. I hope I enjoy it as much as I liked the Fingersmith.
It's odd to read two books by the same author within the space of two weeks. I had just read the Fingersmith when I received this one (both as part of bookrays/rings). I hadn't actually looked at the author of Affinity when I signed up - I'll admit I was swayed by the title! Anyhow, it gave me an interesting chance to compare the two books, and while most people seem to like the Fingersmith more, I'll have to say I enjoyed this one a lot. I'm beginning to see a pattern in the author's obsessions: Victorian England, the relationship between ladies and their servants, a fascination with the "nerve' drugs of the time, laudanum and choral, comparing ladies live with those of institutions of the time such as mental hospitals or prisons, scholars, reading rooms, London fog, thieves and the petty criminal class... I could go on, but that would make the two novels sound like carbon copies of each other which they aren't at all.
I found Affinity well-paced and I liked the plot twists. I enjoyed that there was realy only one cycle of betrayal where we find out that people are not at all what they seem. I think this is effective, and less wearying than the Fingersmith with its constant twists and turns.
I liked the writing style, the observations on the repressive life for women and how few options there really were. The fine distinstions between a madwoman, a thief, and a lady.
Margaret is a sympathetic character - she comes accross as weak and faint hearted, but she is a creature of her time and place, with no more choices than the women she visits in Millbrook. In the end, she gives in to despair and madness - this may seem bleak - but a happy ending would have been improbable given the circumstances. She's the real prisoner.
so all in all, a sad and interesting novel. Thanks for sharing it!
I found Affinity well-paced and I liked the plot twists. I enjoyed that there was realy only one cycle of betrayal where we find out that people are not at all what they seem. I think this is effective, and less wearying than the Fingersmith with its constant twists and turns.
I liked the writing style, the observations on the repressive life for women and how few options there really were. The fine distinstions between a madwoman, a thief, and a lady.
Margaret is a sympathetic character - she comes accross as weak and faint hearted, but she is a creature of her time and place, with no more choices than the women she visits in Millbrook. In the end, she gives in to despair and madness - this may seem bleak - but a happy ending would have been improbable given the circumstances. She's the real prisoner.
so all in all, a sad and interesting novel. Thanks for sharing it!
in the mail to next reader yesterday.
Thanks Jen for sending this book to me. I'll start Affinity this week. The first page is spooky, I must admit.
I was surprised by this book. I thought this would be an easy reading, it wasn't that hard, but the way Sarah Waters describes Millbank, you need to be attentive. Plus, there are lots of caracters especially all the girls in prison and Margaret, I loved her. I'm not that much into spiritualism since I'm a skeptic, but because of Sarah Waters, I try to believe in it. The style was great, I love the pace, it may be slow, but being in the Victorian era, you need to be slow. Nothing happens out of the ordinary every 3 seconds. I don't know much about the era, but this book seemed well documented. I really like it and I felt like Margaret. Although she's in her mid-twenties, she looked like me when I was 12, not that she's childish, but the way she thinks is very familiar for me. Overall, this was a good book, I won't talk about the end, because of the suspense and because I didn't really like it as much as the rest of the book. I'm sending it tonight to C'estmoi in Toronto.
Thanks Marci for sharing this book, I'll try to read Sarah Waters' other books.
Thanks Marci for sharing this book, I'll try to read Sarah Waters' other books.
Just received today and from reading the other journal entries I am intrigued. I will journal again soon.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This took me some time to read because of all the details. It was slow reading to be sure and absorb every word and nuance. I really enjoyed the story and I was certainly influenced by Selina's spirits just as much as Margaret was. I had such empathy for both of them and I was so sure I knew how it would turn out....I was so wrong!!! Wonderful, wonderful book that I would recommend.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing.
Received this book in my mailbox two days ago (hand-delivered by cestmoi). This is the first bookring book that has actually made it to me (at least two others have stalled completely), so I am VERY excited! Fingersmith was fantastic, so I am really looking forward to reading this!
This book had a slower pace than Fingersmith, but contained as much detail about the Victorian era as her later book. Sarah Waters certainly has a distinct writing voice which comes through in Affinity. (Maybe I hear the same voice in my head because I saw Sarah Waters read at Harbourfront last year!) Having read Fingersmith, I found myself looking for a twist, but even so, I didn't catch it before I was supposed to! Don't even try - just sit back and enjoy!
Thanks for starting the ring, MarciNYC!
Thanks for starting the ring, MarciNYC!
On its way to vicki9170 (put the book in the mail yesterday).
received today
started today finished the first half of the book, PM'd Wareagle78 for their addy so as soon as i get that i should be able to mail out :)
couldn't put this one down, thanks so much for sharing this with all of us!! Mailed today to Wareagle
Arrived safely in Alabama today - will journal again when read. Thanks!
An interesting story, but not exactly a page-turner for me. Like some other readers, I was a bit put off by its slow start. And like others, I did not see the ending coming. I think justabookhound's comment that Margaret is the real prisoner is very astute.
I'm glad I persisted to the finish, but I'm not going to be eagerly searching for another of Sarah Water's books.
Nonetheless, thanks MarciNYC for sharing! I have the next address and the book will be on its way on my next post office run.
I'm glad I persisted to the finish, but I'm not going to be eagerly searching for another of Sarah Water's books.
Nonetheless, thanks MarciNYC for sharing! I have the next address and the book will be on its way on my next post office run.
Mailed today to sejent.
Received in today's mail...will start reading soon and will journal again when I finish.
An incredible novel with a wonderful twist.
Sending to janaqq in Cedar Park, TX.
Sending to janaqq in Cedar Park, TX.
I am impressed what a great book this was. It is on my top 5 faves this year. I thought it was very imaginative and the ending is surprising. I loved Margaret and Selina.
I can't wait to read another Waters book. Thanks for sharing this book. I will pass it along.
I can't wait to read another Waters book. Thanks for sharing this book. I will pass it along.