My thoughts on the book;

Not read by me, but this was either bought as part of a bulk-buy "10 for £1" offer at a "withdrawn" books sale at Chelmsford Library, or as part of a bulk-buy "two books for 50p" charity shop deal, or left at our staff canteen along with other books people had finished with; or has been "donated" to the BookCrossing cause (or "your Book Travelling-thingy", as he calls it) by my dear Father.

The attached journal image should give you an idea which one of those sources this book came from. ;-)

Below review / text taken from; http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Much-Us-There-Was/dp/0007193416/;

"An intense, heartbreaking novel from one of the brightest and most unusual voices in American fiction. 'Fine, precise and shocking, but how will Kimball follow this incredible debut?' asked The Times in 2001. 'How Much of Us There Was' is Michael Kimball's bold reply. It is a small masterpiece. A husband wakes up to find that his wife has had a seizure during the night. An ambulance is called and she is rushed to the Intensive Care Unit at a nearby hospital, where she lies in a coma. By day he sits anxiously beside her. He tries to think of ways to wake her up.

He brings familiar objects to her bedside -- her books, her hairbrush, flowers from their garden. He talks to her. He exercises her limbs. At night he sleeps in the chair at her bedside, dreaming that she will wake up, so that they can go back home. Years later the story of this same slow death is re-told by their grandson. He wants to understand his grandmother's life and death, what it meant to his grandfather, and what it means to him. He wants to understand the long and deeply loving marriage between his grandparents, and -- in his own words -- 'how love can accumulate between two people over and through two lifetimes'.

'How Much of Us There Was' is a poignant, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful novel, from an extraordinary voice in American fiction.

About the Author;

In 1998 Michael Kimball received a grant from the prestigious New York Foundation of the Arts. He has published fiction in New Orleans Review, Story Quarterly and The Quarterly -- he is also a frequent reader at the reknowned KGB Bar Reading Series. His first novel was picked from the slush pile and published to great acclaim in 2000.

It has been translated into Dutch, Italian, German, and will be translated into Portuguese, Spanish, and Hebrew. Kimball was born in 1967 in Michigan, grew up there, and now lives in Texas with his wife. 'How Much of Us There Was' is his second novel."

Guerrilla wild release! Where did you find it? Tell us in your journal entry!

The web site "Wikipedia" defines "Guerrilla warfare" as "...a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians (or "irregulars") using military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility..."

Feeling limited in my wild release choices, in the sense that I like to do things properly and have a full description and image for the place of release, I will now be adopting somewhat more "Guerrilla" tactics.

To wit; I shall arm myself with a number of books, pre-released using this text, and will be placing them in all manner of locations in and around the Town Centre and Chelmsford as a whole, as and when the opportunities present themselves... the riskier, more covert, and right under people's noses the better!

Check those public areas like on benches, seats, in telephone boxes, on steps, cafe tables, and the not-so public areas like inside parked cars, prams, shopping trolleys, in bicycle carriers and baskets, on mobility scooter seats, on top of ladies hats and the like for the distinctive yellow "PICK ME UP" note that will be stuck on the front of a wrapped book, and featuring an all new random free gift!



To the finder of this book:

Welcome to BookCrossing, a unique community of book lovers, sharing their libraries with the world. This book is now yours to read, enjoy, and keep... but why not pass it on to another reader, or even better... "wild release" it yourself again, so it can continue its journey. The BookCrossing ID, which you entered in the "Enter a BCID" box on the website, is unique to this copy of this book. If you make a journal entry (either anonymously, or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this actual book will be notified by email, and can follow the book as it travels around from reader to reader.

BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address) and a great deal of fun. Be on the lookout for other books left in the "Wild"!

If you decide to join, consider listing JamesUK (or any of the other journalers) as referring you.

Microsoft Office Word Label and Bookmark Templates;

A lot of us BookCrossers use sheets of shop-bought sticky labels to put the BCID numbers on our books, myself included. I've made up several BookCrossing label templates and other bits and bobs in MS Word, and if you would like any of them, drop me a Private Message with your requirements, and I can directly link you to what might be suitable for you.

See http://www.fishchipsandmushypeas.co.uk/bc/ for everything I have on offer, all for free download and use.

Templates are all available in a wide range of label sizes and label brands.

I also have a sheet of basic bookmarks with the BC logo and "mail merge" versions of some of the Microsoft Word Banner labels templates too.

I can probably replicate any label layout fairly quickly into a different sheet layout, so tell me what you need.