Specimen Days

by Michael Cunningham | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0007156065 Global Overview for this book
Registered by JamesUK of Chelmsford, Essex United Kingdom on 10/20/2011
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by JamesUK from Chelmsford, Essex United Kingdom on Tuesday, November 15, 2011
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Not read by me, but this was either bought as part of a bulk-buy "10 for £1" offer at a "withdrawn" books sale at Chelmsford Library, or as part of a bulk-buy "two books for 50p" charity shop deal, or left at our staff canteen along with other books people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/Specimen-Days-Michael-Cunningham/dp/0007156065/;

"From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Hours' comes a new thrilling and thought-provoking masterpiece. Specimen Days is a novel made up of three linked visionary narratives about the relationship between man and machine. The first narrative, a ghost story set at the height of the Industrial Revolution, tells the story of man-eating machines. An ecstatic boy, barely embodied in the physical world, speaks in the voice of the great visionary poet Walt Whitman.

He works at an oppressive factory connected to the making of a mysterious substance with some universal function and on which the world's economy somehow depends. The slight boy can barely operate the massive machine which speaks to him in the voice of his devoured brother. A woman who was to have married the brother is now the object of obsessive interest by the boy. In a city in which all are mastered by the machine, the boy is convinced that the woman must be saved before she too is devoured. This grisly but ultimately transformative story establishes three main characters who will appear, reincarnated, in the other two sections of this startling modern novel. The boy, the man and the woman are each in search of some sort of transcendence as is made manifest by the recurrence of the words of Whitman ('It avails not, neither distance nor place!I am with you, and know how it is').

In part two, a noir thriller set in the early years of our current century, the city is at threat from maniacal bombers, while the third and last part plays with the sci-fi genre, taking our characters centuries into the future. The man who was devoured by a machine in part one is now literally a machine -- a robot who becomes fully human before our eyes. The woman is a refugee from another part of the universe, a warrior in her native land but a servant on this planet. Specimen Days is a genre-bending, haunting ode to life itself -- a work of surpassing power and beauty by one of the most original and daring writers at work today.

About the Author;

Michael Cunningham was raised in Los Angeles and now lives in New York. He is the author of three previous novels including the pulitzer prize winning The Hours. His work has been published in the New Yorker and Best American Short Stories 1989."

Journal Entry 2 by JamesUK at Library in Chelmsford, Essex United Kingdom on Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Released 12 yrs ago (11/15/2011 UTC) at Library in Chelmsford, Essex United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I'll be leaving this on one of the display tables outside Chelmsford Library, in the lobby. These are the tables that usually have some sort of leaflet display on them for local theatre, music, or support groups etc.

It'll have a yellow "PICK ME UP" note stuck on its front, featuring an all new random free gift, and be in a clear plastic bag.

Read and Release at BookCrossing.com!


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, including basic bookmarks, "Post-It" note templates, MS Word "mail merge" label templates and loads more...all for free download and use. Plus, I'd be happy to help with your bespoke designs too! Drop me a Private Message to discuss. ;-)

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