This is my absolutely favorite book (close tie is A Wrinkle in Time).

I first discovered it when I was starting to read retellings of the Arthurian stories (which I still do). I had never read anything by Bradley before and was a bit daunted by the size of the book, but I decided to give it a try. Am I ever glad that I did! It's a retelling of the Arthur story from the women's perspective, especially Morgaine.

This book made me continue reading everything that I could about Arthurian literature, which led me to reading the original stories, which has led me to studying medieval literature as my scholarly career path. Plus, Marion Zimmer Bradley is now my favorite author, after reading and enjoying many of her other books.

The bookray is closed. Thank you everyone for participating and making it such a success!

Andycap14 – California
KaraBelle - New Jersey
weeblet – Virginia
MizzSmile - California
apapsa – Greece
saram23 - Massachusetts
saoirse - Texas
BountifulPots - Kansas
amambaw - S. Korea

Released on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 at Mailed to another BookCrosser in College Station, Texas USA.

When you receive the book please leave a journal entry noting that the book has arrived.

When you are ready to send the book on, PM the next person on the list and send by whatever shipping method you prefer. Also make a journal entry about your thoughts on the books and either include in that entry when you plan to send the book on or make a separate release note.

If you are the last person on the list, PM me to see whether this bookray will try to continue (which I would like it to do) or if you should release the book in your own way.

Yay! Recieved today. I will start on this ASAP. It may take a while as it is a long book. I will let you know what I think.

I'm about half way through. Sorry it has taken so long, it's a large book and I have 3 little people to raise.

So far the story seems to jump all over the place and wanders quite abit. I do enjoy the writing style but had a little difficulty getting into the story at the beginning. It shouldn't take to long to finish it now.

My apologies for taking so long. I have had some trouble getting through the book. I thought that overall the story was good but it seemed to wander quite a bit. The timeline was a bit confusing to navigate, sometimes a few days would pass then in the next sentence it is the following year.

I will be sending to the next on the list this week. Thanks for sharing!

Received in the mail over the holidays as part of a bookring. Haven't had a chance to start reading it yet, but promise to start in the next few days! Hope that is okay!

CAUGHT IN WARREN NJ 07059

Sorry, but I thought I was logged in! That was me who wrote the above journal entry!

It seems as though I may never get to this book, though I have wanted to read it for a long time! I have several books TBR ahead of it and a baby due in 10 weeks, so I think I had better just send it along to the next in line!

Sorry for holding on to it for so long! I really intended to get to it!

Sending to Weeblit today!

sheez! now *that's* a book! i'll get it moving as soon as possible- i'll start tonight :)

Came home to find the book waiting at my doorstep. Will bump up this book on my list to read since it is a bookray. It arrived just in time for me to take with me on my trip to Florida :)

07/18/04 update: I've read 1/4 through the book since my last update note and still aiming for an end-of-the summer finish. I am enjoying it so far. Thanks for everyone's continued patience.

21st Book Read in 2004: Oh my gosh...I finally finished it! Just in time before the summer ends! I'm in awe of you folks before me who were able to speed through such an epic novel. I enjoyed Marion Zimmer Bradley's re-thinking of the fabled King Arthur/Camelot story written from the woman/goddess perspective! Celebrating and exploring the female from birth to death as portrayed through Morgaine, Viviane, Ingraine, Morgause, & Gwhenwyfar. You get the bad, the ugly, the good, and the beautiful of being a woman, a human in this book....hey she even weaves menopause into the story line! So many messages. A book not to only read for pleasure, but to digest afterwards (or in between to break-up the density).

This book encouraged me to celebrate my femininity; to explore the politics of religion, family, sexual identity, and gender roles; to revisit the debate about having control over destiny or destiny having control over us. What is natural and un-natural? Lots of emotions -- roller coasters of despising, hoping, admiring, skepticism, sadness, and sensuality.

I didn't rate this a 10 because the momentum of the book would go up and down. Since, this was historical based story line...the old English writing also took some getting use to.

I now want to see the tv mini-series version to see how the producers interpreted the book. Bradley definitely did a lot of research to set-up the plot & characters as well as provide the background of the originations of early religious mysteries. Hmmmm, makes me look at Great Britain in a different light.

Now the book will go on its next leg of the journey to apapsa...thanks for your patience!

RELEASE NOTES:

Finally sending out book to Greece on its next leg of he journey. I've had a whole stack of books to mail out in addition to mists and have had a hard time getting to post office. Sorry karendowns & apapsa for holding up the book.

Wow, that's a big book!

I'm finishing a bookring , then I have another one, and then it's Avalon's turn. I hope it won't take me more than a month and a half before I send it on to the next one in the ray...

Thank you karendawn and MizzSmile!

I tried, and I tried, and I tried... Couldn't get into it... So, I'm sending it to the next one on the list, because I 'd hate to keep it any longer.

I'm sorry I didn't finish it karendawn...

8/12/2004: I mailed the book today.

I just got this today and I am very happy to have it. I have to finish one book and then I will get to it. I will probably be ready to pass it on right after the holidays. I have a week off and I think this will be perfect reading.
Thanks to karendowns & apapsa

See my notes

This book went out yesterday to saoirse

I'm so glad to finally get a chance to read this! I'm also glad I'm the last one on the list because I'm swamped right now and it will be a while before I get started on it. Thanks so much for the bookray!

RELEASE NOTES:

It would be impossible not to love this book, and I did. I will never forget it, such a beautiful story and woven with one of my favorite classic stories of all time.

However, I found myself getting restless about 2/3 of the way through, just wishing the story would hurry up and finish. The 800+ pages could have been edited down to about 500 and made a better book. There was a great deal of repetition. For instance, the reader knows that time is passing and the characters are growing older. Is it really necessary to have all the characters reflecting on this every other page? And we KNOW that Arthur has forsworn his oath to Avalon and this is very important to the story, but do we really need to have a dozen different conversations about it among the characters, all saying the same things over and over?

Thank you for sharing this book. It will remain in my heart forever.

Sending it off to BountifulPots today.

Got this as part of a ray today, and will start reading it immediately! Will journal again once I've finished.

Just received this book in the mail. As I am currently the last person on the ray list, I will be reading this at leisure. I have a few people here who are interested in it, so as long as no one else is added to the list, and if karendawn doesn't mind, I'll be passing it on to friends. Thanks to bpots for sending this all the way to Korea. I'm looking forward to reading it! Amanda

Wow! What a fantastic book. It has taken me six months to plough through it... Definitely not the fastest book to read, but worth it in the end. This story is one that all women should read. It brings to light some major feminist issues that are still current even now that the book is getting on in years. I love, also, the exploration of religion and whether or not it is a good idea to narrow your religious beliefs to such a tiny vein of thought.

The story itself is amazing. The characters really make this story. Each one is well-developed and realistic with their own strengths and vices. There really is no main character; several characters play central roles and the story revolves around them all. The landscape that Zimmer Bradley paints is also vivid so that you can easily envision places like Avalon and Camelot.

Now that I have finished this book, I have a few plans for it. First, I'm going to check out the wish lists and see if I can find a book crosser who wants to give this book a home. It's a little beat up, so I don't want to release it into the wild. Second, if I can't find anyone on the wish lists who wants it I'll ask around to my friends to see who would like it. If I still can't find anyone, I'll either keep it for a book box/relay, or I'll send it back to karendawn.

Thanks karendawn for this great book!

I have found a taker! This book is heading off to Germany next week to make a new home with Elina.

Thanks again to karendawn for this one! Cheers! Amanda

This one is on its way! I mailed it to Germany today via surface mail. It should arrive with Elina in a few weeks.

Amanda

The Mists of Avalon has arrived. Thank you so much Amanda!! This book has been on my wish list for ages and I'm really looking forward to read it.