The Gargoyle
10 journalers for this copy...
I picked this up from the CBC book sale on a whim and I'm glad that I did.
This isn't the type of book that I would normally read, but the back cover description sold me right away. Between the present/past/side stories and fantasy elements, before I knew it I had read a romance novel.
From Amazon:
On a burn ward, a man lies between living and dying, so disfigured that no one from his past life would even recognize him. His only comfort comes from imagining various inventive ways to end his misery. Then a woman named Marianne Engel walks into his hospital room, a wild-haired, schizophrenic sculptress on the lam from the psych ward upstairs, who insists that she knows him – that she has known him, in fact, for seven hundred years. She remembers vividly when they met, in another hospital ward at a convent in medieval Germany, when she was a nun and he was a wounded mercenary left to die. If he has forgotten this, he is not to worry: she will prove it to him.
And so Marianne Engel begins to tell him their story, carving away his disbelief and slowly drawing him into the orbit and power of a word he'd never uttered: love.
This isn't the type of book that I would normally read, but the back cover description sold me right away. Between the present/past/side stories and fantasy elements, before I knew it I had read a romance novel.
From Amazon:
On a burn ward, a man lies between living and dying, so disfigured that no one from his past life would even recognize him. His only comfort comes from imagining various inventive ways to end his misery. Then a woman named Marianne Engel walks into his hospital room, a wild-haired, schizophrenic sculptress on the lam from the psych ward upstairs, who insists that she knows him – that she has known him, in fact, for seven hundred years. She remembers vividly when they met, in another hospital ward at a convent in medieval Germany, when she was a nun and he was a wounded mercenary left to die. If he has forgotten this, he is not to worry: she will prove it to him.
And so Marianne Engel begins to tell him their story, carving away his disbelief and slowly drawing him into the orbit and power of a word he'd never uttered: love.
Bringing this book to the September Calgary BookCrossing meetup.
Picked up at the September meeting!
Taking to the December meeting! This book was really engrossing. The first two chapters I was a little hesitant - there are some brutal scenes to set the plot and I wasn't sure I liked the narrator too much at first but I was sucked in to this epic story.
To the finder:
Calgary has an active group of BookCrossers that meet to swap books and discuss book crossing every second Saturday of the month at 11am at Cravings Market on Fairmount Drive SE. We always love to meet new crossers, so please join us any time you like!
To the finder:
Calgary has an active group of BookCrossers that meet to swap books and discuss book crossing every second Saturday of the month at 11am at Cravings Market on Fairmount Drive SE. We always love to meet new crossers, so please join us any time you like!
Brought home from the December meet-up of Calgary BookCrossers at Cravings Market Restaurant. Adding to Mnt. TBR.
What a beautifully written tale. The author's historic reseach was very impressive.
I liked how Marianne Engel advanced the story through stories that may or may not have been true, but are all interwined in the end.
Certainly more that a love story! Very good read.
I liked how Marianne Engel advanced the story through stories that may or may not have been true, but are all interwined in the end.
Certainly more that a love story! Very good read.
Taken to the May meet-up of Calgary BookCrossers at Cravings Market Restaurant, to find a new reader.
Picked up this book at the Calgary BookCrossing May meet-up. Premise sounds interesting so I'll give it a shot.
That was a crazy book, but in a good way. The writing was so vivid; the way the author described everything was so fresh. I could have done without the side stories from Marianne, though. I was much more interested in the main narrative and Marianne's account of her and the narrator's past lives.
Passing on this book to the next reader at the Calgary BookCrossing July meet-up.
Picked up at get together
Quite an interesting story. The initial premise is strange, but it all weaves itself together beautifully. I really loved all the past life and side stories that Marianne told.
Thanks for the interesting read!
Thanks for the interesting read!
Taken to get together
Thank you for pushing this book across the table to me at the meetup yesterday. I look forward to having it claw it's way to the top of my TBR Mountain Range.
I picked this up at the March meeting.
This book creeped me out at first but then it sucked me in and Watching him change as the story unfolds was heart warming. The historical stories made me curious about the whole hand printing.
Well, I have a nice stack to bring back to the June meetup at Cravings. Mind you, it is 2 months worth.
Oops, Sorry, but I forgot to journal this book from the June meetup. Hey!! I don't see my name on the post-it note! Haha and it has been in my hands before, perhaps I really need to read it.
Wow!
I have been totally engrossed by this novel, ever since I saw it on a posting by some Bookcrossing friends on FB. That is when I remembered that I had been passed this book across the table at one of our Calgary Bookcrossing meetups with the usual prompt ... this is so good, you have to read it! Then the book sat on my bookshelf waiting for me to pick it up. Finally, and I couldn’t put it down, in fact I have spent most of today reading. Now I am basking in the after glow of this amazing story.
Thank you for once again passing this across the table!
❤️
I have been totally engrossed by this novel, ever since I saw it on a posting by some Bookcrossing friends on FB. That is when I remembered that I had been passed this book across the table at one of our Calgary Bookcrossing meetups with the usual prompt ... this is so good, you have to read it! Then the book sat on my bookshelf waiting for me to pick it up. Finally, and I couldn’t put it down, in fact I have spent most of today reading. Now I am basking in the after glow of this amazing story.
Thank you for once again passing this across the table!
❤️
I am adding this to our Travelling Book Box to find it’s way back to BookyMcBooks one day. Thanks for this great read.
Welcome to Bookcrossing! The book you are holding is now yours - no strings attached. To let me know it has found a new owner and that it will be enjoyed by a new reader, please consider leaving a message by leaving an entry on this book. You do not need an account to leave a message, however if you consider signing up, you can find out where this book goes and who enjoys it after you.
Welcome to Bookcrossing! The book you are holding is now yours - no strings attached. To let me know it has found a new owner and that it will be enjoyed by a new reader, please consider leaving a message by leaving an entry on this book. You do not need an account to leave a message, however if you consider signing up, you can find out where this book goes and who enjoys it after you.
I did not expect to enjoy this book but it was beautifully written. I loved it.
Will be brought to the next Calgary book crossing meet up and shared (hopefully) with a new reader.
Will be brought to the next Calgary book crossing meet up and shared (hopefully) with a new reader.
picked up at the Calgary Nov. 2022 meeting
picked up at the Sept. 2023 Book Crossing meeting
