TBR

TBR, then reserved for a sweepstake.

A nice story, I would have liked another ending, though. It was easy to read, with a good dose of humour and goofiness.

It is ready to go on its journey.

Travelling to the winner of the Family Sweepstake, enjoy!

Please let us know when you release it again...

Looks like I won another sweeps, since I got back from holidays and found two books in my mailbox. Thanks for sending!

I liked this book. I understand the comparison of this author to Nick Hornby, as both seem to have the same light, funny take on relationships. Just like Nick Hornby’s “about a boy”, this book is about a 30-something man who suddenly and unexpectedly needs to take up a role as a father figure. What I thought was a bit unrealistic is how this dad immediately acted like a natural. No struggle or funny situations because he has to adapt to the father-role, this guy just goes along. The author makes fun of the mother’s strict parenting style, but then the new dad throws it all aboard and this happens with zero consequences. A bit unrealistic, but I guess it was not the point of this book.

This book focuses more on past and present relationships between the different characters and their history. The main character, Emmet, goes through some kind of existential crisis, as he suddenly becomes a father and bumps into his youth love. The end of the book was different than I had imagined.

I do hope that this is some kind of pre-print version of the book. First of all, I thought it was annoying that the text runs almost entirely to the bottom of the page (no margins). Secondly, there are at least 2 occasions were names were mixed up. One of those times was a Emmet-John mix up and I kept turning pages hoping for some big reveal... but no, just a typo. There are also a few other typo’s in the book, some had been marked by the previous reader, a few I had spotted myself (but decided not to mark them). I was also a bit confused that Betty’s name was Muriel... I must have missed that somewhere in the beginning, so I didn’t really understood when she introduced herself as “Muriel” and first thought it was another name-mix up, but at least this one was intentional.

Saving for first sentence sweeps:

“I’m not a grown-up, I think miserably to myself as I sit hunched over the kitchen table of a tiny flat in north London.”

Picked up from the first sentence VBB. First parcel of 2020! Had to double check the prices of stamps & porto costs, as they changed on Jan 1st. Hope I got it right.

I always try to post my controlled releases with real stamps. If you are not a collector yourself, you might want to check out this post on the forum about a stamps sweeps that I organised (closed) or this one about Bookcrossers who collect stamps. A lot of Bookcrossers collect stamps for charity, so it’s nice to find them a good home!

Congratulations! You’ve found a travelling book 😊
It would be great if you could make a journal entry here to say what you thought of the book and then, if you like, release it again to continue its journey.
Happy reading!

This was my second catch of the day. I really don't want to read it but told myself that I can't bare to see a multi-journalled book have no more. I'll realease it next time I go somewhere nice.

In the phone box.