At BookCrossing, books are registered and released with an individual tracking number. A good many drop off the radar and then turn up years later at the strangest of places. In Crossing Paths, the main character Jane disappears - for the other characters who are worried about her the clues to where she might be are on her BookCrossing bookshelf. Russell Dark, a book store owner and Jonathan Fairlight, a new age writer, begin to track her through the books she leaves behind. Within these pages eight people who cross paths with Jane Townsend will have their lives changed forever.

I enjoyed this book, although it is not the sort of thing I would normally read. I suspect it wouldn’t have been such a success with me if I hadn’t been a bookcrosser. I did feel it was longer than it needed to be though.

Now going off as a book ray.

Here's the link to the forum thread.
https://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/20/570857

To those taking part please send on to the next person within a month. If there are any hold ups please message me.

Participants (Order may change if necessary)

Poodlesister - UK (UK/Europe) - 07.11.20
elstaplador - UK (Int) - 25.11.20
Shahrun - UK (Int) - 15.01.21
rahar109 - UK (UK/Europe) - 23.04.21
Yogiberri - UK (UK) - 17.05.21
Andrea99 - UK (UK/poss Europe) - 17.06.21
Dolph1n - UK (UK) - 17.07.21
Ythan - UK (Europe) - 26.07.21
JPix - UK (UK/Europe) - 18.08.21
etripney - UK (UK) - No Response
Trojanhorse - UK (UK) - 22.09.21
Teapot - UK (UK/Europe) - 26.01.22
Mankyi - Switzerland (EU) - 04.03.22
Fifna - Netherlands (EU) - 06.05.22
dacejav - Latvia/Georgia Summer - 07.07.22
Bookworm-lady - Spain (Int) - 16.08.22
Olivia_Lo - Taiwan (Int) - No Response
Icila- France (Int) - 03.10.22
lunacia - Norway (Norway/Europe) - 23/02/23
FraukeRo - Norway (Int)
Kiki66 - Germany (Int)
penelopewanders - France (Int)
xtrdnry - Australia (Aus)
leah152 -Australia (Aus/Int)
tigergirlnz - NZ (NZ/Aus/Int)
Gaboyd - NZ (Int)
Brookler - Canada
mscar - Canada (US/poss Int)
eponine38 - USA (US/poss Int)
Spatial - USA (US)
hyphen8 - USA (US)
HI77 - USA (US)
echode - USA (US)
Azuki - USA (US)
debnance - USA (US)
BOOKWORMINUSALL - USA (US)
samid - USA (US)
IMissBookIt - USA

Travelling! I hope you like it 😊

This arrived yesterday. I recognise the bookplate! Thanks for the postcard. I have just started another Ray book which I've had for too long but this book will queue jump some other books as so many people want to read it.

This was a slow burner for me, I felt a bit overwhelmed by all the characters and locations at first but it all started to make sense and became quite gripping. It was great to spot familiar BookCrossing names (MissMarkey, over-the-moon and Skyring in particular). The places also brought back welcome memories of past travels.

This will be travelling to elstaplador with some HGG goodies when I next visit the post office, later this week.

Join UK Bookcrossers at the Newcastle Unconvention from 1st-3rd October 2021

Received in the bookring - looking forward to reading this one!

This book is legendary in BookCrossing circles, but I'd never seen a copy of it. So I jumped at the chance to join the bookring. This follows one Australian BookCrosser around the world as she seeks to release six symbolic books following the death of her husband. It sorely needed an editor - two, in fact, a structural editor and a copy editor - but it was really effective in reminding me of the joy of sharing books in general, and BookCrossing in particular, and it was lovely to see some familiar BC names.

Sending on to the next reader in the ring.

This has arrived safely with my in East London! Blimey, it’s a fair old wedge of book ay! I will do my best to get it read and onto the next reader ASAP.

I have been really fascinated by the concept of this book since I first heard about it, so I was very excited to read it. I found it fairly easy to read (although the jumping around of characters and a few other bits did confuse me). I didn’t like the main characters of Jane and Jeremy as their instant obsessive love and the lengths they went to wasn’t very believable. I did enjoy some of the other characters, especially Ruth, who was my favourite. I think the author tried to include too many good ideas to be able to execute them all in one story. It might have been better to make this story idea into a trilogy to do everything justice.

So sorry for holding the book up for so long, working covid life is hectic. I have the next readers address and will pack this up tonight to post Monday.

Packing up ready for the next reader in the Ray. Will post tomorrow.

Arrived today..
Thank you.

This is a very long book in need of some serious editing.
At first I found all the places/people confusing - particularly Jeremy/Jonathan - and I couldn't see the point of Jane's name changes.
My main problems with the book (apart from the length):
Far, far too many internal agonisings and angst. I lost interest about half way through.
People falling madly in love after a couple of PMs, journal entries and brief meetings.
Unrealistic depiction of Bookcrossing. In 16 years I have only found two wild releases, and other than meet-ups and Conventions, I have never come across another Bookcrosser. Yet these people are tripping over BC books, bookcrossers, and every release seems to be caught - if only!
Oh, and there's a psychic woman and a H G Wells short story thrown in for good measure.
Still, it was good to see some familiar names in there.

PMing the next reader.

Posted to Yogiberri.
Enjoy!

Thank you for sending this long awaited book - since I first saw the title of Poodlesister's wishlist, I just had to read it. Having read some of the comments, I'm beginning to wonder quite what is it store! Will get reading pronto! And thank you for the book plates and stickers - always welcome :-D

I have to confess to struggling with this book. I just couldn't buy in to the main character who clearly, wounded herself, was not able to connect with those attempting to reach out to her. Notwithstanding, I did do a skim read of it and I thought it brought another perspective to book crossing. Winging it's way to the next reader later today.

Arrived with me today, 17th June 2021.

Thought this book was a little clunky in places..... Jane the main character took a while for me to "like" her as a character, although the others I took to straight away. I have to agree with a previous comment regarding the characters practically tripping over wild release books being wildly unrealistic!

Mailed onto the next in line on the bookray.....

It arrived with me this morning and crikey, it's a big 'un.

I'm sorry but I really tried to like this. It is too long, boring and unrealistic (all those bookcrossers falling over each other)
I liked the idea but it just didn't work for me.
I'll pass it on when I have an address.

Sending to Ythan.

Arrived safe and sound.

Thanks very much.

Congratulations Sparkish on the longest participant list I've ever seen in my 16 years of bookrossing.

Definitely a bit confusing with all the characters in the beginning but it wasn't too long before I had it figured out. I found that I remembered the real names of the characters better than their bookcrossing names. I'd like a sequel, just to be able to get to know the characters better and how their lives turn out in more depth.

I don't think it matters that it's not an accurate representation of bookcrossing, that's the joy of fiction, take the best bits of the community and make it what it needs to be for the story.

Posted to JPix.

Book received, thanks Ythan! Will read when I finish my current book.

I liked this book and enjoyed spending time in a Bookcrossing world. Even though there were more than the usual amount of catches and coincidences, I was happy to suspend disbelief and go along for the ride. It’s also made me want to get back into proper wild releasing again one day. Now ready to journey on to the next reader once I have the address.

Posting to Trojanhorse tomorrow, enjoy! Will leave in the bookmark that was there when I received the book.

Thanks JPix the book has arrived safely with me. A 600 page monster! Wow! I'll do my best to crack on with it so it can continue its journey.

I've finally finished reading this book and like some others I found it to be a bit of a slog! It was an interesting concept and cleverly written but I wasn't convinced with some of the characters. I wish wild releases were so easy to come across too! However, really pleased to have had the opportunity to read this infamous book so thank you Sparkish for making it a book ray.

I've been in touch with the next in line and have teapot's address so this will be on the move again shortly.

Posting on to the next in line. Happy Reading!

It arrived a couple of days ago, will read it ias soon as I can and then send it along on its merry way!

I was really excited to see how a book could make a plot out of BookCrossing journal entries but was a little disappointed.

If you need to throw in a psychic in order to move the plot along and get characters to interact, you have a fundamental problem.

I felt the dialogue was a little artificial and very repetitive. All the characters' internal monologues were identical, no one had a distinct voice.

I was quite intrigued by Jane's story in the beginning, but soon found myself getting irritated by the book. How many times other characters listed off books and potential release locations, to stalk this poor girl all over the world because they know what's best for her!

And this is quite a petty quibble but it really annoyed me - the number of times peope were described by heir nationality: The two Americans, the Frenchman, the young Australian woman, the young Greek, the Canadian, the Englishwoman... The author constantly referred to Jane as "the young Australian", sometimes several times per page.

It really needed another round of copyediting and proofreading.

But I'm still glad I took part in this enormous bookray, and the book has inspired me to do a bit more wild releasing in the future!

On its way to Mankyi!

The book is now in Zurich. I'm excited to start reading it!

UPDATE: As much as I wanted to like this book, unfortunately, it's 1,5 stars for me. I was glad to see some familiar BC names, such as over-the-moon, but that basically sums up everything nice that I have to say about this book.

Those fictional Bookcrossers sounded a bit like lunatics to me! They send 1-2 PMs to other BCers and - voila!- " fall in love"! Or, they start chasing their fellow BCer around the world, when she clearly wants to be left alone - that's creepy!

Who the hell is being let near the luggage carousel at the airport arrivals to meet someone? Who can "travel around the world in 80 days" without ever needing a visa? Who gets in touch over the internet with people they've never seen before and considers them "a family"? Those are our fictional Bookcrossers! Oh, and Ruth the psychic - I'm not even going to say anything here, in the end, everyone seems to be just doing whatever she has imagined or dreamt, without ever questioning her sanity. What?

The plot is simply boring and unrealistic, the characters are dull and lack any common sense and the book has too many pages for what it has to offer to the reader.

Travelling to the Netherlands


If you aren't familiar with Bookcrossing, take a few minutes to check out this very cool site. Bookcrossers LOVE books, and more than anything, they love to read books and then set them free for other people to find and enjoy. I would love it if you would leave a journal entry -- you can say where you found the book or how you liked it when you read it.

And it has arrived safely, thanks Mankyi! That's quite a hefty tome. I'll try not to take too long with it.

The book has arrived at my mom's place in Latvia! I am flying on July 18 and will try to finish my other reads before that to start right away.

I'm impressed with myself that I read it all, I was not expecting that from myself from how things took off in Latvia... but then synchronicity, I guess - I got Covid and a lot of time to read.

A very strange book. A book about BookCrossing, which she compares to "a parallel universe." She does create a parallel BookCrossing, where everybody seems to be a bookcrosser, they fall in love with each other after one message, they confess love in journal entries, they pass the same book back and forth to each other several times, the books seem to follow them, books travel from the US to Europe in less than a week, and everyone interferes with other people's business. I must say that I prefer the real BookCrossing to this fantasy BookCrossing.

I could not feel Jane's grief and she often really acted like a mad woman. And what was so special about her that all the men were falling head over heels over her? Finally, all that new age stuff was getting too much for my liking towards the end. And finally finally, there were quite a few typos - misspelled words, mixed up names (somebody had corrected one such place with a pencil) and two places where time was mixed up - PM with AM.

What I liked about the book - BookCrossing references, familiar names such as over-the-moon and MissMarkey, travelling (I often Googled up pictures of locations and discovered some nice ones on the way) and bookish references (most literature seemed too depressing for my liking, but maybe I will note down some AUS/NZ related books and authors). Ah, and even if it seems (and IS) too long with 600 pages, it reads faster than I thought because of many book journals and half-pages.

The book is travelling to Spain!

And the book is here... the postman brought it this morning, and what a huge book it is!
Thanks, Dacejav, for sending it; and thanks, Sparkish, for making it available. It might take me a while to read it... as long as I am interested, as I am slightly discouraged by previous reviews. :(

Currently reading it. :)

This book was a great disappointment for me... maybe because my expectations were too high. :(
I agree almost word by word with rahar109's comments; this is an ideal Bookcrossing world, where you can check the daily releases at leisure over breakfast and then go to find the book you want, which is patiently waiting there for you... on a cafe's table? No cleaning up by waiters? These would last around 5 minutes around here...
These characters have plenty of money and time to travel around the world in order to release the books in the adequate places... and they can meet their friends who come to fetch them by the baggage carousel... has the author ever been in an international airport?
Most characters behave childishly, falling head over heels in love by PM, sending personal messages to each other in book journals, and putting aside their lives in order to find the fascinating Jane / Ali / Sarah... I also found annoying the constant references to "the young Australian"... And couldn't she have come up with two names not so similar as Jeremy / Jonathan? I read big chunks of the book thinking about the wrong character, before realizing it did not make sense.
I agree that this needs some heavy proofreading and editing... I finished its 600 pages but could not wait for it to end, I must confess...
However, not everything is bad; some quotes I enjoyed:
"This is what life is all about! Loving someone and being prepared to lose them. But at least getting the chance to love someone."
"Most of Boston was at work now in their glass steel and brick buildings and here was he sitting outside in the sunshine with his working day to structure as he wished. That aspect had always been the joy of his profession. Yes, there were money worries but he could take a day off and work in the night to make up. His life was his own. This meant of course that if he chose to fly to Paris in a week... then the choice was his to make. He would just have extra work waiting for him when he got back." (I can identify with this, as a freelancer...)
And some familiar names thrown in for good measure: over-the-moon, flambard, MissMarkey... I loved this!
Anyway, thanks for giving us the chance to read this... It reminded me of my first stage at Bookcrossing, where I kept looking at benches and tables thinking there would be books waiting for me... and that all my wild releases would be found and journalled... Few of them were, and of course not by BCers I knew...
Soon to continue its travels...

Sent today to Icila, as Olivia_Lo has not answered my PMs.
The Bookcrossing novel continues bookcrossing... :)

A huge book indeed ! Thank you Bookworm-lady, it cost you an arm and a leg to send me this well-travelled book.

On its way to lunacia.

The book arrived today. And can I just say - WOW. This is much more of a brick than I was aware of! I will probably have to read this in-between work related books, and take some time. Just be aware of that. If I had known it was suck a thick book, I'd probably pass it on.

Also - FraukeRo is not in Norway anymore, so it will have to be mailed off outside of Norway.