Tim Winton is one of my favourite authors, and I just love his style of writing.

From Amazon.com "The Riders is a superbly written and a darkly haunting story of a lovesick man in a vain search for a vanished woman. It is a powerfully accurate account of marriage today, of the demons that trouble relationships, of resurrection found in the will to keep going, in the refusal to hold on, to stand still. The Riders is also a moving story about the relationship between a loving man and his tough, bright daughter."



This book is a good, quick read while covering a not so nice topic. The style of writing allows you to feel Fred Scully's distress and impatience.

A wonderful book, paperback and not so heavy which makes it perfect to send out on a bookring which is exactly what I am going to do!

[This is the actual cover pic]

Gathering interest for a book ring...

This was going to be an Australian only ring,however there were some international BX'ers that were interested so lets share the book around!


Shipping order:

1. Murmurr, WA, post in Oz
2. Mistlerose, VIC (post in Oz preferred)
3. Sally906, NT (post in Oz or Overseas)
4. Goatgrrl, Canada (post anywhere)
5. Katybean, UK (UK post preferred)
6. Fellraven, UK (I can't remember preferences... sorry!) ---> Book is here!
7. Amanida, UK, (will post anywhere)
9. jaynereader, Italy, (will post anywhere)
10. .... Back to me in WA

Please check the order for shipping & let me know if it does not suit you.


# This ring is still open, please PM me if you wish to be added to the list #

Released on Friday, August 20, 2004 at BookRing in Book Ring, A Bookring Controlled Releases.

Released to Murmurr as part of a small but very distinguished book ring.

Sorry for the delay in logging this had been received having a few husband initiated computer problems. Has arrived safely :^)

PROGRESS UPDATE: Heard from Murmurr on 12th October that unfortunately she is snowed under at the moment... she was going to PM Mistlerose for her address & send the book on.

Am more than happy to add Murmurr to the end of the list when the book comes back to Australia so she can read it.

Released on Saturday, October 30, 2004 at about 10:00:00 PM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at Australia Post in Kalamunda, Western Australia Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:

Now my release notes here are well and truly late as this was posted the week before last and I have happily but inconveniently been computer less. Can't imagine the book being too far off arriving if it hasn't already :^)

Sorry again for the delay on getting this book out but... what a great book! This is the first Tim Winton I have read and was quite impressed by his writing. What a tragic and un-put-downable journey.

Many thanks for the opportunity to read this miss gone west :^)

arrived today safe and well. Thankyou very much for the chance to read this. I can't wait to read it.

finally finished this today. This is the first Tim Winton book that I have read. I quite enjoyed it.

It will be sent on early next week, once I have an address.

Released on Wednesday, December 08, 2004 at about 3:00:00 PM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at in the mail in Bookring, A Bookring Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:

Arrived in the mail today - am going on holidays in a couple of days - so won't get it read before I go - will pick it up when I get back and will send it on to Canada as soon as I finish it :)

Have just finished reading this - what a moving book - I have never read Winton before and I am very impressed!!! I have got Goatgrrl's address and will mail it out next week (payday) will do a new journal entry when it is posted.

Mailed to goatgrrl today (15/1/05) is travelling by Economy Air - allegedly should take 11 -16 working days.

Enjoy :)

It's here! And with a package of vegemite enclosed! We all had a good laugh over that, and I think my stepson is going to try the vegemite on toast this evening (he's the salt fiend in the family).

Thanks so much to miss-gonewest for starting this ring, and to sally906 for sending the book along (I know you'll be relieved to know it's finally arrived in Canada). I should be able to start reading this one later in the week, and will send it along to the next reader quickly. Thanks again, all.

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. I found the story engaging and suspenseful and the characters believable, for the most part (I did experience some frustration with the fact that Billie couldn't be induced to talk about what happened to her mother). Scully was a comfortable, credible 1990s male character, and I delighted in the honest, comfortable relationship he maintained with his daughter, even as I became uncomfortable with the weight of the emotional and practical burden she carried as a participant in that relationship. I enjoyed the outsider's perspective on life in a contemporary Irish village, and Winton's allusion to the supernatural as an element of that experience was handled subtly and effectively. All in all a great novel, and I'm surprised – Booker nomination notwithstanding – it didn't attract more attention when it was published.

Thanks very much, miss-gonewest, for making this book available to us. I have Katybean's address, and will put The Riders in the mail to her tomorrow.

The Book arrived safely this morning!!

I will put to the top of my TBR pile (no other bookrings at the moment LOL), and will update when I have read it.

Katybean

Whilst I really enjoyed this 'addictive' book, I found the ending wasn't complete enough for me, can't say too much without giving the game away to people who haven't read it yet!!

I have Fellraven's address, and will mail out to them today!!

Thanks for sharing this book, as it is one of those books I wouldn't have personally picked out in a book shop, but I'm really glad I read it and will be looking out for more books by Tim Winton!!

Received in today's post - many thanks. I have one book to read ahead of this but hope to have it on its way again well within 4 weeks.

Hmmm. What to make of this? Well it's not the first novel by Winton I've read but it is significantly the earlier of the two and I think that shows.

Another reader commented somewhere that it's in part about child abuse. In a sense that's correct in respect of the way that Billie ends up looking after the disintegrating Scully in the same way that a child often has to parent an alcoholic or drug addict parent and ends up damaged as a result. Billie *seems* to be so strong and mature but one wonders what the long term effect on her will be of all that she goes through.

And what of Scully? He's one of those characters one tries very hard to like but in the end this reader felt that she could appreciate, at least in some small way, the assessment of characters seen and unseen that he's a perennial loser. A nice guy but a complete loser nevertheless and for much of the action out of control, richocheting around blindly with the already traumatised Billie in tow.

For me this was symbolised particularly by the fate of the pen and ink drawing given to Scully by the artist Alex Moore - a drawing which had been kept safe by its creator for over 30 years but which within a few hours of being given to Scully had been damaged and within a couple of days had been lost and destroyed.

This is a rather harsh judgement, I know, but it's hard to discuss the whys and wherefores in any great detail without giving away telling events and images in the story which might spoil it for subsequent readers.

There were moments when I felt like giving up on it but I'm glad I kept going. It, or rather the character of Scully, was hard going and frustrating at times and I might well re-read it at some stage to see if I still feel the same way about it.

Apologies for being a bit slow in reading this one. It wasn't planned that way. It just happened. However it will be on its way to Amanida tomorrow if not before.

Posted to Amanida today. Enjoy!

Safely received, thanks! Just finished my current book, so ready to read it.

A well written and compelling story - I was hooked. But I do agree with others' comments that it was a rather unsatisfactory ending and that, ultimately, Scully didn't make it as a "good guy" (even though I despeartely wanted him to).
I have read 2 other Tim Winton books and this is a quite different style.
Off to jaynereader tomorrow.

Hooray! This book has arrived safe and sound in Italy. I should be able to start it tomorrow after finishing my current read. Thanks to miss-gonewest for making this book available. I've only read Dirt Music by Tim Winton and loved it so am very curious. Thanks also to amanida for sending it on.

Tim Winton won some more points with me with this one. I really like his writing style and especially loved the ending in this book because it didn't answer all the questions. Thanks miss-gonewest, back to you next!

11.7
Sent back to miss-gonewest today by air mail.

This book has arrived back home safe & sound... thanks to Jaynereader for posting it along and thanks to everyone that took part in joining in this ring.

Book is now available for loan....