This is continuation of The Bean Trees. The Cherokee nation is trying to reclaim some of the children lost to adoptions by whites, and suddenly their attention is drawn to Turtle. As the story progresses, more and more interesting characters are woven into the fabric, creating more of a crazy patchwork quilt than a tapestry! Along the way, we are treated to both humorous and touching insights on day-to-day life on the reservation. The story is about family--different definitions of family--and the love that binds.

Will be travelling this week to a newly hatched Kingsolver fan !!!
Enjoy

Picture taken from a hill at the end of my street - Tucson's Santa Catalina Mtns. in the distance.

(Copy # 1)

I got the book! Thanks so much, hotflash, for the book as well as the postcard and the book label. I am going to put the label in this book. I'll probably put your name in it, since it started with you. I hope it doesn't take me too long to get the book I offered to trade you out to you. In the meantime, I'm going to give Barbara Kingsolver's fiction another chance.

I'm reading this book now and have decided to turn it into an international bookray.

Begin International Bookray: 10/17/05
SqueakyChu (Maryland) done
jenptcfan (Arkansas) done
gomboggit (Oregon) done
Matty (Canada) done
dawni (Canada) done
Nell-Lu (UK) done
wandering (Netherlands) done
okyrhoe (Greece) done
Hellie (UK) done <--The book is here ready to travel.
End International Bookray: 10/1/2006

This bookray was ended when Hellie wild released the book after getting no response to six people she PM'd. Thhe book traveled to 3 different states and 5 different countries in 1 year.

I'm still having a hard time enjoying Kingsolver's fiction the way I do her essays (which I adore).

I found The Bean Trees sluggish reading. People never stopped talking!!! I felt as if I knew what was going to happen all along, the story seeming contrived to me. I'm one reader that's not into such character studies. In this book, I'd have preferred to learn more about the Cherokee nation or more about what Turtle thought of what was going on around her. Of course, Turtle said very little. Frankly, I got tired of hearing from and about Taylor and Alice Greer.

I'm heading back for my copy of Kingsolver's High Tide in Tucson...which I know I like!

Thanks, hotflash, for sharing your book. That was very kind of you. As Barbara Kingsolver is a big reader's favorite, I'm sure others here will appreciate this book much more than I did.

This book is now in the mail to jenptcfan in Arkansas.

I received this book today. Thanks for sending it on to me and including a bookmark. :)

I'm at the end of two other books right now (I'm on the last chapter of one of them), so I will start this book by the end of this week and make it my priority to finish it quickly.

I love Kingsolver!

Even though it had been several years since I read The Bean Trees, I was able to get into this book really quickly. I finished it this evening, but I was left wanting to know more about the characters' lives after Pigs in Heaven.

Will PM the next person in line to receive this book and send it out ASAP.

Book is in the mail to gomboggit. Enjoy!

I received this in the mail today and will begin reading it ASAP.

It had a different tone than the first book, which was also a good read. It is nice the way she intertwines everybody's lives and histories, weaving them into an enjoyable, colorful story. I liked learning about the Cherokee history, and it has always saddened me how white men in the past have taken over their land, pretty much booting them out and herding them onto pieces of land that white man saw as less than desirable.
I am PMing Matty now to get her address. Thanks for including me in this!

I received this book two days ago and will be starting it this week for sure. Thanks!

I did not read Bean Trees but a woman at one of our bookcrossing meetings recommended this book. I really enjoyed the style of writing and got pretty attached to the characters. I was suprised at how angry I felt when the idea of Turtle being taken away from Taylor first surfaced. But as the book progressed, I understood things from the side of Annawake better. Thanks for starting this ray SqueakyChu!

Off to dawni!

Received in the mail today - thank you! I have about four pages left to go in my current book, and was wondering what to read next... so getting this one couldn't have come at a better time! I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you so much for including me on this bookray! I've enjoyed everything I've read by Barbara Kingsolver, and this one is definitely no exception. I read The Bean Trees within the last year or so, and this was a great continuation of the story. (In fact, I'm hoping there is... or will be... a third installment!)

I've sent a PM to Nell-Lu and will put the book in the mail when I have an address.

This just arrived - thank you dawni for sending it on, SqueakyChu for setting up the bookray, and hotflash for sharing it in the first place. This is one of three bookray books that turned up this morning, so it's second on the TBR pile. I will get onto it over the weekend or early next week.

I re-read The Bean Trees a few weeks ago, so I'm really looking forward to continuing to read Turtle's story.

I enjoyed this a lot. It is well written and absorbing, and I found it a very relaxing read. In fact, I liked it so much that it seems churlish to find fault so I'm going to put my criticisms in brackets (slightly too many coincidences, some poor characters were more stereotype than person, a bit sentimental, what happened to Barbie?, is it fair on Alice to emotionally blackmail her into that ending?, and I missed Mattie from The Bean Trees). I *loved* the central moral of the tale, which was - of course - never go on Oprah. What do you mean, there was some interesting stuff about the definition of family and love?!

Thanks, everyone, for getting this book all the way to Scotland. I PMed iggi1812 on Friday, but haven't heard yet, so I'll PM again and get the book on its way as soon as I get an address.

UPDATE 14 MARCH 2006: I still haven't heard from iggi1812, so I'm going to skip him/her and move on to Hellie. I've just emailed Hellie to get an address.

UPDATE 20 MARCH 2006: No response from Hellie either. It's been almost a week since I emailed, so I'm going to move on to wandering. I've just PMed - I hope she gets back to me. Her profile does say she only catches up on PMs at the weekend, so the book may be stalled a little longer before I hear. Sorry! I'll get it moving again as soon as I can.

Hooray! wandering PMed me with an address yesterday afternoon, so this book is travelling again. Enjoy, wandering!

Received today! Thanks to hotflash for sharing this book and to Nell-lu for sending. Thanks for the card as well - and you have a very nice handwriting!

I will read this book next, looking forward to it after having read The Bean Trees some time ago.

Very nice, very nice indeed. The plot was a bit predictable, but still I wanted to know how exactly it would all wind up. The language is gorgeous. Nice humour as well. Kingsolver is now definately on my 'good authors' list.

p. 77: "Fine," Taylor says, her eyes wandering over the front yard but catching on nothing.
p. 96: "Well, it's kind of a signal to the town, to be on the lookout," Angie says. "So if anybody sees him wandering they'll send him home." Angie pronounces "wandering" like "wondering", and before her meaning dawns on Taylor, she is stumped on what it is that Lucky would be wondering about.

I'll send it on as soon as I get okyrhoe's address. Thanks for sharing, hotflash and SquekyChu!

Edit: sent by surface mail on May 1st.

Arrived at my PO Box today. Thanks SqueakyChu and wandering!

An enjoyable and satisfying story, nice to start off my summer reading.

As Nell-Lu says, one doesn't want to find fault, but there are certain weaknesses in the narrative, even though they don't diminish the reading experience of thie book.

I'll add this: After reading several of Kingsolver's books, I'm beginning to wonder if she can get to the depth of her male characters. The ones here are interesting, but they remain flat, unmotivated, and peripheral to the female-dominated plot. I wish they'd be more alive at times.

~ ~ ~ ~
On its way to Hellie.

Hmmmmm

Not as good as 'The bean trees'

Having been to Hoover Dam I liked that I good picture where the early action was happening.
Also the insight into the Cherokee nation ws interesting. I got very interested in the whole native Indian thing after we went to the site of the batle Of Little Bighorn 2 years ago...an experience which moved me to tears, and gave me chills.
Then last year we went out to Mesa Verde and from there to 4 Corners.... the whole place is run by native Indians and when dad complained about the cost of getting in, i said 'No good on them, finally they've held onto land, of NATIONAL importance that is theirs and are making money out of it...as it should have been right through history."
Even the souvenirs, rather than a tacky souvenir shop, are sold from a variety of staslls all run by native Indians, surrouning the monument. One of my favourite rings is a silver and turquoise ring I bought from one of them...when he asked where we were from, he spoke an Indian blessing over it before he wrapped it for me. He told me the blessing meant 'May your travels always hold adventure, mystery, discovery and new acquaintances and Godspeed until you reach your journeys ends.' He went on to say that even if we aren;t travlleing, though he could tell I have the heart and soul of a traveller - how right he was....we are always on a journey.....at times we journey alone and at times people's journeys bring them together.....when we meet people unexpectedly, we meet God...
I thought that was really beautiful.
Having travalled a lot, and met many amazing people many of whom i still remember long after, especially those with whom we shared 9/11 in Boston, and New England (such as the woman who gave us comfort bears (which still hang on our Xmas trees each year...) I know exactly what he meant.....

Anyway so for those reasons I found the Cherokee stories interesting...

Wasn't sure about the ending of the book, though i'm glad Turtle and taylor stayed together. I still think Turtle waS A RIDICULOUS NAME THOUGH...


aS AN ONLY CHOLD, ALSO, THE BOOK STRUCK A CHORD IN THE SENSE THAT FAMILY is inherited, but can also be created...and found in friends and those special people we grow to love without rhyme or reason..they just fall into our lives, perhaps as someone somewhere knows we need them and the gifts they will bring to our lives.....or we theirs......
Brings to mind the poem about 'many people will come and go during your life, but only the truly special ones will leave footprints.....' (to me footprints are memories, and the love they bring into our lives...)


16 th July...still awaiting lagegu's address.....

RELEASE NOTES:

no one is repltying to pms..cant believe even with my weird pm, system none are getting throuigh so giving up and taking this to meet so someone else can enjoy it