My thoughts:
Picked up for release purposes.

From the publisher:
Stones from the River is a daring, dramatic and complex novel of life in Germany. It is set in Burgdorf, a small fictional German town, between 1915 and 1951. The protagonist is Trudi Montag, a Zwerg -- the German word for dwarf woman. As a dwarf she is set apart, the outsider whose physical "otherness" has a corollary in her refusal to be a part of Burgdorf's silent complicity during and after World War II. Trudi establishes her status and power, not through beauty, marriage, or motherhood, but rather as the town's librarian and relentless collector of stories.

Through Trudi's unblinking eyes, we witness the growing impact of Nazism on the ordinary townsfolk of Burgdorf as they are thrust on to a larger moral stage and forced to make choices that will forever mark their lives. Stones from the River is a story of secrets, parceled out masterfully by Trudi -- and by Ursula Hegi -- as they reveal the truth about living through unspeakable times.

More stuff:
If you are new to BookCrossing and find this book and this site; welcome! Enjoy the site, the book and hopefully the BookCrossing community. I hope you'll join BookCrossing (doesn't cost anything to join!) and if you do, please consider using any previous reader of this book, or me, polliwog, as the member who referred you. If you are an old hand at BookCrossing, thanks for picking up the book! Either way, I hope you'll journal so all the previous and future readers can track this book's journey. Thanks, and Happy Crossing!

**I am putting this into the m-bag I am sending to the 2006 Australia BC Convention**

Received with much appreciation for the 3rd Australian BookCrossing Convention, Adelaide, Australia, 20-22 October 2006.

Thanks :)

This book was in my goody bag at the Adelaide Convention and I was very excited because it comes highly recommended and I'm looking forward to reading it.

Alas Mt TBR, increased dramatically when I returned from the convention, is 20 books so it will be a wee while before I get to it.
Thanks very much to whichever thoughtful person thought to put it in my gb.

I feel so ashamed when I realise that it is five years since I collected this book from the Adelaide BookCrossing Convention and it has taken me so long to remove it from a far too large Mt TBR. My trip to Adelaide was in the initial stages of recovery from an awful accident in July 2006 and life was pretty shambolic for a couple of years while my brain healed. Knowing how cross it makes me when books that I've released languish unloved for a long period of time that is a very weak excuse as so many more years have elapsed. I can only apologize profusely to polliwog and the Adelaide convention organisers. I almost never let books lie unread nowadays.

It was a really interesting and thought-provoking book with so much more detail about Nazism than I've ever read before - from choice. While I've not for one moment denied the Holocaust I knew that I just couldn't face reading about it. The progress of events crept up on me slowly and by then I was so involved with the lives in Burgdorf that I had to continue reading, aghast at the developments and the tragic impact on so many lives.

Equally, reading about the impact on Trudi's life of her inability to grow was a first for me. How she and no doubt others like her tried to cope with being different was quite eye-opening and I'd like to know to what extent the author might have experienced something like it. Hegi's list of acknowledgments gives an inkling of the amount of research she has done on most elements in the tale although nothing to indicate where she might have interacted with Zwergs so I'm left wondering about that.

There was an extensive range of characters throughout, some likeable and many not. I did have difficulty sometimes sorting out who was who as the German names were unfamiliar words to me. All through the book I was anticipating the reappearance of Pia wondering what effect she would have for Trudi. [Won't write any spoiler here.]
I liked Trudi's father Leo who had great difficulties in his life, first with his wife's madness and then trying to understand and adjust to Trudi's situation. Of all the scenarios in the book the one I was most able to visualise was the pay-library.

This is not a book I'll be forgetting in a hurry. Sincere thanks polliwog for "picking this up for release purposes". You did have it on hand for about 5 months - I wonder if you read it. I'm really pleased you did release it as I truly enjoyed it once I resurrected it from Mt. TBR.

I've sent a pm to someone in Australia who has it on her wish list.

Caught at the BC Meetup at The Loft on 11/10/2011. Thanks, Sherlockfan, I am looking forward to reading it on your recommendation.

Caught at the Bookcrossing Unconvention BBQ tonite. Recommended by two other bookcrossers. Will read and release

I took this by mistake at a Bookcrossing meetup in December 2013, not realising I had read it two years ago. I enjoyed it then, but don't want to re-read it. I will release it again.

Enjoyed reading this book about a little person and her family and friends but never did finish it.

Thanks for picking this book up. Now time for it to be in someone else's hands.
Please don't forget to make a journal entry telling previous readers what you thought of the book, then sending it onward on its journey.
Try to find a good place to leave it or your own favourite place, or even return it here.
Whatever you decided I hope you enjoyed it.

I enjoyed this book very much about a little dwarf and her husband and a river. For some reason although I tried many times I never finished it.