From the back: "Louise has had enough of her twin sister. Caroline is beautiful. Caroline is talented. Caroline is better. Growing up on the small island of Rass in Chesapeake Bay, Caroline seems to do nothing but take from Louise: their parents' love, Louise's chances for an education, her dreams for the future. They have spent their lives entwined - sleeping in the same room, eating at the same table, learning in the same classroom - and yet somehow nothing can bring them together. Louise's only hope lies in seeking a place for herself beyond the stretch of Rass's shores and her sister's shadow. What will it take for her to break free?"

Winner of the Newbery Medal in 1981.

This copy used to belong to the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library. I wonder how it ended up in Apeldoorn, where I bought it in a thrift store.

I enjoyed reading this book, especially revisiting the sea life after reading about it in detail in another teen novel: The highest tide. I didn't care much for the last part of the book, I'd prefer it to remain a mystery, how Louise makes a place for herself in life. Because it is clear from the beginning that she will succeed in that.

This book is on its way to an unsuspecting bookcrosser in Finland. Enjoy!

Well, strike me with a feather! This unsuspecting Finnish bookcrosser got herself a Newbery winner today!

It was a complete surprise, totally out of the blue. The book came in a beautiful package and with a postcard inside, too.

I've never had a totally unexpected RABCK from a bookcrosser I didn't know from before. And judging by the journal entry picture, I'm not the only bookcrosser who was happily surprised by Qimp.

Thank you so much for the book, and most of all for the thrill of surprise! I'm very much looking forward to reading yet another Newbery winner off my list. It's a project I love! And what's even better, as soon as I read the blurb, I realized that Jacob Have I Loved is actually a book I've read before as a Finnish translation, and it has haunted me a long time. There was something peculiar about the book that made it stick in my mind - can't quite remember what, though - and I've been thinking about reading the book over again. And now I get to read the original text! Even better.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! This has been a nice day, and it seems to get even better by the hour. Bookcrossers are awesome!

It was strange to read this book again. I remembered some parts of it clearly, and some I had totally forgotten. The tone of the book seemed quite dark even now, but I certainly perceived it as darker at my first read a long time ago.

One thing I probably didn't understand as a child is that the grandmother has dementia. She's just old and deranged, not evil. And that's why Louise's mother pays no mind to her mother-in-law. How could she, when there's nothing to be done to correct her behaviour?

Jacob Have I Loved has some pretty heavy subject material. Louise not only suffers from her own grandmother's behaviour, she also falls on love with a seventy years old man. Rass Island isn't really a good place for the young, and Louise can't seem to make up her mind to leave the island and find a better life for herself. Louise's sister Caroline, who did manage to quit the island, has a much smaller role in the book than I remembered.

The novel was not badly written, but it wasn't terribly innovative, either. I also thought it was a bit heavy on parallels. Louise can't have the island boy she wants, just like her granny couldn't. Louise abandons her great plans to marry a poor man in an isolated community, just like her mother did. Even the very end of the book, with the birth of the twins, parallels the very beginning.

I think I agree with Qimp: it would have been better to end the book with the promise of Louise finally deciding to leave the island. The readers might well have imagined a less forced ending. As it is, the closure is very tight and nothing is left for the reader to guess.

Anyway - I'm very happy for having read this book again! Surprise RABCK's are the best! Thanks again, Qimp.

I thought of passing Jacob Have I Loved on to my bookcrosser friend suurpeura, but it turns out she's had exactly the same experience with it as I have: she read it as a child, it's haunted her for a long time, and as an adult she's read it again. (I guess this book really isn't suitable for young children!) So, suurpeura has read the book recently, and doesn't need this copy. I guess I'll take the book to the annual Finnish bookcrossing convention in June and pass it on there.

I'm taking Jacob Have I Loved to the annual Finnish bookcrossing gathering in Tampere next weekend. I'm sure I can pass it on there, one way or the other. It'll be book #29 in my "2007 Keep Them Moving" challenge, started by Guinaveve.

Another unsuspecting bookcrosser in Finland got the book as the first one came to me and said that this was for me. Again I got one of the Newbery Medal winners from Harmaja. Thank you!

I think also that this book isn't suitable for very young people. Better be in one's late teens or even older before reading this story.
The grandmother was funnier to read about than to meet in real life. I would not like to know a person like her.

This is my book #74 in the Reduce Mount TBR 2017 -challence by Dove-i-libri.

I'll take the book with me to the meet-up in Tampere.
Happy reading!

Nobody took the book in Tampere, but at Kamppi in Helsinki someone did!

Thank you, I got this book in Helsinki:)

I think this was a touching and interesting story! I agree that the ending isn’t the greatest. It almost feels like someone read the book before it was published and told the author that the book cannot end without a clear closure and that the young readers should get a “ready-chewed” happy ending.

First Sentences VBB. This is the book you chose by its first sentence. Happy reading!

Jacob Have I Loved arrived safely in Delphi, Greece sometime last week but I was able to collect it only this morning. Thank you Soozreader! I liked your card too. This book is on good condition considering it's registered here back on 2006 and has changed quite a few hands.
Thank you all BookCrossers! I'm curious to see what I'll make of it, it's new to me!

First Sentence: "During the summer of 1941, every weekday morning at the top of the tide, McCall Purnell and I would board my skiff and go progging for crab. "

Actually I started reading this book last night and finished it in one go, in a few hours. Not bad, but not special either. I don't see how it got various awards?

This was a decent growing-up story from the view point of a teen living with her twin sister, parents and grand-mother on a (fictional) tiny island on Chesapeake Bay, USA back on the 1940s. I don't know if I would have appreciate the book more if I've read it on my teens, but I found it quite predictable and I felt the plot twists were forced by the author too. The ending was rushed and too artificial and poignant for my liking.

I like seen how people lived in different areas and eras through books and up to an extend this was revealing about the circumstances of the area at the time. But I couldn't connect much with the setting or characters and their attitudes. Especially the religious and Bible stuff felt too alien to me. Everyone seemed too one-dimensional and shallow. There is so much character development one can fit in a short book, but still...

A decent and quick read, but rather neutral.

This book got itchy feet again and wants to explore the whole wild wide world, so it will now continue its travels to Canada, as part of my 5th Bookiversary celebrations' RABCKs! And then... Who knows?

Good Luck Little book and Don't forget to write your news from time to time!

1 of several books I received with other goodies. Thank you