I have heard wonderful things about this book but I haven't had a chance to read it yet.

Released on Friday, March 07, 2003 at Sent via package to a friend in Fresno in Fresno, California USA.

This book is going on a bookring trip! Thanks to IACBY for suggesting this. :-)
Here is the list of BC'ers participating:
1. IACBY ~ Arizona
2. daidy ~ Michigan
3. LadyBug01 ~ Virginia
4. alsgal ~ Washington
5. alsomama ~ Washington
6. HikingReader ~ Wisconsin
7. sejent ~ Kentucky
8. lady-sybil ~ New Burnswick, Canada
9. Grenouille1 ~ Ontario, Canada
Please be sure and register this book, and make a journal entry when you receive it. Thanks to all BC'ers for making this work so smoothly!

I received the book today! WooHoo!!! Btw- the envelope ripped, but both the book and the post card are in excellent condition! :o) I am so excited to read this book!!! Beachglass, thank you once again for organizing this bookring, and Grenouille1, thank you for letting us all read it!!!!

I too, will add a post card to the book when I'm done with it!

Will write more later,

~IACBY

Hi everyone,

I'm not done with the book just yet, but I wanted to let you know that this book has been with me to the Grand Canyon this weekend!!! (too bad I was way too pooped to read more than a few chapters while I was there) :o) I will do my best to finish it and send it off to the next person asap!

~IACBY

Okay okay... you'll have to forgive me, for I am writing another entry that begins with: "... I'm not done with the book just yet, but..."

I had to tell you where this book has been! My birthday is today, and for the occasion, my Real life & BookCrossing friend, Banana, went with me on a hot air balloon flight!!!! I couldn't resist, and I took the Life of Pi (and another one which I gave to some nice people on board) to fly in the lovely Arizona sky! I took a picture of me with the book inside the balloon, and in a few days when I get the pictures back, I will scan it and add it in here! I really hope it'll turn out.

:o) :o) :o)

Well, that's it for now... I will write my next entry when I am done with the book.

~IACBY

Wow! What an amazing story.

Survival requires performing and baring the unthinkable. Pi's ability to save his mind, soul and body, or more accurately, his CHOICE to believe in a version of the truth in order to save himself is inspiring. The choice of which reality to believe in is up to the reader. The way I see it, Pi's second version is the real one, but just like him, if I had a choice, I'd like to believe in the first.

I rated this book as a 10, and it deserves it. However, I must say that I bogged down a little in the religion section... it is very possible that this was the direct result of having a friend over (a random vacation!), and traveling all around Arizona while reading the book... :o)

The book will be sent out to daidy as soon as I get the snail mail address. (*update: sent to daidy 4/10/03)
All the best, and I just can't wait to read other people's reaction to the book!

~IACBY

Just recieved it this weekend and I'll journal again when I'm done with it.

How delightful! I wasn't sure quite what to expect with this book, but once I started reading it I didn't want to put it down. The transformations that Pi has to make and his religious experiences provide a lot of things to think about.

Will be mailed to LadyBug01 tomorrow.

I've been crazy busy with my life and kids---did receive this book a week ago, sorry about the late journal entry.
I've started the book over the weekend, love the writing style. Will write more after I finish the book.

I'm only about 70 pages into the book, but love it so far! My life is very busy with 4 kids during this last month of school. Plus my son just received a copy of this book as a birthday gift from his Godfather, so....
to not further delay this bookring, I'll send Grenouille1's book on it's merry way to alsgal on June 9th.
After I finish reading Austin's book on summer vacation, I'll write more about what I thought of the book!
>(:::)

Just received in the mail from LadyBug01. I'll start reading it on the plane to San Francisco tomorrow.

A very interesting book. The end really makes you think!

This book has travelled to San Francisco & back with me. Now it's off to West Seattle and alsomama.

I had forgotten I'd signed up for this bookring so it was a nice surprise to arrive at work today and find that alsgal had left it on my desk this weekend. As everyone has mentioned their vacation plans I'll just add that we spent last week on the Oregon coast which was very nice and I just got my middle son off on a trip to France. I'm spending the day doing the 10 loads of laundry he left behind. I'll start in on the book straight away. Thanks, alsgal for bringing it to me and thanks to beachglass and to Grenouille1 for sponsoring the bookring.

I've only just started the book and it seems quite promising. But I managed to obtain another copy through a trade, so I'll send this one on to the next person in line. That way I can circulate the other copy among family and friends without holding up the bookring. I'm sending this one to HikingReader as soon as I have the address.

I am so excited to finally have this book in my hot little hands. I just returned from vacation in Colorado and I somehow managed to lose the book I was reading because we packed up camp in the dark. UUGH! So, needless to say I can delve right into this title and I will let you know what I think! Thanks bookcrossers for offering and sending this on to me!! :)

I thought this was a better than average novel with a lot of interesting premises and a good adventure to keep you hooked throughout. I did feel it was slightly below what I had expected after hearing so much about this book. This often happens to me and that is why I try not to read too much about books that sound intruging, or books that EVERYONE is reading at once.

I particularly like the parts about zookeeping and the way that the freedom/imprisonment of the animals was a symbol for religion or religious beliefs and salvation. This worked really well as a literary device and the whole idea of two beings from totally different worlds, without even a common language trapped on a raft with no escape was really fascinating to comtemplate. Even the "paradise" desert island that ends up being horrible and deadly seemed to go well with the complicated philisophical ideas.

I was perplexed a bit by the ending and the question of which story was truth and what was fiction. I think that this question is not to be taken literally, but figuratively in the sense that the Bible or any religious text seems to "tell a story" and it is our faith in it that makes it sacred. I am sure I missed a lot and I am interested to hear what other pick up on that went over my head entirely.

A good book, I'm glad I read it, but maybe not "the book of the year" or whatever...my husband starting reading it last night and has ordered a copy from the library so I am sending it on as soon as I get the next address. THANKS!

8/27/03- mailed media w/delivery conf.

Received in today's mail...will start reading soon and will journal again when I have finished.

An original, triumphant, engaging story.

I cannot find an entry for savannablue in the bookcrossing database, so I am sending to the next person on the list, lady-sybil in NB, Canada.

I caught this book lurking on my porch this afternoon and decided to bring it in out of the cold :-) I just need to finish one bookring book and then Life of Pi will be bumped to the top of the TBR pile. Will report back later.

What a story! This was a very gripping read and, towards the end, it was very difficult to put down. Somehow, despite the surreal touches, the tale was very believable and I had to keep asking myself if this was fiction or based on true story.

The twist at the end was very disturbing ... three days after finishing the book, I still keep thinking about it. My husband pointed out (after I woke him up to discuss the book when I finished it :-) ) that about halfway through the novel, there is a discussion about truth and the elements of a good story that hints at which of the two versions refers to the truth (I had to go back and re-read it -> it's amazing how two people can read the same book and remember completely different elements).

With hindsight, Pi has used the character of Richard Parker to distance himself from what he had to do to survive his ordeal. For a vegetarian that had to survive on meat and a devoutly religeous person to have done what he did, this was a mechanism to stay sane. When he finally made landfall, the Richard Parker persona left him, never to be seen again, enabling him to completely dissociate himself from what went on in the lifeboat.

All the psychological/philosophical discussions aside. I really enjoyed the information about zoo keeping and lion taming. The descriptions of the environment in which the story takes place was so rich and fascinating, I could almost smell the sea-air and the feasts that he dreamed up.

Mailed to Grenouille1: 11/24/03