Waterland

by GRAHAM SWIFT | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0330336320 Global Overview for this book
Registered by Sidney1 of München, Bayern Germany on 8/26/2008
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11 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Sidney1 from München, Bayern Germany on Tuesday, August 26, 2008
I read this in 1998, so don't remember every detail but for the overall impression that this was a fantastic, thrilling read in the wonderfully fluid and beautiful language that Swift is a master of. Jonathan Birch, please forgive, but I am copying your review in Amazon as it expresses exactly what I felt at the time:

"When all is said and done, Waterland is a cracking yarn of murder and bonking against a fenland backdrop. But what's special about this macabre literary thriller is the way the story is told. The narrator (a history teacher, Tom Crick, who is also the key protagonist) interleaves the central narrative (set in 1943) with scenes from his troubled present (1983), evocative detours into the eventful history of his family, and philosophical musings on the uses of history. ... The structure of the novel only adds to the suspense: just as you think you're approaching a revelation, the narrator goes off on a new tangent. It works brilliantly, because the novel's central mystery (what exactly happened in 1943?) puts a voltage across the entire book, sucking you onwards towards the end."

ENJOY!

Journal Entry 2 by Sidney1 at Kaiserslautern, Rheinland-Pfalz Germany on Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Released 15 yrs ago (8/28/2008 UTC) at Kaiserslautern, Rheinland-Pfalz Germany

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Tinkaday as part of Qantaqa' Lieblingsbuch-Überraschungskarussell.

Journal Entry 3 by Tinkaday from Kaiserslautern, Rheinland-Pfalz Germany on Tuesday, September 9, 2008
go it a little while ago. thanks for sending. it promises to be an interesting book.

this has got to be one of my fav's of the year. very interesting story. i love the way he waves in history.

it's off to the next person.

Journal Entry 4 by sister-act from Berlin (irgendwo/somewhere), Berlin Germany on Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The book arrived safely today.

Journal Entry 5 by sister-act from Berlin (irgendwo/somewhere), Berlin Germany on Monday, January 26, 2009
Das Buch reist heute weiter im Rahmen des Überaschungskarusells.

Journal Entry 6 by Lynett from Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The book just arrived with two other BC books. They snuggled on my doormap.

Journal Entry 7 by Lynett from Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Tuesday, June 16, 2009
I'm very sorry that I held this book too long, but it was buried under my MTBR. Now it will travel to the next reader.

Journal Entry 8 by Kanny74 from Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Friday, June 19, 2009
The book arrived today, thanks!
I don't think I heard of Swift before, so I'm looking forward to get to know him.

Journal Entry 9 by Kanny74 from Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany on Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sorry, I gave up after five or six chapters. It was not only boring for me, but - in English - also strenuous. And there are so many other books waiting for me to read them...
Maybe the next bookcrossers enjoy the book.

Journal Entry 10 by wingUrfinwing from Wolfsburg, Niedersachsen Germany on Friday, July 24, 2009
When I unpacked the book last night, I was like "What's this? I'm not in a ring for this..." but with Sidney1 being the owner and the somewhat familiar senders address, it slowly dawned on me. It's a long time since I last had a Lieblingsbuch here so that I had almost forgotten about this Roundabout. With two enthusiastic JEs, I'm looking forward to read this to me yet-unknown author.

Journal Entry 11 by wingUrfinwing from Wolfsburg, Niedersachsen Germany on Thursday, December 17, 2009
A reminder-PM from Sidney made me dig out this book from the bottom of Mt.TBR
and it will travel again as soon as I get the OK from Sternschnuppe.
(I didn't send anything for some time, thus I thought I'd better ask before.)

Journal Entry 12 by wingUrfinwing at Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz Germany on Monday, December 28, 2009

Released 14 yrs ago (12/28/2009 UTC) at Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz Germany

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Was posted this afternoon to Sternschnuppe.

(I give 8 stars with tendency to 9. Sometimes it just was a bit too slow-going, and sometimes it just was too much, too much to contemplate and to understand and to digest, and I was rushing through some parts just to progress with the main story (if one can speak of a main story...) but it surely is quite special.)

Journal Entry 13 by Sternschnuppe28 from Flörsheim am Main, Hessen Germany on Thursday, January 7, 2010
revceived today - thanks.

Journal Entry 14 by Sternschnuppe28 from Flörsheim am Main, Hessen Germany on Sunday, January 10, 2010
I tried to get into the book, but gave up after 100 pages. I am rather impatient at the moment - things are moving too slow. I am sorry for being such a bad reader currently. Travelling to trinibell soon.

Journal Entry 15 by wingTrinibellwing from Calw, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Thursday, January 14, 2010
Ah! It's another one of the "favourite books"!

Journal Entry 16 by wingTrinibellwing from Calw, Baden-Württemberg Germany on Sunday, February 28, 2010
So, i finally finished the book! What can i say? It's certainly a very interessting and, yes, a really special book with an intense language. Asked for rating, while i was about the middle, i surely would have given 9 or even 10 points. But in the third quarter or so, it had dragged on and on, and i skimmed some pages to stay tuned. And that worked out.
:-D

The book will be off tomorow to inkling1.


2010-03-04
finally up and away... ;-)

Journal Entry 17 by inkling1 from Basel, Basel-Stadt Switzerland on Wednesday, March 10, 2010
So another favourite book found my mailbox. Sounds interesting. Many thanks

Journal Entry 18 by inkling1 from Basel, Basel-Stadt Switzerland on Monday, April 26, 2010
For various reasons this book has to travel unread; sorry,
Maybe I missed a good one

Journal Entry 19 by wingkiki66wing from Gauting, Bayern Germany on Friday, April 30, 2010
Hooray!
Sidney's favourite book made it to Gauting :-)

I have never heard of either Swift nor the novel so I am looking
very much forward to reading this one!!

Only two other books before....

Journal Entry 20 by wingkiki66wing at Gauting, Bayern Germany on Thursday, June 17, 2010
Well, I have finally finished this book and I have to admit - it was tough!
More than once I thought of stopping for good but somehow I went on...
I skipped some parts, especially those on history and eels and phlegm.. I liked the story best
when Swift started telling the 'real' story. The 'in-betweens' I found rather boring..
So I am not agreeing with the review sidney pasted in her journal, that "because the novel's central mystery (what exactly happened in 1943?) puts a voltage across the entire book, sucking you onwards towards the end."

Anyway - this book will be on its way to qantaqa tomorrow !

Journal Entry 21 by Qantaqa at Planegg, Bayern Germany on Friday, June 18, 2010
Kiki gave this to me at our mini-meetup today :).
I've never heard of this book and I'm looking forward to reading it. I hope you won't mind if it takes me a while to finish it, Sidney? (Seeing as I'm the last person on the list and this book has been on the road for such a long time anyway :).)

Journal Entry 22 by Qantaqa at Dachau, Bayern Germany on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
I'm very sorry for keeping this book for such a long time. It was sitting completely forgotten on my bookshelf... Now that I finally remembered it, it will travel back home immediately!

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