WILD RELEASE NOTES:

This book is going to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra's Scrapers and Tooters weekend, where it hopes to find its first reader.

If you've found this book - welcome to BookCrossing! I hope you enjoy Buddha Da and then pass it on to continue its journey. It'd be great to find out where it has travelled to and read your review. You can stay completely anonymous if you prefer, or you can join BookCrossing (it's free) if you'd like to take part in this booklovers' community.

To find out more about the adventure of The Lost Book, go to the website at www.thelostbook.net and to read more about The Lost World and the reading campaign check out www.lostworldread.com.

Welcome to The Lost Book!

The Lost Book is a collaborative adventure in storytelling. It’s taking place online and anyone can join in. At its heart is an animated web series: the adventures of 21st century investigative journalist, and BookCrosser, Aileen Adler. Episode 2, the first of five episodes to be written by the public, was launched on Friday 06 March 2009. It sees intrepid Scottish journalist Aileen and her dog Watson travelling to Iowa City in search of a stolen book and a secret society of bibliophiles - watch the story so far.

Where the story goes next remains in your hands. You can suggest plot developments by visiting www.thelostbook.net now. Each month between now and July the storylines will be pulled together into the next episode, animated and published online.

There are loads of ways you can get involved and it won’t cost you anything. You can help us to write the story for the web series. You can join our special guest writer Jasper Fforde to reconstruct a stolen book in our weekly microstory competition. You can enter our soundtrack competition by creating your own music for the web series. You can produce your own animation.

And, you can read this book, tell us what you thought of it, give it away, and follow its journey.

The Lost Book is a partner project to the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust’s 2009 reading campaign, The Lost World Read 2009, which is using free books, online resources and events to get people reading The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. The Lost World Read is the largest collaborative reading project ever seen in the UK. We're extending the reading campaign, thanks to the generosity of project sponsors Canongate, by giving away other free books throughout The Lost Book.

Buddha Da is a charming study of family relationships, and how people close to us react when we change, all written in Glaswegian Scots with the three narrators' individual voices shining through. It was shortlisted for both the Orange Prize and the Whitbread First Novel Award. This is a gorgeous new repackaged edition.

So join in, wherever you are, and have fun!

This book, at first glance, is a wee bit tough to get into. It is written in Glaswegian dialect, but once you get into the swing of things, the characters leap from the page and really feel as though they are a part of your life. It's a touching story, showing the way families can transform for the better through difficult times. I was almost shocked when the story ended, and I couldn't have access to the lives of the characters any longer.