Pre-numbered label used for registration.

While this is a very short book at only 150 pages, the message is very strong and very deep. The book deals with a teenage girls fight with anorexia. She starts starving herself to find happiness and then learns that no matter how thin she is happiness doesn't seem to overtake her. This is a very emotionally disturbing book if you really stop to think about how many teenage girls (and even older women) go through this and why they do. The book's message made me realize that you don't have to starve yourself to hurt yourself. You can be an overeater fighting against the same troubles that any anorexic faces. We all have our bad habits, just some of us have healthier bad habits than others. But if you look inside and find out what it is that you need to feel safe, comfortable and happy about, you can overcome whatever problems you face.

Now if only I could take that advice...

What’s a bookray and how does it work?

A bookray is when a book passes from person to person based on the list of members involved. Preferably a bookray book is never released into the wild.

To join this bookray (or any other bookray of mine) please private message me. I will be glad to add you to the list. New members are added all of the time so be sure to check the list of participants before you mail the book to the next in line just in case!

Once you are a bookray member you will receive the book from the person listed before you. When you receive the book please make a journal entry stating that you’ve received it. Then read it as soon as you can (no absolute hurry, just be reasonable please :o), and journal again with your thoughts. You’ll then need to private message the person on the list after you for their address. Mail the book by media mail (it’s cheaper!), and make release notes on the book only if you’d like to. Then sit back and watch the continuing journey!

The members are as follows:

ellymae58 (California) (no int'l)
stephc (California)
boutish (Canada)
mfa (Portugal)
ruf (Portugal)
Zyana (Portugal)
tho (Portugal)
Sossap (Portugal)

Released on Friday, July 18, 2003 at Bookcrosser's home in postal release, postal release USA.

Mailed out today to start the bookray! I hope everyone enjoys!

Received today...the 3rd bookray title to arrive in 2 days! (4th, if you want to count an audiobook.) I will read as soon as I possibly can and move it on its way. The cover brings back memories of having this book as a teenager!

Hmm...I remember liking this book when I was younger. I guess an adult mind just looks at it differently. Leslie's thoughts after she was deep into her illness were really irritating me. And the last chapter - ugh! I really would have liked to have had more closure, know what happened to Leslie and the other girls in the hospital.
Thank you for sharing it, pgsahm. Even though I had absolutely no recollection of the story, and can't understand why I liked it as a teenager, I'm glad I had the opportunity to re-read it.
I have the strangest urge to watch Peter Pan now, though....

I received this yesterday from ellymae58, and read it over the day so I could get it moving along quickly. I can't say I was very impressed by it. I was interested in reading this because I suffered from anorexia/bulimia for years and years, and still struggle with it on a day to day basis. I think this book really simplified it, and I thought that Leslie, the main character was really irritating at times. That being said, for a young adult first exploring issues of eating disorders, it would probably be a good place to start, but there are many other books on the subject that I think are much better.

Just got the book today. It looks like a "fast read" so I'm gonna read it this week and try to send it back Sunday along with a few other rings and rays and RABCK... Can't you tell I'm addicted ?

Thanks for organizing this Ray!!

I finished it yesterday. It was a good book. Good in a way that it was a fast read, interesting I wanted to know what would happen next... But I was disapointed when I got to the end, I don't know what I was expecting but I kind of stayed on my apetite. Also, is it just me but I felt like I really hated the main caracter ! Sometimes she saif thing or thought about things that made me upset, but then I thought about it and tried to understand *her* way of thinking...
Anyway.
I'll mail it this week end to mfa in Portugal

Ha! I just read to other comments (I never read them before reading the book) and found out I'm not the only one who didn't like the main caracter... Phew, I felt like I should have. I don't know why though.

Released on Saturday, August 16, 2003 at mailed to another bookcrosser in Lisboa, lisboa Portugal.

Sent to mfa. Enjoy!

just got it - thanks boutish!

i must say i enjoyed this little book. however, i couldn't stop having in mind the time when it was written - in 1981 anorexia was still a mysterious disease. in that sense, the book sounds pretty good in stating the symptoms and states of mind, even if in a rather simplistic manner, according to today's standards.
on the whole, i felt... scarred. i pictured those grey days in the early '80s when new fears were coming into play, and i was just old enough to feel them, albeit not old enough to understand.
as for leslie, after reading the other entries, i was expecting a rather silly and selfish character - but that's not what i found. the book is pretty good in letting us know how complex and tricky we can be to ourselves. well, i couldn't stop thinking about someone i really love that went through the same... and she has taught me how to respect what i can fear, even if understand. it's up to that fantastic person to tell me if the book is accurate and helpful or not...

sorry, i'm late...

Released on Sunday, November 09, 2003 at fica no quarto do polegar in Lisboa, lisboa Portugal.

Received today from mfa - it's a tiny book so I hope to read it very, very soon :-)

I tried, but couldn't really enjoy this book .. I have to agree with some of the previous readers that the main character - Leslie - just comes off as a really irritating person most of the times .. I can relate to a few of the feelings and thoughts she was having about the relatioship with her mother (after all, we've all been fourteen once, right ?) but not much more...

The book will be passed on to Zyana or Sossap (whoever I'll meet first ..) as soon as possible...

Arrived today in the mail. I have a couple bookrings in front of it but I'll try to read it asap.

Easily read in one seating this is an honest, albeit simplistic, attempt at addressing the tragic illness of Anorexia. Written in the early 80's it tries to evoke the physical and psychological trials of anorexia and does in fact accomplish a great bit, shedding light on such an obscure, by then virtually unknown, psychiatric illness. By today's standards it rates very poorly since we now have a better, greater understanding of anorexia and newer (effective?) methods of therapy and rehabilitation for all eating disorders. Despite the book's flaws and often irritating monologues of the main character it portrays the psychological erosion quite well and touches many key elements on the source/fueling of one's struggle with anorexia. What never fails to shock me about individuals suffering from anorexia isn't the inevitable physical deterioration but the emotional/psychological devastation that occurs as the disease progresses. What starts off as one's victory over food by sheer willpower turns into a one-dimension lifestyle of slavery. The euphoria of the first stages leads to depression and isolation ... and more often than one would like to think death.
I'm sure that this little book was an eye-opener back in the 80's and a significant step forward in general public awareness of the condition. What it lacks in substance and factual accuracy it makes up for in groundbreaking courage for broaching a subject few would consider relevant.

Passed it on to Sossap on December 30th.

Tnks Zyana. Now is the time to read. All be the last, so... All be back...;)

Ending the book, ending the ray, return home to The Second Star to the Right . Thank you all.

RELEASE NOTES:

Passeio no Parque

I brought this book from the "Porto-Lisbon meeting" in Parque das Nações, in order to release it in Prague next month :)

RELEASE NOTES:

Found it at the Globe- they were selling it, so I had to pay 30 crowns for it. I will release it once I'm done. Silly bookstore employees.