It is a paperback edition with 461 pages.

About the book:
Winner of The Miles Franklin Literary Award, The Christina Stead Award, WA Premier's Book of the Year, Book Data/ABA Book of the Year Award, Goodreading Award-Readers Choice Book of the Year

Set in the dramatic landscape of Western Australia, Dirt Music tells the story of Luther Fox, a broken man who makes his living as an illegal fisherman -- a shamateur. Before everyone in his family was killed in a freak rollover, Fox grew melons and counted stars and loved playing his guitar. Now, his life has become a "project of forgetting." Not until he meets Georgie Jutland, the wife of White Point's most prosperous fisherman, does Fox begin to dream again and hear the dirt music -- "anything you can play on a verandah or porch," he tells Georgie, "without electricity." Like the beat of a barren heart, nature is never silent. Ambitious and perfectly calibrated, Dirt Music resonates with suspense, emotion, and timeless truths.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

It flies to the winner (or decoy) of the "Never Won a Sweepstake Rabck" :)

The book arrived here safely together with another book, some (Swedish) tea ;), a cute bookmark, stickers and card (from Budapest). And it's from my wishlist too! I have only read Cloudstreet by this author and enjoyed it very much, so I look forward to this one.

Thank very much hakkalina for this lovely and generous surprise!

I finally finished reading this today (have been reading it for a month now :p), and the ending came rather unexpected.. hmm.. not sure how to explain it without spilling the plot.. will put it somewhere further down :)
At first I had to get used to the writing style, as with 2 of Winton's other books that I've read (Cloudstreet and Breath), he quite often uses Australian slang (I think). But somehow he does manage to drag you into the story. And once used to it I got through the first part of the book quite quickly, until I was about halfway in.. not sure why, but it sort of started to drag from there. Especially the last parts with Luther Fox, lots of it just went over my head.. And it felt like something big is going to happen (like a dark cloud hanging over the characters), which sort of did happen, but only at the very end..
So I'm still not sure what to think of the book.. I did enjoy it, it is wonderfully written, even though it was a bit mind boggling (?) and long at times..



** Warning Spoiler! **




Starting from about the second half onwards I was waiting for Georgie and Lu to get back together again.. which only happened at the very end (sometimes I got a bit frustrated because they were so near each other, but didn't do anything). And when they finally got together, both half dead, they had hardly set eyes on each other and then it was the end.. guess I was expecting a bit more.. oh well :P
(Though I wonder, was it fate/luck that brought them together again? or something else?)

This is going to be an international bookring :)
(forum post: http://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/20/6759182)


Participants so far:

1. Icila (France), international shipping
2. mrbaggins1 (South Africa), international shipping <--- The book is here
3. wendyv (Australia), international shipping

Usual rules apply:

- Make a journal entry when you receive the book.
- Try to read it within 4-6 weeks, and let us know if you need more time.
- When you have finished reading, make a journal entry to tell us your thoughts on the book.
- Contact the next participant on the list for her/his address, and make a release note when you send it on.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Now on its way to the first stop in this short little bookring :)

Happy reading everyone!

Back from Spain, the book was waiting for me at home.
Thanks a lot Tsjara for the chocolate. Lemon an black pepper: it's perfect for my poor throat. ;)

Like Tjsara it was difficult for me at the beginning with the australian way of speaking but I sticked to it and liked this story of pride and misplaced manhood.
The fishermen families reminded me of the Gulf families with new wealth and spoiled children, same story.

I don't know what to do with the short end.

PMing the next.


05/14 : on its way to South Africa.

Received in Jozi today. Thanks for sharing - have a couple in front of this one but will get round to it ASAP

I finished this last night and will write a sort of review on my Live journal and link it here. It was the first book of Winton I've read and I found it great but with a unexpected ending that did not gel with the rest of the narrative and storyline, well worth a read however and I bought "Cloudstreet" since as I loved the author's writing style a lot

http://mrbaggins1.livejournal.com/64953.html

This came my way as an RABCK and is released again as a random act of kindness to a special karma friend and a newby bookcrosser -
flutterbydella