The History of Love
4 journalers for this copy...
From the back of the book
14 year old Alma is trying to find a cure for her mother's loneliness. Believing
she might discover it in an old book her mother is lovingly translating, she
sets out in search of its author.
...an old man...is trying to survive a little bit longer. He spends his days
dreaming of the lost love...that inspired him to write a book. And although he
doesn't know it yet, that book also survived: crossing oceans and generations,
and changing lives...
I seem to have ended up with two copies of this book so one is going as a RABCK to another bookcrosser.
I'm hoping to read my copy soon so I'll fill in my thoughts on the book after it has been read.
Update
I have now read my copy of this book so here are my thoughts.
Um, I’m really not sure what to say about this book. Some parts of it were incredibly well-written. The characters of Leo Gursky and Alma were wonderful creations. But. I began to find the way that Leo’s parts repeatedly had small sentences consisting only of the word ‘but’ or the words ‘and yet’ incredibly irritating. And yet. Was this his accent? Was I supposed to identify his Jewishness or country of origin from this? It's probably my fault but I didn’t, I just found it annoying. The story was OK but I didn’t actually ‘enjoy’ reading the book. And unfortunately the whole thing was about the book within the book, ‘The History of Love’. If you are going to do that and make it out to be the most amazing bit of writing ever, then it had better be brilliant. But it seemed to me to be pretentious waffle. The end was the best bit and I loved the idea that Leo’s friend Bruno was his best ever character. The book gets a 7 rather than a 6 for that alone.
14 year old Alma is trying to find a cure for her mother's loneliness. Believing
she might discover it in an old book her mother is lovingly translating, she
sets out in search of its author.
...an old man...is trying to survive a little bit longer. He spends his days
dreaming of the lost love...that inspired him to write a book. And although he
doesn't know it yet, that book also survived: crossing oceans and generations,
and changing lives...
I seem to have ended up with two copies of this book so one is going as a RABCK to another bookcrosser.
I'm hoping to read my copy soon so I'll fill in my thoughts on the book after it has been read.
Update
I have now read my copy of this book so here are my thoughts.
Um, I’m really not sure what to say about this book. Some parts of it were incredibly well-written. The characters of Leo Gursky and Alma were wonderful creations. But. I began to find the way that Leo’s parts repeatedly had small sentences consisting only of the word ‘but’ or the words ‘and yet’ incredibly irritating. And yet. Was this his accent? Was I supposed to identify his Jewishness or country of origin from this? It's probably my fault but I didn’t, I just found it annoying. The story was OK but I didn’t actually ‘enjoy’ reading the book. And unfortunately the whole thing was about the book within the book, ‘The History of Love’. If you are going to do that and make it out to be the most amazing bit of writing ever, then it had better be brilliant. But it seemed to me to be pretentious waffle. The end was the best bit and I loved the idea that Leo’s friend Bruno was his best ever character. The book gets a 7 rather than a 6 for that alone.
Received in the post a couple of days ago, but forgot to record it. Many thanks Wilksie, I'm looking forward to reading this.
Journal Entry 3 by Famulus at The Cherry Tree OBCZ in Steventon, Oxfordshire United Kingdom on Sunday, May 2, 2010
Released 13 yrs ago (5/1/2010 UTC) at The Cherry Tree OBCZ in Steventon, Oxfordshire United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
turned out not to be my sort of book, so taken to Cherry Tree meet to look for a more appreciative reader
turned out not to be my sort of book, so taken to Cherry Tree meet to look for a more appreciative reader
Katisha50 kindly picked this up for me at the Cherry Tree meetup yesterday as I need books to stock my Official BookCrossing Zones and wild release. This one should travel onwards again soon!
Journal Entry 5 by LyzzyBee at Birmingham University - HSMC Library & Info Service in Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Released 13 yrs ago (5/12/2010 UTC) at Birmingham University - HSMC Library & Info Service in Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Giving to a colleague for a new Official BookCrossing Zone.
Giving to a colleague for a new Official BookCrossing Zone.
Journal Entry 6 by UofB-HSMC from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Thursday, May 13, 2010
This book is available in HSMC Library
Journal Entry 7 by UofB-HSMC from Birmingham, West Midlands United Kingdom on Thursday, May 13, 2010
This book has been released from HSMC Library.