I am starting bookray for Year of Wonders. It was a good book, pretty entertaining. It was Victorian-esque, which I appreciate. It was a good book for the subway, though I did miss one stop during a particularly dramatic chapter.

This is someone else's review from amazon which I agree with:

Amazon.com

Geraldine Brooks's Year of Wonders describes the 17th-century plague that is carried from London to a small Derbyshire village by an itinerant tailor. As villagers begin, one by one, to die, the rest face a choice: do they flee their village in hope of outrunning the plague or do they stay? The lord of the manor and his family pack up and leave. The rector, Michael Mompellion, argues forcefully that the villagers should stay put, isolate themselves from neighboring towns and villages, and prevent the contagion from spreading. His oratory wins the day and the village turns in on itself. Cocooned from the outside world and ravaged by the disease, its inhabitants struggle to retain their humanity in the face of the disaster. The narrator, the young widow Anna Frith, is one of the few who succeeds. With Mompellion and his wife, Elinor, she tends to the dying and battles to prevent her fellow villagers from descending into drink, violence, and superstition. All is complicated by the intense, inexpressible feelings she develops for both the rector and his wife. Year of Wonders sometimes seems anachronistic as historical fiction; Anna and Mompellion occasionally appear to be modern sensibilities unaccountably transferred to 17th-century Derbyshire. However, there is no mistaking the power of Brooks's imagination or the skill with which she constructs her story of ordinary people struggling to cope with extraordinary circumstances.

Here is the bookray list in mailing order, BOLD shows progress:

mysteryfan03 (Missouri)
Tamster33 (San Francisco, CA)
Wandeca (Ontario, Canada)
Talkland (UK)
jendudley (Edinburgh, TX)
readinme (Maine)
kymberlie (Houston, TX)

This book is now at the end of the list I organized. If you are interested in reading it, you should contact the most recent journaler.

Sent off to mysterfan03 today!

Recieved this book today! Thanks. I cant wait to read this. It looks very interesting. I have a few ring or ray books in front of it, but I will journal again when I am finished and ready to pass it on....

I am confused after reading this book. Page 197 to 258 repeats itself and I believe that the ending is missing in this particular printing.
For one, the story starts after the plague with a rich woman trying to see the minister. It never goes back to that point at the end. Also, I have read some other reviews on bookcrossing and they say it has a weird but happy ending. This book ends on a horrible note..(dont want to say too much and give it away) I am going to try and find another copy to compare. If this is the ending, I find it very strange to end on such an abrupt way.

Other than that..... I loved this book and her style of writing. It is so interesting to see the interaction of 1600s ignorance and timeless emotions and behaviors which we still see today.
Thanks so much for letting me read this book!

Will be passing this on in the next week or so to Tamster33

Well, Sarajenni and I figured out that this copy was defective. SHe generously overnighted another copy so the ring could continue!! Now, I need to finish the book!! I will journal when I am finished. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finished the book this morning before work. What a difference the last section was to the story!! There are some interesting questions about the story at the end. I encourage people to read them over. It makes you think, although I dont want to give anything away. There definitely is a feminist overtone to this book. As in most crisis, even today, women who have been taken care of, suddenly become strong when needed by others and become heroes simply by surviving and supporting each other and others.
I liked the ending of the book, it is appropriate, after all the horrors Anna survived, that she have a bittersweet second life. (only bitter because of what got her there)
Anyway, thanks a million for letting me finish this Sarajenni and not leave me wondering!! I will pass this on soon. Enjoy, this book is well written, a fast read, and yet very serious and deep.

BTW- now my daughter put this on her list of books to look for and read. Who says that bookcrossers dont spend money on books? lol (see chat group discussion on authors complaining about bc)

Received a few days ago. Looking forward to reading it. Will read ASAP & write further comments.

I finally finished this book. Sorry it took so long. I'd start it and then another book would come along that I had to finish sooner and then I'd start it again and then I'd have to finish some other book, etc. I was determined to finish it and the opportunity finally came up this weekend when I went up to the snow for the long weekend.

This was overall a fascinating book, but I found it too easy to put down for weeks at a time. I just never really found it compelling enough to keep reading more than a chapter at a time. Also, I felt that the ending didn't really fit with the rest of the book. All in all, an ok read, but not sure I'd recommend it.

Thanks for sharing the book. As soon as I get Wandeca's address, I'll send it on.

Released on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 at Mailbox in San Francisco, California Controlled Releases.

Sent International Airmail to Wandeca.

Got the book in today's mail. Thanks Tamster33 for sending the book. And thank you Sarajenni for sharing the book. It looks interesting. I'll be reading it in the next couple of weeks.

Very enjoyable, Anna is an amazing heroine. The love that she felt for her children, and the sense of loss when the plague takes them, got to me. She had a desire to learn to read, to learn about the healing herbs. Loved reading the blossoming friendship between Anna and Mrs. Mompellion.

I'll mailing the book to Talkland in the next couple of days.

Arrived on Friday but as I was in a rush to get to work I forgot to journal that it arrived. I dived straight in and it is now my "train" book to and from work. Should finish about Wednesday or Thursday.

I finished this sooner than expected. I regard this novel as a woman's self discovery and growth from a dreadful time. Central to the book is Anna's friendship with Elinor the vicar's wife. I also liked the fact that the ending was not predictable and would have loved for the epilogue to have been expanded. The year of the plague is what took Anna to where she ended up in the end so was important to the story. There is many hard lessons and Anna is brave woman living in tough times who doesn't take just take the easier option and goes against what is expected of her.

Released on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 at the post office in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England, in Controlled Releases.

I PMed Kymberlie and had no reply so skipped onto the next lady. I no sooner posted the book off and I get a PM from Kymberlie so terriblely sorry for mucking up the schedule and causing havoc!

great book to come home to after vacation. Thanks! Will get to it on the double.

Amazing book, not that I have read alot about the plague, but this is one of the best ones. I cannot believe Anna's strength, after all she had been through. Unbelievable! And the people of the town were terrible. But I guess that is what kinda thing happened back then. This book goes to readinme next? Or Kymberlie?

received 7-22. will journal when finished.

I enjoyed this book. Now I am sending it to Kymberlie.

I received this recently but forgot to journal it. Oops! Going on my to be read pile.

As the story begins, we meet Anna Frith. She is the housemaid for the rectory in a small Derbyshire village. The year before, in the Spring of 1665, a tailor inadvertently brought the plague to the town on an infected bolt of cloth. People begin to sicken and die, causing Michael Mompellion, the rector, to propose a plan to the townspeople.

His plan is that the town seals itself off from the rest of the world (aided in part by a local earl who is willing to give them with supplies) so that they don’t spread the disease. However, this means that those that are healthy now run the risk of possibly getting sick in the future.

Despite the fact that the most prominent family in town decide to flee, everyone else stays. As more and more of the townspeople get sick, a friendship between Anna and the rector’s wife Elinor grows as they try and battle the disease. This complicates the feelings that, after the plague has just about run its course, are starting to develop between Anna and Michael, leading to an ending that I never expected.

The novel is actually historical fiction, inspired by the English town of Eyam, making it easy to feel like you’ve been transported in time and are experiencing what life for those townspeople must have been like.

I truly loved this book. I found the story to be many things: sad (Anna’s longing for her children and the time she could have spent with George Viccars was heartbreaking), courageous (the towns willingness to sacrifice themselves to help stop an outbreak), inspiring, and just downright interesting.

My only problem is with the abruptness of the novel’s conclusion. Most of it was told as a flashback to the time of the plague’s outbreak, so when we get back to present time, there’s very little of the book left. Considering what we find out about certain things, I would have appreciated Brooks taking more time to deal with these revelations.

All in all, though, I found it to be an engrossing read with characters that I really cared about, making me want to find out what would happen to them as the plague decimated the town. I also enjoyed seeing a woman gain indepence and self-reliance in a time when it was rare for so many. Definitely well worth reading.

I gave this to a very nice woman that I met in Sambuca's yesterday evening while having an apple martini. I hope you enjoy the book and become a BookCrossing memeber!