I bought this book in Tvedestrand; Bokbyen ved Skagerrak/The Book Town by Skagerrak, in Norway. I found a receipt inside the book, telling that the book was bought in Schiphol, Amsterdam Airport, Netherlands. Wonder where this has travelled from Schiphol before it ended up in Tvedestrand, and how it ended up there.

This book is on the 1001 books you must read before you die list.

"After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan ... and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary works of fiction in recent years."


I've started a bookray for this book:
Participants:
*atlantide_book (Belgium) - prefers shipping within Europe/EU
*HappyHarryBabe (UK) - prefers shipping within UK
*Cfreckle (UK) - prefers shipping withing UK
*KaleLewin (UK) - can ship internationally
*BaiLong (China) - can ship everywhere
*SLLokabrenna (USA) - would like US (no response)
*orchestration (Canada) - can ship everywhere (asked to be skipped)
*Tien1982 (Australia) - can ship everywhere
*gaboyd (New Zealand) - can ship internationally
*Busan1 (Sweden) -> now MEL-919881 ("Account deactivated at user request")
*Lindasaurus (Austria) - Prefer shipping withing Europe
*Delphi_Reader (Greece) - International shipping
*DianeO (UK) - international shipping
*CanticleLost (Florida, USA) - ship Int'l (asked to be skipped)
*Bulan-Purnama (Oregon, USA) - US shipping
*BOOKWORMINUSALL (Arizona, USA) - US shipping
-> Ray finished.

Travelling to atlantide_book as part of the book ray :)

Thank you Cathrine, the book is well arrived in Belgium :))

Next bookcrosser

This book has arrived! :-)

Sent on to the next reader. Sorry for holding it up.

The postman delivered this book to me this afternoon. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I found the first 60 pages or so of the book quite slow going but then suddenly I read the rest of the book in two days. To be honest I think the problem was more to do with me not having a chance to settle down properly and read, than the book itself!

On its way to KaleLewin next :)

Arrived last week. Sorry for the delay journaling but had no internet

Not my usual kind of book but it was definitely worth trying something new. Would definitely recommend this to others.

Started on its journey to China today

The book arrived in China today.

A beautiful fable. Loved it.

Happy reading Tian1982!

Apologies for the delay - arrived happily in Australia just as I left for my honeymoon! Reading now and will send on soon.

Received today. Thank you

The book arrived in Vienna yesterday! Thanks for sending it to me!

Sorry for holding the book up - it arrived just when I went away for a 6 weeks Europe tour for my job. After returning I started to read and have to say, I just couln't find my way into it. I was struggling for the first 200 pages and then I gave up. I just couldn't picture it and couldn't really dive into the story.
Sorry to keep you waiting, the book is now travelling to Greece!

Just a quick note to let you all know that the book arrived safely today here in Delphi, Greece and hopefully it'll be read pretty soon.
I found a nice bookmark inside with a reading cat cartoon, no idea what the text is about but I'm sure it'll be a nice message lol

I finished this book in something like 3-4 afternoons and I have very mixed feelings about it. I think the author had some very nice ideas in theory, but the execution was not that good. The narrative was quite dijointled with a very slow start, an interesting core story and a mediocre ending. I can see what the author was thinking, the allegories and messages he was trying to form, but still...

I think other than giving a bit of a feedback on the protagonist's family history and knowledge of animals, the focal point for the first part of the book was Pi's spitituality and religious concerns. But the author spent too many pages exploring this aspect which was a bit unrealistic and kind of wasted as the book went on.
The very opening scene of the second part was a complete disappointment, I don't think it had the dramatic affect that it should have. But I then really warmed up to the story, a very imaginative one although too far fetched. Towards the end of this second part my heart sank again...

Slight SPOILER Alert:

Honestly, was the other's cast-away's episode or especially the algae island one really necessary? It took away from the story any connection to reality it might had. And was it necessary for Pi to teach Richard Parker to jumb inside hoops like a circus animal?


The end of second part was quite disappointing too. I would think the scene should be written much more in detail.

The third part/epilogue of the book left me completely cold. I understand what the author tried to do, but honestly, it could have been written another way or at least offering a bit more description on the alternative version of the story and the protagonist's feelings.

If I could rate this book solemnly for its middle part, or even better for the middle of the middle part, it would be an 8/10. But as a whole, it is a 6+/10 at best for me.


I have contacted DianeO and book will be on its way asap.

The book is now on its way to UK .
Enjoy!

Arrived safe and sound in England - thank you Delphi_Reader for the bookmark! Just need to finish my current book, then this will be next.

25/06/2017 This will soon be ready for shipping but CanticleLost wants to be skipped, presume I should send to Bulan-Purnama? Thanks!

So sorry for the delay, now on it's way to Bulan-Purnama.

Having already seen the movie, I thought I knew what to expect from the book. I didn't realise it was going to be so graphic and gory! Not a novel that made me want to read it through in one sitting, but still enough detail to keep me interested. It left me with a smile on my face but puzzled at the same time - what was the message within the story?

Sent by airmail today. Thanks for sharing!

It is here in Oregon. Thanks DianeO for mailing this book. Will contact the last person after I finish reading.

I apologized for taking awhile to journal the book. It is a beautiful story of a boy who survived ship wrecked with a tiger as his companion. Slow at times toward the end it picked up speed. A good book to read and the movie too. I suggest read the book first.

I sent email to the next reader.

After a week filled with chaos & another beginning, I'm just now having an opportunity to make a Journal Entry for this book that arrived rather quickly after being mailed on August 6th & arriving safely last Wednesday the 8th. THANK YOU for sending it Bulan-Purnama, & THANK YOU for your kindness in turning it into an unexpected RABCK for me, the last one in line, CathrineB!!! ; ) I'm looking forward to reading it.

I am planning to read this as part of Plum-crazy's THE WHAT TO READ THREAD FOR MARCH for things that appear on a calendar every year https://www.bookcrossing.com/forum/6/586794/10070546 , for National Pi Day, which is celebrated every year on March 14th because 3.14 is the rounded value of Pi. https://www.piday.org

This book is #49 on this updated master list of books from Peter Boxall's "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die". https://1001bookreviews.com/the-1001-book-list

From Amazon...

A MODERN CLASSIC AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE

After the sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a wounded zebra, an orangutan—and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi Patel, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with the tiger, Richard Parker, for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional—but is it more true?

"A story to make you believe in the soul-sustaining power of fiction."—Los Angeles Times Book Review

Much to my surprise, this book actually does make reference to the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter aka Pi. Beyond that, I have mixed emotions about this disappointing book...to say the very least.

If you are looking for a book filled with descriptive physical, emotional, and spiritual pain and suffering, where negative aspects stand out far beyond the positive ones, and the manipulative marketing techniques and inaccurate "praise for the book" blurbs designed to sell mega copies prevail...look no further. Yes, it is fiction...that being said, the prevalence of writers producing some of the best fictional works available by leaning heavily upon their own life experience is well documented. It is said that this book is a fantasy which won the Booker Prize in 2002 (the winner of the Booker Prize, awarded by a five person panel, receives international publicity which usually leads to a sales boost), and that it tells the magical story of a young Indian, who finds himself shipwrecked and lost at sea with animals in a large lifeboat, which may paint a picture of a grand adventurous seafaring journey of sorts to some like me, especially when considering the cover art. However, I did not find this to be the case as I anxiously awaited for this perceived journey to begin through no less than 30 chapters (at least a third of book) while the author described vicariously through his character Pi, many less than desirable personal life experiences, including those with narrow minded hateful people, fellow students, various zookeepers, religious leaders of many faiths, and the like. Personally, I certainly would not use the word "magical", which evokes a sense of gentleness, beauty, and delight, to describe this book in any way shape or form, especially with the complete absence in mention anywhere of the fact that there are many disturbing, horror-filled graphic animal and other encounters included in what is touted to be a fictional account of a boy bobbing on the wild blue sea after his ship sinks. There is this (before the sailing has even begun), from page 122 at the end of Chapter 35..."Things didn't turn out the way they were supposed to, but what can you do? You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.", which prefigures both the disturbing incidents between animals on the lifeboat (chapters full of them), and the long awaited start of the non-existent Family sailing trip that begins in Part Two, The Pacific Ocean... with its first sentence being, "The ship sank."(page 126 of 428). At this point I am uncertain as to whether I will power through the rest of this book and the author's incomplete disjointed writing style for the sole purpose of being able to say I read it, before I set it sailing via Wild Release...after checking to see if, for Postal expense reasons, anyone in the United States has it on their BC Wishlist.

P.S. I am not continuing with this book, and will either RABCK, or Wild Release it.