Whistling for the Elephants
Registered by niccijl of Bradford, West Yorkshire United Kingdom on 2/21/2005
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
21 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by niccijl from Bradford, West Yorkshire United Kingdom on Monday, February 21, 2005
Dorothy, aged ten, find herself making her own way in Sassaspaneck, New York, in 1968. Her English father, who never talks above a whisper due to a youthful injury with a cricket ball, has tucked her and her mother away where the potential for embarrassment can be limited. All the other children in town have gone to camp, so Dorothy must provide her own entertainment. She comes across a small, faded zoo on the outskirts of town, and as she gets to know the eccentric group of women who live there she begins to discover a world way beyond the one she has glimpsed so far. {blurb}
I've received another copy of this book, which I haven't gotten around to reading yet, but as Sandi Toksvig is an excellent writer, you can't go wrong! I'm going to offer it as a bookray.
Usual request for bookray, please read and pass on within a month. If you can't for any reason please pm me and the person after you to let them know. Please journal the book when you receive it and again once you've read it.
Hope you enjoy it.
Bookray members (in mailing order)
sqdancer - can
pammykn - us
caligula03 - us
kf-in-georgia - us (us)
janaqq - us (us)
1stlite - us (int)
gategypsy - Japan - (int)
mel723 - Netherlands (eur)
I've received another copy of this book, which I haven't gotten around to reading yet, but as Sandi Toksvig is an excellent writer, you can't go wrong! I'm going to offer it as a bookray.
Usual request for bookray, please read and pass on within a month. If you can't for any reason please pm me and the person after you to let them know. Please journal the book when you receive it and again once you've read it.
Hope you enjoy it.
Bookray members (in mailing order)
sqdancer - can
pammykn - us
caligula03 - us
kf-in-georgia - us (us)
janaqq - us (us)
1stlite - us (int)
gategypsy - Japan - (int)
mel723 - Netherlands (eur)
Released 19 yrs ago (3/8/2005 UTC) at
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Sent to sqdancer as part of bookray
Sent to sqdancer as part of bookray
Received safe and sound. Thank you for sharing.
I can relate - feeling that you don't belong and then discovering a place where, even though you are not the same as everyone else, you are accepted for yourself. Perhaps accepted because you are different too.
Mailed this afternoon (Friday) via Air Mail.
Thank you so much for sharing this book.
Mailed this afternoon (Friday) via Air Mail.
Thank you so much for sharing this book.
Received today -- thanks! Have another ring to read 1st but will read soon.
Thanks for sharing this book, will be mailing off 05/11 to caligula03. Nice coming-of-age story set in an era (late 1960's) I always find very interesting to read about.
The image doesn't do this book's vibrant orange cover justice. I will read the book as soon as I can. :)
I enjoyed the book up until the last twenty pages. I don't particularly like the ending. It felt rushed and forced. I especially didn't like what happened to Perry but then I'm a mother of a kid his age.
I wish the the author hadn't stated that it was 1968. If she had been vaguer about when exactly the book takes place, it would have been better. There are some pop culture references that she gets wrong that could have slid if it didn't have to be the summer of 1968.
I wish the the author hadn't stated that it was 1968. If she had been vaguer about when exactly the book takes place, it would have been better. There are some pop culture references that she gets wrong that could have slid if it didn't have to be the summer of 1968.
Released 18 yrs ago (6/16/2005 UTC) at
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Mailing to KF-in-Georgia.
Mailing to KF-in-Georgia.
Arrived today.
I finished this tonight (the 28th).My feelings about this book kept swinging back and forth. I wasn't nuts about the first part of the book; it seemed to take too long to set up Dorothy's family. I'm also not much on dysfunctional family stories--which seemed to be where this was heading.
But then the emphasis moved in a direction I found more interesting and more involving. There were incidents I wasn't happy with (like caligula03), and some of the events felt more contrived than most readers really want. (Of course events in a book are "contrived" if the book is fiction. But not every character has to experience a life-altering event in a book--although it seems everyone did in this one.) But the book was an interesting construction of events.
Thanks, niccijl, for the chance to read this. I have to confess: It was the book's title that lured me into this ring, as I'd never heard of the author before.
Mailed 29 June 2005 to janaqq.
I really enjoyed this book. I love all the details about the zoo, the animals, and the interesting women of the past. I felt a bit rushed at the end as well. And I wish that the elephants arrived earlier than they did. A nice summer read.
I will send it along to the next person in few days.
thanks
I will send it along to the next person in few days.
thanks
Received Saturday. 1-1/2 books ahead of this. Looks good.
I finished this book and wished there was more to come. It was a good read, I was wondering after reading the other journals. I didn't struggle and didn't feel it was rushed. However, the end sped up, but I thought it went with the events. I can really relate to Dorothy, I was one that didn't fit in when I was younger. Who am I kidding? I don't fit in a lot now! lol. But how liberating to have an event like this in your life. I especially liked the description of the rainbow bridge. How well expressed, I thought.
A toast to all who will never be etceteras!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Mailing to gategypsy today.
A toast to all who will never be etceteras!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Mailing to gategypsy today.
Arrived in the mail on... Saturday, I believe. What a cheerful cover! I love orange. I should be able to get through this one pretty quickly, but I have another bookring book that arrived ahead of it. Thanks for sending this on to me! I really look forward to it!
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was witty, charming, entertaining, funny, and full of intregue... and it didn't have any of those little writing errors that generally irritate me (except for the occasional quotation slip, which is more an editorial error than writer error.) I was particularly fond of the narrator's dry (English?) humour and the way she could make almost anything sound funny, even when she was talking about something serious. It kept the story light and enjoyable, even though it includes family feuds, extreme politics, war, adultery, emotional breakdowns, loveless marriages, spousal abuse, desertion, death, death, and death! One manages to come through all of that still smiling due to the wonderful skill of the author and her ironic turn of phrase in the narrator's voice, and I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an enjoyable read. Really. I was exceptionally pleased! I hope this book finds more readers after this ring is overwith.
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In the post to Mel as of October 25th. Enjoy!
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was witty, charming, entertaining, funny, and full of intregue... and it didn't have any of those little writing errors that generally irritate me (except for the occasional quotation slip, which is more an editorial error than writer error.) I was particularly fond of the narrator's dry (English?) humour and the way she could make almost anything sound funny, even when she was talking about something serious. It kept the story light and enjoyable, even though it includes family feuds, extreme politics, war, adultery, emotional breakdowns, loveless marriages, spousal abuse, desertion, death, death, and death! One manages to come through all of that still smiling due to the wonderful skill of the author and her ironic turn of phrase in the narrator's voice, and I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an enjoyable read. Really. I was exceptionally pleased! I hope this book finds more readers after this ring is overwith.
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In the post to Mel as of October 25th. Enjoy!
Wow, this book has been around :) I'll start on it asap. Thanks for sending it GateGypsy.
This book took me longer to get started in than I expected, but as I'm the last one on the list it doesn't really matter. At first I didn't quite know what to make of the story, but as it went on, I enjoyed it more and more. It's happy, sad, strange and funny at the same time. I liked the unusual characters and also the way big political issues (status of women and black people) are portrayed, although it isn't the main theme of the story.
Thanks for sharing niccijl!
Thanks for sharing niccijl!
I'm sending this book on a new trip and making it a Dutch bookring.
Deze gaat weer op reis, in de vorm van een Nederlandse ring.
Dit wordt de volgorde van lezen:
Fifna
dutch-flybaby
hellehond
Wijntje
iiwi
...
terug naar mel723
Deze gaat weer op reis, in de vorm van een Nederlandse ring.
Dit wordt de volgorde van lezen:
Fifna
dutch-flybaby
hellehond
Wijntje
iiwi
...
terug naar mel723
Onderweg naar Fifna.
Book arrived today, thanks mel723!
I really enjoyed this book. I only knew Sandi Toksvig from TV programmes she has been on on the BBC, and there I always liked her dry sense of humour. Same in this book. Her observations are both funny and serious at once. I loved all the unusual characters, each with their own place in the story - never to become "Etceteras"! And I loved the elephants, but then I love elephants anyway! Thanks for sharing, I'll send it on to dutch-flybaby asap.
18 April: sent the book to dutch-flybaby today.
18 April: sent the book to dutch-flybaby today.
Journal Entry 22 by dutch-flybabe from Lent (gem. Nijmegen), Gelderland Netherlands on Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Received this book today. This will be the next book I'll be reading. Thanks for the sunny card fifna!
Journal Entry 23 by dutch-flybabe from Lent (gem. Nijmegen), Gelderland Netherlands on Sunday, May 7, 2006
At the start I enjoyed this book and then... I got stuck around page 115. I put the book aside for a few days and read another book in that time. I picked up the book again and sadly got stuck again at page 174. The book just can't hold my attention although I like some things about it as well. Anyway, I give up, because I have read two other books since getting stuck again and now I don't want to read it anymore.If I'm not mistaken Hellehond is going to be at the meeting in Arnhem today and I will pass on the book to her.
Journal Entry 24 by dutch-flybabe at Bushalte Westervoortsedijk in Arnhem, Gelderland Netherlands on Sunday, May 7, 2006
Released 17 yrs ago (5/7/2006 UTC) at Bushalte Westervoortsedijk in Arnhem, Gelderland Netherlands
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES: I'm giving this book to Hellehond at the meeting at moem's today.
I received this yesterday when I was at the BC-meeting in Arnhem.
Hee, where are the other entries? Anyway, I liked this book a lot. A true feminist fairy-tale, with a very happy ending.
Vandaag ontvangen, bedankt voor het opsturen Hellehond!
I really enjoyed reading this book, it's a funny novel about strong women. Tomorrow I will send this book to iiwi (veel plezier ermee!!!)
I received it today.
I had a lovely time with this book, but the sad goose is maybe a bit too much.
"As they approached across the lwan Artemesia went a little funny. She moved slightly towards Miss Strange and then she stopped. Suddenly she began to make dee rumbling noises in her chest. Then she lifted her trunk and gave a vast trumpetting sound. She began to flap her ears, spin and turn, and matter spilled out of her at every end. [..] Miss Strange watched and laughed. At last Artemesia calmed and walked on again. She reached out her wet trunk and gently put it round Miss Strange's shoulders. Miss Strange patted it and smiled.'I'm pleased to see you too, Artemesia."
"'So Artemesia, you have a daughter.'She turned to the slightly smaller creature. 'Welcome...' She checked for the name. 'Betsy? Hmm, we'll think about that."
Lets find out what happens to the novel next.
"As they approached across the lwan Artemesia went a little funny. She moved slightly towards Miss Strange and then she stopped. Suddenly she began to make dee rumbling noises in her chest. Then she lifted her trunk and gave a vast trumpetting sound. She began to flap her ears, spin and turn, and matter spilled out of her at every end. [..] Miss Strange watched and laughed. At last Artemesia calmed and walked on again. She reached out her wet trunk and gently put it round Miss Strange's shoulders. Miss Strange patted it and smiled.'I'm pleased to see you too, Artemesia."
"'So Artemesia, you have a daughter.'She turned to the slightly smaller creature. 'Welcome...' She checked for the name. 'Betsy? Hmm, we'll think about that."
Lets find out what happens to the novel next.
Nicely wrapped in rainbowcolours this book has arrived at my place. Thanks iiwi.
Main reason I signed up for this ring: there is an elephant in the title!
Main reason I signed up for this ring: there is an elephant in the title!
That's nice iiwi, your rainbow wrapping, now that I have read the story.
I'm not sure what to make of this book. I like the strange characters and Sandi Toksvig's humourous way of telling the story. But it just didn't grab my whole attention. I didn't feel involved.
Wonder to whom and where this book travels now?!
I'm not sure what to make of this book. I like the strange characters and Sandi Toksvig's humourous way of telling the story. But it just didn't grab my whole attention. I didn't feel involved.
Wonder to whom and where this book travels now?!
And it's back again.
Going to livrecache as Bookrelay. Enjoy!
Wow, this book has certainly been around. I knew nothing about it, or its author, but like many people I liked having elephants in the title. I'll put it towards to the top of my towering TBR pile, and report back!
Thanks, Mel723.
Thanks, Mel723.
Reserved for goodthinkingmax. Now I just have to finish reading it before the Melbourne Convention in October.
Suji has requested to read it after gmt.
Suji has requested to read it after gmt.
What a whimsical book! I confess I didn't feel much engaged by the characters, although I thought the 10-year-old narrator was well portrayed. She displayed just about the right amount of innocence and wisdom for that age. But I really couldn't believe in either of her parents. I did think the zoo world was wonderfully constructed. I really had to force myself to read the sections in italics as I hate that style of font, but as it contained the backstory of the book I managed. The whole thing seemed a tad surreal to me -- but then if you're going to wander around whistling for the elephants, I guess that's reasonable. I'm very relieved that the elephants went back to the jungle, even if it they were rushed there. And like another reader, I was upset by Perry's abrupt demise. It was like the author had made a point, and then it was convenient to dipose of him.
But I am very glad to have read this book, and I was very interested to read what others had to say. (I never read the comments fully until I've read the book.)
But I am very glad to have read this book, and I was very interested to read what others had to say. (I never read the comments fully until I've read the book.)
Handed over to goodthinkingmax at the convention tonight.
Journal Entry 39 by goodthinkingmax from Sydney CBD, New South Wales Australia on Wednesday, October 10, 2007
I love it when I go to make a journal entry and I find the book is well travelled! Time to travel Australia little orange book. I collected this from Livrecache at the Australian Bookcrossing Convention on the weekend and look forward to reading it.
Journal Entry 40 by goodthinkingmax from Sydney CBD, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, June 22, 2008
I really wish I had journalled this book when I read it months ago as it's hard to recall the names of characters now and even some of the events. I began this book very enthusiastically and zoomed through to about halfway, enjoying the perspective of Dorothy and the quirky settings, especially the zoo and animals. I always love a book that touches on the absurd. I think perhaps I became bogged when so many different characters and cross stories were introduced, although I realise they were all essential to the conclusion. I just wasn't absorbed by all the characters' stories. Nevertheless, I would recommend this to others and what a great final paragraph!
Journal Entry 41 by Shan80 from Sunshine Coast, not specified not specified on Tuesday, June 24, 2008
A well-traveled book from Goodthinkingmax! It looks as though it's been well received by previous readers.
Journal Entry 42 by Shan80 from Sunshine Coast, not specified not specified on Sunday, July 20, 2008
I REALLY enjoyed this book, much more than I thought I would - it was extremely engaging and very well structured. The story was definitely strange, almost farcical really, but who cares? Sometimes life is like that! (But not too often, thank goodness!)
I think there is a lot of wry English humour in it - there were parts when I laughed until I cried (I was on the train, which was a bit embarrassing). However, there were other parts where I cried with sadness, and yet more in which I shook my head in despair. But ultimately it was a novel of hope, strength and friendship, and I came away from it being proud to be a woman. You go, girls!
I have passed this on to Nefertari112, and I hope she enjoys it as much as I did.
I think there is a lot of wry English humour in it - there were parts when I laughed until I cried (I was on the train, which was a bit embarrassing). However, there were other parts where I cried with sadness, and yet more in which I shook my head in despair. But ultimately it was a novel of hope, strength and friendship, and I came away from it being proud to be a woman. You go, girls!
I have passed this on to Nefertari112, and I hope she enjoys it as much as I did.
May I just butt in to say that Sujie said she was interested in reading this book? Of course, that was back in October of 2007 and she may have lost interest/forgotten, but perhaps Nefertari112 could see whether she's still interested, once she's finished with it.
Journal Entry 44 by Nefertari112 from Sydney CBD, New South Wales Australia on Saturday, September 20, 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It was greatly refreshing to read a book featuring a bunch of female characters who are strong, quirky, and not obsessed with handbags, shoes and dating.
Shan80 has told me there's someone interested in this book - i'm going to pass it back to her so it can find its way to a new friend!
Shan80 has told me there's someone interested in this book - i'm going to pass it back to her so it can find its way to a new friend!
Journal Entry 45 by goodthinkingmax from Sydney CBD, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, August 9, 2009
This well travelled book is back with me and shortly on its way to sujie.
Journal Entry 46 by Sujie from Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Arrived today, thanks, livrecache and niccijl. The usual has happened and I have had four ring books arrive in the past week, so as this is a bookray it will probably go to the bottom of the pile. That doesn't mean I am not looking forward to reading it!
Journal Entry 47 by Sujie from Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Monday, November 30, 2009
Just picked this up again and am in the middle of it, enjoying it hugely. Sorry to be so long in getting to it.
Journal Entry 48 by 
JingJoOBCZ
at Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, January 27, 2013
JingJoOBCZ at Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, January 27, 2013
Sorry, still haven't got into this one, so releasing it at JingJoOBCZ - Sujie
Journal Entry 49 by JingJoOBCZ at Jing Jo in Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, January 27, 2013
JingJoOBCZ at Jing Jo in Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia on Sunday, January 27, 2013
Released 11 yrs ago (1/27/2013 UTC) at Jing Jo in Kangaroo Valley, New South Wales Australia
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
In bookshelf at end of counter.
