Year of Wonders

by Geraldine Brooks | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 184115458x Global Overview for this book
Registered by swan-scot of Inverness, Scotland United Kingdom on 12/29/2002
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14 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by swan-scot from Inverness, Scotland United Kingdom on Sunday, December 29, 2002
A fascinating story that tells how an entire village copes with the isolation and life and death during the plague in 1666. The language is beautiful and the story gripping. The villagers had their faith sorely tested and some felt the battle between "God's will" and the need to fall back on old superstititions. The ending was somewhat suprising, but given what the villagers had endured, I think anything was possible.

Journal Entry 2 by swan-scot from Inverness, Scotland United Kingdom on Monday, October 27, 2003
Added to the UK Tuffi Frutti Favourites Book box. I hope some one further down the line takes this and enjoys it.

Journal Entry 3 by Gooner from March, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Because the Tutti Frutti bookbox only arrived this morning, I have not yet read the book. I chose it from the box, as I've just finished reading Pepys - The Unequalled Self with a library book group, and Year of Wonders is set in 1666, contemporaneous with Pepys' diary entries about the plague.

My only regret is that I won't be able to read it immediately: too many books, not enough free time!

Thanks again to whoever contributed this book to the box and to Luc for setting up the whole thing.

Further comment added 1 January 2004:

I realise I've got my priorities all wrong. I should be reading this one first. Out of all the books on my bookshelf, it was registered earliest, so I need to revamp my priorities. Sorry, Swan-Scot, for the delay - New Year's Day is perfect to start a book entitled Year of Wonders, though ...

Further comment added 6 January 2004:

I loved reading this, and couldn't wait to turn the pages to find out where the story was going next. The last chapter, away from Derbyshire, was strange and I'm still trying to come to terms with Anna's relocation and subsequent experiences.

I only had one doubt about the book, and that concerned the author's insistence on using extremely obscure vocabulary. I kept "The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles" (both volumes) next to me throughout. I questioned the point of using unusual words without providing a glossary. However, the amount of research which had obviously gone into the book was extremely impressive. The scene-setting and attention to detail added greatly to my enjoyment of the book. It could have been a very depressing read, but ended up revealing the strong character and determination of some of its characters in very trying circumstances.

Thank you once again to Swan-Scot for including Year of Wonders in the T/F box.

Journal Entry 4 by Gooner from March, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, January 28, 2004
As of today, this is now available as a bookring. Batting order as follows:

1. Starry-Starry
2. Psychjo
3. rainbowandrain
4. aquina
5. loopy1
6. kittiwake
7. camis
8. Lady-Mondegreen
9. Auglaise
10. skribble
11. Squirk
12. Squirksmum
13. paperclip - bookring stalled for 9 months now. The following readers, who have by now been kept waiting for ages will be tranferred to the list for the replacement copy I obtained today:
14. dododumpling
15. Winterson
16. Normy
17. blaisezabini12
18. celticstar
19. Gooner

See http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1842842/ for details of the replacement copy.

Journal Entry 5 by Gooner from March, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Saturday, January 31, 2004
This book was returned to me today, as the address label had fallen off the envelope.

I'll make another attempt to send it to Starry-Starry, using even more sellotape to secure the label to the very used envelope!

Sorry for the delay, Starry-Starry

Journal Entry 6 by Starry-Starry from Llandrindod Wells, Wales United Kingdom on Tuesday, February 3, 2004
Received today, thanks very much Chris, and for the very groovy postcard :-) It sounds great, looking forward to reading it.

Journal Entry 7 by Starry-Starry from Llandrindod Wells, Wales United Kingdom on Friday, February 13, 2004
This is a wonderful book. I read it in a day because I wanted to keep turning the pages to find out what happened. As you'd expect from a book about the plague, tragedy is heaped upon tragedy so that sometimes the tears streamed down my cheeks, but there are flashes of hope to keep the villagers and the readers going. By the end, Anna's strength - physical, emotional and her pure will impressed me so much - a great character. There were also some shocks and surprises in there, particularly towards the end. So good, I can hardly believe this is Geraldine Brooks' first novel.

I agree with Chris's point about the language, some words were a little ususual and I didn't have the benefit of a dictionary nearby - though it was great to see the word clemmed used - which we still use around here and I've never seen in a book before :-)

Thanks Chris for giving me a chance to read this. I'll send it on to psychjo tomorrow.

Journal Entry 8 by psychjo from Portsmouth, Hampshire United Kingdom on Friday, February 20, 2004
This arrived with me yesterday, will be read after the other two /ring/ray books I have on the go.... Though am tempted to push it up the pile as have wanted to read this for a long while!

Jo

Journal Entry 9 by psychjo from Portsmouth, Hampshire United Kingdom on Wednesday, March 24, 2004
A fabulous read. Very interesting from the historical point of view, and a vivid reacreation of what life must have been like for the villagers. Also a great story. Anna's voice was so clear in my mind. Unlike some of the other readers I decided not to keep a dictionary near and just let the vocabulary wash over me, often the context was enough to get the meaning (well as far as I know that I understood the meaning - maybe I completely mistinterpreted!), and so that prevented the flow of the story from being interrupted. Ending completely took me by surprise too, so that was good, as at one point I thought OK so that's all sorted out and then pow with a right hand turn!

I will send on to rainbowand rain tomorrow.


Journal Entry 10 by bookwormteacher from Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Sunday, March 28, 2004
Thanks its been received- had a sneaky peek at the first couple of pages and it looks good!

Journal Entry 11 by bookwormteacher from Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire United Kingdom on Thursday, April 8, 2004
It took me a couple of chapters to get into this book but once I had I just could not put it down! The plotline was great, Anna was a great character and like everyone else I found the ending a bit of a suprise. In actual fact I liked all the characters, there were some real good villains in here and some good heroes and heroines too! The book really highlighted to me the horrors of living at the time of plague. This was a really good historical novel and I will definitely be looking out for more by the author.

Thanks so much for being given a chance to read this novel. It will be passed on as soon as possible.


This will be missing Aquina and is being sent to loopy1

Journal Entry 12 by bookwormteacher at By Mail in Mail, Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Released on Tuesday, April 20, 2004 at ... by mail :) in Sent to a fellow BookCrosser, Bookring Controlled Releases.

Sent to loopy1 by mail!

Journal Entry 13 by loopy1 from Herne Bay, Kent United Kingdom on Wednesday, April 21, 2004
This book arrived safely in Kent this morning - the postman was early, and on a school holiday too! Good job I was up anyway :-)

I got interested in this subject after reading The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, so look forward to more about the plague. I think I might read with a small notebook by me to make note of any unfamiliar words - might even make my own glossary for future readers if I really get into it! Not promising though.
Thanks for this, I have a slight backlog of books but intend to remedy that as soon as possible.

Journal Entry 14 by loopy1 from Herne Bay, Kent United Kingdom on Tuesday, April 27, 2004
I loved this book. Very tear-jerking, and a fascinating insight into how people coped with the plague.
As to the vocabulary, I found I didn't have too much trouble with it - I loved the use of the word sennight, but the only word that gave me trouble was the word clemmed, which I couldn't find in the dictionary either!
The rest I must have picked up in context or been so absorbed in the story I didn't notice them.

The quotation that jumped out at me was "Why should this thing be either a test of faith sent by God, or the evil working of the Devil in the world? One of these beliefs we embraced, the other we scorned as superstition. But perhaps each was false, equally. Perhaps the Plague was neither of God nor the Devil, but simply a thing in Nature, as the stone on which we stub a toe."
My first reaction was that we are much better about things like that these days, but then are we really? On reflection, perhaps not.
Thanks for sharing this, it will be travelling on very soon.

Journal Entry 15 by kittiwake on Thursday, April 29, 2004
Arrived today.

As I'm just finishing off my current book I can start it this weekend.

Journal Entry 16 by kittiwake on Wednesday, May 5, 2004
I loved this book too. A fantastic story with a totally unexpected ending.

One of the most moving things in this book was when Anna described how the traumatised villagers were still avoiding each other in the months after the plague was over, as they couldn't bring themselves to make small talk after all they'd been through together.

NB: Clemmed means hungry.

Journal Entry 17 by camis from Norwich, Norfolk United Kingdom on Monday, May 10, 2004
Received in the post today - thank you. Will read as soon as possible.

Journal Entry 18 by camis from Norwich, Norfolk United Kingdom on Tuesday, June 1, 2004
A fascinating book and one I really enjoyed. The tragedy that the villagers had to endure could have made for a depressing read, but somehow Anna's determination and strength made for a quite uplifting tale.

Thanks for sharing this. Will be sending on to Lady-Mondegreen once I have her address.

Journal Entry 19 by Lady-Mondegreen from Basingstoke, Hampshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Nice to receive a book that has already travelled quite a bit and to read all the reviews so far. It sounds terrific. I hope I don't take too long (I have too many books to read - I never thought I would hear myself say that, there are never too many really!).

This is a wonderful book indeed. It passed my personal "great book" test in that I am still thinking about it days later. Very impressive indeed. I found the relationship between Anna and Elinor particularly moving. Beautifully written, wonderful language, very descriptive. When the going gets tough, human nature expresses itself in all its layers: ugly, cruel and sad but also beautiful, kind and inspiring.

Journal Entry 20 by Auglaise from -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Thursday, July 1, 2004
Received it in the post yesterday, and am looking forward to reading it.

Journal Entry 21 by Auglaise from -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Sunday, July 11, 2004
This was a wonderful book! ^_^ I really enjoyed reading it, and found all of the characters very interesting. I thought it was great how Brooks seemed to involve all of the reactions to the Plague in a single small town. I must admit that I was a bit thrown by the ending, as it's not anything that the rest of the book leads you to expect. I was even slightly surprised by Anna's relationship with Michael at the end, though in retrospect I should have seen it coming.
I'll be passing it on to skribble as soon as I can!

Journal Entry 22 by Auglaise at BookRing in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Released on Tuesday, July 13, 2004 at Bookring in Bookring, A Bookring Controlled Releases.

Sent to skribble today. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 23 by skribble from -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Friday, July 16, 2004
Just received it today - my neighbour had been looking after it for the last couple of days.

I have 2 books I must read before this (one of which is quite fat!). But hope to make a start on it in a couple of weeks!

Journal Entry 24 by skribble from -- Somewhere in London 🤷‍♀️ , Greater London United Kingdom on Sunday, July 18, 2004
I opened the first page of this book and found I couldn't put it down - so it accidently jumped up the TBR pile!

It is definitely a great story - I found myself completely swept up in it. Funnily enough until I re-read the journal entries just now I did notice the obscure vocabulary. Like psychjo I just let it wash over me and if anything it helped to evoke a sense of the time and setting.

The ending was a complete surprise. A bit jarring at first but now I've had time to mull it over, I think I quite like it!

Will send it off on the last leg of the ring in the next couple of days.

Journal Entry 25 by squirk from Lambeth, Greater London United Kingdom on Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Book arrived safely in the post today - can't wait to read it!

Journal Entry 26 by squirk from Lambeth, Greater London United Kingdom on Thursday, August 5, 2004
What a great book! It took me no time at all to read - brilliantly written, interesting characters and a story that grips. It really took me to the plague years in a small village, imagining what it would have been like to be isolated amongst dying loved ones and familiar faces - how terrible! Yet it's a story of survival and I finished the book with a smile.

Posted to the eager-reader Squirksmum today.

Thank you Gooner for putting this book on a ring!

Journal Entry 27 by Squirksmum from Inverness, Scotland United Kingdom on Thursday, August 12, 2004
Given to me by squirk who highly recommended it. This was an excellent story one that once i started reading did not want to put down. Very moving and interesting story with a twist at the end that makes you want to find out what happened to the survivers. I would highly recommend reading this one. I will pass on to paperclip as soon as .

Journal Entry 28 by paperclip from Oxford, Oxfordshire United Kingdom on Friday, September 3, 2004
Perfect timing Squirksmum! I can now take this book (along with many others) on holiday when I go later this month. Thanks!


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