"Over the course of a single day, we meet George and Sarah, who are bound together and cruelly separated by a momentous act that has cut deeply into both their lives."

I read this in a day, it was so gripping. It could almost be described as a thriller from the way the author sustains the tension, only giving away the tiniest piece of information at each step. But it's an emotional tension. It's not about whodunnit. We find that out early on. It's about failings and disappointment and the persistence of blind hope. Plus beautiful descriptions of that bright, brittle, late autumn sunshine.

I wish the woman on the front cover of my copy would cheer up, though. She's got such a fierce scowl on her face I kept having to put the book face down.

Reserved for bookray - CLOSED now because I think 20 participants is enough
Mailing order:

Cross-patch, UK
platypussj, UK
Plum-crazy, UK
stubee, UK
KT-J, UK
perfect-circle, UK
rumble-bee, Germany <--- here

Ray being continued with a replacement copy, here: http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6323277

On its way to Cross-Patch. Hope you enjoy it!

Came today. I will read it as soon as possible. Thank you, shnedwards.

A journey through one man's mind. Is it all true? His obsessive mental visiting of the past is hypnotic. Confusing at times but wonderful. I love Graham Swift's writing.

I shall post on as soon as I have an address.

21st May. Posted to platypussj today.

Arrived yesterday. I have one or two in front of this one (well, three to be honest), will endeavour to read and move on within a month, I will make another journal entry if it's going to take a little longer!

Just to let you know that I still have this - I''m reading Cloud Atlas at the moment, then I''ll read this one. I am sorry to have kept it for so long.

I think I was spoiled by the last two books that I read: Cloud Atlas and Thursbitch. I really did enjoy this book but thought that, although short, it could have been condensed even further without losing any atmosphere or plot. I have Plum-Crazy's address and will post asap.

This arrived today -hope to start it sometime next week!

I'm not sure what to say about this book...

I liked the idea of it being the tale of just one day...
I liked the way the story jumped from past to present...
& I liked the way that you got insights into George's past & his relationship with his father;..

...but for some reason it just didn't grip me like I expected it to & I kept finding myself distracted while reading it. Perhaps I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for this book at this time, who knows!

Thanks so much for sharing it shnedwards & I hope everyone else enjoys it.

Thanks Plum-crazy for sending this my way; I've got a backlog of rings at the moment but I'm doing quite a bit of travelling in the next week so should get through the backlog - either myself or KT-J will read this soon we’ll try not to hold onto it for too long.

Thanks again Shnedwards for organising yet another 1001 Bookray!

:-]

I loved this book; it had me gripped from the start (I must have been because it's taken me less than a week to read it)! Graham Swift excels in bring you a story where the narrative flows, giving you just enough information so that you keep going, there always something new around the corner – on the next page. Your intrigued into what makes George think, what makes Sarah think, why is Rita still around, and what is it that forms the glue that brings these individuals lives together. I was indeed impressed by this novel.

I’ve now passed this to KT-J to read.

Received from Stubee, I've got a couple of books to get through but will be onto this one shortly!

I really enjoyed this book. I read it in about 3 days as after the first few chapters I couldn't put it down and had to physically drag myself from reading it a couple of times! I enjoyed the way the story built up as George moved between past and present and thoughts and events and the ways the characters unfolded throughout the story.

Thanks shnedwards for sharing this. I've PMd perfect-circle so will send this on once I have the address.

Edit 21/1/08: Massive apologies but I only managed to post this on Saturday (rubbish weather has meant post office visits were put off). Hopefully it should arrive shortly.

Arrived safely today, thanks KT-J for sending it on.

I loved the drip effect of the story, giving just enough information to make me want to read on. I loved the way it moved from past to present and back again whilst not losing any of the flow.

Thanks shnedwards for another 1001 book crossed off the list. I've PMd Rumble-bee and will post on as soon as I have an address.

RELEASE NOTES:

Posted to Rumble Bee

This arrived some days ago already, sorry! But at this time of year we do have lots of birthdays in our family.
Well, I had a look at the first two chapters, and I think this will be an easy and enjoyable read. Something to take my mind off the "Lord of the Rings", haha!