I enjoyed this book and picked up a few ecological tips at the same time.

Back cover blurb
Back in the nineties, Pete May was busy watching football and drinking beer. He was quite happy surrounding himself with countless pizza boxes, beer cans and other environmentally unfriendly consumer stuff.

Then along came Nicola - an environmental activist intent on saving rainforests. Pete, surprised to find himself drawn to someone so far removed from his planet-killing laddish lifestyle, began to wonder whether two people so different could really fall for each other?

Would Pete ever change his ways and sign up to the green lifestyle of composting loos, chicken rearing, energy saving and general self-sufficiently? Would he ever get to grips with devices called Hippos that he found himself dunking in his cistern to save water when flushing?

This is the charming and funny true-life tale on one man's struggle to go green and get the girl.

Bookcrossing is the ultimate book recycling so
this book must go out into the world on a ray.




The participants are:

PussInBooks (UK)
YowlYY (UK)
kirstykat (UK)
Vekiki (UK)
wilksie (UK, will post anywhere)
Tinina67 (Australia, will post anywhere)
mrbaggins1 (South Africa, will post anywhere)
celticseahorse (UK, post to the UK)
kitten99 (UK, will post anywhere)<-------- the book is here
hakkalina (Hungary, post EU)

Then it's up to you...


Happy reading!

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Sent to PussInBooks today. Hope it reaches you swiftly!

Received today - can't get much swifter than that! Can't wait to read this.

This book definitely got me thinking about how much I recycle, and how much extra one could always do to save the planet. Pete's object of desire, Nicola, definitely takes it to extremes, but most of their habits are fairly familiar - I'm just not into composting, keeping chickens, or garden-related greenness of any kind (and living on the third floor with no balcony, windowsill or communal garden I think even they'd be hard pushed). However I was happy to find that a lot of the stuff I'm into currently (Freecycle in a big way, and I guess BXing is also a great recycling venture) had its origins with the green explosion of the mid-to-late 90s and early 00s. Kind of shows that these things do have longevity and will continue to grow, and are not the phase they've been dismissed as.
Anyway, this book is generally 'a bit of fun', not really to be taken too literally - Pete May doesn't go into much detail about the actual relationship or his feelings but you sense he must really have fallen for Nicola to allow himself to be so totally overhauled on the lifestyle front. Either that, or he's exaggerating for the sake of a good story, as writers do! Who knows. I could have done with fewer references to women as 'birds', but apart from that it's a sweet and light-hearted read.

Off to YowlYY once she's back from hols.

Arrived just 5 min ago! I have received another bookray while I was away, so it will be a little while before I can start this, however this is a time dotted with frequent train trips, so it won't be long until it can continue its travels... Thanks for sharing :)

I finished this book sometime early in December, but because of the pre-festive chaos I forgot to contact the next link in the chain, and then decided to postpone mailing it after the holidays - sorry!!!
Luckily, I took notes immediately after I finished reading it -I was on a train and just a stop away from my destination, so decided to note down my ideas on the book instead of diving straight into the next one...
Firstly, the book did not teach me anything new (but this was foreseeable), as I have been involved in recycling since back in the mid 80s while living in Germany. However, for all those who are not much into recycling this is going to be very helpful! The best bit of the book is that it is really really funny, and it does not come across as sanctimonious and paternalistic. Not one bit! I loved the language and there were several places where I laughed out loud - one of which was near the end, when he is chasing the fox at 7am in a nightgown in his backgarden that is making his hens' life a misery - that had me in stitches!
However, I have a word of criticism here too - he describes very well how everyone was happy when New Labour won the elections, and how everyone was full of expectations for what wonderful things the government will do with regard to the environment, however there is no word of criticism, not even at the end of the book, when New Labour stepped away from the "green" policy. One of the issues in which this step back is most clear is the reopening of the open field coal mines even against councils decisions both in Derbyshire and Leicestershire, just to name one. Unlike Germany, the UK do not have "green" centes for processing energy won from coal, and it will take years to start building them, provided it ever comes to this.
Back to the book... it's a 7 from me and all in all an amusing and entertaining read.
Off tomorrow to visit kirstykat and continue its journey.

Thanks a lot to Squirk for sharing (and a hear rub to the guinea piggies!).

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Off to London to the next ring member :)

Sent to me as part of a book ring by Squirk. Really looking forward to reading it and will start as soon as I have finished my current book. Hopefully start it tomorrow.

Thanks YowlYY for sending it on to me!

This is an absolutely hilarious read and I recommend it for the author's gift of telling a story, if nothing else. I doubt many people will learn many new 'Green' ideas from it, but it served its purpose of a great, light-hearted read without being irritating or self-righteous.

Will be posting on to Vekiki at the weekend. Hope all the rest of the readers enjoy it as much as I did :)

Thank you Squirk for lending this book!!

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Winging it's way to Vekiki!
Enjoy!

This looks great - cant wait to read it

I enjoyed this book, I thought the writing was engaging - informative without being sanctimonious, and fairly funny (i felt at tyimes it was trying a little too hard to get the laughs, which of course always has the opposite effect). Pete & Nicola came across as likable charecters (not sure how much I'd like Nicolas in real life though... especially if she lived next door!)

I thought the comments towards the end of the book about Pete's parents perspective were particually telling! Exactly the reaction my Grandad had when I told him I wasnt going to learn to drive
:)

thanks for sharing

Posted this book out today to the next person - wrapped in re-used paper and everything!

Arrived this morning - and wrapped in very pretty reused paper too!
Thankyou very much Vekiki, I'm looking forward to reading it :-)

A pleasant read - it was fun to read about Pete's changing attitudes and his life with Nicola and their daughters. Lots of good recycling ideas even if they did take some of them a little over the top and take on too much - I was cross with them when they allowed their allotment to become overgrown!
But I didn't really get much sense of what Nicola was like, other than her rather frantic 'green-ness'. Why did Pete fall in love with her, why could she boss him about so easily? We never really find out and I think that's a shame.
As others have already said, I do like to recycle as much as possible so there weren't too many new ideas but still, an interesting book.

Sending on to Tinina67 as soon as I get an address.

Posted (surface mail) to Tinina67 yesterday (17 Feb 2009).

Arrived yesterday. It is the next on my TBR stack. Thanks for including me and thanks for the beautiful dolphins!

This was an enjoyable read and in parts quiet funny. I am a kid of the 80s so I remember the green hype: demonstrating against nuclear energy, breastfeeding in parliament, glass and paper recycling etc.
Lots of these issues should be common knowledge but I guess they aren't...

Will be send to the next on the list asap.

Thanks for sharing.

Arrived today - will get around to it soonest - couple in front. Thanks for sharing

A nice light read but not very informative about green living. Thanks for sharing and I have mailed the next on the list to send it on

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Posted to the UK today by surface mail. Thanks for sharing

Arrived here safely in sunny Cornwall adorned with great collection of very colourful beautiful South African stamps:-)
Will get started on this after finishing current ray.
Thanks for the PC from the 'city of gold' Mr Baggins it will go up on my fridge:-0

An enjoyable quick read..I think Pete had a lot more paitience with Nicola than I had, but then I guess I'm not the one in love with her:-)the fruit flies just seemed too OTT for me.

Interesting to see how much of the contents of this book is now mainstream. Living in an alledgedly 'green' Housing Association but have no Hippo..also there seems to be very little, especially plastic that we are actually allowed to put out for recycling here in Cornwall..there seems to be more we can't than can:-(

Next participant contacted and ready for posting.

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Posted yesterday in lovely summery pouring rain to kitten99. We have a postal strike happening locally so hope that doesn't delay the book too much.

Arrived yesterday and is next on my list to be read when I finish my current book. Many thanks for sending on, and especially to Squirk for setting up the ray!

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Posted on it's way to hungary, to the next participant. Many thanks for organising this ring - I really quite enjoyed this book, and learned a few eco-things too!

It arrived here safely. Luckily I am the last one on this ray, since lately I got more books to read. But, I think I have already found the next reader :)

Update: 2009.09.05.
I gave up the reading after I couldn't get through the first 20 pages. But it is not only the fault of the writer, I thought it another kind of book. And started to read with a some kind of disappointment, after the first pages the words, sentences, thoughts puzzled me, and started to read again in order to try to understand. After a while I noticed that I skipped pages .. *Sigh*. It is not my cup of tea.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

I found a new home for this book. :)
It is travelling to Finland now.

the book arrived today safely in Helsinki, with a soft hippo as extra.
Thanks a lot, one more "hippo" for the collection!