Book number 25
"S" by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst.
OK..
I wanted to love this book... a book with letters and cards and postcards..I couldn't wait to read it.
I
loved The Griffin and Sabine books and we have heaps of kids books with
letters and extras, every time I find a book with "extras" I add it to
our bookshelf.
"S" however left me confused and bewildered. I liked it but I didn't love it.
I'm sure I missed some things, I couldn't figure out when some
characters entered the discussion in the margins, I still have no idea
who some of them were or how Eric and Jen discovered them.
I
enjoyed Eric and Jen's letters to each other the most. The "Ship of
Theseus" story was a bit slow at the beginning, but the last few
chapters were a lot better. I thought the end was a bit of a let down
though.
("The "Ship of Theseus" also known as Theseus's
paradox, is a paradox that raises the question of whether an object
which has had all its components replaced remains fundamentally the same
object. The paradox had been discussed by more ancient philosophers
such as Heraclitus, Socrates, and Plato prior to Plutarch's writings;
and more recently by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke." -John Locke?? hmm)
I'm
sure I missed some things simply due to having a toddler and not being
able to concentrate on the book fully. I wasn't sure if there were more
secrets to hunt for or codes to break.
It's definitely the kind of
book I'd like to buy to keep, to pick up again now and then and to
re-read just Eric and Jen's notes in order.
Amazingly, while "googling", I found this quote from Abrams-
"Abrams:
The idea came to me when I was at the airport. I saw a paperback novel
sitting on a bench, and I went to pick it up. Inside, someone had
written, in pen, “To whomever finds this book—please read it, take it
somewhere, and leave it for someone else to find it.” It made me smile,
this optimistic, romantic idea that you could leave a book with a
message for someone. It reminded me of being in college, and seeing the
notes that people would leave in the margins of the books they’d checked
out of the library.
And then, I started to think: what if there were
a very cool book that was completely annotated—just covered in
marginalia and notes between two people? And—what if a conversation, or a
relationship, began inside a book? That was the beginning of the
process, maybe fifteen years ago."
THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN BECAUSE OF (what sounds like) A BOOKCROSSING BOOK!! That is awesome!
Maybe,like LOST, it was just supposed to leave me wondering...?
Some links that are useful-
http://sfiles22.blogspot.com.au/2013/...
In
case any of the extras fall out, this list tells you where to put them
back (or you could just take them all out and put them back later)
And I found this blog great for laying it all out in simple terms-
http://maebookblog.blogspot.com.au/20... (HERE BE SPOILERS!!)
I read this as my 25th (and last) Book for the 2013 Postal Reading Challenge- http://indextrious.blogspot.com.au/20...
and as part of a Bookcrossing bookring.
That's a very neat book -- I haven't had the chance to examine a copy yet but it has certainly made me very curious. Sounds like it might take some time and puzzling to really get it!
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats on finishing up the Postal Reading Challenge with 25 books! Wow! I hope you'll join us again next year :)
Thanks Melwyk, and I'm definitely participating again next year, I still have some postal related books on my shelf that I didn't get to this year. I'm not sure I will get to 25 books again though!
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