# Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520 "2009-09-18T00:50:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/41 "2009-09-24T13:37:06Z")
> [@schnuckiputzi](#): > > My copy arrived, all crisp and lovely, yesterday! But we have a long road trip Saturday, and I’m being good and saving it for then. Then I can ignore the four teenagers in the van, pop in my ipod earbuds and devour the book. 😃 Oh, how I wish I could read in the car. But my husband is probably secretly glad I can’t, so that I keep him company instead. My estimated delivery is not until Saturday, but I would really love to get it tomorrow. Tonight is no good; I have to go listen to my son play in the band at a middle school football game. But then again, I could still hear the band if I sat out in the parking lot with my book, right? ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/42 "2009-09-24T16:28:35Z")
Grr…arghh…I bought it on Tuesday at Target (went out at lunch especially), but I have so little time in the evenings by the time I feed livestock, doctor dogs and feed myself and the dogs, I can’t give it the hours it deserves. And this weekend will be pretty busy. I hate reading in 30 minute increments. StG ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/43 "2009-09-24T16:52:34Z")
I tried to read Outlander, but was put off by the constant clothing descriptions. Does she continue to focus on that throughout the series? I want to like these books. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/44 "2009-09-25T16:09:13Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > I tried to read Outlander, but was put off by the constant clothing descriptions. Does she continue to focus on that throughout the series? I want to like these books. Hmm, I didn’t think she described clothing excessively, except perhaps to be impressed by a Highlander in full regalia (“…any Highlander, no matter how old, ill-favored, or crabbed in appearance. A tall, straight-bodied, and by no means ill-favored young Highlander at close range is breath-taking.”). She does consistently provide a lot of details on clothing, food, and many other aspects of the 18th century, which is part of what I love about the books and helps explain why they are all 900 pages long. To maybe answer your question, I don’t think her style changes significantly from the first book. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/45 "2009-09-25T16:12:38Z")
I’ve also notices she focuses on smells…Jamie’s scent (like whiskey and manure, sometimes) and when something is off, like the metallic scent of blood amongst the honey hives. I don’t have my book yet…grumble grumble. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/46 "2009-09-25T17:29:56Z")
Yes, they books are very evocative and _sensual_, in the literal sense. AND I DON’T HAVE MINE EITHER! Wahhhhhhhhhh. Maybe it’ll be in this afternoon’s mail. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/47 "2009-09-25T18:16:51Z")
My copy is here! It will be waiting for me when I get home. I’ll be up late tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/48 "2009-09-25T23:09:32Z")
My copy did indeed arrive in the afternoon mail. I’m on page 24. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/49 "2009-09-25T23:22:38Z")
You know, I started this damn thread…I shouldn’t be the last one to get the book!!! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/50 "2009-09-26T00:00:59Z")
Claire, startled to run into someone she had not expected to see, sits down at a table in a public house and places her order for “Whiskey. A lot of it” Shortly after, Jamie and Claire differ on the extent to which she has stabbed him — “more than once — and—” “I have not stabbed you!” “Ye did, too. Ye stabbed me in the backside wi’ your nasty wee needle spikes—fifteen times! I counted—and then a dozen times or more in the leg with a rattlesnake’s fang” ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/51 "2009-09-26T01:22:41Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > She does consistently provide a lot of details on clothing, food, and many other aspects of the 18th century, which is part of what I love about the books and helps explain why they are all 900 pages long. Which I might have skimmed, except I was listening to an audiobook. Maybe I should try again, in printed form. My mother started to \*\*\*really \*\*\* love me after I got her started on these. And her friends. And their friends. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/52 "2009-09-26T13:15:32Z")
I got my SILs hooked on them too. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/53 "2009-09-26T14:37:54Z")
Loved the first three. After that, they’ve gotten progressively more tedious. Outlander covered an amazing amount of ground and then each book has gotten progressively less compact, to the point where I’m reading ad nauseum about Brianna’s sore nipples. Again. Of course I’ll read “Echo” but I do hope she finishes up the story in the next book. Otherwise, I fear one of us may die of old age before I learn how the story comes full circle. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/54 "2009-09-27T02:12:25Z")
I’m almost halfway through. Lots of POV from William and Lord John. It’s interesting, but I feel the same way I did in the first novel with Brianna and Roger - I’m jealous of so much time spent away from Jamie and Claire. The beginning read like a mix between the LJ novels and the Outlander novels, but it’s gradually focusing more time with Jamie and Claire. Only in a novel would you read the stack of letters from your long-lost parents gradually, over a period of weeks, instead of snatching them up and reading them all at once. Makes for a nice way to link the alternate timelines, though. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/55 "2009-09-27T02:37:00Z")
And like Roger and Brianna, I’m looking up details about the American Revolution as I read. ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/56 "2009-09-27T18:43:13Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > The beginning read like a mix between the LJ novels and the Outlander novels, but it’s gradually focusing more time with Jamie and Claire. Exactly, it’s almost like a mash-up, if you can call combining charachters/timelines from two novel series set in the same universe as a mash-up. LOL I also get jealous sometimes about time away from J&C, but I’m more used to it now that I was with _Drums_, so it’s not quite as jarring. I tell you one thing that’s helped me in this and my summer re-reading vis a vis the American Revolution is having watched the HBO _John Adams_ miniseries. Still lots of gaps, obvs, but it was a nice refresher. I wish she had a quick list in the back of characters who are real historical figures … sometimes I’m not sure since I’m not deeply familiar with the period, esp. when it comes to military actions. Oh well … just more stuff to look up! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/57 "2009-09-27T19:49:26Z")
\*Sits back, sulking, glass of whiskey untouched, plaid tartan still folded up \* If it doesn’t arrive tomorrow Amazon is going to get a firmly pointed phone call from me. (And don’t tell me phone calls can’t point. You haven’t heard me zing people on the phone.) ---
**Author:** ![Claire\_Beauchamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Claire\_Beauchamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claire_Beauchamp)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/58 "2009-09-28T01:07:42Z")
_picks up the discarded copy of Voyager_ _places it gently into ivylass’s hands, book already open to the passage where Claire arrives back in Scotland_ "Here ya go … and go ahead and sip that whiskey … " ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/59 "2009-09-28T05:18:45Z")
Well, I just finished it. Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520/60 "2009-09-28T16:00:23Z")
You’re supposed to savor it, not gulp it down like you’re starving! Now, you can’t wallow! Don’t say anything specific, but rank it with the other books. I’m sure it’s better than _Fiery Cross._ Thanks, **Claire**. That passage never gets old. And the scene where Jamie sends her back through the stones never fails to make me cry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/echo-in-the-bone-by-diana-gabaldon/510520.md?page=4)