Vix, (and Cranky, cuz I know you were involved), thanks for Girl with A Pearl Earring. I’ve wanted to read it, but never got around to it. Now I can!
I’ve heard lots of good things about it.
::happy dance::
A bump for this thread. And so it’ll be more than just a bump, I decided to go back and figure out who’s participated. I came up with 45 names (along with the people they sent books to, of identifiable), which either means I miscalculated or maybe Cranky didn’t count herself when she said she had 44 people.
Another Primate > rjk
Asylum > CrankyAsAnOldMan
Baker > Jess
BiblioCat > Another Primate
Booker57
bristlesage > Bibliocat
Brynda > vix
cjhoworth > Pencepon
Con Template
CrankyAsAnOldMan > Ellen Cherry
DarkWriter > Quasimodem
delphica > Shirley Ujest
Edward The Head > RickQ
Ellen Cherry > lurker b
FisherQueen > Baker
FriendRob > obfusciatrist
Gravity
Hodge > The Punkyova
Jane D’oh! > Booker57
Jess > Morgainelf
Kat > Politzania
Krisfer the Cat > bristlesage
Lamar Mundane > Brynda
Leifsmama > delphica
Little Nemo > Yersinia Pestis
lurker b > Sapphire Bullet
Morgainelf > Kat
obfusciatrist > cjhoworth
Pencepon > Con Template
Politzania > Steve Wright
Quasimodem > ResIpsaLoquitor
ResIpsaLoquitor > Asylum
RickQ > White Lightening
rjk > rocking chair
rocking chair > Winkie
Sapphire Bullet > singular1
Shirley Ujest > Gravity
singular1 > DarkWriter
Solomon7t
Steve Wright > Edward The Head
The Punkyova > Leifsmama
vix > FisherQueen
White Lightening
Winkie > Lamar Mundane
Yersinia Pestis > Krisfer the Cat
It’ll be very strange if Booker57 is the one to send me a book. Of the 44 other people in this swap, I’ve only met two; Booker and Yersinia. The odds that those two would be randomly chosen as the links to me in the chain are amazing.
The Punkyova I just finished “Bridge of Birds.” Thank you so much for such a wonderful book!!! I love the tall tale aspect of it. Now on to “Guilty Pleasures.” If it’s anywhere as good as “Bridge of Birds” it’ll be great. Thanks again.
Just wanted to report my complete satisfaction with the Cranky-selected Daughter of the Forest! You were right – anyone put off by fantasy would certainly be missing a wonderful book. I was immediately captivated when I allowed myself a brief peek at the jacket blurb – that it was a retelling of the fairy tale of the seven swans. I was familiar with this one; I read and re-read until it was in tatters an ancient copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales as a child. The jacket said it was a Celtic tale but maybe it’s universal.
Anyway, it was beautifully and tenderly written. I anticpate reading the sequels (although when I looked for them at my library they seemed to have gone into hiding. After a lifetime of successful library-using, this one particular branch seems out to get me. I can never find anything I’m looking for!)
Thanks again for wonderful selections, Cranky. Here’s a deal: sometime in the next year I’ll re-read Plainsong, and after I do, I’ll pass it back to you for a re-read. Deal?
Or shall we all have another swap when everyone’s finished reading? And just keep passin’ 'em along …
But would we “pass along” the books we got in the first swap, or choose another book from our own shelf?
SapphireBullet, I got my book!
Good choice, too. I love Elmore Leonard, and I had actually started Cuba Libra a few years ago, but I hardly got started when I had to suddenly take a job in New Orleans, and the book got lost in the shuffle. I never got around to replacing it, so know I don’t have to! I’m looking forward to getting back into it-I’ll just start from the beginning, since it’s been so long. Thanks a lot-worth the wait!
And I’m so glad you liked Poisonwood Bible, Darkwriter! I’d like to see it brought to the screen, too-I wonder if we could get HBO to start a new series? Now that you’ve read Barbara Kingsolver, try Prodigal Summer or The Bean Trees. I read this weekend she’s got a new collection of short stories and poems coming out, too.
Leifsmama,
I’m glad you liked Bridge of Birds. I really enjoyed it. I liked the Chinese setting, which made a nice change from the standard fantasy world. However, some people I know didn’t like it at all, and thought it was too weird. Go figure.
Guilty Pleasures is quite different. It is much darker and has the vampire/sexualiy kind of atmosphere that Anne Rice made de rigour, but with a nice mystery and more realism. I hope that makes sense.
Your post said you liked mystery and fantasy. I wasn’t sure which part of the fantasy spectrum you are more comfortable in, but I figured these two books covered the waterfront, and had some mystery thrown in as well.
Enjoy!
I am waiting for my book(s) from White Lightening, that should help with your list Little Nemo
Little Nemo, I did add someone at the last minute, and now I might be adding someone else again because it appears that Bristlesage has gone AWOL.
Ellen, I am so glad you liked it. I was surprised by how much it moved me. That first night the swans came back as human, and spent all their precious time as humans helping Sorcha… well, I soaked a couple of kleenexes with blubbery snot and tears, I was so sad about it. And Finbar… welling up
I haven’t had a chance to read the sequels yet but I have them. I’m trying to get a book club selection read and I haven’t finished one of the books Asylum sent me and still need to read the other one, as well! It’s a nice problem, having too many books to read. I’ve been meaning to send you “House of Sand and Fog” to make up for Plainsong being an already-read selection. Don’t worry about sending it back to me. Just treasure it or lend it out. I want Kent Haruf to get all the attention he deserves as an author.
I don’t know how we should do another round. I think it would be really neat if people sent on the book they got after they were done–it’d make for a neat round robin of people sharing books. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m open to suggestions!
Oh! I cried when the doggie died, Cranky! I’m dying to find out what the evil stepmother is up to. Maybe I’ll launch another offensive at my library on Saturday. Though I’m hip-deep in Gary Jennings’ Aztec at the moment and, as is usual with all his books, I am trying not to read like the demon pace I WANT to, because I want it to last. But at the rate I’m going I’ll probably be done by Saturday. [Please note, everyone, my umpteenth Jennings plug.]
I’m also plugging Kingsolver; I can’t help it I love her so much. I’ve met her several times. She has been the subject of a documentary in our Signature series, which was produced here where I work, as well as featured in a live program tied to a project we had called “What If All Kentucky Reads The Same Book?” That book was The Bean Trees (though only one copy was NOT used for the whole state, as some wits have suggested. :p) If you’ve read Bean Trees click the link and check out the set. We had a big old gas station sign, too, suitable for launching people over.
My opinion in the next swap is to make it a swap of already-sent books. That would be so much fun. But if someone wants to make another selection I doubt anyone would take their ball and go home.
Still no word from my sender 
*Kat ** – I finished * Hunter’s Oath (need to update bookcrossing.com) and have started Hunter’s Death.
I REALLY like the idea of the “Huntbrothers” & kinda wish the author had focussed more on that culture instead of bringing Evayne and her quest into it.
Jess, I finished Raney. What a great read! Being a southerner living in the north, I could relate to both Raney and her husband. And I know what it’s like to have a husband who refuses to conform to your southern mama’s “visiting” conventions! (That husband is now an ex, by the way!)
Now, how will this work going forward? Do we get a new name? Do we send on a new book or the one we just read?
Oh, I am so glad! And I am terribly sorry it took so long- every time I planned to go to the post office some shiny object would distract me. 
Are either of you science fiction fans? I have duplicate copies of two of Gardner Dozois’ collections of The Year’s Best Science Fiction; volume 16 (from 1999) and volume 18 (from 2001). I had considered sending them to Yersinia, but she specifically mentioned that she was already backed up on science fiction and asked not to be sent anymore. If either of you are interested, I’ll send them out.
SapphireBullet, that cracked me up.
Cranky, count me in on the idea of re-swapping the books! It sounds like there’s a real treasure of unique books in this swap, and I’d love to keep it going. It’s such a treat to get surprise books in the mail. Of course, OCD types like me would stick another book in the package, which would make it even more fun!
Hmmm. And he was a fellow Canadian.
Glad you liked Raney, Morgainelf. I was a little leery of sending it – I was a little afraid that someone might take my liking the book for wholesale endorsement of some of Raney’s values. What good luck that you are a Southerner!
I still having gotten my book – maybe today! It’s rainy and I’m down to my last library book.
Jess
Really? I like Evayne, especially Evayne the Younger.
My favorite characters are Kallandras and Jewel/Jay.
Smoke!
Just in case you look in to see why this thread has moved into the active threads …
I sent off your book yesterday… at the 2 to 3 day rate so hopefully Saturday at the latest.
Hope you enjoy it!