Once Upon a River

[Peggy]

Renee and I will read Once Upon a River together. The aim is to read it for the April group read, but the eventual date will be dependent on reopening of libraries.

I've set the topic up already. Let us know if you like to join and we can set a date when libraries are open again and the book is available to everyone.

Esther made an overview of chapter numbers to make discussion easier. Thank you!

[Cherie]

i already own an ebook copy, Peggy, so I will join you and Renee whenever you decide to read it.

[Renee]

I need to wait for the libraries to reopen b But I am in for the read

[Peggy]

Yay, Cherie!

No worries Renee. Plenty of other books to read in the meantime :)

[Saar The Book owl]

I won't join, because I've recently finished it, but I'll follow the comments. I'm so curious on what you'll find about it!

[Ekaterina]

Hello! I have this book and I’m so excited to start reading it!

[Peggy]

Welcome Kate! It would be great if you join us :)

[Renee]

still no book. I am still hoping

[Janice, Moderator]

Have you changed the start date for your buddy read?

[Peggy]

We never really set a date. We're waiting for library availability for some people :)

[Janice, Moderator]

I'll remove the date from the calendar for now.

[Esther]

I will join if I can. That one is in my TBR... I am currently reading a door stopper but I can put it aside temporarily. there is a copy available at my. library.

[Renee]

I miss m library. I want to walk in and select a book. I want to start buddy reads. I just want out of this house

[Sandra, Moderator]

I missed that this was going to be a buddy read! I am currently reading it, so I will be alert to when you start and join you. :)

[Peggy]

Are you enjoying it Sandra?

Any news on reopening of your library Renee?

[Sandra, Moderator]

I'm at the 28% mark, and so far so good. It took a while to know the characters but it's getting better now.

[Cherie]

I started another book, but with the toppler coming up, I will probably have to put it aside anyway. I could start it after the toppler and read along with Sandra, or I could wait. Either way is fine with me.

[Sandra, Moderator]

It was not my intention to rush anyone. I have to finish the book before the 22nd, when my e-copy is due. There are 3 people in the waiting list so I won't get it back in a while. I just meant that I will stop by when you start discussing and join you. :)

[Esther]

say, do you still want to buddy read this one?

[Peggy]

Yes! I was thinking about this last week.

Is everyone who wanted to read this able to get a copy now?

My preference would be after November 15.

[Esther]

Peggy wrote: "Yes! I was thinking about this last week.

Is everyone who wanted to read this able to get a copy now?

My preference would be after November 15."

Fine with me. So late November then?

[Peggy]

Sounds good to me :)

I think Cherie and Renee were also interested. Let's see if second half of November works for them too and then set a more specific date.

[Cherie]

I’m still in, when everyone is ready.
It is on my Nook tablet just waiting for me to start reading. 😉

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

Is this happening? I would love to join.

[Esther]

I plan to start this weekend.

[Cherie]

I will start it probably on Sunday.

[Peggy]

Why do I keep forgetting about this? I'll try to start on Sunday too.

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

yay! I will start tonight. I probably wouldn't be able to read much tomorrow.

[Esther]

Peggy wrote: "Why do I keep forgetting about this? I'll try to start on Sunday too."
The "book that does not want to be read"?

[Peggy]

Must be something like that! I read the first 2 chapters tonight and I love it! The writing, the setting, the atmosphere.. can't wait to continue.

[Sandra, Moderator]

I totally loved this one. I will follow your discussion. :)

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

Okay first, I would like to note that I am listening to audio CDs and this book has no Chapter numbers... so it makes it somewhat difficult to tell when I have entered another chapter. I currently stopped at "The miracle" which I think is the start of the 3rd chapter. (view spoiler)[ I wasn't sure what to expect, but it has been heart break so far. The little girls death... Rita's tale of coming into this earth. The lose that she has grown used to. I don't know what is going to happen yet... the title suggests that the little girl might come back to life. That seems more scary than a relief. (hide spoiler)] I am really enjoying it so far.

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

I went ahead and finished "The miracle" (view spoiler)[ Maybe Johnathan did wake her up, maybe not, but I think he will believe that anyway. The narrator gives him such a young voice that I have to remind myself that he is 15, I am wondering if this was done to show that he was "slow". Which I didn't actually hear it say that .. different was the word used. Different could mean about anything. Matter of fact, I could of sworn that they said that he was smart... (maybe not). Anyway, his actions seem similar to my 5 yo which I am finding super sweet. I am picturing cuddly and innocent. (hide spoiler)]

[Peggy]

My paper book doesn't have chapter numbers either Christina. It was easy when I just read the first 2, but now I read some more and it's more difficult to indicate where I am.

I'm about to start the chapter called 'Tributaries', which is at 12%.

(view spoiler)[ It's all so mysterious! The man, the girl alive again, the tramp bringing the story to someone on Brandy Island, the man at the window of the inn. The way the story is told and written has me hooked. (hide spoiler)]

[Esther]

there are only chapter names, No number. So I guess will have to consult the table of contents a lot.

I only read the first chapter (the story begins...) before my head fell on my iPad last night. I used to think that a book starting with "here is what you need to know" followed by an info dump could not really work. I stand corrected. This chapter is exactly this but done it such a way that it suck you in right away.

[Peggy]

I don't have a table of contents either.

[Esther]

ok.. Peggy as your post was the first one in the thread, can you link this post in it?

Part one: (I added numbers)
1, the story begins....
2. The corpse without a story.
3. the miracle
4. The story travels
5, Tributaries
6. what do you make of it?
7. Mrs Vaughan and the river goblins
8. A well-Practised tale
9. Lily`s nightmare
10. Mr Armstrong at Bamton
11. Three Claims
12. Daddy!
13. The sleeper Wakes
14. A tragic tales.
15. The tale of the ferryman
16. Is it finished?

Part 2
1. Things don`t add up
2. A mother`s eyes
3. which father?
4. The story flourishes
5. counting
6. Lily`s visitor
7 Gone! or Mr Armstrong goes to bampton
8 Some stories are not for telling
9. Photographing amelia
10. the genie in the teapot.

Part 3
1. The longest day
2. Philosophy at the swan
3. The shortest night
4. Great lakes underground
5. two strange things.

Part 4
1. what happened next Thruppence
2. retelling the story
3 Photographing Alice
4. Thrut, lies and the river
5 the dragons of Cricklade
6. the wishing well
7. the magic lantern show
8. of pigs and puppies
9. 41: of sisters and piglets
10. 42: the other side of the river

Part 5
1. the knife
2. it begins and ends at the Swan
3 fathers and sons
4. Lily and the river
5. Jonathan tells a story
6. A tale of two children
7. Once upon a time, a long time ago
8. Happily ever after.

[Peggy]

Oh wow, that's awesome Esther! Very helpful, thanks!

I'll do it tomorrow on my computer, I'm on the app now.

[Peggy]

I've been reading some of the tributaries. I'm about to start chapter 9, Lily's Nightmare.

(view spoiler)[ this is so intriguing! I loved the tributaries chapter and how it introduced these other people and their stories. And I love reading about all these people and what they were doing yesterday. They all feel something's about to happen. I feel the same sense of anticipation!! Both for what will happen, but also how all these stories will come together. (hide spoiler)]

[Sandra, Moderator]

When I read this one I wrote down a quote I loved. I am not sure the chapter, but it was at the 7% mark. (view spoiler)[

"When I saw him in the doorway there, I was astonished. No, astounded. That's what I was. Astounded!"
"I was stunned, I was."
"And me. I was stunned and astounded. What about you?"
They were collectors of words the same way so many of the gravel diggers were collectors of fossils. They kept an ear constantly alert for them, the rare, the unusual, the unique.
"I reckon I was dumbfounded."

(hide spoiler)]

This is a book I would like to buy and reread in the future. Same with A Gentleman in Moscow. Just to enjoy the writing now that I am not so absorbed with the story.

[Cherie]

I was just reading the Sunday where-are-you posts. I see you are all ahead of me in the story. I’m jumping in now. 😊

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

I managed to get a Chapter in today, Chapter 4. (view spoiler)[ I don't know why, but I think the cat is important. (hide spoiler)]

[Cherie]

I only finished the first chapter. Wonderful! (view spoiler)[ Does the source in the first sentence of the story stand for the source of the River Thames? Jonathan sounds like he may have Down syndrome. It was so sweet when he kissed the dead girl on the forehead to see if she would wake up. (hide spoiler)]

I will be reading more, but I only have my Lady Astronaut ebook for two more days before it expires. If it expires, it will be another month or more before I can get it back. It already has several holds on it.

[Esther]

I just finished chapter 4 The Story Travels. I am loving it. I live the atmosphere and tone. I cannot wit for the (view spoiler)[ for the girl to wake and talk. There is definitely more than a random kid. And what exactly happen to Rita? (hide spoiler)]

[Esther]

Christina wrote: "I managed to get a Chapter in today, Chapter 4. [spoilers removed]"
I wondered about that as well.

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

I listened to 5. Tributaries
6. what do you make of it?
7. Mrs Vaughan and the river goblins

Thank you so much Esther for the list!

I enjoyed tributaries very much. I have always found water so fascinating, frustrating, and demanding.

(view spoiler)[ Regardless of which chapter I am talking about ... it all goes back to something is going to happen. Eerie would be the word I would describe everything. I have no clue to where we are headed. (hide spoiler)]

[Peggy]

@Sandra: I loved that part too. So many great quotes in the book, and the writing is the kind I absolutely love, but don't come across all that often.

[Peggy]

Chapter 9, Lily's nightmare: (view spoiler)[ who is this woman? who is the man she expects to come? is her pig the one stolen from Armstrong? is the girl from her nightmare, but who left the floor wet, the girl from the river? Is it also the girl gone missing from the Vaughns? Has Lily got something to do with it? So many questions!! (hide spoiler)]

[Peggy]

chapter 10: (view spoiler)[ okay, so maybe this Alice girl is the girl from the river. But who was the man? Could it have been Robin?

I really like Robert Armstrong. He seems so so kind! (hide spoiler)]

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

Peggy wrote: "Chapter 9, Lily's nightmare: [spoilers removed]"

I know right... seriously (view spoiler)[ It all appears to be coming together... One thing for sure is "something is going to happen" and I don't know how this book has managed to get me so anxious about it. . But I am. (hide spoiler)]