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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is the book by which I judge all others..., 25 Jun 2009
THis is the first in the series of (so far) 6 books by Diana Gabaldon. Also known as 'Outlander' in the US, I first found this book by accident close to 20 years ago. My local (miniscule) library had a very poor selection and I'd read practically every book of interest they had on the shelves. I lived a good distance from the library and was looking for books that might last a while to save me a trip every other day. Cross Stitch was newly published and was FAT in hardback. That'll do for me I thought! I read the inside cover and thought it sounded dubious, but it was FAT......so it came home with me.
It was the best book I could have stumbled across. Regardless of how lengthy it was, I tore though it in record time because it's just the best tale EVER. I love this book so much. It's the book by which I judge all others.
For something that is obviously so far fetched - time travel from 1945 to Culloden, Scotland in 1745 - it just seems so real. The descriptions of characters, events and surroundings are so fleshed out as to make you feel as if you are right there with it all. That's what makes this book (and all the others that follow) so readable, it's all to easy to fall into the pages and lose yourself.
The worst part about the books for me was the 2 year wait between each! It helped that I live within driving distance of all of the Scottish places mentioned in the book and spent many a happy day trawling round the settings, soaking up the atmosphere. I've lost count of the Close's in Edinburgh that I've peered into, looking for 'the' print shop :D
I have gone back to these books again and again over the years and they never fail to entertain me. I recommend these to everyone I come across that asks for book recommendations and have yet to hear that the books were not liked. Sometimes I feel that there couldn't be anyone left that hasn't read this series because I tell so many people about them! "Pssst! *LOOKS LEFT.... LOOKS RIGHT* ....Wanna read a book?!"
I wholeheartedly reccommend these books and if you're curious about the unabridged audio version , get it! Davina Porter does a wonderful job of narrating.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book by which I judge all others..., 24 Jun 2009
I first found this book by accident close to 20 years ago. My local (miniscule) library had a very poor selection and I'd read practically every book of interest they had on the shelves. I lived a good distance from the library and was looking for books that might last a while to save me a trip every other day. Cross Stitch was newly published and was FAT in hardback. That'll do for me I thought! I read the inside cover and thought it sounded dubious, but it was FAT......so it came home with me.
It was the best book I could have stumbled across. Regardless of how lengthy it was, I tore though it in record time because it's just the best tale EVER. I love this book so much. It's the book by which I judge all others.
For something that is obviously so far fetched, it just seems so real. The descriptions of characters, events and surroundings are so fleshed out as to make you feel as if you are right there with it all. That's what makes this book (and all the others that follow) so readable, it's all to easy to fall into the pages and lose yourself.
The worst part about the books for me was the 2 year wait between each! It helped that I live within driving distance of all of the Scottish places mentioned in the book and spent many a happy day trawling round the settings, soaking up the atmosphere. I've lost count of the Close's in Edinburgh that I've peered into, looking for 'the' print shop :D
I have gone back to these books again and again over the years and they never fail to entertain me. I recommend these to everyone I come across that asks for book recommendations and have yet to hear that the books were not liked. Sometimes I feel that there couldn't be anyone left that hasn't read this series because I tell so many people about them! "Pssst! *LOOKS LEFT.... LOOKS RIGHT* ....Wanna read a book?!"
I wholeheartedly reccommend these books and if you're curious about the unabridged audio version , get it! Davina Porter does a wonderful job of narrating.
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
addictive story and characters, 19 Jan 2005
Thanks to Amazon and all the other book reviewers for putting me in touch with this book (I've just read the UK version called "Cross Stitch") due to their enthusiastic recommendations. I was a little wary at first - I mean, can a book with over 300 reviewers, nearly everyone giving it 5 stars really be that good? I'd never heard of the author before, and it seemed (from the point of view of an cynical old English reader like me) to have a few things against it from the start.
The author is an American writing about English and Scots people, having never visited Scotland and having been once to England. So it looked like it would turn out to be yet another American rose-tinted view of Scottish history with handsome hunks (speaking with a Yank accent!) sporting kilts and sweeping innocent maidens off their feet! Happily I decided to take a chance anyway and ordered Cross Stitch from Amazon. As others have commented before, this turned out not to be a standard romantic fiction novel. It's an sweeping 18th century historical novel set against the Jacobite rebellion in 1745, with an intense romance between the hero and heroine of the book, Jamie and Claire, plus a touch of the supernatural (time-travel, a la Dr Who!) thrown in to the mix. I found myself really caring about the main characters and even felt a bit teary-eyed on one or two occasions. My only complaint would be that almost all the English characters in the book(apart from Claire and Frank) were portrayed as mad, bad or homosexual. Hope this feature improves with her other books in the series which of course, I now feel compelled to read! As other readers have said, there is some sex and violence in the novel, including a wife-beating scene, so this book may not suitable for very young teenagers. However, this was all in keeping with the historical setting of the story, and did not spoil my own enjoyment of this excellent novel. It's very well researched and I found very little to criticize in its authenticity; Diana Gabaldon has even tried to include British slang words and names for things, Gaelic expressions etc - which other US authors often haven't bothered to do. So there were no really "jarring" bits of dialogue where you're thinking "Huh? -what's this?" I didn't really want the novel to end and found myself dreading the arrival of the last page - always in my experience, the sign of an excellent read. I can't recommend this book too highly. Don't miss it!
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