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The Perfect Golden Circle: Selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club 2022

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By renting a car you will have more freedom to choose when and where to go, and you will be on your own schedule.

It will take you through the park’s greenery, passing by abandoned farmhouses, plenty of sheep and the main lake of Thingvellir. Below is a map of the Golden Circle with the starting and ending points in Reykjavik (marked A and G). The pleasures of this bountiful novel are like a glass of cool water on a parched summer day' THE TIMES REZENSION - „Solange ich atme, hoffe ich“. Dieses Mantra einer der beiden Hauptfiguren im neuen Roman „Der perfekte Kreis“ des britischen Schriftstellers Benjamin Myers (45), erschienen im September beim Dumont Verlag, zeigt in wenigen Worten, dass trotz aller Mühen unser Wirken auf Erden unvollkommen ist. Vollkommenheit bleibt eine unerfüllte und wohl unerfüllbare Hoffnung. Auf diesen Widerspruch zwischen Hoffnung und Wirklichkeit verweist auch der Titel dieser wunderbaren Novelle, kann es doch den perfekten Kreis nicht geben, wie schon das Cover mit der Abbildung des Ensō-Symbols aus der japanischen Kalligraphie deutlich macht. Nur ein vollkommener Mensch könne demnach ein wahres Ensō zeichnen, während die Öffnung Unvollkommenheit symbolisiert.England, 1989. Over the course of a burning hot summer, two very different men – traumatized Falklands veteran Calvert, and affable, chaotic Redbone – set out nightly in a clapped-out camper van to undertake an extraordinary project. If this wonderfully strange book does have a structure, it’s the succession of ever-magnifying crop circles, from the intermediate Alton Kellet Pathway to the earth-shattering Honeycomb Double Helix. Interspersed with these are a series of hilarious newspaper reports, describing the chaos and wonder left behind by Redbone and Calvert as they continue on their quest. Every once in a while, we see Calvert sitting in his tiny hovel of a home, watching the TV reports of his latest creation. Parts of this novel are palpably funny, yet I was often unsure whether to laugh or cry. That Myers can conjure up such empathy with his two middle-aged recluses is a measure of his particular skill. Their friendship makes a beguiling counterpoint to the novel’s more epic preoccupations. For their season finale, they’re planning something extra special: the Honeycomb Double Helix, “a web of wonder” that promises to be nearly three times as long as the Palace of Westminster is high. At night, Redbone and Calvert traverse England's rural south, creating massive crop circles in fields Calvert has researched during his quiet, darkened days, using the designs Redbone has so painstakingly created. The Perfect Golden Circle is set during the impossibly hot summer of 1989 and chronicles each crop circle created, culminating in Redbone's most ambitious design: the Honeycomb Double Helix.

But I also was part of this friendship that you read about, I was there during their conversations, I was present. I learnt about their lives, their fears and anxieties, when they were pained I was pained. I felt their frustrations and shared them too. Myers brought me into that field, introduced me to Redbone and Calvert and want to thank him for that, I want to praise him for that... there is nothing greater than this feeling from a book and this one will live long in the memory. The setting here is new, too, and thrilling for myself as a resident of North Wiltshire. Away from his comfort zone, the rugged north, Myers is on fine form with the rolling wheat fields of my adopted county. The descriptions rang true, the images perfectly formed. Over the course of a burning hot summer, two very different men - traumatized ex-soldier Calvert, and affable and chaotic Redbone - set out nightly in a decrepit camper van to undertake an extraordinary project. Under cover of darkness, the two men traverse the fields of rural England in secret, forming crop circles in elaborate and mysterious patterns, designs so intricate that they inspire the kind of awe that the ancient Gothic cathedral in nearby Salisbury once inspired. Hi! I would like to know how many hours take to complete all teh Golden Circle's stops mentioned in this article. Do 6 hours is enough? The Perfect Golden Circle is the perfect short story. That's precisely how it landed with me—a captured moment in time, an excerpt from a much longer narrative of these central characters, how they came together, what would happen to as their lives rolled along... and yet it is a novel, if only because its length shelves it as such.This is about much more than just crop circles. It is obviously about the friendship between Redbone and Calvert. They share scraps of their lives and loves (in Redbone’s case) and the way they see society. Calvert has some reflections on his time in the army and his country: Recently, the easy access point to Bruarfoss has been closed down – the only way to get there is to hike approximately one hour each way from the main road. Of course, I was a child at that time and I know very well, drop circles. We know that these two people constructing what was often said to be impossible, did leave a mark. But it’s also fiction, of course. But an interesting thought in relation to what crop circles beg to ask of the viewer. There’s some fun meta context reading this now, and I’m sure in the future. Starting in Reykjavik, the round trip should take approximately 7-8 hours: 3.5 hours of driving time + however long you decide to stay at each of the attractions listed below.

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