Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson

My son brought this home from the library and it since I love Jeanette Winterson's adult fiction, I couldn't not read this! And I'm glad I did. It's Young Adult fantasy but absoloutely brilliantly written.

The heroine is Silver, an orphan girl who lives in a crumbling old mansion, Tanglewreck, with her cruel and uncaring aunt, Mrs Rockabye. Mrs Rockabye takes Silver to London to meet with a man named Abel Darkwater who wants a mysterious clock called the Timekeeper, which he believes Silver to have, or at least that she has knowledge of where it is.

The story is set in the present day UK, but in a world where the fabric of time is coming apart, causing Time Tornadoes and Time Slips. Time Tornadoes are like hurricanes that whip up anything and anybody in their path but instead of depositing them in another part of this world, it deposits them in another time altogether. This works both ways, leading to the appearence of a wooly mammoth on the banks of the Thames! It soon becomes clear that Abel Darkwater is interested in the Timekeeper for his own unpleasant purposes, and that Silver needs to find it for herself to save the day, and the world!

Ok, so as I said, pretty formulaic stuff so far. But being about the disintegration of time the story has a very wide ranging scope, stretching from the Bedlam Hospital in Eighteenth century London, to a mysterious place called the Einstein Line, with three suns and its own collection of Popes, in the Twenty-Fourth century. It seems to be able to combine current concerns with complicated scientificic ideas easily, and tie them all together with a degree of coherence.

The idea that we are all moving too quickly and that everything happns too fast in todays world is suggested as one of the possible causes of the time disturbances that are occurring in the world.

"'I think its our own fault', said the cabbie. 'We're all going so fast that we're taking time with us. Nobody's got any time nowadays, rush, rush, rush. Well here we are and theres no time left. I reckon time's running out like everything else on the planet-like oil and water and all that'"

I also really like the reference to actual people, the two I can recall being Einstein and Stephen Hawking. The book actually makes use of Hawkings oft quoted belief that if time travel were possible in the future then we would know about it because we would have visitors from the future time travelling into our present. And then having made this point, the book goes on to give a really simple reason as to why this argument is flawed!

Silver's adventure takes her through time and space, fighting two adversaries in a bid to stop them finding the Timekeeper and thus gaining complete control over time. Along the way it explores ideas about time and reality, the main one of these being that time is not static. It is always subject to change so just bcause something has happened in a particular time, doesn't mean it will always happen in that time! This leads to the idea that all possibilities exist at the same time! Silver's friend enters a Twenty-Fourth century hospital through the Eighteenth century Bedlam because that is the state he chooses to tune into.

"'Remember Silver, that you, me, everything in the universe came from a single explosion so the atoms in our bodies are linked with every atom in space and time. The universe is not local and isolated. It is a cosmic web'"

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fantastic story with some big ideas about space and time. I have read reviews that compare it to Phillip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, butsince I haven't read this, I can't make this comparison myself. I also really likes the fact that although the ending is good, the author resists the temptation to give it a saccharine sweet ending, which she could so easily have done.

Just a couple of additions.

I have no idea whether the science in this book is accurate. The explanations of the theoretical implications of Quantum Mechanics sound plausible to me, but I'm no scientist. I don't think it actually matters because the story holds up well whether the science is accurate or not.

And this is the book I mentioned at the start of yesterdays Weekly Geeks post that inspired me to interview Tess Durbeyfield in an alternate reality.

Weekly Geeks-Character Interview

This week we are going to continue with the theme started last week and go even further exploring our favorite book characters.Many of us have had an opportunity to interview an author, mostly through email, but perhaps even on the phone or in person. In fact, many of you have become experts at author interviews.

So this week, let's pretend that we can get in contact with one of our favorite characters and interview them. What would you ask Mr. Darcy if you could send him an email. What would his answers be like? What would you say if you could just call up Liesel or Rudy from The Book Thief and ask them anything? How would they answer your questions? What if you could invite Jo March or Anne Shirley to lunch, what would the conversation be like?


I'm currently reading a children's book that explores the idea that all eventualities are possible and that events in time are not fixed. With this in mind I managed to secure an interview with Tess Durbeyfield, age 62, immediately after the death of her husband of over 40 years, Angel Clare! And as a word of warning if you haven't read this and intend to at any point,this does kind of give the plot away!

So Tess, before we start I'd just like to offer my condolences on your loss.

Thank you. But we had a good marriage and many happy times together. I am just grateful for the time we had. It could have been so different.

What makes you say that? If it's not too personal to ask?

No, it's not personal at all. I did promise to be very open and frank with you. I kept a secret from Angel my whole life because I was frightened to tell him in case it changed the way he felt about me. That secret was that I had a baby resulting from a rape when I was seventeen.

That's a big secret to keep. Why did you feel that he wouldn't understand, or that his feelings would change?

I wasn't sure and there were numerous times I would like to have told him but I lost the courage. I did write him a letter just before we were married but he never received it. He was quite an enlightened man so I think he would have been ok with it, but I couldn't risk losing him.

Apart from when you wrote the letter, when did you come closest to confessing your secret to him?

I think it would have been on our honeymoon. He had just confessed a similar indiscretion to me and since I felt it was the same I felt it would be ok to tell him. But I was so happy at that time, and I felt I should tell him, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I almost wish I had, but I don't know what I would have done if he'd decided he couldn't live with me anymore.

OK, hypothetically speaking, what was the worst that could have happened if you had told him?

He could have left me. And then where would I have been? I wouldn't have been able to go home, at least not for long because of the shame I would bring on my family. They were already seen as a dubious family due to my illegitimate child, so I would have had to find whatever work I could, which at that time of year wouldn't have been pleasant work. I may never have seen him again, and I loved him so much I would have never been happy again.

You talk about being happy. When were you most happy in your life?

That's an easy one. I was happy when Angel and myself were courting at Talbothays. At this point I never considered that I could have married him, I just enjoyed the attention and his company. I was happy during my marriage but I always felt like it wasn't quite real because I was holding something back from him.

Why do you not think you could have married him?

I had promised myself that I would never be anyone's wife. It truly felt like it wouldn't have been fair on any man because I was not a pure woman. When I told my mother I was going to marry Angel, she told me in very emphatic terms not to tell him of my past. She always said it would do no good.

So, do you ever see the man whose child you had?

No, I have never seen him since the day I left his house. I have heard that he has since taken up religion and is a preacher now. That disgusts me really because he was a despicable, self-serving man. It cannot be that he truly believes, it must be for his own purpose somehow. I am glad I have never had to see him.

Did he know about the child?

No, I never told him. There was, and is, no need for him to know. The child died in infancy so he has no responsibility there. He was a devious and manipulative man and he would have used the child to win me back to him, perhaps even bestowing gifts on my family in an attempt to make me feel obligated towards him. He has no scruples, that man.

Do you not feel that he would just have been doing what he thought was right, under the circumstances?

No! I repeat I am glad I have never seen him again. I do have a recurring dream though that I told Angel about my past and that he rejected me and left. In this dream Alec does exactly what I have described above and eventually wins me back to him by offering my family a place to live, security and work. I return to him, although as a meek and obliging shell of my former self. This is the point at which my beloved Angel finally returns to me. I hate that dream. It seems so prophetic somehow.

Is that where the dream ends?

Yes that is where it ends. I always wake up at that point. I don't like to think about what would happen next. I think I would kill Alec. I don't think I could control myself. I can just imagine how Alec would react to the return of Angel. It is such a horrible thought I think I wake myself up purposely. It would be so disastrous to the lives of everyone I care about.

Well, at least that's only a dream. Are you glad you kept your secret?

Yes and No. I will never know what angel would have done, but also I've never had to deal with the consequences of him possibly reacting badly to it. I sometimes wonder about the mayday dance though. I wonder whether my life would have been different if he had danced with me then. I may have had no secret to keep. But I've had a good life with Angel and that's what I'm going to focus on now.

I think that's a good idea. I hope you manage to deal with your grief and enjoy the rest of your life. And thank you for your honesty.

Booking Through Thursday-Storage

This week’s question is suggested by Kat:
I recently got new bookshelves for my room, and I’m just loving them. Spent the afternoon putting up my books and sharing it on my blog . One of my friends asked a question and I thought it would be a great BTT question. So from Tina & myself, we’d like to know

“How do you arrange your books on your shelves? Is it by author, by genre, or you just put it where it falls on?”

I realise that this may make some people gasp in horror but I don't really have a system for organising books! I have two large bookcases in the alcoves either side of my fireplace, which is where the majority of my books live. I do try and put books by the same author together but other than that they just go where there is a space! Other than that I've got a pile by my bed of books I intend to read in the near future, and a shelf in the hall with three piles of library books on it, one each for me, Dylan and Chrissie (my children). Library books are kept separate so I know where they are and in the hall in the hope that seeing them will jog my memory if any need returning! Lol.

Dylan on the other hand has perfectly organised bookshelves! Its all in alphabetical order, with series in their right order. Any of his larger books that won't fit upright in his shelves are neatly piled in top in size order, and woe betide anybody that dares to put one back in the wrong place! I don't know where he gets it from, it's certainly not from me! Lol.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

I don't think there's many people who haven't read this, or read numerous reviews so I'll keep this brief. I'm also not sure what I really thought about this little book. The Queen stumbles on a mobile library that she didn't know existed and borrows a book, more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. This leads to an obsession with reading that affects her royal duties, relationships and her whole life.

The book is full of humorous moments, I chuckled a fair few times in the short time it took me to read this book. The concept of a quiz team with The Queen an her self-selected reading advisor is just one of these moments.

"'The pub quiz. One has been everywhere, seen everything and though one might have difficulty with the pop music and some sport, when it comes to the capital of Zimbabwe, say, or the principal exports of New South Wales, I have all that at my fingertips'

'And I could do the pop' said Nigel

'Yes' said the queen 'we would make a good team'"

The book is really an exploration of how reading can change lives. The queen feels it has changed hers and becomes increasingly dissatisfied with her own commitments as they distract from her reading time. It also works well as a gentle satire of all the bureaucracy, planning and prompting that goes into the supposedly smooth running life of the British Monarch.

However, there are times this book just seemed to moral, and almost dictatorial to me. Yes, the queen should be allowed to read, and the attempts of her advisers to curtail this are wrong, The queen also seems to assume that because she enjoys reading, everyone else should too. When she starts asking her subjects on her walkabouts what they are reading, rather than generic, 'have you travelled far' type questions, she is making assumption about peoples leisure time, simply because this is how she fills her spare time.

"'I feel Ma'am, that while not exactly elitist, it sens the wrong message. It tends to exclude.'

'Exclude!' 'Surely most people can read'

'They can Ma'am, but I'm not sure that they do'

'Then, Sir Kevin, I am setting a good example'

Maybe this is supposed to be satire, or comedy but it just didn't come across that way to me. Having said that though, apart from this issue, I enjoyed this book, it made me laugh and the surprise ending was a shock, and definitely food for thought.

Weekly Geeks-Character Names

For this week's edition of Weekly Geeks, we're going to take a closer look at character names. What are some of your favorite character names?

Go to Google or a baby name site like this one or this one, and look up a favorite character's name. What does their name mean? Do you think the meaning fits the character? Why or why not?

If you'd like, look up your own name as well and share the meaning.

When it came to thinking of favourite character names I drew a complete blank, so I thought I'd pick a selection of characters from a favourite series. So here are some character names from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. I actually didn't finish this series, I lost interest slightly after Memnoch the Devil, but I may get to the rest one day!

LESTAT I couldn't find this name on any name sites but I did find this on Wikipedia from Anne Rice.

"Lestat was inspired by Stan, and then I became Lestat."[3] The name 'Lestat' was a misspelling of "Lestan," which Rice believed to be an old French name"

Stan Rice obviously being her husband. This doesn't tell us a lot about the character, but does imply that she felt a personal connection with Lestat.

Louis Louis apparently means 'Famous warrior'. Again this is really the antithesis of Louis as he is one of the more peaceful vampires in the series. It was however a very regal name, used by sixteen kings of France, and Louis sometimes has to have an air of regality and aloofness about him.

Claudia Depending on which site used, Claudia either means 'lame or 'disabled'. Although she is portrayed as a beautiful child, she is disabled by Lestat and Louis as they turn her into a five year old vampire, doomed to never mature physically, although she does emotionally. She is also disabled in a more physical sense, as she is eternally five, so can never live alone. She will always need to be dependent on someone to provide her a home.

Armand This one simply means 'soldier'. I don't think this really fits that well with the character, but it is a beautiful name, for a character portrayed throughout the series as beautiful.

I could go on for ever simply listing characters but I think I'll leave it that! I did look up mine and my children's names though, just because I couldn't resist whilst I was looking up names!

Joanne This is derived from the female form of John, and literally means 'Grace of God'. Hmmm!

Dylan This is Welsh, meaning 'man of the sea'. I knew it was welsh because that's the reason we chose it. His dad is Welsh and wanted a Welsh name, and I thought I could always say he was named after Dylan Thomas! Lol. He does love being in water though!

Christina This simply means 'follower of Christ'. Again, Hmmm! She was actually named after her Dad's first employer who took on a substitute father role when it was needed most, and is her Godfather. Thats the Chris part, and the Tina comes from my childhood babysitter, who I was close to and who died very young. Bit of an amalgamation but we thought it was a pretty name.

I really enjoyed doing this and I think it will make me think a bit more about character names in the books I read.

Not The End of The World by Geraldine McCaughrean

Basic plot summary for this one is easy! Everyone knows it anyway. God decides his word is corrupt and sends word to Noah that he is going to destroy it with a huge flood. Noah is the chosen one and need to build a boat big enough to keep him, his family and two of every living animal safe for forty days and nights. After his the flood will subside, the earth will be cleansed and it will be a devout holy place once again.

Well, I think that was the version I learnt as a child anyway. In Not The End Of The World, Geraldine McCaughrean has explored the details of what it might be like to have been cooped up on the Ark for that amount of time, as well as questioning the validity of a God who would destroy all of humanity, and drawing a picture of Noah as a fanatical religious patriarch with no empathy or compassion.

When I think about this biblical story, I never stopped to think that it might not have been a pleasant place to be. Life is portrayed as very basic, with it being cold, wet and smelly because of the animal manure, which at one point they use to keep warm. neither humans nor animals have enough food, so they all go hungry, which leads to disastrous events as the predatory animals on board only do what comes naturally to them.

One of the mos disturbing incidents in this book is when Ham and Shem are pushing drowning people off the Ark because they were not chosen to be saved. Whilst pushing them off with a staff, Ham shouts

"Get off! Get off! Leave Go! Its too late, I told you! It's your own fault!"

And whilst this is going on, Noah is

"Sat looking into the distance, his lips moving in prayerful devotion, completely given over to thanksgiving"

Noah seems to have total belief in Gods plan and total acceptance that they are superior to everyone else and that God will look after them. When the various calamities that befall them are solved god has intervened, it is never due to the efforts of his family.

This fatalistic attitude is balanced by Timna, Noah's teenage daughter. It is Timna that questions why God would do this to his creation, why he would want all these people to drown. She cannot question her father as she is brought up to believe her fathers word is final, so she struggles with all these doubts herself. She rescues a small boy and a baby from the flood and hides them in the animal hold, away from her father.

Timna also raises important questions about the validity of Gods plan. How can one family be expected to repopulate the earth alone? Where the male members of the family have total belief that God will destroy anyone who manages to survive on the flood waters, Timna believes others must survive, otherwise the continuation of the human race will not be possible. As Timna eventually discusses this with her mother towards the end of the book,

"And if survival is down to merit there must be better than us. Seeing the way we behaved to our fellow men. You were quite right Timna, there must be others. There are too many flaws in God's plan unless there are"

So, Noah as dutifully obeying God's commands to save the human race or fanatical, deluded cult leader. Interesting idea, and its worth reading just for a different perspective.

Spelling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just read an article about spelling basically suggesting that both British and American spelling systems should be simplified to a more phonetic system, as part of our problems with spelling are due to the irregular spelling and pronunciation variants in English.


Hmmm, I think its more likely that it's the reliance on computer spellcheckers and predictive text messages that's to blame for this and I can't see how changing our spelling is feasible. And the article also includes a spelling test, which I did quite badly on. I only got 15/20 so maybe my spelling needs some work! Spelling was always my thing at school, so I'm just off to read a dictionary now! Lol. After I've spellchecked this of course!