Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

Well, I'd usually start with a plot synopsis, but there wasn't really a plot to this. It's the story of Jason Taylor, a 13 year old boy living in a small suburban town in the UK in the early 1980's. Well, Jason is the narrator of the story anyway. Each chapter of the book covers one month of Jason's life and goes into great detail about the things that worry him whether they be seemingly trivial or important on a global scale.

Jason at first seems to live in a seemingly idyllic family life, in the best estate in Black Swan Green with his Mum, Dad and older sister, who he doesn't get on with and calls him 'thing' quite frequently. There is a moment at the start when a mysterious phone call in his Dad's study is answered by Jason, and ominously, the phone is put down without anybody speaking. Never a good sign, in a book or in reality! And it becomes clear very early on that Jason has a stutter, so struggles with certain words. He personifies this as 'hangman', and it crops up throughout the book.

"Apart from the Russians starting a nuclear war, my biggest fear is if hangman gets interested in 'j' words cause then I wont even be able to say my own name"

This stutter is such a big deal to Jason because he is desperately trying to stay normal at school and is aware how difficult his life would be if he stuttered when he spoke. He would become a laughing stock and relegated to what he would all 'the leper kids'. Jason would love to be popular but is most afraid of being at the bottom of the playground hierarchy.

This is where the brilliance of this book comes into its own for me. Its the detail of a thirteen year old's life. Who doesn't remember the hell of having to wear the right clothes, use the right words, associate with the right people and just generally be seen to be the same as everyone else. Different was not really an option! And fitting yourself into the playground hierarchy was a tangle of do's and don'ts in itself.

"Kids who are really popular get called by their first names, so Nick Yew's just 'Nick'. Kids who are a bit popular like Gilbert Swinyard have sort of respectful nicknames like 'Yardy'. Next down are kids like me who call each other by our surnames. Below us are kids with piss-take nicknames like Moran Moron or Nicholas Briar who's Knickerless Bra. Its all ranks being a boy, like the army. If I called Gilbert Swinyard just 'Swinyard' he'd kick my face in. Or if I called Moron 'Dean' in front of everyone it would damage my own standing."

Each chapter deals with a different event in Jason's life. There's the visits to the speech therapist about his stutter, a visit from his more well off cousins, his attempts to join a popular gang and the reasons this fails, first crushes, first kisses and other such stuff that is so important to thirteen year old boys.

Interspersed with this are bigger issues, such as the devastating effects of war on the families whose children don't return (this story is set during the Falklands war), the attitude of the suburban middle class town to an influx of gypsies and how Jason comes to see them from a different perspective, and running through this is the constant shadow of marriage breakdown and divorce which comes to a head at the conclusion of the novel.

I actually grew up not far from the Malvern Hills, where this is supposed to be set, and although I'm about five years younger than Jason (I would have been Eight in 1982) I can recognise all the cultural references and teenage slang. Words such as epic, ace, spaz, and the game British Bulldogs. There's even a reference to schools banning it, which was the case all over. Two many broken bones! There are many more references I could list, most of which provoked a nostalgic smile, but that could get slightly boring.

All in all, it was a fascinating read, even though not much happened. I was gripped all the way through. Part of the enjoyment for me though was the nostalgia and I'd be interested in how this book comes across to a foreign reader, or a much younger reader.

Booking Through Thursday

Hardcover? Or paperback?
Illustrations? Or just text?
First editions? Or you don’t care?
Signed by the author? Or not?

This is easy. A book is a book! Its the words that matter, and the words that I will buy it for. To prize a book because it's a first edition, or signed by the author is to put a quality on a book that goes above the actual original purpose of the book. You can tell here I'm not precious about books at all! I like to keep them in the state I acquired them, but never pristine! Books are for reading, and a book that looks loved and well read is more attractive than a first edition or signed copy that is mollycoddled and kept on a shelf to preserve its 'perfect' status. Hmmm, I think I'm starting to rant a bit now so I will just say that is obviously my opinion and I accept that a lot of people feel differently.

Generally I'll buy paperbacks, I just find them easier to read and easier to store. I'll only buy a hardback if it's a book I really want to read as it's published, rather than wait for the paperback version to be released. And even then, only if I can't get it from the library.

Monday Musing-The Library

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about the library…

How often do you visit the library? Do you have a scheduled library day/time, or do you go whenever? Do you go alone, or take people with you?

I'm not organised enough to have a specific time in my week to visit the library. My local library is very small, although the County library network is brilliant and has most of the books I want to read. Consequently most of my books come in as requests from the county network. I tend to just collect these as they come in. In fact, I'm very likely to collect a book as soon as I receive the text message telling me that a book has arrived. So as well as not being organised,I'm not very patient either! Lol. My son is just the same. When I tell him one of his requests has come in, he's got his shoes on and the door open before I've even got his library card out for him!

To be fair though, I don't have to go out of my way to get to my library at all. In fact I have to walk past it twice every day on my way to fetch my daughter to and from school. If I had to travel at all, then I suppose I would have to be more organised!

I do make slightly longer visits to the library when I take my daughter to change her books. Again though, this doesn't have a scheduled time of the week, it just happens when she needs to change her books. We usually go on the way home from school, since we have to walk past anyway. This is the time I do have a chance to browse the shelves in the library, because once we've chosen her books she likes to start reading them in the library. This is when I'm likely to come out with more books than I can possibly read!

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.