I like to think I'm an extremely avid reader and it saddens me that I hadn't actually read a book in months and months. Until now! This new feature inspired me to start reading again though and I have rediscovered my love.
My first choice of book was The Silmarillion by Tolkien but after struggling through the first chapter without actually understanding ANYTHING, I realised this wasn't the best choice of book to start with. I needed some easy reading so I chose two new books in Tesco. Any excuse to buy a few more!
My first choice was an obvious one:
C'mon, it has a ginger cat on the cover. Wearing a scarf. I couldn't leave the shop without buying it! I must have been way too distracted by the cat to actually read anything on the cover though, as it wasn't until I got home and all settled down to read that I realised it's a sequel! I haven't felt disappointment like that in a while! I was so excited to read the book but just couldn't do it without the prequel, which is now luckily on it's way to me. Thank you eBay! Hopefully next week I will be detailing my own adventures with Bob!
So after a few false starts, I finally settled on my other new book:
It was the blurb that got me:
'I'll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name's Simon. I think you're going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he'll be dead. And he was never the same after that.'
I am currently about 3/4 of the way through and I like it. I still haven't found out what happened to his brother though! We learn more and more details along the way and are currently led to believe (through various flashbacks and dreams) that Matthew, the protagonist, played a very major role in his death.
The book is written from Matthew's perspective; he is basically telling us his life story. We first learn that he may be a little different from the norm when he casually stabs a fellow pupil in the back with a compass. They unusually end up being best friends and we follow Matthew as he helps his new friend, Jacob, care for his disabled mother. We also learn about Matthew's relationship with both his parents (he describes his mother as 'mad') and his lovely 'Nanny Noo'. He is currently living on a psychiatric ward of a hospital because he hears voices, or more specifically, he hears the voice of his dead brother. I enjoy reading these kinds of books and it reminds me of one of my favourites, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. They are much more true to real life and I guess I can relate to certain aspects. Not that I've ever been admitted or anything, but I am a little strange....
The author is a registered mental health nurse so has a good knowledge of what actually goes on in mental hospitals and psychiatric wards. Most of this book is very sad and disturbing, and gets very dark in some places, which unfortunately makes a good read! I last left the story where Matthew has convinced himself that his brother wants to 'play' and is just about to escape from the ward. I believe he is heading to the caravan park where his brother died.
'When your big brother is calling, when it's finally time to go and play, if you need to escape from a psychiatric ward- the first thing to do is observe. Then get the hard work done for you. Say, Ahh. I'm a mental patient, not an idiot.'
I am interested to finally find out what happened! I shall let you know whether it was worth the wait or not next week. And about Bob. Bob the cat will definitely be playing a part. I hope the suspense doesn't kill you too much... Alternatively, you could buy the book yourself, I would recommend it so far. Let me know what you think!
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