Bookwitch

I felt compelled to go. So I went, and I’m glad I did. There was a memorial service for Siobhan Dowd in Oxford yesterday. The Holywell Music Room was a beautiful place to have it. The weather was beautiful. And the celebration of Siobhan’s life and work was beautifully put together.

Siobhan’s husband Geoff and friends started it off by singing Gypsy Rover. Then David Fickling (”the Lancashire Comedian”) and Fiona Dunbar did their Oscars style presentation. Siobhan’s sisters Denise and Oona talked about their childhood, and read from a favourite book.

Bella Pearson read from A Swift Pure Cry and Phil Earle from The London Eye Mystery, which just showed us again how good these books are. Geoff read a poem by Siobhan, and Meg Rosoff read an extract from Siobhan’s next book, Bog Child.

There was a lot of music and singing. Nick Gill played Scott Joplin. Daryl Wells sang Nina Simone. And we had real Bulgarian Gypsy music from Mike Limmer and Morski. There were readings from James Joyce, Irina Ratushinskaya, Henrietta Branford, Ezra Pound and Dylan Thomas.

There were family and friends, and many people from the book trade. Someone wanted me to put together an exciting report on who was there, but I have to admit to only recognising some of the many who attended. Linda Sargent and Linda Newbery. Lee Weatherley and Anthony McGowan. Rachel Billington. Julia Eccleshare.

Afterwards in the Turf Tavern I was introduced to people, and their names whirl round in my head. There was talk of crossdressing. I got some more background on Lauren Child and Pippi Longstocking. Had to admit to people I hadn’t actually read their books, despite Meg R going round saying I read everything. (But Lee, Anthony and Fiona - you are on my next list. Definitely.)

I found I’d already met Nina Douglas from David Fickling Books, without knowing it. And I learnt that David himself let out a secret to us, so we’ve been sworn to silence. Now that I’ve seen how very nice “the Lancashire Comedian” is, I’ll never be brave enough to take him up on his earlier offer of a coffee when I’m next in Oxford. Not that I drink coffee, anyway, but I’d thought I might. Almost.

Meg did that very nice thing, and introduced me to her agent, Catherine. Maybe she knew I don’t have a book to flog, and never will. She even gave me her copy of Bog Child, which I will tell you about later.

Have to mention here, that all my trains ran on time.

A big thank you to Geoff for a beautiful day.

I was very sad to learn that Siobhan Dowd died a few days ago. She was so kind and friendly, and seemed quite happy to enter into email correspondence with an admiring book blogger. I heard some weeks ago that Siobhan’s cancer had got worse, but hoped with all my heart that she would hang on for longer. Much longer.

There are some links about Siobhan on Dina Rabinovitch’s blog, and also on Declan Burke’s blog (right), if you want to read more.

There is even a comment from Siobhan on this blog, back in June. And do read her books.

If it hadn’t been for my criminal Irish blog colleague at crimealwayspays.blogspot.com I would have missed the fact that Siobhan Dowd has won the Branford Boase award. So, belated congratulations from the bookwitch.

Though, having read about the awards ceremony which took place last week, I’m beginning to think they have all these awards so that they can go out and celebrate together all the time. It sounds like everyone was there. Not me, but otherwise. When do they write their books?

Having a personal interest in Asperger’s Syndrome, I enjoy what I call my Aspie books. There’s The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd, just out. Another Siobhan (Parkinson) has written Blue Like Friday. There’s no mention of Asperger’s in her book, but I felt the whole story about Olivia and her friend Hal was very Aspie in its flavour. Lovely book, and it just proved what a lot of good Irish authors there are. It’s funny, and Siobhan’s way with language was great.

The obvious Aspie book is Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which I, being careless as usual, bought thinking it was fact, rather than fiction. Lucky mistake. It’s an incredible book, sad and funny and very worthwhile.

A very little known book is Kathy Hoopmann’s Blue Bottle Mystery, An Asperger Adventure. This is a short and easy read, and very good for younger children. It works well as an ordinary story, but also provides information about AS.

Truth or Dare by Celia Rees is an excellent book, as one expects from a writer like Celia. This, too, can be “just a book” or can inform the reader about Asperger’s. With my normal flair I bought this by accident, too.

Tim Bowler’s Dragon’s Rock may or may not be an Aspie book. I haven’t asked him, but it had a distinct flavour of something like it when I read the book. It’s not really mentioned anywhere, but it would explain the boy’s behaviour. Maybe Tim doesn’t know?

These books have in common the fact that they are all mysteries. I don’t know whether Asperger’s lends itself particularly well to detecting, or if it’s pure coincidence. Or it could be that to reach a good audience this is an attractive genre to go for. Whatever it is, I’m grateful there’s a selection of books like these. I want more, though, both to enlighten the Neurotypical reader (how’s that for jargon?) and to show the Aspies that there are books for and about them.

Look out for a new book today; The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd. I missed Siobhan’s first book, A Swift Pure Cry, so I’m glad I found this one.

It’s about Ted and his sister Kat and Salim, their cousin. Salim goes on the London Eye, and seemingly disappears into thin air. Ted and Kat set about finding out what happened. Coincidence being what it is, I started reading this book the same week as both Son and Daughter, separately, went to London and went on the Eye for the first time. Luckily they didn’t disappear.

What makes this mystery so special is the fact that Ted has Asperger’s Syndrome, so thinks in his own particular way. Siobhan says she’s writing more books about Ted and Kat, so that’s something to look forward to. Having read the book as proof with a plain cover, I was really attracted to the real deal. The cover design is absolutely wonderful and it makes me want to go out and buy the book. Which is possibly what the publishers, David Fickling, had in mind.

There have been complaints. A real bookwitch should predict the winner of the Carnegie medal. Preferably she should also get it right. The real reason there was no forecast earlier was the slight confusion about having read all the books. Or more accurately, not having read the whole shortlist. But witchy feelings are just that; feelings. So, I’m not saying who I think wrote the best book or which one I like the best.

My vibes say Anne Fine. With a slight tingle in the direction of Siobhan Dowd. Definitely not a man.