(28 April 2007)
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I didn’t quite walk around with my head buried in it, as this photo implies, but nearly …

This was a book that made me contact the author when I finished it, because of this little gem, near the end. They’re talking about setting a load of books free:

‘I’ve heard about this,’ said Simon. ‘Where they leave them in cafes and on buses and you pick them up, read them, leave your message and liberate them again, for someone else to find …

It also contains a sentence which sums up, for me, the style and content of a Paul Magrs book:

He was wooing her with gateaux and frothy mochas and the tender ministrations of his plastic hands …

Down to earth, rooted in reality, but with that twist of oddness. Although, actually, this is one of his least odd books. Simon, a classic orphaned YA hero, is living with his grandparents in a depressing small town. On one of their regular Saturday trips, he and his gran, Winnie, discover The Great Big Book Exchange, its eccentric owner and his Goth assistant, Kelly. Both Simon and Winnie forge new friendships, and then Winnie rediscovers an old one, too, in the pages of a book. As I said, this is one of Paul’s less magical books: to be honest, I prefer these, as I read even the very vampiry and witchy ones for the great believeable, earthy characters, often rooted firmly in the North East.

I galloped through this book this time, as I remember doing last time. It is a fairly easy read and with such lovely characters. I hope he writes about Simon again one day. Funny point of reference: the author, Ada, reminded me somewhat of Elizabeth Taylor’s Angel! Not such a monster, but a similar modus operandi … ( )

Following the death of his parents, 16–year–old Simon moves into his grandparents' claustrophobic bungalow — which quickly becomes a refuge from his bullying peers. United by their voracious appetite for books, Simon and his grandmother stumble across the Great Big Book Exchange — a bookshop with a difference. There they meet impulsive, gothic Kelly and her boss, Terrance. And the friendships forged in the Great Big Book Exchange result in startling and unsettling consequences for all of them. ( )

Simon's parents are dead and he is now living with his grandparents. Him and his grandmother discover they have a shared love of books when Simon has to sort though his parents belongings. They spend their Saturdays going to other localy towns and browsing through charity shops, filling their shopping baskets with more books to take home and fill their small house. Out one day they discover The Great Book Exchange. There they can buy second hand books in fantastic condition for very small prices, if they agree to take them back once they have read them to exchange for more books. In the shop they meet Kelly (a young goth girl about Simons age) and Terrence (the owner with two fake plastic arms) who become very important in the lives of Simon and his grandmother Winnie.

Simon's grandfather is not a fan of reading and on more than one attempt gets rid of the books stacked up in the house. He becomes more and more distanced from Winnie and Simon and can't understand them anymore. Winne discovers old books by Ada Jones who was an old friend of hers when she was growing up. The books take her back to her childhood and she wonders at the very different paths their lives took. Winnie stayed local and married whereas Ada went off travelling, having flings and writing. Winnie wonders about what could have been, did she make the right choices in her life. Did Ada?

This wasn't what I expected. I thought it would be a fantasy novel about a magical book exchange, but it turned out to be a very different tale about families, real life and passion for books and reading. It was like a fine wine somehow and I think it's the type of book I will love more and more with more readings of it. I recognised so much of myself in Simon when he gets really into reading and escapes his unhappy life. He always carries a book with him plus a spare just in case he gets stuck somewhere and finishes it. A definite must for anyone who loves books and a good story well told. ( )

Een aardig boek over een jongen en zijn oma, beide leesfanaat. Mooi beschreven is de relatie tussende oma en haar echtgenoot, die alleen maar drinkt en kritiek heeft. ( )

An interesting story about a young boy, Simon, who lives with his grandparents after the death of his parents. His grandmother and he share a love for books which is grandfather doesn't understand. He really doesn't understand their excitment for a new bookshop, the Great Big Book Exchange. What they find there changes their lives. Simon finds a friend, Kelly a girl who might love him, a goth who has no qualms about taking on bullies. His Grandmother finds a vaguely fictionalised version of her life written by an author she used to live beside and started on the path of reading and writing but whom she hasn't talked to in years, she also finds a kindred soul in Terrance, the eccentric owner of the Book Exchange. Their choices will change their lives.

It's an interesting and heartwarming read, and I really did want to visit the place. Near the end Bookcrossing is mentioned obliquely. ( )