Soft in the Head by Marie-Sabine Roger

As someone who enjoys the written word, and has done for many many years, this book spoke to my inner bookworm. It is very much the whole purpose of World Book Night, which is trying to get non-readers to read or those that hardly do to read more.

It is also about the sheer amount of magical worlds, wisdom and knowledge that remains hidden from illiterates.

It is certainly about people stereotyping certain individuals and thereby curbing their learning experience. Assuming that low ability also means incapable of taking anything on board.'You're too stupid to learn, so why would I waste time teaching you.'

This is exactly the type of experience Germain has had in school. Faced with ridicule and zero expectations, he has learnt not to venture into realms he doesn't understand. Even his friends are comfortable with the status quo, so it comes as a surprise and a subliminal threat when Germain starts to venture outwards and upwards.

Margueritte becomes the mother-figure Germain never had, but has always wanted. They are two lonely people living in solitude who become friends. It only takes one person to believe in the abilities of another, to give the less confident the courage to go beyond their imagined boundaries. She teaches him in a such a subtle way that he doesn't realise what is happening. In the end he snatches the reins from her and his journey becomes one of  personal independence, strength and development.

I was a little confused as to why the setting was in France with characters with French names, and yet the general language was clearly very street English at the beginning, although it did subside after a while. Do the French even know what chavs are? Then I remembered it has been translated from the French language, so the translator (Frank Wynne) has probably just used the English equivalent of the situational language setting.

Overall it is a poignant story, and a good read, hidden within something seemingly unobtrusive. By the way I really like the idea of a four-eyed story.

Buy Soft in the Head at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

The original title is La Tête en friche and there is also a film based on the book called My Afternoons with Margueritte.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

I would love to know whether Katarina Bivald is a bookworm, because this book seems as if it were written by a bookworm for other bookworms.

The love of books, stories and literature flows through the pages like veins through a body. Even the chapter with the book smelling. Yes, you read that correctly. Sara talks about the way books smell.

Old books smell differently than a new book, even text books, paperbacks and hardbacks have their own individual smell. Might seem odd for a non-bookworm, but hardcore b-worms will know exactly what she is talking about.

The same love of all things book is what manages to connect the inhabitants of the small town of Broken Wheel together, well it does after Sara works a little of her special magic and dreamy charm. It seems as if the old saying is correct in this instance 'people who don't read just haven't found the right book yet'

One of the funniest scenes in the book was Caroline and the book of sin. Her moving it around the house in an attempt to hide its existence from herself and others. It was really a very clever way of confronting the issue of how religion regards the topic of homosexuality.

The book becomes a symbol for her thoughts and inner dialogue on the matter. Is she wrong to judge without reading the book? If that is the case is it also wrong to judge without embracing or trying to understand? It really does throw quite a sharp stone at the glass house of Christianity. A house that preaches love and hatred in equal measures, whilst being completely blind to the hypocrisy of it all.

In the end it is a story of love and belonging. About one person, who needs this town just as much as the town needs her. They bring her out of her books and she brings them out of their ritualistic slump. A book for every person is her motto. Somewhere along the way Sara finds just a little more than just the worlds within the pages of her books.

I really enjoyed this story. It was charming, funny, sad and awkward all at the same time.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.