How disability can make or break you.

Release planned for Saturday, December 13, 2003 at Carlton Arms Pub, Carlton Way, Arbury in Cambridge, England United Kingdom.

The non-smoking lounge bar is a haven for readers, with comfortable couches, great coffee and statisfying snacks. Check it out soon.

Found in great pub - the Carlton Arms in Cambridge. Love to visit here with my partner and twin sons and enjoy the real ale. I'll most likely be leaving book (which is very enjoyable) in the Cambridge Blue (another great pub) or in Clowns.

Released on Monday, March 22, 2004 at Cambridge Blue, Gwydir Street in Cambridge, England United Kingdom.

In the Conservatory! Have some lovely real ale and food while you are there.

I caught the book in the Cambridge Blue on Gywdir Street. The occassion was my friends' baby's first pub outing and a chance to get together for good food and drink. I plan to read it, filling the time on some train journeys so who know where it will go next...

CAUGHT IN CAMBRIDGE CAMBRIDGESHIRE ENGLAND

I'm so excited! I saw this book on the seat in the entrance to Ely Cathedral as I was slowly driving by. So I parked and went back and retrieved it, at around 17.15 today. Although I've been a BookCrosser since June 2003, I've never found a wild release before.

Enjoyed the book and found it a testimony to everyday human strengths. Released it last Thursday in Ely Cathedral entrance porch- a building that has stood strong through many trials and has nice greens to sit on, on a sunny day! Glad the book has a new reader. Peace!

I finally got round to starting this yesterday. Will journal it on completion.

Updated 25 July 2004:

I would not have chosen to read this book in the usual course of events - TBR pile too high, etc. But as it was my first wild catch I wanted ensure that the whole "register, read and release" procedure was carried out!

I finished this excellent book today. For those who have not experienced such a dramatic change of life, it gives an excellent overview of the unexpected events which affect people whose lives have altered beyond belief, in the course of day or so. It also addresses the experiences of long-stay hospital patients, and the need to educate all pupils in an inclusive setting as far as possible, rather than segregating some to "special" schools.

I think the law in England & Wales has changed since 1997 when the book was first published and many educational buildings have had to be redesigned to provide accessibility for all. If this is not the case, then such reform is surely long overdue.

This has been requested as a bookring by:

1. Spike1972
2. Loopy1
3. Myopicmeringue
4. MaisyMay
5. Moonowler
6. Normy

Anyone else?

This book landed safely in Sunny(?) Cardiff this morning. Thanks Gooner ;o)

As much as I'm looking forward to reading this, it's gonna have to join Mt TBR, so if anyone else wants me to pass it on to them in the mean-time, please just let me know.

This is, quite simply, a brilliant book.

I feel I've been through almost every emotion while reading it. I've been scared for Libby, sad, happy, and downright angry and/or frustrated on her behalf. This surely can only be testament to the power of the writing.

Being a wheelchair user myself, I can obviously sympathise and empathise a lot with Libby, the main character. I know a lot of the feelings that she experiences, and also recognise a lot of the feelings and reactions of the people around her, not only her family and friends, but strangers too. Of course, I also know the frustrations of today's society, just not being in a position to "cope" with a disabled person. (This doesn't just apply to wheelchair users obviously).

On a personal level, I have sometimes been asked "What's it like being disabled?" or "How do you cope being disabled?" My usual reply is "The same as you cope *not* being disabled", which usually gets a confused look, but what I mean is, it's all I've ever known, so to me it's 'normal'. I also found myself, surprisingly, with some prejudices/stereotyping of my own, purely because Libby went through some things that I haven't, and I'd never have thought about otherwise.

If I was ever to feel "sorry" for a disabled person (and after reading this I'm even more aware of trying not to), it would be somebody like Libby, who's had her whole life changed, in what seems an instant. Hers is indeed A Different Life to the one she used to know. Again this proves even more strongly that we are all individuals, with individual needs, with our own limitations and 'disabilities'.

Thank You Gooner for giving me the chance to read this book. I hope you have many, many readers for it.

Next up for this is Loopy. I'll journal again when I get it in the post to her.

Posted today, on its way to Loopy1 - I *really* hope you enjoyed it as much as I did ;o)

The postman came this morning, bringing nothing interesting, so I took the dog for a walk. Shortly after I came back the postman turned up again, this time with a couple of books!
I'm having real problems settling to reading at the moment, so am trying to read what the mood takes rather than on a strict list. This resulted in me being a chapter in to this book before I got a chance to journal its arrival. Libby has such a clear voice, and describes her life so well that I'm completely hooked, I completely identify with her as a character and I'm really looking forward to reading how her life progresses.

Well it took me longer than planned to read this book - mainly because I lost it for a while!
I was sitting on the sofa reading it, I put it down for a minute, and when I went to pick it up it had disappeared. I found it in the hands of my husband, and since he can be very picky about what he reads I decided to let him read it rather than insist on having it back.
He read it and enjoyed it, and then I had my turn. I really enjoyed this book. The main character told the story very well, with no pity and without asking for sympathy. The book raised some interesting topics. As Gooner says, the law in this country is now updated with the Disability Discrimination Act, whereby reasonable provision has to be made for all disabled people to access services, but I'm sure there are still places that hide behind the "fire risk" line.
Thanks for letting me read this book. I'll be sending it off shortly.

I received this today - I'm looking forward to reading it. I have a couple of other BookRing books to read first, so I may take a bit longer than a month to read this, but I have a week's holiday next week, so hopefully will have chance to catch up on BookRing reading.

I enjoyed this book and found it very interesting - it made me realise all kinds of practicalities and prejudices facing wheelchair users that I wouldn't have thought of. It's funny how very few books there seem to be from the perspective of a disabled person - I just realised that from reading this book - it occurred to me what an unusual book it was, and how few books like it I'd read. I wonder why - I even started a forum thread about it because the novel really got me thinking about it.

I thought it very odd in the novel that Libby's head teacher said that she couldn't come back to school because in case of a fire they didn't have a lift, so Libby would be in danger. Surely she'd be in more danger using a lift during a fire - don't fire regulations state that in the case of a fire, no one should use lifts?! In a hospital or care home, immobile patients who are upstairs do not get moved during a fire - they must stay where they are and the fire doors close to protect them until the firemen arrive. I was waiting for one of Libby's parents to point these things out, but they never did - despite Libby's father apparently looking into all the legal aspects. Their case would have been far stronger if they had.

One thing occurred to me about the book: there was a lot of anger in it, and sometimes I wondered if it might be counterproductive to the author's aim to raise awareness about disability - it might alienate the very people she wishes to educate. Not that she shouldn't be angry, but sometimes she seemed to portray things in a very black and white way - it seemed that everyone who didn't understand the needs of disabled people were 'baddies'. Surely if those are the people she wishes to reach, it would be better to express an understanding of their lack of understanding, as such lack of understanding is often due to lack of experience of such things rather than evil intent.

And... I feel like I'm one of the 'baddies' for saying this, but the head teacher did have a point when he said that he couldn't ask staff to carry a teenager up and down stairs. Even nurses are not supposed to lift patients, because of the damage it can do to their backs. So I think if the novel had conceded some of the points that the head teacher was saying, rather than portraying him as the evil, prejudiced baddie, then it would have been more balanced, and Libby's case could have been more persuasive.

But still, it's a great book, and the author obviously is writing from her own experience of disability, so she knows a lot about it. And I do think there would be less prejudice/ignorance if more books like this were written.

Moonowler has asked to be skipped from the bookring, so I will send this back to Gooner unless anyone else has joined the ring. Thanks, Gooner, for organising this bookring.

I am sending this book to MaisyMay, who has joined the bookring.

Received this earlier this week - thanks for sending it on to me. I've just noticed I'm on the list twice (Maddy837 is my yahoo name!), so I'll be sending on to Moonowler once I've read it.

Handed on to me at the Unconvention - thank you. Apologies for the delay in journalling; I will finish it as quickly as possible.