He's always watching

If you read The Trouble with Goats and Sheep (or at the very least my review of it) then you won't be surprised to learn that I thoroughly enjoyed The Goldfish Boy by Colleen Oakley. The bare bones of this book is remarkably similar in that it's centered on a cul-de-sac in England where there are secrets behind every door and there's a mystery involving the disappearance of a small child. Yes, they're remarkably similar except...the main character is a young boy named Matthew who suffers from a debilitating case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD which has resulted in him being unable/unwilling to leave his house. He is hyper-observant of everyone's movements and takes detailed notes which is how we get to know all of his neighbors. The majority of the novel takes place in his bedroom where the reader is trapped right along with him. Besides the discussion of OCD, Oakley tackles the internalized shame and fear of living with a mental illness. This is written in the style of Rear Window where the reader is seeing through the eyes of someone who is on the outside but also very much on the inside. (I'm deliberately being vague because to be anything else would give away the mystery.) This book made me wonder how common OCD might be in children and how this could be misdiagnosed as agoraphobia or vice versa. (Wait til you see how Matthew's parents view his behavior.) I felt that the author was extremely sensitive in her handling of this debilitating illness and wrote about it with just enough detail for us to feel as if we were getting a glimpse inside of Matthew without beating us over the head with it. Of note: I didn't much care for any of the adults in this book. Far and away, they were all pretty much useless cretins. The book though was riveting and I immediately passed it on to my co-worker who then passed it on to her teenage daughter. That marks it a winner in my books. 10/10

See what I mean about the Rear Window vibes? [Source: Amazon]

What's Up Next: Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley

What I'm Currently Reading: The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers and Quackery

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Science!! Mystery!! Tuberculosis?

It's no mystery (see what I did there?) to you, dear reader, that I'm a science nerd. I've reviewed enough scientific nonfiction to lend credence to that statement. That being said, I have to give props where props are due. The Remedy was superb. Goetz brings to light the achievements of 19th century scientists that were instrumental in modernizing medicine which at the time was seen as imprecise and oftentimes dangerous. Robert Koch, a man known to science mostly for his methodology postulates, was also one of the fathers of bacteriology alongside his nemesis, Louis Pasteur. Koch's triumphs and downfalls in relation to TB are brought to light right alongside the magnificent story of Arthur Conan Doyle and his journey from dissatisfied doctor to acclaimed author. While these stories seem to have no relation to one another, Goetz illustrates that these two scientifically minded men have more in common than meets the eye. For anyone looking to learn more about ACD's creation of that illustrious detective Sherlock Holmes or for those yearning to learn more about the deadly disease of Tuberculosis, this is the book for you!

PS TB is still a major threat to humanity and kills large numbers of people every year.

To give you all a glimpse into my mind, the next book on the list is just as up my alley as The Remedy. I'm reading D is for Dahl: A gloriumptious A-Z guide to the world of Roald Dahl by Roald Dahl, compiled by Wendy Cooling, and illustrated by Quentin Blake. Roald Dahl is, simply put, one of the greatest children's authors of all time. If you haven't read any of his books then you are truly missing out on an extraordinarily delightful reading experience. Who can think of a more beguiling adventure than a tour through a chocolate factory such as in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Who could possibly be nastier than the Grand High Witch from The Witches? The man was a genius and when his books were joined by the illustrations of Quentin Blake the characters fairly leaped off of the page and into the imaginations of children and adults the world over. Therefore, why wouldn't I want to read random facts and trivia about the man himself (with the bonus of QB illustrations littering the pages)?!