Anyone read The Little Girl in the Radiator written by a carer

[ollyfran]

I have just finished reading the above book written by Martin Slevin who cared for his Mum who was suffering with Alzheimers.
The title is a little weird but this is explained later in the book and brought me to tears but this is a book which had me laughing out loud and crying with sadness.
It is extremely moving and I guess the funny parts were very trying at the time but retrospectively I'm sure we can all find things that when you recount them to others suddenly have a humorous side.
If you have a Kindle it is considerably cheaper than the paperback and well worth the read.

 

[jeany123]

I have just finished reading the above book written by Martin Slevin who cared for his Mum who was suffering with Alzheimers.
The title is a little weird but this is explained later in the book and brought me to tears but this is a book which had me laughing out loud and crying with sadness.
It is extremely moving and I guess the funny parts were very trying at the time but retrospectively I'm sure we can all find things that when you recount them to others suddenly have a humorous side.
If you have a Kindle it is considerably cheaper than the paperback and well worth the read.

I just got it today on my Iphone Kindle I haven't started to read it yet , you can get it on laptop kindle as well,

Jeany x

 

[nellbelles]

I read an excerpt in the Daily Mail, very moving.

Helen

 

[Izzy]

I think someone posted a link to an article about this recently. I think this was the link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...artin-Slevin-lifts-lid-living-Alzheimers.html

 

[scarletpauline]

I read an exerpt in the Daily Mail as well, and have ordered it from Amazon, didn't think it was published yet as it said 6th August, hopefully it will come soon. Jack was interested in the article so I think he might read it as well as me. It's only £5.99 with free postage on Amazon.

 

[Izzy]

I'm interested that Jack still reads Pauline. Bill used to read a lot but now he can't follow a story. He really doesn't read newspaper articles either. I'm glad that Jack can still enjoy the pleasure of reading and that you can both enjoy the pleasure of sharing what you've read.

 

[ollyfran]

My Mum still reads but I'm not convinced she knows what she is reading and am pretty sure she doesn't follow the plot. She always watched Corrie but doesn't know the characters anymore and Dad no longer plays DVD's because Mum can't follow them either.
I do wish I knew for sure what I could do with Mum to stimulate her more. She spends a lot of time just staring into space......apart from when she is complaining that "no-one tells me anything" !!!

 

[Witzend]

I have just finished reading the above book written by Martin Slevin who cared for his Mum who was suffering with Alzheimers.
The title is a little weird but this is explained later in the book and brought me to tears but this is a book which had me laughing out loud and crying with sadness.
It is extremely moving and I guess the funny parts were very trying at the time but retrospectively I'm sure we can all find things that when you recount them to others suddenly have a humorous side.
If you have a Kindle it is considerably cheaper than the paperback and well worth the read.

That sounds good, thanks for posting.

Some years ago (maybe early 90s?) there was a book called Guppies For Tea, by Marika Cobbold, about someone caring for a grandmother with dementia. I didn't read it at the time - always meant to, but didn't get around to it it. It won an award and I think was serialised on R4. You've just reminded me about it - must see if I can get it out of the library or else on a 2nd hand book site.

 

[ollyfran]

Just checked and Guppies for Tea is available from Amazon. Looks like another purchase on the cards!

 

[SWMBO1950]

My mother was also an avid reader. When I noticed she was not doing so I thought it was because of her eyesight so I got large print from the library.

Things did not change and I realised she would read so much - say 20 pages - but go no further and like izzy has said I think my mother cannot follow a story any more.

She used to love her books and would tell anyone who would listen "I'm OK as long as I have a book to read" - it is so sad !

 

[Witzend]

Just checked and Guppies for Tea is available from Amazon. Looks like another purchase on the cards!

Haven't tried amazon but just checked abebooks - several copies for 64p! Plus postage of course. I get a lot of stuff from them, amazing what you can find, even stuff that's been out of print for yonks.

Will still try the library, though - bookshelves busting at the seams as it is.

 

[scarletpauline]

I'm interested that Jack still reads Pauline. Bill used to read a lot but now he can't follow a story. He really doesn't read newspaper articles either. I'm glad that Jack can still enjoy the pleasure of reading and that you can both enjoy the pleasure of sharing what you've read.

He varies, Izzy, some days he doesn't touch the newspaper, other days he reads it from cover to cover. Books, well he reads a few pages then I think he forgets about it, but on the whole he does read, we picked up some books from our Alzheimer's Group meeting which is held in a leisure centre and there are books for sale in aid of something or other, only 25p each. The books he chose are "The Greatest Disasters of the 20th Century" and "The World's Last Mysteries" he loves those.

 

[scarletpauline]

Just checked and Guppies for Tea is available from Amazon. Looks like another purchase on the cards!

Guppies for Tea is available from Amazon for 1p, plus postage, one of their real bargains. Or you can buy it for £2.78 with free postage, which is actually the cheapest way. Second hand of course. But usually these 1p books are in good condition.

 

[jeany123]

Just checked and Guppies for Tea is available from Amazon. Looks like another purchase on the cards!

The Kindle version is £4.98 on Amazon at the moment

 

[Witzend]

My mother was also an avid reader. When I noticed she was not doing so I thought it was because of her eyesight so I got large print from the library.

Things did not change and I realised she would read so much - say 20 pages - but go no further and like izzy has said I think my mother cannot follow a story any more.

She used to love her books and would tell anyone who would listen "I'm OK as long as I have a book to read" - it is so sad !

Same here - my mother was an avid reader and it was so sad when she stopped - simply unable to follow even the simplest plot any more.

 

[zeeeb]

does anyone know what format the file comes in if you buy it from amazon? I have an android tablet, but it's not kindle, so i want to be sure it will be ok for my tablet.

know can read with pdf or epub documents.

Sounds like a good read.