books #51-53

I know I just posted a book post, but I have another 3 books already and I don't want to have to write 15 descriptions at once again, plus shrinky sounds like she needs more posts to read.

51. The Accidental by Ali Smith. I think I'm going to have to stick to Jessa's recommendations from bookslut. Michael Schaub loved both the Accidental and King Dork (book #46), but I was fairly lukewarm about both. The Accidental is about a family on holiday that somehow lets a strange woman into their lives. Apparently, when she turns up on the doorstep, each parent thinks she's known to the other and invites her to stay. I'm still rather dubious about the set up. If someone unknown rang your doorbell and walked in, apologising for being late, would you just offer her a drink somewhere to sit, rather than asking who she is and what she's late for?
Anyway, she arrives and has profound effects on each family member, causing them to reflect on life and come away changed, etc etc. It was interesting enough and I did like it, but I didn't love it. I was even indifferent to the experimental structure.

52. The Ticking by Renee French. I liked this charming graphic novel a lot (another point for Jessa). It's novel-sized, but it didn't take very long to read at all, because there are only one or two panels on each page. The artwork is all pencil drawing, with hand-written dialogue in different scripts for each character beneath (there's almost no other text beyond indications of time and a brief introduction) . It's the story of Edison Steelhead, whose mother dies in childbirth and is born with no ears and his eyes on the sides of his head. His father tries to hide his son's abnormalities, taking him to live in an isolated lighthouse. Eventually, Edison has to decide for himself how to live his life, though.

53. Twilight Children by Torey Hayden. After finding Sensing the Self (book #35) extremely interesting and illuminating, I went looking for more psychology books on (s)elective mutism/social phobia etc, but I didn't find much. This book is about a psychologist working with children in a psychiatric ward, specifically about three patients (two children and an elderly woman, she is asked to see as a favour). I did find it very interesting to read about how she gets elective mute kids to talk to her, but there wasn't really a lot of that, since none of the patients are straightforwardly elective mute. The patients' stories are still fascinating, but not quite so relevant to me.
I was disappointed that she said there was hardly anything in the literature on elective mutism in adults, because I wanted to read more and thought that I just couldn't find anything because I don't know how to search the psychology literature properly.