Look at me getting on with my 20 Books of Summer list like a pro. OK, it is 26 June as we speak and I’ve only read four of them, but I’m sure I’ll catch up. Certainly having worked on my work schedule, I’m finding more time for reading at the weekends at least, and some more time during the week.

It’s also been lovely to get some reading in the GARDEN done – outdoors, in the sunshine, soaking up that Vitamin D. We have managed to get the garden reasonably tidy, too, keeping on top of the lawn, weeding and deadheading – there isn’t much to our garden and gardening isn’t a joy to me, but it’s nice to keep it tidy. At the moment, the hedges in the back are large and fuzzy, but we have birds nesting in them and I’d rather have lovely birds than neat hedges and no birds! Would you like a bonus bird picture? I’ll pop one at the end.

Oh, and look at the date of acquisition of this book – I’m only 11 months behind at the moment!

David Weir – “Weirwolf”

(31 July 2017 – Poundland)

Poundland do have a shelf of books and you never know what you might find – the slightly out-of-date autobiography of the UK’s most decorated wheelchair athlete for starters!

This is an honest and open autobiography (written with David Bond, who gets a credit on the title page and a bio at the back) full of exciting race report but also reflecting on disability, disability sports and training regimes. It was published in 2013 so is a bit out of date, but also positive, pretty well ending on the high of his London 2012 triumphs.

We open, as all London 2012-based sports biographies do, with him preparing to race in the Paralympics. He explains exactly how he gets into and stays in his racing chair and I appreciate the level of detail throughout the book on the technical details of steering, etc., which adds a good level of depth to the narrative. We’re then back to a chronological telling of his story, from his father’s uncanny ability to recover from effort when in the Army, which he shares, through is early life fitting in with the other kids and not considering himself disabled.

Weir, who went to a special school, speaks of changes in attitudes towards disabled people since mainstream schooling as a default came in, however I was pretty shocked to read him state he would consider terminating a pregnancy if a child of his was disabled themselves: “… because I was brought up disabled, I wouldn’t want a child to be brought up in the same situation as me” (p. 147). I suppose he has the right to his opinions, and it’s great that he’s honest, but I was still shocked.

Moving on, it’s a book full of respect and praise for his coach, Jenny Archer – whose advice he prioritises over that of UK Athletics even when that gets him into trouble – and mentor Tanni Grey-Thompson. He’s pretty scathing about the different treatment given to disabled athletes in comparison to able-bodied ones, but at least he has sought to address that by setting up the Weir-Archer Academy to help young disabled athletes, including people who want to take part in sport for fun and to keep fit (I particularly liked that bit).

Weir is open and honest even about less positive aspects of his own life, such as his long-past recreational drug use and his debilitating fear of flying. He’s obviously an anxious man and it’s refreshing to see him share this, as well as his concerns about and for his children. In the end, I enjoyed most the bits about the technicalities of racing, shouting across to his friend Josh Cassidy about getting boxed in (I never knew they could call out to each other during races), etc. A good read.

This was Book 4 in my 20 Books of Summer project.

I’m currently reading “Sacred Britannia” which is excellent on the mixing of religions in Roman Britain, absolutely fascinating and I can’t wait to write up my review of it for Shiny New Books. Then it’s on to the next 20Books book …

Oh, bonus bird pic. HOW many sparrows?