Well, this has been long in the works, thanks for everyone that gave me the tips on how to over come my writers block. It feels good to finally be able to sit down and update this site again. I'm almost as behind in my reading as I am in my writing but I hope that will turn around soon.

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear is the second novel I read for the Orbis Terarrum Challenge. I'm still really excited about this challenge and it really is helping me to expand my reading, in that I typically only read novels from Canada or America. It was a lot of fun reading something from Germany and reading a genre that I typically don't read.

This is the story of your typical bluebear growing up in a not so typical way.  Each chapter is dedicated to one of Captain Bluebear's lives.  The art work by Walter Moers adds to the story, this isn't a graphic novel but author added his drawings to enhance the tale being told.  The story is full of fanciful characters and the time could be used to describe them is shorted because of the drawings.

The story was good but became very predictable after the first few chapters.  Bluebear would get into difficult situations and when it looked like he wasn't going to get out of them he did exactly that.  And the escapes were not very practical and made to sound like a simple solution.  Aside from this little fault the book was quite good.  Throughout his travels Bluebear is guided by the Encyclopedia of the Marvels, Life Forms and Other Phenomena of Zamonia and its Environs' which is being relayed to him in some telepathic way.

Walter Moers, Schöner denken mit dem kleinen Arschloch

Im Verlauf des Abends wurde auch die Cocktail-Mischung "Hawaii Stacy" kreiirt, unter anderem mit Amaretto, Rum, Maracuja- und O-Saft. Lecker! Ansonsten stand der Tag voll im Zeichen der Himbeere, mit Himbeer-Knisterperlen, duschgel, Body-Lotion, einer himbeerfarbenen Pfingstrose und Himbeer-Schokolade! Und was ganz toll war: Ich bin jetzt im Besitz einer Meneki Neko, einer Glückskatze, einer Winkekatze (obwohl sie eigentlich nicht wirklich winkt, sondern eher das Gegenteil, aber das zu späterem Zeitpunkt):

Außerdem habe ich nun das frisch in meine Büchersammlung gelangte "Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher" von Walter Moers angefangen und bin schon sehr gespannt! Ach, Geburtstag haben ist toll, wenn nur das älter werden nicht wäre...

The third novel in the Five Hundred Kingdoms series is quite different from its predecessors as the novel relies heavily on movement and scene changes. Katya, the Sea King’s Daughter, and Sasha, a Seventh Son and Fortunate Fool of the land kingdom Belrus, fall in love. During a mission to find a kidnapped Swan Princess and a Snow Woman, Katya allows herself to be magically stolen to discover that an evil Jinn is plucking women with magic abilities from their home. Katya’s story unfolds from her desert prison, but Sasha’s story has him meeting with numerous magical creatures and fanciful tales.

One of my favorite authors Walter Moers truly depends on movement through his story to maintain reader’s interest and this can be done terribly well or just terribly when authors employ this almost flippant regard to scenery and happenstance. Lackey does a good job with this and more closely follows the precise tales in Fortune’s Fool than she has in the previous books in the series. Additionally, while The Tradition is always an important force in the series, in Fortune’s Fool it exists as something of a backdoor yet grounding force. A Jinn, or fire spirit, does not belong in this part of the Kingdoms and the Tradition really has no path to follow but instead offers suggestions.

In short, Fortune’s Fool veers away from what otherwise would have been set ideas for the series.

The book does not go perfectly smoothly either: the beginning’s rough with a bizarre House of Flying Daggers (the movie) scene, Lackey spends time poorly interlacing Japanese and Russian folklore, Lackey moves away from really reinterpreting the tales, the lonely, and the virgin princess is becoming tiresome regularity, as are the bloody Unicorns.

As far as the series goes, you do not have to read these books in order but it does help. Ella from The Fairy Godmother flits into One Good Knight, and the dragons Adamant and Gina from One Good Knight are the champions in Fortune’s Fool. It also offers you a better grasp on Lackey’s capitalized pursuit of Champions, Seventh Sons, Fairy Godmother’s, and so forth. You can assume what is going on and will probably be right if you read these books out of order.

Another fun and enjoyable read I wiled away my rainy day off with.

I hope that I made a good choice in moving here. The only down side to this move is that I cannot bring my previous posts with me. So, if you are also new to What the Book! you can find all the old posts here. I have really been enjoying the whole blog thing and reading all the other book blogs that are out there.

I will answer all comments that are left here on the comments page of the given post. So, if you leave a comment be sure to check back again later for my response to your comment. I think that's one of the better things about having a blog, reading what others have to say about my posts and the various suggestions for books I should read.

On a different note I'll leave you with a list of the books I'm currently reading:

1. No Logo by Naomi Klein - Quebec for the Canadian Book Challenge.
2. The 13 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers - Germany for the Orbis Terrarum Challenge.
3. Oil! by Upton Sinclair - for Bookleave

I only wish I had more non-fiction on the go but that's soon to be happening for when I start the Non-Fiction Five Challenge in May. So, I look forward to my new blog space and all the books I'll be discussing here. Until next time keep those pages turning.

So schön kann ich keinen Wein beschreiben, aber Walter Moers kann es. Zitat aus: Der Schrecksenmeister. Zitiert nach Seelenruhig.

Books, books, books, books. Old books, new books, expensive books, cheap books, books in shop windows or bookcases, in sacks or on handcarts, in random heaps or neatly arrayed behind glass. Books in precarious, tottering piles, books parcelled up with string ('Try your luck - buy our surprise package!'), books displayed on marble pillars or locked away behind grilles in dark wooden cabinets ('Signed first editions - don't touch!). Books bound in leather or linen, hide or silk, books with clasps of copper or iron, silver or gold - even, in one or two shop windows, books studded all over with diamonds.

There were adventure stories supplied with cloths for mopping your brow, thrillers containing pressed leaves of soothing valerian to be sniffed when the suspense became too great, and books with stout locks sealed by the Atlanean censorship authorities ('Sale permitted, reading prohibited!'). One shop sold nothing but 'half' works that broke off in the middle because their authors had died while writing them; another specialized in novels whose protagonists were insects. I also saw a Wolperting shop that sold nothing but books on chess and another patronized exclusively by drawfs with blond beards, all of whom wore eyeshades...

Welcome to the city of Bookholm, the City of Dreaming Books a.k.a. a book lover's dream. I am finding THE CITY OF DREAMING BOOKS so difficult to classify. I know that I should just stop trying to place it in some narrow, ill-fitting box of definition, but every time I open it I can't help but wonder, "What is this?" I found it in the adult section of the bookstore, but there are illustrations on almost every page and it reads like the a mature child's version of a bedtime adventure story.

Let me explain: the main character, Optimus Yarnspinner, is - well... a dinosaur. The rest of the characters come right out a mixed bag of fairy tales and ANIMAL FARM. There are talking pigs, aliens, monsters, dwarfs, and all other manner of real and imaginary creatures. Thus far, Optimus has embarked on the journey of his life to Bookholm to find the author of the most amazing book he's ever read. The City of Dreaming Books is both heavenly and dangerous with its bibliophile personality and its bloodthirsty bookhunters, and I suspect that Optimus will find himself in some bookish trouble soon enough.

So far, I'm enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series, though with a bit less of Fforde's tongue-in-cheek humor. But, like Fforde's series, this book is especially meant for those of us who love books. I'd even venture to say that this book is also meant to inspire within children an appreciation and love for books. Like a mantra, I repeat at the end of every paragraph, "Man, I wish someone had read this to me when I was younger. Man, I wish someone had read this to me when I was younger..."

I don't have any children yet, but I'm keeping this one on hand to read to them when I do. I haven't even finished it, and it's already perfect.

The above paragraph was my lame attempt to comment on one of the many themes that twines through Walter Moers' The City of Dreaming Books (which I did finish last month but am only just getting around to writing about) - the most recent addition to Moers world of Zamonia. In his fantasy tale, Optimus Yarnspinner (a Lindwormer or dinosaur) inherits perhaps the world's most perfect short story or essay. And what is this essay? A brilliant piece discussing writer's block that produces nearly every reaction conceivable in its audience. However, the author of this splendid piece is anonymous and Optimus travels to the legendary city of Bookholm to discover who penned such an important piece.

This is where the story begins and Moers takes his audience through a spectacular world that is sure to thrill any lover of books. The City of Dreaming Books is a book about books, about publishing, about authors, about book reviews, about the canon, about forgotten books, and about practically anything book related you can think of. The reference to "dreaming books" in the title refers to Moers idea that dormant books, or books not being read, are dreaming of being read.

I have not been so excited about a fantasy series in ages. Earlier in the year I read Terry Pratchett's most recent book, which was enjoyable but seemed to lack some of the zeal of his earlier novels. I also picked up Piers Anthony on a whim and was greatly disappointed. Unlike many fantasy authors in my experience, Moers seems to spend the perfect amount of time on story development. He never becomes boring or tedious and never leaves the story under developed.

On a more serious note, Moers also proffers a rather scathing criticism of the publishing industry that threads throughout the book. Upon reaching Bookholm, Optimus meets the arch-nemesis of books: Smyke, who wants to dumb down literature to mediocrity, which of course means that Optimus inheritance is entirely unacceptable. In addition to my excitement for this book, Moers also does his own illustrations (note the first image in this post). Every few pages has a beautiful illustration that creates a much more tangible Zamonia.

The City of Dreaming Books is an engaging read and I went ahead and purchased an earlier book by Moers. This is definitely an author that has made my recommendation list.

The City of Dreaming Booksby Walter Moers, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? by Horace McCoy, A Golden Ageby Tahmima Anam, The Deluxe Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth George, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Click by Park, Ben, In the World by Doris Lessing, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Flannery O'Connor's Complete Stories.

Last evening I had friends and neighbors over, and I always find it fascinating to see which books attract which person. It ranged from pretentious to delightful, which all in all made it a pleasant evening. Starting on the sixth of this month I am also going to be spending a great deal of time learning Spanish, which means that my amount of reading time will be slipping away. Over the last few months I have practically allowed myself to gorge myself on books, but I have other things vying for my attention now.

The City of Dreaming Books (and the rest of Moers' books) are located in fiction, but they are undoubtedly fantasy. One reason I have such respect for Moers is his talent at constructing a fantastical locale. Fantasy authors (or anyone writing of something fantastical) are challenged in at least one manner other authors are not: they are creating something, someone, or somewhere that is entirely unreal. Of course in most fantasy books you will find remnants of reality but a fantasy author must be well schooled in suspension of disbelief. However, one area of suspension of disbelief that I have not seen too many conversations on is the length of development.

Moers provides exactly perfect size slice of fantastical narrative and he does this over and over again. I have often come across fantasy authors (including those I love to those I loathe) who spend a great deal of time constructing the fantasy and the reader easily becomes bored, and on the other hand there are fantasy authors who spend such little time on one area and spend a great deal of time skipping from one idea to the next that the reader is left unsatisfied. Moers repeatedly provides perfection.

This brings me to something else I have been musing about lately. Not too long ago a ripple of excitement spread throughout the world when J.K. Rowling disclosed that Dumbledore was gay. What I was most interested were critical reactions to this. Neil Gaiman, another fantasy author, in short said that when you create a world you always have to leave details out. In some of the more academic communities I peruse the general reaction was: bunk.

Where is this all going? No where, but I did find this division between fantasy (which has had quite the difficult time in being viewed as "acceptable") and fiction a fascinating discussion.

I must thank the Google image search for this post's image found at HectorCasanova.net.

Mel Brooks' Verhalten ist unerträglich (verlautbart der Zentralrat):

The Whitest Kids überschreiten die Grenze der Satire (meint Claudia Roth):

Monty Python verharmlost Autobahnen (Geht gar nicht, kreischt Margarethe Schreinemakers):

Und Walter Moers spielt der NPD in die Hände (attestiert Günter Grass):

It is an interesting book, especially if you like reading books about books, as this reviewer at The Entropy Pump notes:

I love books, and a book like this pushes all the right buttons for me. Even if it hadn’t any plot, I probably would have still liked it. Just the descriptions of Buchhaim with its small and old streets full of second hand bookshops, with all its denizen whose only love is the written word, made me feel like discovering reading and books for the first time again. TCoDB is a written love letter for books, wrapped into an exhilarating adventure that never loses sight of entertaining the reader, yet always managing to be a little more than just an adventure.

One of the charms of the book is that it can be read at several levels as this review at Hasta la vista, Vista notes:

You can take The City of Dreaming Books in many ways; a fantasy for the not so young, a witty parody on the literary world and the sorts of people who inhabit it, a playful treatise on literary tricks and devices, an exercise in getting your readers to identify with an innocent but plucky dinosaur with authorial pretensions or just a deeply charming and enjoyable book to fall in love with. Moers is cartoonist as well as writer, and his distinctive illustrations help bring the quirky denizens of Bookholm to life.

Here is another recommendation from Eye on everything (though, unlike the reviewer, I did like the ending, and would not have minded if it was a bit shorter, to tell the truth; however, I do agree that I would have liked Yarnspinner a bit more pro-active, and a bit less annoying -- but, probably, you can not expect any better than that from a dynosaur):

Like I've mentioned before over and over again, if you love books, and if you love reading, then I'm sure you're gonna love this book. It's a book that almost every avid reader will be able to relate to.

It's funny, wildly imaginative, the characters are endearing (just love those Booklings), and almost anything and everything you can associate with books or reading is referenced or parodied here.

I noticed TCoDB at Barnes and Noble, and the book cover and title looked interesting (though, I could not understand how it ended up on the bargain priced book aisle). So, next time when I went to the library, and saw the book in the recent books section, I picked it up; and, I was not disappointed. So, you might want to give it a try too, if you like such fantasies. Have fun!

DIE NEUE ADRESSE LAUTET:

www.blog-kommunikation.de

How does someone, anyone come up with an idea so unlikely but which comes off so spectacularly? The setting for The City of Dreaming Books, my dear readers, is the fantasy world of Zamonia, but the book is not a fairy tale. The main protagonist and narrator is an author named Optimus Yarnspinner, a Lindworm (a dinosaur, basically) from Lindworm Castle, but the book is not really for children. If you do not have a knowledge of and interest in books, literature, literary forms, literary devices, authors or the world of publishing, much of this book will be lost on you. But then, you would not be a reader at all, dear or otherwise, if you had no interest in books.

The eponymous city is Bookholm, where Optimus travels in search of the author of a manuscript, given to him by his late authorial godfather, which no-one can read without being taken on a journey of joy and fulfilment no other written work could hope to engender. An author who has found the legendary Orm.

Bookholm is a city of authors, publishers, antiquarian booksellers, literary agents and critics. A place where aspiring authors go to seek their fame and fortune, but where failure could condemn them to the poets' graveyard, to dwell in fetid holes in the ground and earn a pittance writing ditties and odes for passing tourists.

At Bookholm Optimus meets representatives of Zamonia's diverse species such as Nocturnomaths, Ugglies, Hogglings, Shark Grubs and Vulpheads. He learns about the Golden List of valuable books and the armed, armoured and dangerous Bookhunters who scour the labyrinthine catacombs below Bookholm in search of rare and ancient first editions that will make them wealthy beyond measure; of the most famous Bookhunter of them all, Colophonius Regenschein, who is presumed lost in the catacombs, a victim of the rumoured but unseen Shadow King who rules the vast complex of subterranean caverns.

It is to the catacombs that the story takes the ingenuous Optimus, to a series of encounters with Hazardous books, Bookhunters, Booklings in their Leather Grotto and finally Shadowhall where he is presented with the opportunity to acquire the Orm himself.

What stuns me most of all about this book is that Walters Moers' original was written in German. (Officially, Moers was himself merely the translator of the real original text, by Yarnspinner, from Zamonian into German). All the same, that it could have ended up in English without the merest hint that it had ever been in any other language is as much a testament to the extraordinary ingenuity and skill of the English translator (John Brownjohn) as the book itself is to the creative talent of Moers. I think the Orm must have a permanent residence in both of them.

You can take The City of Dreaming Books in many ways; a fantasy for the not so young, a witty parody on the literary world and the sorts of people who inhabit it, a playful treatise on literary tricks and devices, an exercise in getting your readers to identify with an innocent but plucky dinosaur with authorial pretensions or just a deeply charming and enjoyable book to fall in love with. Moers is cartoonist as well as writer, and his distinctive illustrations help bring the quirky denizens of Bookholm to life.

This is a book like no other I can begin to compare it to, except maybe some of Moers' other works. He is on his own and if only one author can lay claim to the Orm, my money is on Walter, dear readers. But now this is where my review ends.

Comics

Frank Margerin from France - Lucien
Comics. English infos here.

Walter Moers from Germany - Das Kleine Arschloch (The Little Asshole)
Comics and film scripts and novels.

Filming

Chris Cunningham from England - Rubber Johnny
Short films and music videos.

Music

Aphex Twin from England - Come to Daddy, Druksq
One of the "gods" of the electronic music scene. His style varies mainly from ambient, techno, electronic, drill-and-bass to experimental sound collages.

Bogdan Raczynski from USA plays crazy experimental electronic and drill-and-bass like tunes with pitch-shifted vocals partly in Japanese. Melodies often remind me of nursery rhymes.

Einstürzende Neubauten from Germany plays some sort of experimental industrial. They partly use unique do-it-yourself instruments and have very poetic lyrics. Their singer Blixa Bargeld holds poetry lectures at an university in Berlin for students.

Farmer's Market from Norway plays a mixture of all sorts of musical styles with focus on Bulgarian-Balkan-jazz on a very high technical level. You can find free audio and video recordings of whole concerts on their website.

Les Claypool from USA plays mostly variations of weird funky rock music. He's one of the most virtuoso bass guitar players I know of. He is best known as a member of the prime Primus. There's a nice Wikipedia article about him.
You can find free legal BitTorrent seeds of concert audio recordings at etree.org amongst many other bands and artists! Or you may purchase some live sets online at primuslive.com and c2b3live.com.

Nine Inch Nails from USA plays industrial very sophisticatedly produced and sometimes with beautiful melodies and harmonies. On their website you can find music videos, concert clips and even a multitrack version of one of their latest tracks to reuse/remix freely.

Paintings, photographs, installations

Alex Grey from USA - Sacred Mirrors
Contemplary psychedelic paintings and performances.

Gregory Crewdson from USA
Photographs.

Jonathan Meese from Germany - Képi Blank, nackt
Paintings and installations and performances.

Writers

Aldous Huxley from England
Works freely available at Project Gutenberg.

Douglas Adams from England

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from Germany
Works freely available at Project Gutenberg.

Copyright notice

The photograph showing an oil paint palette used in this entry is in the Public Domain and thus free of any Copyright restrictions. The content is provided by Michael Connors and Morguefile and has the ref id# 1082255024.

ChangeLog

[2006-04-23: Add tags.]