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Mar 31, 2008
karen
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books-about-books-about-books
i dunno - this book isnt as cute/clever as it thinks it is. maybe if i were one of the adults-who-read-harry-potter, i would have a better understanding of it, but as it happens, i am not. i expected something more book-dorky, but it was just like reading a childrens adventure story. meh.
Moers's thesis--books are awesome--is certainly one I agree with, but he lets that message usurp the plot to the point that it takes close to 150 pages before anything really happens. There's plenty of whimsy and literary allusions (some genuinely funny and clever, as with most of Moers's comments regarding critics, and others less so) and a plethora of sentient species from dinosaurs to gnomes to giant grubs. All of which I would adore, if it were only shown-not-told, and if it propelled the pl
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Walter Moers created a fascinating universe and stayed true to it all the way through. I'm not sure the plot is so spectacular on its own, but the story was made so by all the details and all the descriptions that he included. It took me awhile to get used to his way of writing, so I wasn't hooked from the very first page, but the further into it I got, the more quirky it became, and I just had to know what happened next.
The City of Dreaming Books uses the book media as a way of telling the stor ...more
The City of Dreaming Books uses the book media as a way of telling the stor ...more
A deliciously meta examination of readers, reading, and ($deity help us all) the publishing industry. The book doesn't take literature and the literati too seriously at all, though you could sure say that the characters do. I think this was more fun for the meta aspects, and that the story was mostly a standard hero's journey-type adventure. (Albeit with a story-loving dinosaur as the hero.) But very fun for the background.
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So much fun. This is vivid yarn-spinning from an author with a playful imagination. Along the way, it pokes light fun at all aspects of books and publishing beginning with an author's first idea for a book, reading, writing, all the way through the entire publishing process (editors, agents, paper, ink, bindings, etc), and even on to secondary and antiquarian markets. It's an entertaining tale with castles and catacombs, monsters and treachery, plus lots of word-play. This is a book for anyone w ...more
Jan 03, 2008
Krista the Krazy Kataloguer
marked it as to-read
Shelves:
to-read-interloan-my,
to-read-sci-fic-fantasy
May 28, 2008
Pam
marked it as to-read
Aug 30, 2009
dirt
marked it as to-read
Apr 02, 2011
Cathy
marked it as to-read
Aug 21, 2012
Erin
marked it as to-read
Oct 03, 2012
Wiltshire Hermit
marked it as wishlist
May 04, 2013
Lara
marked it as to-read
Oct 27, 2019
Kate Thompson
marked it as to-read
Feb 17, 2022
Natalie Pietro
marked it as to-read
