Books are not just parchment and ink. Books are not just words strung together, servants of the author's whim. Books are not merely there to teach or even just to be read, but are living, breathing aparati from which any characters may be plucked and drawn into our world, if only in the right hands, by the right tongue. Or so Inkheart will have you believing.

As a child of about 11 or 12 I believed that by reading you saw not only into the author's soul, but into a world secluded, preserved, as if you had dipped your face beneath the surface of a pond to get a better look at the colonies of stones and reeds in the riverbed. I think, perhaps, I got the idea from a passage in The Book of Three where Taran and his friends are crossing The Black Lake and are suddenly sucked into the depths as the lake turns into a swirling black whirlpool and just as Taran thinks he has drowned, he awakens in a grotto where King Eiddileg has his kingdom. Every book was Atlantis to me. But it wasn't just that. There were moments, especially when I started on the Redwall series, that I would come to particularly gruesome or enchantingly beautiful or heartsickeningly romantic passages and I would catch myself, in the darkness of my nightlight, reading aloud as if my toungue could stir the dust into action and project the vivid images of my mind into the air before me.

Childish, perhaps, but I still catch myself doing it. Having read Inkheart I suppose I should count myself lucky to not have the gift of literary manifestation. I first heard about Inkheart when I was watching the previews before another film on dvd. I wasn't entirely keen on the trailer, but Brendan Fraser was in it which made me happy. Then one weekend over the summer I was staying with my aunt and she had rented the film for my cousins. Recalling the trailer, I took time during that dvd's previews to wikipedia it. Turns out not only is it all about books, but it was a book to begin with. Fascinated at the its German origins and the fact that it's the first in a 3-part series, I made a note to seek it out, assuming I liked the film at all.

I did like the film. Quite a bit. And it wasn't just my silly crush on Brendan Fraser, nor my love for Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. The story was special and very reminiscent of many of my childhood favorites. And then there was Paul Bettany. I felt, on seeing him as Dustfinger, that he was the perfect choice for him -- and this was before I'd read the book, or known much about it. Paul Bettany just pulsed to the tune of "I am your literary vision." And it was Paul Bettany as Dustfinger that made me know I had to read the book. That being said, I finally picked it up, and I can happily say that the film stays true enough to the book that I have no real complaints. There are moments, as in any adaptation, where they've cut corners or elaborated to make the audience get closure or perhaps to visually stimulate a little more. But that's the beauty of the book for me, that it IS so visually stimulating. And I was right. Paul Bettany IS Dustfinger. It's uncanny. I was a little disappointed that they'd gone with the Jim Broadbent end of the spectrum for Fenoglio - while I read it, Fenoglio looked more like Larry David. And I love Helen Mirren, but for one thing she's the victim of one of the elaborations of this particular film, but also she looks perfectly fit and capable whereas Elinor is supposed to look like a book addict. She's supposed to be a little chubby. Not Helen Mirren.

But that's enough of that.

Reading the novel made me realize what it was about watching the film that made me think of my other literary favorites. The film just kind of throws it all at you and hopes you stick along for the ride. The novel guides you. Every chapter is a new quote that almost outlines what will happen. Quotes from Peter Pan, The Neverending Story, The Princess Bride, The Jungle Book, books that I've read and books that I relate to. Not only that, but The Neverending Story The Princess Bride and Peter Pan are the backbone of Inkheart's frame. In The Neverending Story, Bastian gradually reads himself into Fantasia (the book, in that case, is far more detailed than the film. In The Princess Bride we've got a multilayer issue of the author addressing us and claiming an elderly grandfather who read this book and blah blah blah it's not really important, but in the film Peter Falk makes it all very realistic for young Fred Savage. Peter Pan is the most directly-addressed book within Inkheart in that Tinkerbell ends up playing a role within the story, but even the original is about fairy tales coming true. Wendy tells the stories to her brothers and on an acid-trip-related note, Peter Pan shows up with his fairy and flies around the room and takes them to Neverland and before we know it Wendy is old and regretting her youth but apparently still doing acid because Peter shows up again.

Inkheart ties all of this together into a beautifully woven story about lost love and about treasuring books which, in the end, is what I'm all about. Books are very very powerful things, often with minds of their own. It is important that you treat them with respect and care, and don't go reading them aloud too loudly. If you happen to read a book out loud and begin to smell the sand and heat eminating from its pages, it's time to take a break and then procede with caution, lest you read out one of your villains and then where shall you be? And who shall have taken that villain's place in the world of the novel? ( )

Inkheart is a book about a book. As a young man, Mo realizes he possesses the ability to read things out of books. One night while reading a book titled Inkheart to his wife and baby girl, he accidently read out a villain by the name of Capricorn and his crony Basta, as well as a fire-eater by the name of Dustfinger. The unfortunate side effect was that Mo's wife was sucked into the story, replacing the removal of the characters from the book. Mo spends his life searching for another copy of the book, hoping to save his wife. All the while, Capricorn is working to destroy all of the books so he doesn't have to go back. Mo, his daughter Meggie, and Meggie's aunt Elinor end up being drawn into a violent and dangerous situation when Capricorn decides Mo's talent could bring him riches and power. Mo and his family must fight to survive and stop Capricorn's evil plans.

I found this book in the children's section of the bookstore, in the 7-12 age section. I've got to say, any seven year old who can read this book is impressive! This isn't a hard read, but it's long and has a relatively complex plot! How many seven year olds do you know that can read a plot involving two or three separate storylines going at once?

This book had its pros and its cons. I will start by admitting I made the mistake of seeing the movie first. I didn't think it would so seriously affect my opinion of the book, but it did make it a slightly harder read. I had a tendency to think, "Ok, ok, I know- moving on!" Fortunately, there were enough differences between the movie and the book to make it worth my time. In fact, the entire end of the book was different. I will say this though- the book would be significantly shorter if the author didn't have such a tendency to be so wordy. There were a few times where my mind wandered just because I was bored with the current subject.

I'd give this book a 4/5 overall. It was a really cool story, and what book lover doesn't totally relish the idea of being able to read their favorite stories into life?! Who would I read out? I'd definitely start with Mr. Darcy! The storyline has such a unique foundation, but is able to tap into a desire that so many bookworms would love to have fulfilled. I couldn't imagine possessing the ability to read myself into my favorite stories! I'd be fighting battles alongside Eragon, flirting with danger (aka Eric Northman), and playing quidditch with Harry Potter! How cool would that be?

One thing that really bugged me about the book was the quotes that kicked off each chapter. These quotes were excerpts from other books, usually only a line or two long. I realize they are easily ignored and I could have just started reading the chapter without looking at them, but I like to be thorough. I think the idea is cool, however the excerpts had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I mean, if you're writing a chapter about some prisoners trying to escape, pull a line from another story about escaping imprisonment or something! I read the excerpts and all I could think was, "What in the world does this have to do with what I'm reading?"

I wish there had been more action. It was a lot of conversation and description of setting, with only a few chapters dedicated to anything happening. Oftentimes, it would start with a conversation between characters during the day, and say something like, "They had scoped out the camp during the night." At one point the characters were shot at, and you only hear about it second-hand from another character. Why couldn't we join in on that part?

I did enjoy the story though. It was unique, and I'm tired of books that fall into a mold! I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new sort of adventure. The heroes don't wield swords or guns, but the power of the written word. This book embraces the "a man's pen is mightier than his sword" mantra. Any book lover could sympathize with Elinor, the old woman who sometimes feels more at home in her books than she does in the real world. Check this one out sometime! I don't think you'll be disappointed. ( )

Just... not interesting, not awful- just... boring. Which is unfortunate because the premise isn't bad: A book-loving young girl named Meggie finds out her father is capable of reading books to life when a villain he read out years ago from a novel named Inkheart comes looking for them.

But the characters never seem to ask the obvious questions any reader would ask in the same situation to discover how the mysterious 'Silvertongue' powers work and they're often many steps behind in uncovering the weakly veiled mysteries. They spend days on end sitting around waiting alternately for the bad guys to catch or for good fortune to turn in their favor for them to escape. Ironically this incompetence turns their self-congratulatory love of books almost into a condemnation of bibliophiles (as at least Dustfinger, and especially Farid are capable of holding some wits about them).

The book of Inkheart itself (upon which the plot cruxes) appears by all means to be a trite work all about the various degrees of completely un-nuanced villainy of its characters. Interesting concepts and plot points that *are* brought up- such as the morality of reading out characters, the perverse author's joy of making tragic things happen to good characters, the power of oral vs written storytelling, and Dustfinger's crush on Resa are disappointingly covered only cursorily. The prose especially is humdrum (except, ironically, when it is describing the vividness of Mo's reading), and ultimately the entire novel feels entirely like it's going through the motions. ( )

Annika ( )

Meggie is 12 years old, has a close relationship wth her father and doesn't really miss the mother she cannot remember. A series of adventres involving some of the blackest villains to grace the pages of a children's novel lead her to an understanding of her father's unique gifts and her mother'sdisappearance into a parallel world that is, actually, a story read aloud by her father. The story seems charming and intriguing but the book is simply far too long and incredibly tedious for very long stretches. I can't imagine that it would sustain the interest of a young reader. ( )