Inkheart (original 2003; edition 2003)

by Cornelia Caroline Funke

Series: Inkworld (1)

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17,970	518	277	(3.92)	1 / 697
Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.

▾Book information

Member:	hsoltis23
Title:	Inkheart
Authors:	Cornelia Caroline Funke
Info:	New York : Scholastic, [2005], c2003.
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	None

Work Information

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (2003)

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Katzenkindliest, grace9, mmundorf, Dorothy2012, JMed84, MalitaE, heyteresasapp, greenbee, cura22, J.M.A.

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▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

Group › Topic	Messages	Last Message
Fine Press Forum: Books Illustrated Inkheart	75 unread / 75	Alan_Wake, December 2023
75 Books Challenge for 2023: British Author Challenge May 2023: Jan Morris & R.F. Delderfield	35 unread / 35	fuzzi, June 2023

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▾Member reviews

English (476) German (11) Dutch (8) Spanish (6) French (3) Italian (1) Russian (1) Finnish (1) Portuguese (Portugal) (1) Swedish (1) All languages (509)

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Showing 1-5 of 476 (next | show all)

Despite all the fuss, the film, and the many sequels to this book, I just don't think I will be reading the rest of her series. The storyline was inventive and interesting, with many references to popular children's works and a true love of books echoes on every page the heroes grace. The pace is slower than I had expected for a children's book, and the villians are less than interesting despite their supposed relevance to the work they spring from. There are no real surprises in the storyline and while I finished the book, I just can't say I would recommend it to anyone. I think most children would have a hard time finishing it, and as an adult I still had a hard time finishing it. (

)

JMed84 | Apr 22, 2024 |

It's too long. Not in interesting ways that a book can be long, not extra character development or world development, just meaningless moments in scenes that are too long. Do I blame Anthea for not bringing it forward, or is it in the text? Oh, I was hoping to find something I could read in english and then in german, because that's the level my german has fallen to, but I don't want to do this one again. There's a much shorter story in here that could be good with some editing. (

)

Kiramke | Mar 17, 2024 |

Fantasy

BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |

Finally finished this after continually picking it up and putting it down in my childhood. (

)

Fortunesdearest | Feb 1, 2024 |

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It's kind of ironic that I was listening to a book read aloud that talks about the power of reading a book aloud. I think Lynn Redgrave could be a "silvertongue"- I love the way she does the characters' voices. Especially Dustfinger. It was as if he was always whispering very intensely, like someone afraid of being caught. (

)

Dances_with_Words | Jan 6, 2024 |

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▾Published reviews

2 reviews

add a review

thingScore 88

Such breathtaking things are going to happen, you cannot even imagine. SPECTACULAR!, FABULOUS! BREATHTAKING! If you've got to read a book it's got to be this one.

added by passion4reading | editThe Guardian, Groovy Dhruv (Apr 18, 2011)

Inkheart is a book about books, a celebration of and a warning about books. The "Inkheart" of the title is a book. I don't think I've ever read anything that conveys so well the joys, terrors and pitfalls of reading. ...

When the villains are at last defeated and the denizens of the book tumble through into reality, it is quite disappointing to find them gaudy, small and trivial. Is Funke saying that, while books as books are wonderful, real life has a solid sort of grimness that renders make-believe flimsy? Or is she pleading with us to mix at least a little fantasy with our reality? I don't know. Inkheart leaves you asking such questions. And this is, to my mind, an important thing for a story to do.

added by passion4reading | editThe Guardian, Diana Wynne Jones (Nov 22, 2003)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (6 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Cornelia Funke	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Auger, Marie-Claude	Traduction	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Šućur Perišić, Ljiljana	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Bell, Anthea	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Beneden, Hanneke	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Bertholet, Ab	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Bertuol, Sonali	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Blanco, Rosa Pilar	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Borén, Gunilla	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Butterworth, Ian	Cover designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Hoogweg, Pauline	Cover designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Jensen, Leyah	Cover designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Kyrö, Marja	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Lawson, Carol	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Magnaghi, Roberta	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Mountford, Karl J.	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Neumann, Ute	Overs.	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Parisi, Elizabeth B.	Designer	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Redgrave, Lynn	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Strecker, Rainer	Sprecher	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

Inkworld (1)

Belongs to Publisher Series

Gli Oscar Mondadori - Bestsellers (1720)

Is contained in

Inkheart / Inkspell / Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Audie Award (Finalist – Children's Titles for Ages 8+ – 2004)

Audie Award (Finalist – Solo Narration – Female – 2004)

Colorado Children's Book Award (Nominee – Junior Novel – 2007)

Flicker Tale Award (Nominee – Juvenile Books – 2006)

Golden Archer Award (Nominee – Middle/Junior High – 2007)

Golden Archer Award (Nominee – Middle/Junior High – 2005)

Gouden Griffel (Zilveren – Griffel – 2006)

Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (Winner – Roman jeunesse – 2006)

Indies Choice Book Award (Honor Book – Children's Literature – 2004)

Iowa Teen Award (Nominee – 2007)

Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist – Children's Literature – 2004)

Nēnē Award (Winner – 2009)

Nēnē Award (Nominee – 2007)

Phantastik-Preis der Stadt Wetzlar (2004)

Publishers Weekly (2003)

Distinctions

LiveLib Rating (2021)

Notable Lists

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▾Common Knowledge

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For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Inkheart

Original title

Tintenherz

Alternative titles

Hart van inkt

Original publication date

2003 (German original)

2003 (English translation)

People/Characters

Meggie Folchart

Mortimer Folchart (Mo)

Important places

Capricorn's Village, Italy

Europe

Italy

Important events

Related movies

Inkheart (2008 | IMDb)

Epigraph

If you are a dreamer, come in

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A Hope-er, a Pray-er, a Magic Bean Buyer,

If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin

Come in!

Come in!

Shel Silverstein

Dedication

For Anna, who even put The Lord of The Rings aside for a while to read this book. Could anyone ask for more of a daughter?
And for Elinor, who lent me her name, although I didn't use it for an elf queen.

For Anna, who put 'The Lord Of The Rings' aside for this book. Could anyone ask more of a daughter? And for Elinor, who lent me her name, although i didn't use it for an elf queen.

First words

The book she had been reading was under her pillow, pressing its cover against her ear as if to lure her back into its printed pages.

Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering rain.

Quotations

Some books should be tasted some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.

Why do grown-ups think it's easier for children to bear secrets than the truth?

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Jones, Diana Wynne

Barker, Clive

Original language

German

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis

Inkheart

▾Book descriptions

Twelve-year-old Meggie learns that her father, who repairs and binds books for a living, can "read" fictional characters to life when one of those characters abducts them and tries to force him into service.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

A young adult fantasy novel where a young girl and her father are able to bring a story's characters to life with equally good and bad results just by reading.

Haiku summary