Monday 8 July 2013

Shalee lhaih 2013: Shiaghtin 27

Jerrey hiaghtoo hiaghtin as feed ny Shallee Lhaih. Shoh ny lhiah mee yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie:

Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher (Walter Moers)

Skeeal fansee feer anaasoil, lane aitt meein. Ta coraa baghtal ec yn ard-charracteyr Hildegunst, as ta beiyn as cummaltee y teihill ta Moers er ny chroo noa as taitnyssagh. T'eh er groo seihll as blass shennaghys so-chredjal echey, as ta ny caslyssyn (jeant echeysyn) jeant dy mie as bioyr dy liooar. Er y laue elley - t'ee liauyr. 476 duillagyn 'sy lhieggan ayms, as shen 'sy Ghermaanish - cheau mee quoi-ec-ta-fys-wheesh ooryn rish daa hiaghtin (er seyrey!) lhaih ish, as va'n liurid shen croghey er-my-skyn er feie yn traa, as leodaghey'n taitnys ghow mee jee. Er lhiams dy dod oo er ngiarrey sheese y chooid 'ocklyn t'aynjee. Va kuse dy "chabdilyn" ayn nagh dug monney bree da'n skeeal hene - v'adsyn mie dy liooar, agh jus soilshaghey cooid ennagh jeh'n teihll shoh v'er ny hoilshaghey dy mie hannah 'sy lioar 'oawragh shoh. As gyn scansh da caghlaaghyn foalley, as ny smoo drogh-ourys, cha nel Hildegunst caghlaa monney rish ooilley ny t'eh er surranse.


The end of week twenty-seven of the Reading Project. Here's what I've read this week:

Die Stadt der Träumenden Bücher (Walter Moers)

A very interesting fantasy story, full of gentle humour. The protagonist Hildegunst has a pleasant, distinct voice, and the various denizens of Moers' world are novel and enjoyable to encounter (well, not for the protagonist). He's created a world with a believable veneer of history, and illustrated it himself with lively and characterful drawings. On the other hand, this is a long book. My version is 476 of dense German, which I've spent who-knows-how-many hours reading during two full weeks (and those holiday weeks); the sheer size of the book weighed on me (physically and literally) throughout, and I think the knowledge of just how much was left was diminishing my pleasure in it. I think you could probably have cut down the word count somewhat. There were various sections that didn't really add much to the story - fine in themselves, but just expositing more of Moer's world which was already getting plenty of screentime in this mammoth book. And despite ending up fitter and more paranoid, Hildegunst doesn't really develop much despite his adventures.

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