Tag Archives: reading

Tina Skupin: Die Supermamas

Im Rahmen meiner Nerdwoche zum Thema Superheldinnen erhaltet ihr meine Rezension für  Die Supermamas – Windeln wechseln und Welt retten von Tina Skupin, deren Werk Hollerbrunn ich bereits letztes Jahr im Märchensommer vorgestellt habe.

Worum geht’s?

4 of 5 stars

Maira ist schwanger und obwohl sie regelmäßig sie umkreisende Monde sucht, ist alles normal, bis … bis ihr Sohn Peter unter schwierigen Umständen zur Welt kommt. Plötzlich ist da nicht nur ein neues Leben, um das sie sich kümmern muss, sondern auch die Tatsache, dass sie nicht mehr ganz auf dem Boden der Tatsachen ist: Maira kann fliegen.

Bald begegnet sie anderen Frauen, die ähnliches wie sie erlebt haben und auch Kräfte davongetragen haben, mit deren Hilfe sie nun einer finsteren Verschwörung auf die Schliche kommen. Den gemeinsam sind sie Die Supermamas.

Das Leseerlebnis

Wie schon bei Hollerbrunn hat Tinas Schreibstil mich schnell gefesselt und mir regelmäßig ein Schmunzeln oder Lachen entlockt. Als nicht-Mutter habe ich zwar mit vielen der beschrieben Sachen keine Verbindung, kann aber vollkommen verstehen, wenn die Protagonistin von den „Windeln des Todes“ und anderen Sachen spricht.

Besonders toll fand ich die ganzen Superhelden-Referenzen, Maira war z.B. so hungrig wie Hulk und noch vieles mehr, was ich jetzt nicht vorweg nehmen möchte. Man merkt aber auf alle Fälle, dass Tina nicht nur Informationen des Genres aneinandergeklatscht hat, sondern weiß, wovon sie redet. Sie ist halt auch nur ein Nerd. 😀

Das Buch selbst hat ein recht großes Format, was es etwas unhandlich macht, aber das ist eher ein Luxusproblem.

Die Charaktere

Maira hatte zwar ein paar „ernsthaft?!“ Momente, aber im Großen und Ganzen war sie ein sehr sympathischer Charakter. Ihre Entwicklung ist dennoch verständlich und nicht erzwungen in die Superheldinnen-Rolle gepresst.

Ihre Schwester Jenny und Mairas Mann haben dahingegend mir wesentlich mehr Kopfzerbrechen bereitet mit ihren doch nicht so ganz nachvollziehbaren Handlungen – auch wenn Putin, der Pinguin schon ziemlich lustig war.

Besonders schwierig war für mich Maira und Jenny nicht mit Pegg und Marie aus Hollerbrunn zu vergleichen, aber irgendwann ging es dann, weil die beiden Geschwisterpaare doch sehr verschieden sind. Mal gucken, ob es wieder Schwestern in der Valkyrie gibt, in ihrer Geschichte in der Märchenspinnerei Anthologie hat sie ja auch wieder welche. 😉

Die anderen Mamas hatten eine gute Balance zwischen „Nach mir die Sintflut“-Attitüde, stink normale Mama und „Badass“-ness und besonders fand ich die Interaktionen zwischen den Charakteren wieder herrlich.

Tina schreibt einfach super MENSCHEN. 😀

Generelle Meinung

Ich hätte bitte gerne eine Fortsetzung, einen Comic und eine Fernsehserie über die Supermamas. Danke! 😀
Spaß Beiseite: Ich finde das Konzept klasse und das Lesen hat unglaublich viel Spaß gemacht und ich würde gerne mehr aus der Welt der Supermamas erfahren. Die Verbindung vom alltäglichen Mutterdasein mit den Kräften und Abenteuern ist einfach so unbeschreiblich passend.

Dinge, die ich hinzufügen möchte

Hat euch gefallen, was ihr hier gelesen habt? Dann schaut nächsten Samstag wieder vorbei und hüpft in den Lostopf, um ein von Tina signiertes Exemplar zu gewinnen!

Wenn ihr außerdem einer Supermama oder Superheldin aus eurem eigenen Umfeld sagen möchtet, wie super ihr sie findet, könnt ihr euch von Trimagie einen Heldenbutton abholen: Wer ist eure Superheldin?

(Wer nicht auf Facebook ist, kann sich den Button auch gern hier abholen, ich leite dann weiter. )

Morgen geht es dann weiter mit einem Gastbeitrag von Sarah Wagner, die uns etwas über die Schwächen von Superheld*innen erzählt und ihr könnt selbst testen, welcher Typ Held*in ihr seid.

Leider konnte meine eigene Supermama dieses Buch nie lesen und auch wenn sie nicht alle Referenzen verstanden hätte, bin ich mir sicher, dass es ihr gefallen hätte.
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Mama.

Anne

© Für das Cover gehören den rechtmäßigen Besitzern.

#Buchpassion: Literary Readings

Through the Nornennetz (Nornnetwork) (where I’m a norn, too 😉 ) I learned about the #Buchpassion, a promotion event for readers, authors and publishers celebrating books together, organized by Janine of kapri-zioes.
This years topic is „Favourite Authors“, but as I can’t decide which one I’d choose, I’ve instead decided to talk a bit about some of the more unusual Literary Reading Sessions (Lesungen) I participated in over the years. Because what’s better than having someone – maybe even the author – read a book to you? 😉

A completely moronic reading

I do believe it was my eighteenth birthday when my Mum and I went to the Reading Session of Tommy Jaud’s „Vollidiot“ (Moron) as read by actor Christoph-Maria Herbst (e.g. Loki from Mara and the Firebringer). It was fun, even though I still haven’t read the book yet (or saw the movie), but the thing I remember most about it was afterwards at the autograph table.
He was signing a picture card when I asked him if I could get a second one in the book because it was my birthday. As reply he gave me a Kinderriegel (chocolate bar by Kinder) and offhandedly told me that no one had had told him about it, otherwise he would have brought something more. I doubt the sincerity of the words, as he was quite busy, but it’s a fun gesture in a hectic situation – and it’s my own fault for bringing it up anyway.
I never ate the Riegel, it might even still lie somewhere in a shelve …

Outdoor reading

Back when The Forum was still a thing the self-made publisher Torsten Low announced that his reading tour would make a stop in Zislow, a village more or less nearby. So I took a friend from school with me and off we went trying to find it somewhere in the wilderness of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern…
It was nice meeting Torsten in person and have him read from the anthology Lichtbringer (Lightbringer) and watch him bind a book and talk about it. They only had a small table with their products and it was only the two of us sitting on the wooden benches before it, listening to him, but with the medieval-ish market around us and the phantastical stories it was a great atmosphere.
During the encounter I interviewed Torsten and it later appeared on Literatopia, a German literature portal: Interview with Torsten Low.

Back then the Verlag Torsten Low, was still relatively small. His series Dunkel über Daingistan (Darkness over Daingistan) and Lichtbringer were more or less the whole program. By now they won several Deutsche Phantastik Preise (German Phantastic Prices), have several novels and anthologies, even regular authors and a lot of authors know about him and his publishing company. It’s pretty cool to have been a part of that, even a minuscule one as a listener and reader.

Exclusive Reading

Another quite exclusive Reading Session was by Boris Koch and Michael Tillmann at the Weekend of Horrors:

Their reading session was in the cafeteria of the building, only separated from it through a more or less thick, black curtain. So you heard the rustling and dulled noises from outside.
It still was fun as we were the only two attending their session and they read some quite interesting stories. I will never look at lady bugs the same way…

Six years later I still remember the story mentioned in the other post and the feeling of dreadfulness Boris created through reading it.

Spontaneous Reading

One of our Christmas traditions is to go the the Christmas market in Neubrandenburg at least once. After one of those times, I read messages between Anice and Black Kat about a Reading Session of Letzte Instanz‘ (Last Instance) Holly Loose. In our local English Pub he was to read stories from the fan-anthology (fans wrote stories for their songs) „Weiße Geschichten“ (White Stories). Of course I couldn’t resist the opportunity.
Although I still haven’t gotten around to read the volume I got at the session (again…), the stories he read were quite emotional and well chosen. It’s always fascinating what music can inspire you to write, even if you’re not entirely following the lyrics. It was also nice to hear short acoustic versions of some of them.
We got to chat a little with the woman who organized it and Holly himself and it was a really nice evening.

A Game of what now?

One of the largest Reading Sessions I ever attended was when bookstore-chain Thalia invited Tom Wlaschiha, known as Jaqen H’ghar from Game of Thrones to read part of book two (A Clash of Kings). He chose the part, where Arya tells Jaqen the names of the people he should kill and he read it amazingly. He also talked a bit about filming and teaching Maisie Williams German between takes (according to him her favourite word is „Bahnhof“ – train station 😀 ).
But the most hilarious thing about it was the audience and especially that one guy not capable of pronouncing Game of Thrones correctly. As is more or less commonly known do Germans have problems with the English „th“, but what some make of the word „thrones“ is weird even for German ears. I mean Game of Trons makes for an entirely different franchise…

Lesebühne

As I’ve mentioned before did I attend a couple of Lesebühnen, Reading Stages, these past few years. And as this is about authors, why not talk about those that stand in front of an audience and read their works to them?
Doing that is thrilling and terrifying and fun and brilliant and every person ever daring to do something like this deserves the utmost respect, be they professionals like the people mentioned above or more or less amateurs like the people from the Lesebühne I occasionally attend.

This particular Lesebühne in Neubrandenburg (in the pub mentioned above) is organized by local students and is without any kind of judgement, everyone gets applause for simply going on stage and reading. Therefore it’s not as strict as a Poetry Slam, even if lots of the readers participate in those as well and sometimes read their texts from those. Other stages only allow members of certain groups or a registration long beforehand, but here you can appear on time and your name gets added to the list, or you can even use the open mic afterwards.

I’m one of a few that reads short stories, mostly from the Your Picture – A Story project and I’m always nervous when I do it and am barely able to look up from my sheet of paper. My heart is pounding like crazy and it makes breathing while reading quite difficult at times. But I’m getting better, I guess, I even manage to get a few more words out before and after the texts, even if they sometimes sound way better in my head … I still have a lot to learn.
Still, it’s incredible to read for someone else or to be able to listen to others read a story to you. The most annoying thing for the person sitting on the stage is an audience that won’t shut up. It’s rude and disrespectful, and makes them question themselves even more then they already do.

So, iff you ever attend a Reading Session, be it professional or amateurish: Be quiet and listen!

And maybe among those you will find your favourite author. 😉

PoiSonPaiNter

Comics: The Beginning

And another post that has nothing to do with the Fairy Tale Summer, but that I wanted to write because of its topic: „Me and Comics. How it all began. Blogparade.Booknapping and GeschichtenAgentin created this Blogparade for all those readers, who not just like the written word but also the picture accompanying them and that’s something I can talk about a lot (especially as Booknapping postponed the ending of the parade so I could still participate).

Let’s take a look at the beginning…

As you might know did I already talk about this, at least in terms of Webcomics, in my Introduction to Webcomics:

I can’t really remember how it happened, but I think that on one of my trips to the Book Store to buy a new Manga, I discovered a book-like collection of Comic Strips that I just had to look at.
But who wouldn’t do that with a bright red book that had a clown on the cover, who had just cut off his own leg with an axe, while its titled claimed the content of the “book” to be “Notfunny”?
I certainly couldn’t resist picking it up and I still do not regret that I did.

But that’s not entire beginning is it?

For as long as I remember did I enjoy reading the small comics and cartoons in newspapers and magazines. I never actually followed any series (except Bummi maybe, but that was more due to my mum buying it for me), but I read them whenever I got my hands on them. Still discovering that this is a thing took me a while.
When I was twelfth, I think, I got into Anime and wanted to read/collect the Manga they portrayed. I still remember that I would have had the chance to buy an entire set of the Dragonball Manga series at a flee market, but my grandpa and my mother argued against it, because it was too expensive and just some books with pictures. I kind of still regret giving in to them, but that didn’t keep me from collecting the series regardless, even if it was more expensive that way. 😉

As this was my first series – and I really liked both Anime – I also collected the magazine with new stories and additional info. Unfortunately did my mum (and I) decide that I don’t need them any more and gave them away. Still regret it, never found such a great time line of the Dragonball (Z) universe again, as the one in those magazines…

Anyway, this is about Comics not Manga (which even became a topic for my oral English exam during studying). 😉
Because of reasons I can’t remember I stopped reading for a while and didn’t care about my nerd stuff; which resulted in regretful sales. During my A-Levels I got back into it, mostly because of different Manga, but also because of Webcomics, which I told you about in the different parts of category I linked above – and will tell you more about when I get around to adding to the series.

Where did it go from there?

I think 2012 was the first time I ever was in a proper Comic book store and they’ve fascinated me ever since. Unfortunately there is only a small one in Rostock, but that ones mostly for card and table top games. The closest proper ones for me are in Lübeck or Berlin.
Since I’m able to go to (I prefer looking through stuff before buying, instead of just ordering it online) proper Comic book stores I’ve started to collect anthology albums of different series I like. Buffy for one thing, because I want to know how the series continues, but also mostly Marvel-stuff and I recently bought the first volume of Preacher.
For four years, I think, I’m attending the German Free Comic Book Day now and I always use it to fill up my (Manga) series and discover new things. I’m not really picky, if something sounds interesting and looks good I’ll check it out, though buying it might not be part of that equation. It’ll probably stay that way simply because I don’t want to go through the trouble of collecting old stuff, though I’d love to visit someone’s Comic library of complete Marvel volumes and spent a couple of days in there. Let me know if you’d be willing to let me. 😉

That is also why my book collection (and manga collection, simply because I chose to collect long series) is much larger than my Comic collection, counting physical volumes and bookmarks. But one thing is for sure (to quote the introduction again):

[Notfunny] was my entrance into the world of Comics and I haven’t started looking for the exit yet. Quite the opposite. Since I started using the Internet more frequently, I discovered many more Comics to enjoy.

And I certainly will continue to read and also write about the Webcomics I’m reading. 😉

See you around!

PoiSonPaiNter

#Buchmagie – Part 2

Another diversion from the Fairy Tale Summer with the second part of Blue Siren’s #Buchmagie (Bookmagic) tag. You can find part one here: #Buchmagie – Part 1.
And these questions are quite a bit trickier…

16. If you could send yourself into a bookworld, which one would you want to visit?

I’m hovering between post-war Hogwarts and the Pages of the World, maybe even the Inkworld…I don’t know. They sound incredible and I’d really like to be able to use the portrayed magic, even if that’s pretty unlikely.

17. Which gem would you choose? (German/English)

Seems like I’d have to choose the Kunzite…at least from the German meaning. o.O Star sign wise it’d be the Malachite. So I guess both?

18. Which magic-cliché do you consider ghastfully-dreadful?

The warts on witches or that evil witches are generally portrayed as ugly. Good looking people can be just as cruel…

19. Do you prefer reading about good or bad Sorcerer/Sorceresses?

I don’t like people because their bad or good, I like reading about people that are funny, snarky, different. If the character is great I’ll like them and if they happen to be a good or bad sorcerer/sorceress than that’s that. 😀

20. Healing, Fight-Magic or Summonings? What would you/your character use to protect the group in an adventure and why?

If I had magic I’d try to do bit of all, I don’t like being a burden and I’m really fond of helping others. My characters are different though, they use whatever they’re capable of. I told you about Mara and Andres from The Queen’s Wish in the previous part who can use healing and empathic magic, but are pretty useless when it comes to attacking someone, defence is a bit more likely. Emry on the other hand has offensive, shield and illusion spells.

21. Which witch brew do you prefer drinking the most while reading/writing (black bean juice, herb-infusion, spring water?)

If I drink anything at all I’m proud of myself. 😀 Usually it’s water though or whatever else is available EXCEPT coffee. I don’t drink coffee. And I shouldn’t I’m not doing well with the caffeine…

22. Which book has great ideas for modern/unique magic? Alternative: What new ideas does magic need in books?

The first thing that comes to mind is the new Strowlers universe by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment. It’s a world where magic is real and where its users are persecuted and held down. It’s an open world where everyone can add their own thoughts and stories and if the creators like them, they might become canon.

Other than that do I really like the book magic from The Pages of the World.

23. Are there moments in your every day life, that can really enchant you?

Nature is generally enchanting to me. I can sit quiet and just stare at trees waving their leaves in the wind. I enjoy watching water in all kinds of variations (rain, river, lake, ocean, …, clouds 😉 ). Just as the flickering flames of a candle or bone fire can keep me entertained.

24. Did you ever read a book that dealt with witches/Wizards, but without any magic? (e.g. non-fiction, medieval novel in the times of the inquisition)

I read a few books about the witch hunts or taking place at the time of it. Like Elmar Bereuters „Hexenhammer“ (Hammer of the witches) and „Lichtfänger“ (Lightcatcher). In addition to that some non-fiction stuff and I still want to read the Maleus Maleficarum

25. Which character poured a love potion into you and conquered your heart?

There have been a few characters I liked and whose traits I wouldn’t mind having in a real life partner, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say they conquered my heart. If I gained a connection to a character I suffer with them – this is especially horrible when I’m the one writing their demises, but I don’t think there is one I’d defend at all cost, like I’d do for a real life person.

26. Show us a quote that’s so full of magic and wisdom that it might as well be a spell!

I’m horrible with quotes…Does this count?

“Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.”

Rick Cook, Wizardry Compiled

Just realized: This is another book for Question 8.

27. Hands down! Do you believe Magic really exists? And if so in which form?

I do. There is magic in nature, in a smile and in the way we interact with each other; the emotions we share, the thoughts that drive us, the ideas running through peoples minds.

If there wasn’t any magic, how would we even think up something like magic and write incredible stories about it? 😉

28. Show us a magical book that unfortunately did not spark anything for you!

Mad Merlin by J. Robert King. It sounded like an interesting re-telling of the known Arthurian legend, but turned into something quite disappointing. Sure Merlin’s Madness was fun in the beginning and it felt like it could become a great book, but then it made a turn for the worst. Merlin turned out to be someone entirely different and the story started dragging on quite a bit. For a book with ~600 pages this was not fun to finish…

Another example is Tiger, Tiger by Melvin Burgess, where he uses a magical tigress as a protagonist, but it lost a lot of potential along the way…

29. Which magical book series should be read by everyone?

Have you heard of Harry Potter? No, I didn’t think so. Me neither, so I won’t tell you what you should have read. 😉

30. Which author (not-magical too) has enchanted your heart?

If this question refers to authors whose books I buy without second thought: That would be the brilliant Terry Pratchett. His ideas for the Discworld are just so…I don’t even have words for it. But everyone who likes his books probably knows what I mean. 😉

That’s it, folks!

I hope you had fun reading the answers.

See ya.

PoiSonPaiNter

Blogparade: #Geheimtipp

I’m aware that this has nothing to do with Fairy Tales, but I want to share my „insider tips“ (Geheimtipps) with you and Aleshanee’s Blogparade is the fitting wrap for it.

Aleshanee asks:

Present up to 5 book insider tips, that excited you and where you think they didn’t get noticed in the masses of hypes and new releases.

First of all: I will tell you why the books are great, you can read what they are about through clicking on the covers which will lead you to their Goodreads pages.
Also: None of the books I want to introduce you to was published this year. The „youngest“ is from 2016, the oldest from 1986 as I just realized. 😀
We’ll then let’s start with that one:

The Hyde Effect

I’m fairly certain this was one of my very first Werwolf novels, both in regards to reading and buying. I was so excited when I first saw it in the catalogue of the EMP and wanted to have it right away, even if it might have been an age 16 novel and I might have not been that age. Luckily it was just as great as I expected it to be. I’m still fascinated by the cover and the story itself is – from what I remember after reading it about ten years ago – pretty amazing. It has action, great and fun characters, thrilling life-and-death situations and is just a not so cuddly Werwolf story. The sequel Shapes did unfortunately not keep up with that and was rather disappointing. 🙁

Wolfsbane and Mistletoe

on the other hand consists mostly of the cuddly wolf kind. 😀 It’s an anthology by and with Sookie Stackhouse authoress Charlaine Harris. It has many different kinds of stories about Werwolves around Christmas time (including a Sookie special). Though the two things I remember most are the rogue Santa’s hunting Werwolves and of course the Wer-Coral. That is just such a weird idea that I keep telling people about it whenever the topic of wer-creature comes around. Which is surprisingly often. 😀
Speaking of weird stories, ever heard of

Fledermausland? (Bat Country)

Named after a certain scene from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas this German novel is one of the strangest and most hilarious I’ve ever come across. Dierssen uses ordinary every day things and turns them into something strange and unexpected. Back in the day when The Forum was still fresh and new we read this alongside the author, but unfortunately those topics don’t exist any more, so I can’t check what I wrote. What I do know is that everyone who liked the novel got a free PDF of an additional story about one of the characters. He has created several of them, but that’s the only one I’ve read (so far?).
Speaking of series:

PWNED

As part of The Gamers universe this is a different perspective into the way those stories work. Where the webseries switches between Pen&Paper players and characters, this does the same with video game characters and their players. I already talked about this while reading it, so have a small excerpt here:

It’s a bit strange to read the switch between gamer and character, but it’s well done and you still know when the perspective is no longer the one looking at it from the outside. As in all of his (their) work you really know that it’s done by a gamer who loves what he’s doing. It reflects in the chosen words, the descriptions, the little things added to the story (like tips for new gamers at the start of every chapter). It’s just great to have something like this, combined with great characters.

How can I now lead over to the last one? It’s both a series and it has great characters; it’s more or less old (2003/2005) and just sounded interesting. Ah to hell with it:

Sam Linnifer: Waywalkers (Lucifer) & Timekeepers (Satan)

When I first saw this book in my local library I was intrigued. Lucifer being the good guy, saving the day? It is as strange as it sounds, but at the same time absolutely fascinating and great. Webb weaves the world of Myths & Legends and Ancient Gods & Goddesses like they are just normal characters, yet you still know that it’s not a trivial challenge they face. I really need to re-read these two. I’ve been putting it off for quite some time now and I think it might be especially interesting now that I’ve read Good Omens, but maybe I should wait until after I read American Gods
Anyway, these are the five I was allowed to introduce you to (Number five is no cheating, you have to read both to fully understand the story 😉 ).

Still as a Bonus I want to give you this one because it’s not the genre I usually read, but it still impressed me:

Why Angels never play Harmonica

I’m really not the kind of person who reads books like this, which already seem like love stories, but when I read the blurb after Tintenfleck mentioned it after Karin’s story during the #Projekt24 I was simply curious about it. The whole thing just sounded hilarious and fun and that’s what it was in the end. Sure it had a few passages where it was obvious what would happen in the end, but the way there was incredibly hilarious. It’s just a great and fluffy story that I really wanted to recommend you, after all those not so fluffy ones above. 😀
Anything you can recommend? Do any of mine sound interesting to you?

PoiSonPaiNter

Sylvia Rieß: Der Axolotlkönig

Read in English

Im Rahmen des Märchensommer erhaltet ihr meine Rezension zu Der Axolotlkönig von Sylvia Rieß.

Worum geht’s?

Cover Axolotlkönig
4 of 5 stars

Fynn, ein beliebter Musiker, findet sich 20 Zentimeter groß und mit seltsamen Auswüchsen, wo sein Hals sein sollte, in einem Aquarium; ohne eine Ahnung, wie er hierher kam.

Aber es scheint, dass es genau zur rechten Zeit war, denn seine neue Zimmergenossin Leonie hat nicht nur die letzte Verbindung zu ihrer Großmutter verloren, sondern sieht auch nur einen Ausweg….

Kann der axolotifizierte Fynn sie davon überzeugen, dass es eine schreckliche Idee ist?

Der Froschkönig trifft die Schneekönigin in dieser Märchenadaption der Märchenspinnerei.

Das Leseerlebnis

Aus irgendeinem Grund habe ich eine ganze Weile gewartet, um es zu lesen, nachdem ich es im Februar gewonnen hatte. Was wahrscheinlich nicht so schlimm war, da ich deswegen den Märchensommer geschaffen habe….

Wie auch immer, da Sylvia bereits auf Facebook (Märchenspinnerei Turmcafé) Einträge in der Lesegruppe veröffentlicht hat, konnte ich gleich ein paar Gedanken mit ihr besprechen. Das war eine tolle Erfahrung und ich bin wirklich froh, dass sie die Gelegenheit dazu gegeben haben. Darüber hinaus habe ich auch meine Gedanken über Goodreads festgehalten, so dass einige Dinge vielleicht vertraut klingen.

Ansonsten war ich nicht auf die Rückblende zu dem, was mit Leonies Großmutter geschah, vorbereitet. Es traf mich ziemlich hart, zumal es viel zu vertraut klang. Dieses und andere Dinge wie das Mobbing, die Depression und die Flucht in eine Online-Welt waren sehr gut dargestellt und sicherlich realistischer als das, was man manchmal von einem YA-Roman erwarten würde. Ich fand auch einige Ähnlichkeiten zu meinen eigenen Erfahrungen in dem Buch und sprach mit Sylvia darüber; anscheinend ist sie eine „Realitätsbändigerin“ und kreiert manchmal Charaktere, die sie später im wirklichen Leben trifft, was gleichermaßen erstaunlich und erschreckend ist.

Die Geschichte wird mit einem Ich-Erzähler geschrieben, der zwischen Leonies und Fynns Perspektive wechselt, was mir normalerweise nicht gefällt, aber ich habe mich mit der Zeit daran gewöhnt. Besonders gegen Ende war es die bessere Wahl, da die Gedankengespräche zwischen Leonie und Lurchi-Fynn noch komplizierter gewesen wären, als sie es bereits waren. Was übrigens eine interessante Wendung war, wie der Frosch mit der Prinzessin kommunizierte. Das einzige Mal, wenn sie von diesem Muster bricht, sind der Prolog und eine Passage in der Mitte aus einer dritten Perspektive. Die Geschichte hat auch einige Einfügungen wie Flashback (Oma, wie ich oben erwähnt habe), private Nachrichten von Leonies Online-Freunden, Facebook-Kommentare von ihren Klassenkameraden und ihre Tagebucheinträge. Seitdem ich Dracula gelesen habe, genieße ich gut gemachte Tagebuchnotizen und das war ein Beispiel dafür. Man wusste, dass es von einem Kind/jungen Erwachsenen stammt, aber zumindest nicht von einem nervigen.

Die Charaktere

Leonie ist im Grunde dein typisches gemobbtes Schulkind, außer dass sie eher dünn statt fett ist. Nur wenn man sie besser kennen lernt, was man beim Lesen des Buches tut ;), wird sie so viel mehr. Für mich war es schwer zu lesen, was sie durchmachen musste und wo sie anfing, nur um zu sehen, wo sie landete. Aber ich glaube nicht, dass ich sie bemitleidet habe. Sicher, ich wollte sie umarmen und mich mit ihr anfreunden, denn was ich über ihre Hobbys gelernt habe, klang großartig, aber ich war wütender auf ihre Klassenkameraden, weil sie ignorante A-Löcher waren…. Ich habe die Reise, die sie durchmacht, sehr genossen und war gegen Ende stolz auf sie. Sicher ist sie manchmal ziemlich melodramatisch und hat ein paar dumme Entscheidungen getroffen, aber ich denke, das ist für Kinder in ihrem Alter „normal“.

Am Anfang war ich sicher, dass Fynn definitiv verdiente, was er bekam und ich schätze, dass ich es immer noch bin, aber auch er hat eine realistische Reise hinter sich. Ich denke, dass seine Zeit weg von seinen Mitschülern, die er mit Selbstreflexion verbrachte, in diesem Prozess sehr geholfen hat. Seine Art, Leonie zu helfen, war nicht immer die klügste, aber zumindest versuchte er es. 😀 Mir gefiel auch, wie er mit den anderen Charakteren – und anderen Aquarienbewohnern – interagierte. Letzteres war sogar ein Osterei, das ich nicht näher erläutern will und nur sage, dass ich es als Erste gefunden habe 😉 Und es sorgte für eine unglaublich originelle Idee, wie man eine SMS verschickt, eines meiner Highlights.

Eine kleinere, aber nicht weniger bedeutende Rolle übernahmen Leonies Online-Freundin Mamba/Cecille, die Leonie so gut wie möglich unterstützt, und Fynns älterer Bruder Rob, der eine Offenbarung macht, die seinen Bruder sprachlos lässt. Die beiden rundeten das Ensemble ab und waren großartig und notwendig für die Reise der beiden Charaktere. Sie hatten auch eine großartige Dynamik und ich fand mich wieder mehr an Seiten- als an Hauptfiguren interessiert, auch wenn ich Leonie noch umarmen wollte….

Und natürlich gibt es Poison….einen Charakter, dessen Namen ich für einen lustigen „Zufall“ hielt (Poison ist nicht wirklich ein in der Gothic-Szene unbekannter Spitzname), auch wenn meine Alarmglocken läuteten, als ich eine seiner ersten Nachrichten las. Leonies Interaktion mit ihm führt zu einem faszinierenden und frustrierenden Wendepunkt der Ereignisse und ich bin stolz darauf, wie sie damit umgegangen ist: 🙂
Lustige Seite Anmerkung: Als ich eine Mail über die E-Book Verlosung verschickte und es mit “ Poison “ signierte, war die Empfängerin der Nachricht ein wenig irritiert, da sie dieses Buch bereits gelesen hatte. 😀

Die Charaktere haben in den Kapiteln immer mehr Gestalt angenommen und sind gut dargestellt. Jeder der vier Hauptdarsteller hat Ecken und Kanten, die ich an Charakteren sehr mag. Leonies Eltern und Klassenkameraden waren im Vergleich etwas blass, aber mehr Konzentration auf sie hätte es nicht besser gemacht.

Generelle Meinung

Das Ende gefällt mir sehr gut, besonders wenn man das Original-Märchen betrachtet. Außerdem sind die Spiegelstücke eine tolle Metapher für Depressionen, es ist nur traurig, dass es im wirklichen Leben nicht so funktioniert, also ist das Nachwort genauso wichtig.

Mit Leonies Erfahrungen wird ein sehr wichtiges Licht auf die Entwicklung der Mobbing-Kultur und deren Folgen und natürlich auf Depressionen im Allgemeinen geworfen. Es gab ein paar schwere Passagen im ganzen Buch, einige vor allem, weil ich ähnliche Dinge durchgemacht habe. Es gab auch etwas sehr Ernstes über on-line-dating für Minderjährige, die Nachrichten nicht sorgfältig genug lesen. Kurz gesagt: Während ich dies als eine YA-Geschichte betrachten würde, enthält sie auch reife Inhalte, die häufiger diskutiert werden müssen, vor allem mit jungen Erwachsenen.

Ich hätte mir auch einen näheren Einblick in die Magie der Verwandlung gewünscht, aber ich schätze, das wäre über den Rahmen der Geschichte hinausgegangen. Es gibt auch zwei Szenen, die ich gerne gesehen hätte: Cecille und Rob auf der Polizeiwache und Leonies Schultag gegen Ende. Aber ich verstehe, warum Sylvia sich entschieden hat, sie nicht hinzuzufügen.

Alles in allem ist es eine runde und tolle Geschichte über ein junges Mädchen, das lernt, um Hilfe zu bitten und es schafft, aus einem sehr tiefen Loch herauszukommen. Es hat Spaß gemacht, die Geschichte zu verfolgen und in der Gruppe zu diskutieren.

Dinge, die ich hinzufügen möchte

Zur Erinnerung: Als Teil der Herausforderung kannst du Punkte sammeln, indem du selbst Märchen rezensierst 😉

[Edit]

Sylvia hat der Geschichte eine Bonus-Szene hinzugefügt und sie mir und ihren Lesern geschenkt, oder zumindest ist es meine Schuld, dass sie sie geschrieben hat…. Wie auch immer, ich bin begeistert! Es ist fantastisch! Jetzt geh und lies sie: „Ich will sie sehen.“ Bonus-Szene!

Und natürlich: Danke, Sylvia, dass du uns die Geschichte von Leonie noch ein Stück weiter abgeschlossen hast! 🙂

[/Edit]

In ein paar Tagen bekommst du ein Interview mit Sylvia über das Buch und andere märchenhafte Dinge. Also bleibt dran!

Poison

© Für das Cover gehören den rechtmäßigen Besitzern.

P.S. PoiSonPaiNter 😉
____________________________
Lies auf Deutsch

As part of the Fairy Tale Summer you get my review for Der Axolotlkönig (The Axolotlking) by Sylvia Rieß.

What is it about?

Cover Axolotlkönig
4 of 5 stars

Fynn, a well liked musician, finds himself 20 centimetres tall and with strange outgrowth where his neck should be, in an aquarium; with no idea how he got here.

But it seems it was quite on time, as his new room mate Leonie has not just lost the last connection she had had to her grandmother, but because of being bullied in school she also only sees one way out of this…

Can axolotified Fynn convince her that it’s a horrible idea?

The Frog King meets The Snow Queen in this Fairy Tale adaptation by the Märchenspinnerei.

The reading experience

For some reason did I wait quite a while to read it after I won it back in February. Which probably wasn’t that bad, seeing as I created the Fairy Tale Summer because of it…

Anyway, as Sylvia already posted entries into the Reading Group on Facebook (Magical Book Reading) I could right away discuss a few thoughts with her. This was a great experience and I’m really glad she/they provided the opportunity. In addition to that did I also keep track of my thoughts on Goodreads, so some things might sound familiar.

Other than that was I not prepared for the flashback to what happened with Leonie’s grandmother. It hit me pretty hard, especially as it sounded far too familiar. This thing and others like the Bullying, the depression and the flight into an online world were very well portrayed and certainly more realistic than what you’d sometimes expect from a YA novel. I also found several similarities to my own experiences in the book and talked to Sylvia about it; apparently she’s a „Realitybender“ and sometimes creates characters that she later meets in Real Life, which is equally amazing and terrifying.

The story is written with a first person narrator switching between Leonie’s and Fynn’s perspective, which I usually don’t like, but I got used to it over time. Especially towards the end was it the better choice as the thought-conversations between Leonie and Lurchi-Fynn would have been even more complicated than they already were. Which by the way was an interesting twist on how the Frog communicated with the Princess. The only time she breaks from this pattern are the prologue and a passage in the middle from a third perspective. The story also has some insertions as flashback (granny, as I mentioned above), private messages from Leonie’s online friends, Facebook comments from her classmates and her diary entries. Ever since reading Dracula I enjoy well made diary-narration and this was one example for it. You knew it was made by a child/young adult, but at least not an annoying one.

The characters

Leonie is basically your typical bullied school kid, except that she’s rather skinny instead of fat. Only if you get to know her better, which you do while reading the book ;), does she become so much more. For me it was hard to read about the things she had to go through and where she started only to see where she ended up. But I don’t think I pitied her. Sure, I wanted to hug her and befriend her, because what I learned about her hobbies sounded amazing, but I was more angry with her classmates for being ignorant a-holes… I really enjoyed the journey she goes through and was proud of her towards the end. Sure she’s quite melodramatic at times and made a few stupid decisions along the way, but I guess that’s „normal“ for kids her age.

At the beginning I was certain Fynn definitely deserved what he got and I guess I still am, but he too went through a realistic journey. I think his time away from his peers that he spent with self-reflection helped quite a bit in this process. His way of helping Leonie wasn’t always the smartest, but at least he tried. 😀 I also liked the way he interacted with the other characters – and other aquarium dwellers. The latter was even an Easter Egg, which I will not further explain and only say that I was the first one to find it. 😉 And it caused an incredibly original idea of how to send a SMS, one of my highlights. 😀

Smaller but not less significant roles were taken up by Leonie’s online friend Mamba/Cecille, who supports Leonie however she can and Fynn’s older brother Rob who makes a revelation that leaves his brother speechless. Those two rounded the ensemble and were great and necessary for both characters‘ journey. They also had a great dynamic and I again found myself more interested in side- than main characters, even if I still wanted to hug Leonie…

And of course there is Poison…a character whose name I considered a funny „coincidence“ (Poison isn’t really a nickname unfamiliar to the Goth-scene) even if my alarm bells went ringing when I read one of his first messages. Leonie’s interaction with him leads to a fascinating and frustrating turning point of the events and I’m proud of the way she handled it. 🙂
Funny side Note: When I send out a mail regarding the e-book give-away and signed it with, as I usually do, „Poison“ the receiver of said message was a little irritated as she had already read this book. 😀

The characters gained more and more shape throughout the chapters and are well portrayed. Every one of the four main ones has rough edges, which I really like in characters. Leonie’s parents and classmates where a bit pale in comparison, but more focus on them wouldn’t have made it better.

General Opinion

I really like the ending, especially considering the original Fairy Tale. In addition to that are the mirror pieces a great metaphor for depression, it’s just sad that it doesn’t work like that in Real Life, so the afterword is just as important.

With Leonie’s experiences some very important light is shone on the development of the Bullying culture and on its consequences and of course depressions in general. There were a few heavy passages throughout the book, some mostly because I went through similar things. There was also some very serious stuff about online dating for minors who do not read messages carefully enough. In short: While I would consider this a YA story does it also contain mature content which needs to be discussed more often, especially with young adults.

I would also have liked a closer into the magic of the transformation, but I guess that would have went beyond the scope of the story. There are also two scenes that I would have liked to see: Cecille and Rob at the police station and Leonie’s day at school towards the end. But I understand why Sylvia chose not to add them.

All in all is it a round and great story about a young girl that learns to ask for help and manages to get out of a very deep hole. It was fun to follow the story and discuss it in the group.

Stuff I’d like to add

As a reminder: As part of the challenge you can collect points by reviewing Fairy Tales yourself. 😉

[Edit]

Sylvia added a Bonus-scene to the story and pretty much gave it as a gift to me and her readers, or at least it’s my fault that she wrote it … Anyway, I’m excited! It’s awesome! Now go read it: Bonus-scene!

And of course: Thank you, Sylvia, for giving us a little more closure to Leonie’s story! 🙂

[/Edit]

In a couple of days you’ll get an interview with Sylvia about the book and some other Fairy Tale related stuff. So stay tuned!

Poison

© For the cover belongs to its rightful owner.

P.S. PoiSonPaiNter 😉

#Buchmagie – Part 1

Fairy Tales have magic, so I decided, it was okay to participate in the #Buchmagie (Bookmagic) tag alongside my Fairy Tale Summer. 🙂

You can obviously participate as well using my translated or the original questions. Though, just to be clear: This doesn’t count towards the Fairy Tale Summer Challenge. 😉

The tag was created by Blue Siren over at Babsi taucht ab and is about different magical topics regarding books – be it about witches/wizards or just magical experiences while reading. She put together thirty questions that you can answer on any social media channel you like. I decided to answer them in two parts on here. Today you’ll get the first fifteen questions. 🙂

1. What is your Hogwarts House? Alternatively: Would you want to attend a Wizardry School or rather learn to use Magic by yourself?

I was sorted into Slytherin on the Beta-Version of Pottermore, which let me to an quite fascinating experiment. As I had anticipated from the first try, the new version then put me in Ravenclaw. By now I had accepted being a Slytherin and will always remain one at heart. 😉 (In Ilvermorny, the American school, I’d be a Pudwudgie, you know, those creatures that generally don’t like people. 😉 )

As for learning magic: I think a school would be the better idea for me, as I otherwise might be too lazy…

2. Who is your favourite witch/sorceress from a book and why? (For Authors: Introduce a sorceress from your book!)

That would be Hermione from the Harry Potter series. She’s smart, funny and manages to excel in this new world, she had never heard of before. I didn’t really mind studying in school, so through her I learned it was okay to know stuff.
Though, it was, and still is, hard for me to add the „o“ to her name, for me she’ll always only be Hermine. 😉 (Took me quite a while to realize it was NOT a spelling mistake, but the original spelling…)

As for my own characters: Meet Mara from The Queen’s Wish. 🙂

Mara is another apprentice of Emry’s master and a really good Healer. She’s rather shy, but that doesn’t keep her from helping out whenever and however she can. With compassion and empathy and a vast knowledge of Healing Spells and Herbology, she makes her patients feel better in no time.

3. Your favourite three magical books (one per series 😉 )

I would say….

The Prisoner of Azkaban is definitely on this list, though I haven’t read it in a while. But back in the day I really liked this one.

If book-magic counts, then I’d say: Die Seiten der Welt by Kai Meyer, though I’m not sure which one I’d choose they’re all pretty great… As I said in the review: The world and the way their „magic“, their bibliomancy works is just so fascinating.

As for the last one…maybe the first part (The Wizard of Earthsea) of the Earthsee Trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin? I like the description of the school and the idea that names are a very powerful thing.

4. What is your favourite Mythical Creature?

Who doesn’t like Dragons? I mean they are pretty awesome. Fire breathing, flying and stuff 😉 By now I also got a liking for Griffins, but that’s basically because it’s in our town’s/state’s coat of arms.

And of course there is this weird relationship I have with Unicorns

5. Spells, Wands or inner Power? Which form of Magic do you like most?

I kind of like inner power the most. Doing something with just a thought/look/hand gesture feels way more epic than waving around a wand. Though spells are nice too, they seem to focus all the above a bit better.

6. Your favourite Sorcerer/Mage from a book and why? (For Authors: Introduce a sorcerer from your book!)

I have to go with Harry Potter again: Remus Lupin. He just seems like such an incredible teacher and person…

Another one from The Queen’s Wish: Meet Andres

Also an apprentice of the aforementioned master who excels in sensory Magic. He can sense Magic and its purpose from far away and figure out what charms were used on people and things. He is fiercely loyal to his friends, but still somewhat of a loner. Not willing to settle down, he is always on the move across the land, but that doesn’t mean he won’t come running when he is needed.

7. Which magical discipline would you like to master and what would you do with it? (e.g. Alchemy, Clairvoyance, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Herbology, Flying, mastering elements?)

I’d go with teleportation. It would make travelling SO MUCH easier….I’d just have to master it enough to take things and people with me. 😉

8. Which books about Magic would you like to read/are still amongst your unread books?

Well, Cursed Child is still on my reading list, but so far I just haven’t felt like reading a play again.

Other than that am I more or less interested in reading a bit more about Arthurian legends and through that more about Merlin, but that’s a rather low priority.

9. Which Rune would you choose? (z.B. Runen (German) – e.g. Runes (English))

I decided to choose Isa. It just fits well for several things going on right now, or rather not going…

10. Your favourite EVIL wizard/witch in a book?

Puh…I usually have quite a liking for the darker characters, but I can’t remember any good EVIL wizards I rooted for…(and no, I didn’t even do that for Snape).

The only bad guy I can think of right now is one of the antagonists from The Queen’s Wish, but I won’t tell you about him yet… 😉

11. What would be your Familiar or Accompanying Creature and why? (e.g. Raven, black Cat, Toad)

Maybe a Raven? It could scout ahead and let me know what’s going on, but I don’t have to take care of it that much? I really don’t know…

12. Which children’s book has fired your fondness for magical things?

If you count them as children’s books then definitely the Harry Potter series, it’s the series that shaped me the most after all.  😉

13. Which Tarot card would you choose? (TarotkartenTarot cards)

As I’m too lazy to look through all of them I decided to go by looks and names to read through a few.
What I came up with is The Moon, though the English description I found sounds quite different from the German one… It has to do with imagination and inner stuff and it has a wolf and the moon on it. No idea why that sounds familiar. 😀

14. Which Covers are just magical?

Hmm…the only one I could think of right now would be The Hunter’s Moon by O.R. Melling.

But in general I’d say covers that are playful and show scenery and maybe characters.

15. Whom would you wish to have as your Magic teacher?

If it counts: BBC Merlin, he just seems like the lessons would be fun . 😀 If not: Definitely Lupin, see Question 6.

To be continued…

PoiSonPaiNter

Fairy Tale Summer: Winners & What's next

Read in English

Märchensommer: Gewinner und was als nächstes kommt


(Da mehr Deutsche der Challenge folgen, habe ich mal die Sprachreihenfolge getauscht.)
Am Dienstag habe ich zur Verlosung von einem von fünfzehn Bänden der Märchenspinnerei aufgerufen. Es galt eine einfache Frage (Was ist dein Lieblingsmärchen?) zu beantworten, doch leider, trotz für diesen Blog hohe Klickzahlen, haben sich nur wenige getraut es mir zu verraten.

Doch die, die sich getraut haben, werden sich freuen, denn sie sind

Die Gewinner!

Und das sind eure Preise:

Herzlichen Glückwunsch allen Gewinnerinnen!

Bitte teilt mir so schnell wie möglich gültige E-Mail Adressen und vor allem das Format in dem ihr das E-Book haben möchtet mit! Ich werde dann alles an die Märchenspinnerinnen weiterleiten, die dann den Rest übernehmen!

Wie geht es jetzt weiter?

Die Bände sind verlost, den Lurch ist fast durch, da bleibt nur eines: Weitermachen. 😉
Der Märchensommer, der, wie ihr oben sehen könnt ein Banner bekommen hat von Sarah, die sich dafür ein paar Bonuspunkte verdient hat – Danke nochmal! 🙂 – geht schließlich noch bis Ende August!
Am Sonntag gibt es das zweite Rätsel, beim ersten habe ich erst drei Leute, die sich daran versucht haben. Eine davon hat mir gezeigt, dass es auch diesmal etwas zweideutig ist, aber auch das Ergebnis werde ich gelten lassen, wenn auch mit kleinem Punktabzug.
Theoretisch am Montag soll es dann die nächste Märchenfrage geben, aber die ist noch nicht fertig und weiß noch nicht, ob ich sie rechtzeitig fertig bekomme…die Königin hat mich die Woche etwas abgelenkt…aber sie wird kommen! Spätestens am Dienstag!
Am Donnerstag wird es dann einen Beitrag zum #Buchmagie-Tag/Challenge von Blue Siren geben geben, eine Challenge-ception sozusagen. Aber ich habe mir so gedacht: In Märchen kommt Magie vor und Märchen stehen in Büchern, also kann ich da ruhig mitmachen. 😀
Je nachdem wie ich es schaffe kommt dann nächste Woche auch die Rezension zum Axolotlkönig, aber bis dahin werde ich vermutlich schon längst mit dem Mantel angefangen haben. 🙂
Wie ihr seht: Es ist viel geplant!
Seid gespannt und macht fleißig mit beim Märchensommer!
PoiSonPaiNter
_________________________________
Lies auf Deutsch

(As more Germans are following the Challenge I decided to switch the order of the languages)
And of course the content of yesterday’s package, which was nothing less than volume two, three and four of the Märchenspinnerei (Fairy Tale Spinnery) Fairy Tale adaptations.
On Tuesday I started the give give-away for one of fifteen books by the Märchenspinnerei. There was an easy question to be answered (What is your all-time favourite Fairy Tale?), still only a few actually dared to tell me, regardless of the high click count for the Blog.

Famous Fairy Tales in new Garments


Alas, the once who dared, can now celebrate, because they are

The Winners!

And these are your prices:

Congratulations to the Winners!

What’s next?

The books are given away, the ‚Lotl is nearly finished, there is only one thing left to do: Continue. 😉
The Fairy Tale Summer, which as you can see above now as a banner thanks to Sarah, which gained her a few bonus points – thanks again! 🙂 – continues until the End of August after all!
On Sunday the next riddle will be asked, for the first one I only got three answers so far. One of which showed be that it has a double meaning again, which I will count as solution, but with a small deduction of points.
In theory will there be the next Fairy Tale question on Tuesday, but I haven’t written it yet and I don’t no whether I will be able to finish it in time the Queen distracted me a bit this week…but it will come! Tuesday the latest!
On Thursday there will be a post for the #Bookmagic-Tag/Challenge by Blue Siren, a sort of Challenge-ception. But I thought: There is Magic in Fairy Tales and Fairy Tales are in books, I might as well participate. 😀
Depending on whether I’ll manage to do get around to it will you also get my review for the Axolotlking, but until then I’ll problably have started with the Coat already. 🙂
As you can see: A lot is planned!
Stay curious and take part in the Fairy Tale Summer!
PoiSonPaiNter
 
PoiSonPaiNter

Fairy Tale Summer

Lies auf Deutsch
As the weather is getting warmer and my desire to stay inside becomes stronger – and a certain package just arrived yesterday and it’s content keeps calling out to me – I decided to do some special reading this summer. (Yes I know, I still have two challenges I haven’t finished yet, but hey, I just don’t feel like reading any of those books…)

Anyway, let’s talk about Fairy Tales…

As I mentioned before were Fairy Tales a huge part of my childhood. I remember Sunday mornings when my Mum was preparing breakfast and my Dad and I were huddled against each other making up stories of Bucks Bunny, alongside many different characters, saving a princess. I remember Sunday lunches in the living room when the TV showed the Sunday Fairy Tale (Sonntagsmärchen) and all of us watching them for the umpteenth time.
I grew up learning to respect Baba Yaga and Father Frost, I watched a spoiled princess learn her lesson from King Thrushbeard and another finally hearing the sound of the Singing, sounding Treeling (Das singende, klingende Bäumchen). I saw a young man overcome the Fire, Water and Brass Pipes (which I just noticed means „To got to Hell and Back“ and I’m no longer surprised I like the Sabaton song by the same name as much as I do…) and went on many more adventures in old DEFA and Russian Fairy Tale movies.
But it didn’t stop there. For a couple of years now the ARD (a German TV channel) recreate about four Fairy Tales each year and we always sit down at Christmas and New Years and make sure to catch them.
Whenever there is a screening of a Fairy Tale, it is very likely that we will watch it.
It should not come to a surprise to anyone that I only need a short scene to know which Fairy Tale and which version it is. Or that I can quote certain scenes without much thought. 😉 (And people say German television is rubbish, but if they can do one thing it’s Fairy Tales. :D)

„But Fairy Tales come from books and tales!“, you might complain.

Well, yes, of course they do. But in an age were getting children to read becomes more and more difficult it is more likely that they might watch a film version of it. I mean just think about Disney and all the money they make off of their princess-merchandise. 😉
Other than that did Fairy Tales go through several changes over the centuries. Barely anyone knows the original versions of the Grimm Fairy Tales (which were pretty grim, pun intended ;)). You know, those versions where Sleeping Beauty wakes up when one of the two children she gave birth to (and was impregnated with) while sleeping, sucked on her finger? Or the one where Rapunzels prince is blinded by thorns after the witch throws him out of the tower and heavily pregnant Rapunzel looks for him in the desert? Or…but I digress. (For readers with enough German knowledge: Sofian took a closer look at Allerleirauh and Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White and Sleepy Beauty)
I have several Fairy Tale books at home, ranging from collections of Grimm Fairy Tales and other classics, over collections about tales of local stories or witches, up to collections of Scottish and Japanese Fairy Tales. Which incidentally I’ve only skimmed through. But some of the classics have been read to me. 😀
And of course the content of yesterday’s package, which was nothing less than volume two, three and four of the Märchenspinnerei (Fairy Tale Spinnery) Fairy Tale adaptations.

Famous Fairy Tales in new Garments


The Märchenspinnerei is a group of twelfth authoresses that picked up well known Fairy Tales and changed them into something new. Accompanied by thirteen Blogger-Fairies they are publishing a new book for a new Fairy Tale each month. (You can follow them on e.g. Facebook and Twitter)
The published Fairy Tales so far:

and the upcoming (13th June):

I think it’s needless to say, that all theses books (and linked pages) are in German, but it’s a great project and maybe with enough people asking… 😉
When I first learned about the project, I was curious and by now I have the first four volumes at home (I won the first one as signed copy 😉 ) waiting for me to read them.
Which leads me tooo….. *drum roll*

The Fairy Tale Summer

As the Märchenspinnerei books are calling out to me, I’ve decided to read (and potentially review) them this summer. If I manage to get that far, I will also do the same for some of my Fairy Tale collections. So instead of waiting for the dark winter times, where you usually snuggle up to read Fairy Tales, I’m going to do this in summer. Without snuggling up, hopefully. 😀
My time frame will be roughly 6th June to 25th August, so plenty of time for a couple of relatively short books. Not that that ever kept me from procrastination. 😉
If I get around to it, I might also continue with Lost in Translation: The Wesen of Grimm or add topics in regards to Fairy Tales.
I don’t really have a plan for this or even a fancy picture, but if you would like to join me, I would set up an extra page, with some guidelines and we could even turn this into a „challenge“, with answering questions in regards to Fairy Tales or even „book counts“.
And maybe, if I’m creative enough to think of something, someone could win something. 😀

Long story short:

I really like Fairy Tales and there are some great adaptations.
I want to read the Märchenspinnerei books during the summer and you’re invited to join me (in reading them or Fairy Tale-related books in general).
If enough people show interest in this I will turn it into a „challenge“ with questions you have to answer and potentially a price/prices you could win.
Let me know if you want to join, what you’d like to read (books and as topics) and enjoy the  upcoming summer with some mighty fine Fairy Tales. 😉
PoiSonPaiNter
_________________________________
Read in English

Märchensommer

Da das Wetter wärmer und mein Drang drinnen zu bleiben größer wird – und ein gewisses Päckchen gestern angekommen ist, dessen Inhalt nach mir ruft – habe ich mich entschieden diesen Sommer etwas Besonderes zu machen. (Ja, ich weiß, ich habe noch zwei Challenges, die ich noch immer nicht beendet habe, aber hey, ich hab einfach keine Lust jene Bücher zu lesen…)

Wie auch immer, lasst uns über Märchen reden…

Wie ich schon mal erwähnt habe, spielten Märchen eine große Rolle in meiner Kindheit. Ich erinnre mich an Sonntagmorgende, an denen meine Mutter das Frühstück vorbereitet hat und mein Vater und ich im Bett zusammengekuschelt lagen und uns Geschichten ausdachten, wie Bucks Bunny und andere Charaktere eine Prinzessin retteten. Ich erinnre mich an die Sonntagsessen im Wohnzimmer, wenn im Fernseher das Sonntagsmärchen lief und wir uns die zigste Wiederholung angesehen haben.
Ich habe gelernt Baba Yaga und Väterchen Frost zu respektieren, ich habe gesehen, wie eine verwöhnte Prinzessin ihre Lektion von König Drosselbart gelernt und eine andere endlich den Klang des singenden, klingenden Bäumchens vernommen hat. Ich sah einen jungen Mann Feuer, Wasser und Posaunen überwinden (was, wie ich gerade bemerkt habe „To got to Hell and Back“ bedeutet und mich nicht länger darüber wundern lässt, warum ich das gleichnamige Lied von Sabaton so gut finde…) und bin auf viele andere Abenteuer in den alten DEFA und Russischen Märchenfilmen gegangen.
Aber da hat es nicht aufgehört. Seit Jahren erneuert die ARD jedes Jahr um die vier Märchen und  Weihnachten und Neujahr ist es für uns ein Muss die neuen Folgen zu schauen.
Wann immer ein Märchen im Fernsehen kommt ist es sehr wahrscheinlich, dass wir es uns ansehen.
Es sollte also niemanden überraschen, dass ich nur eine kleine Szene brauche um zu wissen welches Märchen und welche Version es ist. Oder das ich gewisse Stellen ohne groß nachzudenken zitieren kann. 😉 (Und Leute sagen das deutsche Fernsehen ist scheiße, aber wenn sie etwas können, dann sind es Märchen. :D)

„Aber Märchen kommen doch aus Büchern und Erzählungen!“, könnte man sich beschweren.

Natürlich tun sie das. Aber in einer Zeit, in der es immer schwerer wird Kinder zum Lesen zu bringen, ist es wahrscheinlicher, dass sie sich eine Filmversion davon anschauen. Ich meine, schaut euch doch nur mal Disney und das ganze Geld an, das sie über ihr Prinzessinnen-Merchandise machen. 😉
Abgesehen davon haben Märchen über die Jahrhunderte eine ziemliche Wandlung durchgemacht. Kaum jemand kennt die Originalfassungen der Grimm’schen Märchen(, die sehr „grimmig“ waren, das absichtliche Wortspiel funktioniert besser auf English: grim…). Ihr wisst schon, die Version in der Dornröschen aufwacht als eines der zwei Kinder, das sie während sie schlief (empfing und) gebar, an ihrem Finger saugte? Oder die in der Rapuzels Prinz von Dornen geblendet wurde, als die Hexe ihn aus dem Turm stieß und die hochschwangere Rapunzel ihn dann in der Wüste suchen gegangen ist? Oder…ich schweife ab. (Für Interessierte: Sofian hat sich Allerleirauh und Rotkäppchen and Schneewitchen und Dornröschen mal genauer angeschaut.)
Ich habe einige Märchenbücher Zuhause, angefangen von Sammlungen der Grimm’schen Märchen und anderer Klassiker, über Sammlungen zu Lokalen Geschichten oder Hexen, bis zu Sammlungen zu Schottischen und Japanischen Märchen, die ich tatsächlich bisher nur überflogen habe. Mir wurden trotzdem diverse Märchen auch vorgelesen. 😉
Und natürlich der Inhalt des gestrigen Päckchen, das nichts anderes als die Bände zwei, drei und vier der Märchenspinnerei Märchen Adaptierungen enthielt.

Die Märchenspinnerei ist eine Gruppe von zwölf Autorinnen die sich bekannte Märchen ausgesucht und zu etwas Neuem verändert haben. Begleitet von dreizehn bloggenden Feen veröffentlichen sie jeden Monat ein neues Buch zu einem neuen Märchen. (Ihr könnt ihnen auf u.a. Facebook und Twitter folgen)
Die bisher erschienenen Märchen:

und ab 13. Juni:

Als ich von dem Projekt erfahren habe war ich neugierig und mittlerweile habe ich die ersten vier Bände Zuhause (den ersten habe ich als signierte Version gewonnen 😉 ), die darauf warten von mir gelesen zu werden.
Was mich überleiten lässt zuuuu… *Trommelwirbel*

Dem Märchensommer

Da die Märchenspinnerei-Bücher nach mir rufen, habe ich beschlossen sie diesen Sommer zu lesen (und potentiell zu reviewen). Wenn ich soweit komme, will ich mich auch meinen Märchensammlungen widmen. Also anstatt bis zur dunklen Winterzeit zu warten, in der man sich normalerweise einkuschelt um Märchen zu lesen, mache ich das im Sommer. Ohne einkuscheln, hoffentlich. 😀
Mein Zeitrahmen wird grob vom 6. Juni bis zum 25. August sein, also ausreichend Zeit für ein paar relativ kurze Bücher. Nicht, dass mich das von der Prokrastination abhalten würde. 😉
Wenn ich es schaffe, mache ich auch mit dem Lost in Translation: The Wesen of Grimm weiter oder schreibe Beiträge zu Märchen im Allgemeinen.
Ich hab noch keinen wirklich Plan dafür oder gar ein fancy Bild, aber wenn ihr mitmachen möchtet, würde ich eine extra Seite mit ein paar Richtlinien erstellen und wir könnten das Ganze sogar in eine „Challenge“ umändern, mit Märchen Fragen beantworten oder „Bücheranzahlen“.
Und vielleicht, wenn ich kreativ genug bin mir etwas auszudenken, kann jemand etwas gewinnen. 😀

Lange Rede, kurzer Sinn:

Ich finde Märchen toll und es gibt ein paar großartige Adaptierungen.
Ich möchte die Märchenspinnerei-Bücher im Sommer lesen und lade euch ein mitzumachen (sie oder andere mit Märchen in Verbindung stehende Bücher zu lesen).
Wenn genügend Leute Interesse zeigen, werde ich es zu einer „Challenge“ ausbauen in der Fragen beantwortet werden müssen und man potentiell einen Preis/Preise gewinnen könnte.
Lasst es mich wissen, wenn ihr mitmachen wollt, was ihr gerne lesen würdet (Bücher oder als Beitrag) und genießt den kommenden Sommer mit ein paar ganz prima Märchen. 😉
PoiSonPaiNter

Reading Together #19

As I told you on Twitter will my entry for this weeks #LoveWritingChallenge be published on Thursday. It’s just easier for me to do it that way…
Instead I give you this post, as I want to talk about my newest read. 😉
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.

What is Reading Together?

Gemeinsam Lesen” as it is originally called, is a project by German book bloggers Schlunzenbuecher. Each Tuesday you have to answer four questions regarding your current read.
For more information and my old participations take a look at this page: Reading Together.
Without any further ado, let’s take a look at today’s, obviously translated, questions:

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

As I saw the package on Sunday I knew I had to put away Irving’s essay collection and start with this: PWNED by Matt Vancil.
PWNED is part of the Gamers universe by Dead Gentlemen Productions (DGP) and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment (ZOE) and Matt Vancil is one of the masterminds behind it and JourneyQuest (and more). It tells the story of a young man that tries to win back his girlfriend from the clutches of the MMORPG Fatherall Online by entering the world himself. But as one knows from The Gamers: Nothing is as it seems.
As it’s hard to put down and easy to read am I already on page: 105
 

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

English:

TIP: Grouping with other players is a great way to earn experience points!

German:

TIP: Sich mit anderen Spielern zu verbinden, ist ein guter Weg Erfahrungspunkte zu sammeln!

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

For those that don’t want to read the Gamers post a short summary:

The respective stories [of the three Gamers movies] follow[s] a group of table top gamers (one in the first one, one for part two and three) and their campaigns, but instead of just talking the audience through what the characters are doing, the actors also take up the roles of their characters and show what is happening during the game, sometimes narrating or commenting it with gaming terms (Attack names, “Critical Hit”, etc.).

PWNED tells a Gamers story that never made it on screen. It takes place alongside the third movie, but before the upcoming series. The characters from the „2nd generation“ (Lodge, Cass and Leo) are the side characters in this one. When I saw it amongst the add-ons after the Orcish Dictionary campaign I just thought it sounded interesting to read this story rather than seeing it.
The more you get into the Gamers universe, the larger it becomes and with the upcoming Hopjockey-novels (also by Vancil) it’ll be clear HOW MUCH, everything DGP and ZOE created over the years is connected. I’m quite excited for this, but for now I’m thoroughly enjoying this one.
It’s a bit strange to read the switch between gamer and character, but it’s well done and you still know when the perspective is no longer the one looking at it from the outside. As in all of his (their) work you really know that it’s done by a gamer who loves what he’s doing. It reflects in the chosen words, the descriptions, the little things added to the story (like tips for new gamers at the start of every chapter). It’s just great to have something like this, combined with great characters.
I’m really curious how this story will play into the overall story arc and if there will be a connection to The Shadow! The Shadow? The Shadow… 😉

4. Is it important for you to inspire other people (e.g. your children, friends, colleagues, family, etc.) to read?

Uhm….good question…I think it is. At least it always feels great when someone reads something I enjoyed and even better if they enjoy it as well. But I wouldn’t push others into reading. When I gush about something and they decide to check it out, well, that’s definitely a win. 😉

Additional thoughts

As it’s sunny today I went to get some ice cream after work, but they also served waffles, which made for the more appropriate dish for continued reading. 😀
As far as I know is this story only available in English and it is pretty much a gaming-genre read, but maybe there is someone out there who hasn’t heard of it yet and thinks it sounds interesting enough to check out?
By the way: If you like stuff by DGP (& ZOE): They have a Kickstarter running for a new series of Demon Hunter’s.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.