Aravis' Blog

Kara and I have started to read “Alice’s Abenteuer im Wunderland” (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) as a duet for LibriVox in German.

»Und was nützen Bücher,« dachte Alice, »ohne Bilder und Gespräche?« (and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice ‘without pictures or conversation?’)

I would never have thougt that it could be so much fun to read Alice. As a kid I didn’t particularly like it…. too confusing, too many weird animals and really annoying voices. Ok… all I’ve ever seen of Alice was the Disney version. (Normally I love Disney movies but this one is the exception to the rule). Actually I’m pretty astonished how different the book is from the Disney version… (not that I can remember very well!)

»Vielleicht versteht sie nicht Englisch,« dachte Alice, »es ist vielleicht eine französische Maus, die mit Wilhelm dem Eroberer herüber gekommen ist« (‘Perhaps it doesn’t understand English,’ thought Alice; ‘I daresay it’s a French mouse, come over with William the Conqueror.’)

Anyway the book is great (the translation really is awesome) and so much fun to read. We’ve already done the first two chapters. If you want a peek you can find our combined effort here.

»Sagt mir das erst, und dann, wenn ich die Person gern bin, will ich kommen; wo nicht, so will ich hier unten bleiben, bis ich jemand Anderes bin.« (“Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I’ll come up: if not, I’ll stay down here till I’m somebody else”)

If you are wondering why we are reading in German, it’s my native lanuage. For Kara it’s a second language and she speaks it REALLY well. I especially love her way of reading the poem right at the beginning of the first chapter… 😀 (While you are at it listen to her recording of “Der Struwwelpeter“… it’s one of my very favs and her charming accent makes it doubly enjoyable.)

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A couple of days ago I “madly” fell in love with a book called “Nobody’s Boy” by Hector Malot. Originally it was published under the title “Sans famille” and seems to be (have been ;)) rather famous, though I’d never heard of it before until I discovered it in “Book Suggestions” on LibriVox.

It was these first few lines that drew me in:

"I'LL GIVE YOU THIRTY FRANCS FOR HIM."

I was a foundling. But until I was eight years of age I thought I had a mother like other children, for when I cried a woman held me tightly in her arms and rocked me gently until my tears stopped falling. I never got into bed without her coming to kiss me, and when the December winds blew the icy snow against the window panes, she would take my feet between her hands and warm them, while she sang to me. Even now I can remember the song she used to sing. If a storm came on while I was out minding our cow, she would run down the lane to meet me, and cover my head and shoulders with her cotton skirt so that I should not get wet.

Remi, an orphaned boy spends the first 8 years of his life in a poor but cosy home, with a mother who loves him dearly. It’s only when the woman’s husband returns that he finds out that they are not his parents. His “father”, who has been injured and is now out of work, looses no time in selling him to a travelling artist, called Vitalis.

It soon turns out that the fate, which seemed so cruel in the beginning in reality has been a blessing!

The book is beautifully written and it captures the characters as well as the mood of that time very well. The dialogues often are funny and it’s the careful details that make it really worth reading!

Considering all this I just had to start it as my 3. LibriVox Solo (though I solemly promised myself not to start another until the other 2 are done, but the tempation was just too much ;)) and almost 1/3 of it is already recorded.

Btw. after so many posts about LibriVox, I should probably blog about it some time too! 🙂

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