[Calluffence]

This book is the first by Danish author Mikkel Birkegaard, and it has been translated into seventeen languages. The English version is a fluent and colloquial translation by Tiina Nunnally.

This is the novel PAR EXCELLENCE for members of this forum. It's about the power of books and reading, but with a sinister twist (I'm not suggesting that WE are sinister!).

Luca Campelli is an Italian who has set up an antiquarian bookshop - Libri di Luca - in Copenhagen. By the time the story opens, the bookshop has been a focus for local bibliophiles for several decades. But Luca and his customers are no ordinary book-lovers. They all possess a special power to read books in such a way that they almost come alive for the listener. Some are "transmitters", who can read aloud in such a way as to manipulate the feelings and emotions of their audience, rather like an exceptionally gifted actor. Others are "receivers", who are preternaturally receptive to the spoken word. When a transmitter and receiver work in tandem with a given book, they can achieve powerful effects - like short-circuiting electrical equipment and causing fires, if they're not careful! Katherina, who is a receiver, "hears" people in the bus browsing their book or newspaper in a desultory way, while thinking of other things, and amuses herself by concentrating their attention on their reading-matter until they get so engrossed that they go past their stop.

About twenty years before the story begins, a faction within this brotherhood of the book has launched a divisive civil war which leaves a legacy of mutual distrust and suspicion between transmitters and receivers. Luca has devoted his life to reconciling the two factions, but he dies a rather gruesome if bookish death in the first chapter.

The shop is inherited by his estranged son, a successful Copenhagen lawyer, who turns out to have exceptional powers as a transmitter. He is inducted into the order, but attracts the attention of the dark forces who want to pervert their gifts to attain power and influence in the world.

I don't want to say too much more, for this novel is very much plot-driven, and I don't want to give it away. The book-readings here are unlike any you have attended in your local library or bookshop, and I guarantee you will never look at stories like Don Quixote or Pinocchio in the same way again!

I started off thinking this is fantastic and far-fetched, but it's a nice, light, undemanding read (which we all need sometimes). As I went on, I began to see the satirical intent. There's nothing far-fetched about using the power of language to win friends and influence people, or to scare the pants off them. Rupert Murdoch's press empire is currently under scrutiny for its alleged use of criminal methods to dig the dirt on people. Britain's tabloid newspapers are notorious for their sensationalism and their slanted commentary on trends in modern society. My elderly mother-in-law lives in permanent fear of the modern world, thanks to her regular reading of the Daily Mail. So although Birkegaard's novel is undoubtedly an entertaining read, there is a serious intent there too.

Harry

[Gaxiciverfere]

...I'm not suggesting that WE are sinister...

Oh YES we are!

Thanks for the tip, Harry: never heard of this one before.

[Smittoh]

...he dies a rather gruesome if bookish death in the first chapter.

Paper cut, right?

It sounds interesting though, and rather more focused on the novelty library environment than my recently finished copy of The Shadow of the Wind.