Inkheart, Week 2

Welcome to Week 2 of our Online Book Club discussion of Inkheart

Did you enjoy the first section this week? The story sucked me in from the first pages. I hope you felt the same. 

As a librarian, one thing I enjoyed was how Inkheart talked so lovingly about books. One of my dreams would be for someone to make me a book box so I could keep my most treasured books close. I don't think I could keep a small box, though—it would have to be pretty big. What size do you think Meggie's box was? 

What did you think of the main characters in this section? Mo was great, obviously, but what did you think of Elinor? I liked how passionate she was about books, but I don't think she had great people skills. I'm not sure if I really enjoyed her as a character. Dustfinger was another hard character to appreciate. At first, I thought his juggling skills and magical animal were interesting. But I was so disappointed how he threw Meggie and her family under the bus. I felt like I understood him a little better once I realized he was displaced from his story, but still, I wished he had been a little more courageous and had stood up to Capricorn a bit more. I really didn't like Capricorn, but I know I wasn't supposed to. 

What did you think of Meggie? I was so frustrated when she tried to rescue her dad. I admired her bravery and loyalty, but I knew she wasn't going to have a good experience with Capricorn and his men. And I could tell that Dustfinger was trying to deceive her in some way. Do you think she is going to end up having the same reading ability as her father? 

Did you guess that Mo had the ability to read people out of books before it was explicitly explained? I knew something weird must be going on with him since he was being so secretive, but I didn't expect he had the power to bring characters to life. I thought he might have some sort of magical book binding ability or something. I felt sorry for him that he didn't understand how his power worked and couldn't do it on command. He definitely would have had an easier time dealing with Capricorn if he had been able to control his abilities. 

What do you think happens to Capricorn at the end of his Inkheart book? Mo hints that the book ends moderately well, but he's secretive about the details. Why doesn't Capricorn want to go back to the book? What do you think happens to Dustfinger? Why doesn't he have the strength to read the end of the book? 

This section ends with Meggie and her family escaping from Capricorn's palace. They bring Farid with them, but he doesn't seem interested in interacting with them. Do you think they are going to be able to stay safe from Capricorn? There is so much book left that I know we'll see him again. Do you have any guesses about something that might happen in the next section? 

Check out Cornelia Funke's website. It has a lot of interesting information about Inkheart including information about a stage production of the movie that took place in England. Check out the trailer for the play below. 

I'm really excited to hear what you thought of this section. Let me know if you have any guesses about what will happen next, and if you're enjoying the story so much that you're planning on watching the movie after you finish reading. 

Make sure to read chapters 20–38 before joining us next week!