Nikolski

by Nicolas Dickner | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 9780676978797 Global Overview for this book
Registered by Pooker3 of Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on 3/23/2008
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Pooker3 from Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Sunday, March 23, 2008
A discovery! I thought I'd try this one for John Mutford's 2008/2009 Canadian Book Challenge. That is unless I can't stop myself from reading it before July 1/08.

Journal Entry 2 by Pooker3 from Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada on Friday, August 29, 2008
I never ever read a book more than once, at least intentionally and cover to cover. This one will be the exception.

I wonder what made me pick this book in the first place. I notice that I bought this book in March, 2008 and announced, without even having read a word, I'd made a "discovery". What made me think that?

One of the back cover blurbs suggests the novel is "phantasmagorical". I'd never have bought it on that. Too weird. One suggests it will restore my taste for flights of fancy and treasure hunts in time and space. Hmmm...I don't care for fantasy or science fiction. The other claims this book is the "discovery of the year". Did I simply accept another's assessment? Doubtful.

And yet, that's exactly what it was!

Have you ever seen a baby react to his first taste of a "pop", say 7-Up? There's the little gasp, fluttering of eyelids and wrinkled nose at the surprising and unfamiliar tickle of the bubbles, then the smacking of lips and hands reaching out for more.

Or the first little puff of mom's breath in baby's face or Dad's first raspberry to her bare belly. There's a little gasp of surprise followed by a belly laugh or infectious giggle. Whoot! I don't know what that was...but, by golly, I like it! I've tasted (or felt) things before, but nothing quite like this. What a delightful surprise.

And so it was with me. I've read things before, but nothing quite like this. What a delightful surprise!
It's as if I just discovered why I read.

And now having read it, I want to read it again. The book was such a delight to read that I know I just skimmed along and missed stuff. In fact, at one point I became totally disoriented when I discovered that Arizna was not the same person as Joyce. Somehow I had thought Arizna was a "secret identity" Joyce had assumed and while I had thought "How odd", I was happy to accept it. That's something a pirate might do. Right? Wrong. But did I go back and figure out how I had made that mistake? Oh no, I was too eager to move ahead.

I also want to check on some little neons that had flashed through my mind as I was reading but had eluded any concerted examination as I happily turned page after page. It's only when I got to the end that I found myself saying, "Hang on a minute, what was that about...?"

Dickner's writing is quite magical and I loved all the fish talk and imagery. The characters fish in their pockets and perch and navigate. Their surroundings, bedding, pictures - you name it - are festooned with urchins and shells and starfish. Seahorse is on the menu! Joyce works in a fish shop and apparently eats only fishy things. That fact that she never does her dishes is decidedly gross, but the image of "phosphorescent plankton drizzling around the lamppost" more than makes up for that. I will forevermore look up at a streetlight in the rain and see that. A motherboard sizzles like trout in a pan. Ha!

For all its freshness to me though, the story was also surprisingly familiar and seemed to contain fine threads of the many stories I've recently read and loved. How neat is that. I wonder if other readers would say the same.

This is my fourth book by a Canadian male author and 10th overall for the 2nd Canadian Book Challenge, Eh?

Released 13 yrs ago (6/27/2010 UTC) at The Forks - see release note for details in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

at the Fish and Chips joint in the Forks Market, on a table near the counter.

This book was released for the 2010 Canada Day release challenge (June 25 - July 4) in celebration of Canadian books and authors.

To the finder of this book:

Welcome to the wonderful and wacky world of BookCrossing! Here you'll find a unique and worldwide community of book lovers sharing their books. This book is now yours! Read it, enjoy it. Keep it or pass it on to someone you know or even release it back into the wild as I did. If you make a journal entry (either anonymously or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this book will be notified by e-mail and can follow this book on its travels. BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your email address) and it's whole lot of fun!

I hope you enjoy this book by a Canadian author. Happy Canada Day on the 1st!

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