This book is for a bookring.
From the author of the "Neverending Story".
My father read this book to me when I was little and I´ve read it many times since. Although it´s considered a childrens book I´m convinced that grownups(young at heart) can enjoy this book as well since it has so many different levels of understanding. It´s a story about life and how important it is to make the most of it. A story about time, about how we often misuse it, applying it to things that are wasteful and don't have much meaning. It really shows how we can get wrapped up in society and its needs, forgetting what's really important.
Little Momo and her turtle Cassiopeia are setting out to find out more about the "Men in Grey", the time-thieves.
See also amazon reviews here

The idea was to let the book travel around the world with stops in
as many different countries as possible. To ensure the traveling part I unfortunatly have to limit the stops per country(1-2 max). But I´m trying to take the number of requests into account. So basically all the countries listed below are taken but you can still join if you are from someplace else.

0. MrBones (Germany)
1. sinterklaas (The Netherlands)
2. OlePinto (Spain)
3. fteles (Portugal)
4. tho (Portugal)
5. Spiegel (Brazil)
6. caligula03 (USA/California)
7. Zmrzlina (USA/Boston)
8. Ardy (USA/Pennsylvania)
9. jinnayah (USA/Michigan)
10.bluenoser (Canada/Nova Scotia)
11.booklemur (UK)
12.stephen-1702 (Belgium)
13.mrsjones (USA/Ohio)
14.Secretariat (USA/California)
15.butlin (USA/New Hampshire)
---> back to me

I´ve had a few suggestions as to what might still add to the fun:
1. adding pictures of eg typical landscape,- mark to journal entry
(you can certainly do that if you want to!)
2. adding postcards
3. signing the book
4. adding a stamp or two of each country to the inside back cover might be a fun idea too!

The book will start it´s journey sometime in the middle of july
2003. When the book reaches you, simply contact the person one step down the line for mailing info and send it on. After you´ve read it of course!
Enjoy the book!

First stage: Regensburg - Enschede(NL)
Gute Reise!

The book arrived yesterday and will travel with me to Epen, almost in Belgium, where I plan to read it. After my holiday it will go to Spain.

I'm afraid that lelle will have to wait. MrBones, please rearrange the list. It seems that it was sent to me before this last change.
I haven't read it so far, but it has arrived well. Momo is now resting from its long trip.
Expect it to leave in 1 - 2 weeks.

Nice book. Certainly good for younger people, but kept me reading until "just a bit too late to go to bed", I *had* to know how it ended.
It is now in the post office, ready to head Portugal. With just a change: fteles has not answered with his/her address in two weeks, so the book goes to tho, next in the list. Should he/she answer, I'll let tho know for her to send Momo there.

Just got it !!! Will start reading it this weekend ...

What a fantastic children's book !!! While I was reading it I couldn't help thinking that indeed our society must be filled with 'men in grey' nowadays - some of the scenes with all the people rushing from one place to the other, complaining about not having 'enough time', and the children's play being so controlled are unfortunately a sad reality. This book makes you think about how you spend your own time, and maybe inspire a change for the better :-)

It goes to Spiegel in Brazil this week !

How exciting! It's the first bookring book I receive. The travel diary is a really neat idea.

After reading the comments about spending your time, I decided to upload a picture of one of our main parks, a good place to spend a pleasant day with friends and family here in my hometown.

This was a nice book, not quite as fascinating and epic as "Neverending Story". "Momo" read more like a fable. I spent some fun hours reading it (I felt Cassiopeia glaring at me for rushing through it the whole time ;).

It's on its way to caligula03 in California.

The book has arrived safe and sound. I look forward to reading it soon.

I first started Momo back in 1995 just before graduating from UCSB. As it was a library book, I had to return the book in order to graduate! I never got past the point where the grey men start to plot against Momo. At long last I have been able to finish the book! :D

Release planned for Saturday, January 31, 2004 at Zmrzlina in n/a, n/a Controlled Releases.

Will mail to Zmrzlina on Saturday.

Right to the top of my pile of books and I will post again when I've read it. Pictured is chilly Scituate Light (my town, Scituate, is about 20 miles (33 km) south of Boston, Massachusetts.

Thank you!

The many bookrings that have gathered beside my bed sometimes seem like the men in grey from this story. Always rushing me and trying to drain the joy from leisurely reading. However, Momo has vanquished that image and I shall forevermore read without the men in grey.

This is a charming story, though a bit overlong and drawn out. I wasn't sure I would like it at the start since the long story with the children at sea got monotonous. But that might have been before Momo rid my head of the grey men disguised as books beside my bed. This is a cautionary tale and not without a moral, but it doesn't ever get preachy. Very well told.

I am reminded of Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. Not that the theme is the same, but the idea of storytelling and not forgetting to tell stories is similar. What the world needs now is more storytellers. Not the ones who fabricate tales to trick and deceive, but storytellers who remind us to imagine. Albert Einstein said "Imagination is more important than knowledge," and I think that is something we keep forgetting. Imagine...

Released on Monday, April 05, 2004 at United States Postal Service in Norwell, Massachusetts USA.

I don't normally make release notes for controlled releases, but since this one is a ring and looking for more participants, I figured I'd give it a go just to see if anyone notices it in the "recently released" column.

Here we go: a new home for Momo! I am intrigued by the book. It is not what I expected. I didn't think it would start in modern times; but then, it does not seem quite to belong to the times, after all. I am only one chapter in so far, but already I love the style: "Crickets now inhabit their crumbling walls, singing a monotonous song that sounds like the earth breathing in its sleep."

Those are the words of a man who appreciates the beauty hidden in the world. From the "Momo journal" at the back of the book, I gather that that is a theme of this book.

I hadn't expected the little journal! (I also had not expected the book to be so rugged: it is indeed outfitted for world travel.) I knew MrBones wanted us to add stamps or postcards or such, but I figured we would just be cluttering up the inside covers of the book. The journal is a lovely little thing. I love seeing people's handwriting.

Caligula, I wish you and your turtle good luck; Zmrzlina, your name is such a delight I have been singing your song ever since I received the book.

More when I know more about the book!

p.1 "Such was Momo's talent for listening."
--Michael Ende

"Bards and Poets are ten a cow, but a good Listener is hard to find, or at least hard to find twice."
--Terry Pratchett, Pyramids

In Pratchett's world, Listeners charge for their invaluable service. I have known Great Listeners who offer themselves freely, with great compassion. They are among the most perfect people in the world. Again, I approve of Ende's insight.

36 "You must never think of the whole street at once, you understand? You must only concentrate on the next step, the next breath.... That way you enjoy your work, which is important, because then you make a good job of it. And that's how it ought to be."

Last month I went to the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan's annual Becoming the Household of Jesus Christ conference. Sr. Jose Hobday, a Native American Franciscan nun, spoke on "Simple Living." She inspired me. The next day I did a thorough cleaning of my room, which included purging my bookshelf of about three dozen books that have since been released to the wild, and I shortly afterward began volunteering to help feed the patients at Arbor Hospice in Ann Arbor.

More importantly, I no longer felt so scared of my stuff. I do not know how to deal with stuff. I cannot believe I am only 23 years old and already I have more stuff than can fit in a whole room! And it doesn't do anything for me! Some of it does, but much of my stuff just seems like a burden. Sister Jose gave me new perspectives and criteria for stuff to hold on to, and for how to hold on to stuff. It is there for me, not I for it. I can be of this world and yet be free.

Sister Jose also said that Native Americans had no concept of "work" before meeting the Europeans, as they had no confining sense of "time." Where we use "work," she said, they would have said "live." Transform your thinking so that instead of working tediously, waiting for release, you are simply living with every action you take. Give your life an organic whole, knitting together the whole rent fabric of modern living. That also helped me with my school situation, about which I feel deeply ambivalent. I think Beppo Roadsweeper would approve.

In the late Jewish apocalyptic writings there emerges the idea of a new day which is both the eighth--because it is beyond the frustrations and limitations of "seven," the time of this world--and the first, because with it begins the new time, that of the Kingdom. It is from this idea that grew the Christian Sunday.
Christ rose from the dead on the first day after Sabbath. The life that shone forth from the grave was beyond the inescapable limitations of "seven," of time that leads to death. It was thus the beginning of a new life and of a new time. It was truly the eighth and the first day and it became the day of the Church. ...
[Sunday] was not meant to be a "holy day" opposed to profane ones, a commemmoration in time of a past event. Its true meaning was the transformation of time, not of calendar. For, on the one hand, Sunday remained one of the days (for more than three centuries it was not even a day of rest), the first of the week, fully belonging to this world. Yet on the other hand, on that day, through the eucharistic ascension, the Day of the Lord was revealed and manifested in all its glory and transforming power as the end of this world, as the beginning of the world to come. And thus through that one day all days, all time were transformed into times of remembrance and expectation... . Every day, every hour acquired now an importance, a gravity it could not have had before: each day was now to be a step in this movement, a moment of decision and witness, a time of ultimate meaning.

--Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy

*****

"It's really a very pleasant city," said Alec as he strolled down the street, pointing out several of the sights, which didn't seem to be there, and tipping his cap to the passers-by. There were great crowds of people rushing along with their heads down, and they all appeared to know exactly where they were going as they darted down and around the nonexistent streets and in and out of the missing buildings.
"I don't see any city," said Milo very softly.
"Neither do they," Alec remarked sadly, "but it hardly matters, for they don't miss it at all." ...
Alec continued, "but, as you know, the most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what is in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that. Then one day someone discovered that if you walked as fast as possible and looked at nothing but your shoes you would arrive at your destination much more quickly. Soon everyone was doing it. ...
"Because nobody cared, the city slowly began to disappear. ... They went right on living here just as they'd always done, in the houses they could no longer see and on the streets which had vanished, because nobody noticed a thing."

--Norman Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

*****

It struck me a day or two ago that Momo shares themes with Phantom Tollbooth, although their expositions differ. Both delight me and make me feel wise. That quiet kind of wise of being told things I have always known in my heart and my veins. The heart knows exactly how time passes: steadily, unhastingly, unavoidably, and lovingly.

Time cannot be saved, but it can be redeemed. Sister Jose taught me some about redeeming time, transforming it into life. I hope to read her book, Simple Living, to hear her voice speak again. She speaks that wisdom the heart already knows.

Schmemann is teaching me now also the graced nature of time. "God knows the age of every tree. He knows the color and height of every flower, and he knows exactly how big your shoulders are. And he won't give you anything to carry that you can't handle." (That one, in this particular version, anyway, is from Babylon 5.) So did God create enough time? Yes, enough time for living, rather than enough time for working, playing, learning, sitting, standing, going, coming, hurting, helping, hating. God created the whole. We are to take it as a whole gift, rather than recreate it in inferior parts.

*****

p 143Just as people have eyes to see light with and ears to hear sounds with, so they have hearts for the appreciation of time. ... Some hearts are unappreciative of time, I fear, though they beat like all the rest.

*****
Next up: finding the proper quote from Martin Buber's I and Thou.

Yesterday Momo's story comforted a dying woman.

I was at Arbor Hospice volunteering to feed residents. I was sent into the room of a woman I will call (to protect her privacy) Helene. As I walked in, she was crying plaintively, "Help me! Help me!" She was afraid, dreadfully afraid. She thought someone was trying to kill her. Helene said "they" thought she was crazy, and at times she seemed to believe it herself. She actually asked me to call 911. I told her I could not do that, but I said I could help her with breakfast and I could sit with her, and I promised (as she asked) that I would not go away.

Helene is bedridden. Her limbs are swollen. She seems to have no teeth, but her lips and gums were bloody. (She probably bites at them as a nervous habit.) The "call" button for the nurses is pinned to Helene's shift, and she fusses with the cord constantly, wringing both hands. The sun was rising outside her window, but Helene would not let me open the shades. It would have been a very bright light shining directly on her bed; perhaps her eyes would have been dazzled, but I got the impression the light would also not feel appropriate to her.

I sat by her, looked at her face and listened attentively. I helped her drink a lot of water, and later eat just a few bites of yoghurt for breakfast. She said she would like to tell me a story, a story about a woman who raised horses. ("I don't know much about horses," I said. I've read My Friend Flicka, that's about it.") The woman bred good stallions, Helene said, worth a lot of money. There was a man who was trying to take away from her one of her prize stallions, to deprive her of her rightful income and her horse. I could hear Helene's own fear in her tone and her words as she told me this.

Helene then asked me to tell her a story. "A real story, or a made-up one?" I asked. She requested a made-up story, so I told her about Momo. I told her Momo's talent for listening, not only to what people say, but to who they are. I told her about the men in grey, who convince people to "save" time and actually squander time. I told her the tragedy of people's complicity in the theft of their time. I told Helene how Momo thwarts the men in grey by understanding time, understanding that time passes whether used well or not, and that it is our responsibility to use it well on our friends and loved ones.

The men in grey pursued Momo, I told Helene, but she was led away to a safe place, a palace somehow outside the regular world, where Professor Hora taught Momo that time exists and belongs in shares to each living person. I told her of Momo's musings that time may be like a music always present, but almost never heard. I quoted to her, "Just as people have eyes to see with and ears to hear with, so they have hearts for the appreciation of time."

I frequently rested my hand on Helene's arm. It was dry and warm, the skin still feeling very alive. This woman needs contact so much. I hope others come to visit her frequently. The Hospice engages volunteers specifically to visit their residents, since some have few family or friends who can come by and make their experience something other than a last hospital bed. From time to time I helped Helene drink some more water. Her thirst is great.

Then I ran out of Momo's story, for I had only read through the first two parts of the book at that point. I tried to let the story take me forward, but I am afraid I am good at finding words for what stories I know, but far less skilled at inventing stories of my own. I had to wrap it up, "So Momo came back from the Professor's palace, and tried to seek out her friends, to tell them of the precious existence of time and break the power of the men in grey forever. And there were trials and dangers for them, for the men in grey had power over thousands of people already, they had turned them into timesavers unable to appreciate the time given to them. But there was always hope for Momo and her friends, always a chance to awaken more people again, because everyone's hearts beat out the same tribute to time. In their deepest parts, everyone does know time belongs to them, and can never rightly be taken away."

"That was an interesting story," Helene said. "Can I hear the rest of it?" I told her I do not yet know the rest, but perhaps I could tell it to her later. We talked about time. Helene is at the end of her life: she is afraid of time, afraid she has squandered it, afraid there is not enough left to make her life worthwhile.

"What do you think is the best use of time?" she asked me.

"Learning, I think," I said. "And not just learning in school--I learn some there, but I think I learn much more talking to my friends (they teach me about people, about the life sparks and what connects one person to another), or taking care of my pets (they understand that life is for enjoying, and they teach me that there is always something new around the corner to look forward to), or reading stories (they always have something to tell me about the real stories of the world)."

How had she spent her time well? Helene wondered. I prompted, "Do you have any children?" No, she said. "Any brothers or sisters?" Yes. Time spent with them, I suggested, was certainly well spent. My grandmother, I told her, had just been on her first trip to Seattle, and seen the Mount Rainier. My grandmother has spent decades in bridge clubs, playing with her friends, and had devoted herself to her family and to her students. She has been to the theater, and read lots, and been to all sorts of new places. I am sure, I said, that Helene has also had many of those experiences.

I considered my time with her well spent, I said. She asked how we can know how to use time best, and I parried the question, impossible to answer: it's probably better to look not for the best use but merely for a good use. "Strive for excellence, not perfection." Time passes any how, we can only try to look forward to that instead of dreading it.

Helene's nervous tics had calmed down somewhat by the end of her breakfast. Her face as she looked at me had a little more peace, and she no longer beseeched me not to leave her. When I said I had to go, she tried to apologize for taking up my time, which I did not allow. Momo gave her something to think about, or some new way to think about it, perhaps. Her listening ability translated all the way off the page and into real life, giving this poor woman a chance to learn her own mind. I do plan to go back to the Hospice on Monday, and I hope I can feed Helene again and tell her more of the story. I want her fears to be quelled in her last days. I think anyone can help her with that.

I know no one else on the bookring is in Ann Arbor, and that it is very unlikely anyone local will read this, but just on the off-chance (nothing is impossible), I urge any locals to consider this kind of service to their fellow human beings. It is so rewarding to offer your help like this. Momo teaches us the importance of human connections, of using our time for others. This is one such use, beyond a doubt.

Jinnayah

All done! This is only the second time I have finished a "caught" book, so I feel proud of myself. And very glad to pass it on.

First, though, I think I will have the chance to take the book back to Helene, the hospice resident, and read her the pages of the hour-lilies. Momo's revelation is a beautiful scene, comparable in sense description to some of my favorite scenes in Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry (The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, and The Darkest Road). More ID on that, perhaps, later.

I was so scared halfway through the third part of this! There were less than 30 pages left and things were nowhere near to being resolved! It was so harrowing! Had I been 7 years old, I would have been jumping on and off the furniture waving my hands in excitement and terror. (That's what a cute little boy to whom I have given a Captain Underpants book I caught does when I read to him from a Magic Treehouse book.)

The quick resolution disappointed me a bit. I did not feel I had time to decipher if everything makes sense. Then again, in a book all about time and the lack of it, perhaps that is not such a bad criticism after all.

I am grateful to Ende for almost everything about this book. I will definitely see more of Momo as I grow.

Jinnayah

I just got back from a short visit to Calgary and found this waiting for me. I have a distant "connection" with this book: my son-in-law makes heavy-duty plastic armour for a living(http://alchemyarmory.com/) and his first big order was for the TV version of "The Neverending Story", cool, eh?

What a beautiful little book for children, of any age. It is sort of a cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and a cautionary tale. What a wonderful imaginative mind Michael Ende had, I could almost picture myself in Professor Hora's Nowhere House, surrounded by the sights and sounds of all his wonderful clocks, eating bread and honey and drinking smooth, silky, rich hot chocolate - aaaahh!
I'll never want to rush time by eating in a fast food restaurant again, not that I frequent them much now.
This book will be off in the mail tomorrow, to Booklemur in England. Thank you MrBones. I'll be looking for a copy of this for my permanent collection, ready to read to my grandchildren when they are old enough.

My postman seems to have FLUNG this little parcel through my mailslot with undue force. I found it this morning, in a group of shoes on the other side of my, admittedly tiny, entryway.

All is well with the book, however, thanks to bluenoser's great packing job, and the little travel diary is super-cool! I can't wait to start reading!

----------------------------------------------------

Post-reading notes: What a wonderful story. This was EXACTLY what I needed during a very stressful couple of weeks. Thanks so much for starting this ring, MrBones!

Release planned for Monday, June 28, 2004 at Postal Release in Royal Mail, England United Kingdom.


I will put this in the mail to the next reader tomorrow, and then edit my entry above to add comments ASAP.

the book arrived yesterday morning. i've red the first few pages & already know i like it.

Got this in the mail today. I'm looking forward to reading it and LOVED looking at the postcards, stamps, and joutnal entries in the "travel diary" in the back. It was hard not to snag the postcards - I collect them and these were very interesting. MrBones will have some real treasures when the book finds its way back to him. I'll add something from Cincinnati.

Now - on to the book....

Received this wonderful book Saturday and will put it in line to read soon.

__________________________________________________

This book is filled with so many good sentiments and lessons to be learned -- by all of us. My favorite was the "listening" lesson, something I need to be more aware of and practice more often. Though the book is clearly written for young people, it read fast and was interesting for adults as well. I agree that the ocean adventure/game becomes bit tedious, but was fascinated by the many ways the author gave children a new experience. It reminded me of Gulliver's Travels, which can be read by children and adults alike and each will take something different away with them.

Thanks, Mr. Bones, for a delightful read.

RELEASE NOTES:

On it's way to butlin. The pages of this book are beginning to be a little fragile, so its probably best that it be returned soon to MrBones.

Received 10/16/04 - added to TBR pile

Sorry it took so long to journal. Had a few other rays to get through. This book is on its way back to Mr. Bones with much thanks. It was a great book and one that really makes you think about how you spend your time! Thanks again Mr. Bones.

Now after one and a half years of travelling this little book returned to me. I hope everyone has had as much fun with it as I had and I want to thank you all for your contribution to both, the virtual and the real journal of Momo!!!
I've had much fun looking at the postcards, stamps, drawings and reading the little journal at the back! This was the second bookring(of three) I started but the first to return. Yay! It works after all!
This book will from now on have a special place on my shelves and rest - at least for a while. Maybe if Momo and Cassiopeia get really bored they will head out for a short trip, though. Who knows?
Many thanks to everyone involved!!

------------------------------------------> Nice/Kanapoutz

Enjoy!

Momo has arrived in the South of France today. Don't worry, I will take great care of her!
Thank you Sir! ;-)
And thanks for the CDs, more about all this later!

I cant' believe I've had this book nearly a year! Where does time go? Oh, I know now, where it comes from, and where it goes when we try to save it...
I'm really glad I read that book, I had never read anything by Michael Ende (have not even seen the movie for "the neverending story"), and I did not know that he was German.
Really nice story with great little Momo, all the characters are excellent, and I loved the tortoise!
There is one activity where I absolutely never try to save time : it's reading!

Thanks a lot MrBones for sending me this book, and for not telling me off for keeping it so long :-)
What should I o know, should I sent it back to you?

(the picture here is where I like to "waste" time in the summer...)

Arrived safe and sound back here at my house. Momo's still excellent shape and I'm glad everyone enjoyed it. I had a great time looking through all entries and cards at the back and I thank you again for that. Great turtle artwork Kana! :D
I've decided to let it go once more and this time Momo will cross the ocean and find a new home in Argentina.
Enjoy Anna-O!