This is a book you have to read! The story is about a boy named Bastian Balthazar Bux who runs away and steals a book titled "The Neverending Story". He reads about a land, another world, named Fantastica and it is in desperate need for a human to come from earth. A thing, a 'nothing' is spreading through Fantastica and the people of Fantastica beginning to suck into it. For once you go in, you become lies or evil beings in earth and tell humans that there is no such thing as Fantastica. There is also another problem in the land, the Childlike Empress is sick and if she dies, all of Fantastica will die. A boy is sent to find out how to cure her. The boy's name is Atreyu. The book goes on to Atreyu's journey to the Swamp of Sadness, the Desert, an horrible encounter with a huge and poisonous spider, meeting a fire-dragon named Falcor and becoming friends with it, going to Uyulaya, a scary brush with death in Spook City while trying to find the border of Fantastica, and finally, going back to the Childlike Empress. The cure is for a human child to come to Fantastica to giver the Empress a new name. Bastian goes into the book and makes lots of trouble for himself,Atreyu,and other characters in the book.
This author has lots of imagination. I like Atreyu's journey to find out what the cure for the Empress the best. It's was lots of fun to read the "Neverending Story". All people would love this action,suspense, and most of all, the imagination of the characters and the places.

"The book of books!" This quote from The Neverending Story says it all, as I've never come across another book like it! Its engrossing plot (told using two different colors of ink in hardcover editions!) follows the story of poor unwanted Bastian Balthazar Bux (printed in red) who is "found" by a copper-colored, silk-bound book, titled The Neverending Story, which he begins to read while locked up in his school's attic. As Bastian reads the story of the heroic Atreyu (printed in green) and a Great Quest to save his dying world of Fantastica and its Childlike Empress, he has no idea that he is also a character in a book! (It makes you wonder, huh?) The Neverending Story is filled with unbelievably imaginative characters such as Grograman the Fire Lion, the Old Man of Wandering Mountain, Querquobad the Silver Sage, and Ygramul, "the horror of horrors!" to name just a handful! And not only are the characters and plot creative, but the book itself is as well! It is printed entirely in colored ink as I have mentioned, plus it has 26 chapters - each one beginning with a letter of the alphabet! Each chapter begins with a magnificent illustration (also in only red and green ink in the hardcover edition) around the first letter! How did he think of that?! But perhaps the best thing about The Neverending Story is what you get out of it. You cannot read it without looking at the nature of wishes, imagination, and love differently from that point forward, no matter what your age is. The Neverending Story is, as you shall see, your story as well. And that of course (to quote the book again,) "shall be told another time!"

I remember seeing the Neverending Story when I was 6, and it became one of those films I watched again and again. It wasn't until I was in College that I found a copy of the original Michael Ende story. I was amazed! It was incredible to find how Ende had crafted the world of "Fantastica" (In the film, it is called "Fantasia"). The story begins with Bastian Balthazar Bux, a 10-year old boy who is bullied at school for being somewhat overweight, and for his vivid imagination. One day, he stumbles into Mr. Coreander's Book Store, where he finds the book "The NeverEnding Story." Bastian takes the book without Coreander seeing him, and runs with it to his school's attic, where he proceeds to read it. In the pages of the book, he learns that Fantastica's ruler, The Childlike Empress, has fallen ill. Even moreso, the land is being swallowed up by a blackness that can only be described as "Nothing." The Empress sends a messenger to find Atreyu, a young warrior who she deems worthy to help her. Given the Auryn (the symbol of a servant for the Empress), Atreyu begins his quest that takes him to the Southern Oracle, to the clutches of the hideous Ygremal, and more. Pretty soon, Bastian finds that the story is so engrossing, that at certain points, he seems to be becoming intertwined into it! There is so much more to tell, but I recommend this book! If you like books such as the "Harry Potter" series, with it's inventive cast of creatures, people and lands, "The NeverEnding Story" should feel right at home with you. There are such creatures as Rock-Eaters, Tinys, Luckdragons, and many too numerous to list. By the time you finish reading it, you'll want to read it again.

This is an interesting collection of essays, interviews, and commentaries, which has been well put together by Susan Sontag. The advice to young writers section is particularly amusing as are Kis's thoughts on his self-chosen exile. I recommend reading the Tomb of Boris Davidovitch before hand because much of the book deals with the controversy Kis faced over that novel, as well as his break from the Belgrade literati.

Kis was a brilliant writer, but as these essays show, completely apolitical. He did not have time for nationalists, internationalists, communists, capitalists any of it, which is why perhaps he went to France to live the quiet life of a University Professor.

Considering that she claims to be a friend of Kis and actually put this work together, it is shameful that Sontag insists on putting a political spin on this collection. She actually claims that the 'gingerbread heart of nationalism' section ranks along with, she claims, Andric's Letter from 1920 as early warnings against Serbian Nationalism. As someone who has translated Andric's story, I can tell you that Ms. Sontag should consider re-reading. The Andric story makes the case that Bosnia is a land of ethnic hatred, ready to explode at anytime, which it obviously did. There is no mention of Serbian aggression or nationalism. Nor does Kis ever pay tribute to any idealized multi-cultural Bosnia, Sontag's cause celebre throughtout the early 90's and repeated in the introduction. Enough politics, however.

Read this work because it tells us a great deal about a wonderful literary stylist, who knew and loved literature. The fact that others would try to co-opt Kis to champion their political philosophies is embarrassing. The book speaks for itself.

Kis is a giant of world literature. This book of biographical pieces, interviews, and essays by Kis allow the reader to see some of the inner workings of that fine mind. His early death was a great loss to literature. What he has achieved, however, will live on forever. I've read A TOMB FOR BORIS DAVIDOVICH perhaps five times, and I'm looking forward to reading it again, and again.

I read Danilo Kis' books " Tomb for Boris Davidovich", "Hourglass" and "Encyclopedia of the Dead". The glory and greatness of this eastern European writer can be comprehended fully only after understanding Kis on the personal level. ""Homo Poeticus" does just that: writer pours his soul to the world by revealing his influences (literary and personal), - and brings reader closer to the great writers of this century such as: Nabokov, Flaubert, Borges, Marquis de Sade...Kis even wrote an essay on the Serbian painter Velickovic. I always respected Danilo Kis' fictional works. Collection of Danilo Kis' essays and interviews made me even more fond of him as a person - and his work. Book's editor, Ms. Susan Sontag, wrote emotionally powerful introduction. Her selection of the work published on this non-fiction masterpiece is absolutely wonderful.

Had this been a collection of stories and essays by anybody else, I would have thought it was nothing special. But having read the Diary of Anne Frank first, the stories and essays make so much more sense. You can just see her whiling away the dull moments of the life in the secret annex, honing her writing skills. It is easy to see her skills as a writer increase from story to story. But even more interesting is to read the messages contained within her works. The writing skills she displays are obviously that of a teenager, although much better than most people her age. But the real value of these pieces are the insights which she brings to them; her life experiences and her approach to life's big questions. The last essay in the collection is entitled, "Why" and seems to sum up her short life. Read this book, but only after you read the Diary so the essays will be meaningful.

In her now famous Diary, Anne Frank said "I want to go on living even after my death". As of 1998, The Diary of Anne Frank had reached sales of 25 million copies and been translated into more than 50 languages. (source: TIME, October 5, 1998). It has been required classroom reading for half a century now! In a way, her wish has come to pass.
This subsequent publication "Tales From The Secret Annex" combines short stories, reminiscences/vignettes, and even an unfinished novel to show us yet another dimension to this remarkable person. Reading these stories and little essays confirmed my personal opinion that Anne Frank was a childhood genius with unlimited potential to achieve anything she would have set her mind to. It's hard to imagine this thirteen year old girl writing with such depth and perception, while living in seclusion, terror and fear for her life. She was writing from her heart, not with an expectation of being published. And yet these stories shine with a polished brilliance, and a certain unforgettable quality. I read this book for the first time 8 years ago, and have returned to it now, remembering the stories as though I had read them just last week. My favorite is entitled "Kathy". In three short pages, Anne captures every emotion experienced by a kid who is misunderstood by her mother, assaulted by schoolyard bullies who mock and rob her and cause her to lose the gift she was bringing home to her mother.

Here is how she ends her essay entitled "Give":
"If only our country and then Europe and finally the whole world would realize that people were really kindly disposed toward one another, that they are all equal and everything else is transitory!
Open your eyes... give of yourself, give as much as you can! And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness! No one has ever become poor from giving! If you do this, then in a few generations no one will need to pity the beggar children anymore, because they will not exist!
There is plenty of room for everyone in the world, enough money, riches, and beauty for all to share! God has made enough for everyone. Let us all begin by sharing it fairly." (written March 26, 1944).

Anne was sent to Bergen-Belsen, where some time during March 1945, she, her sister Margot and hundreds of other prisoners were stricken with typhus. Their captors, preoccupied with the advancing Allies, left them to die.
World... read her book!

These stories and essays are well-crafted, yet easy to read. There are lessons to be learned from each piece, and these lessons can be identified easily. But the themes and ideas remain in your head and leave you thinking long after you set the book down - thinking about Anne Frank's life in the Nazi-occupied Europe as well as her ideals. Anyone will discover some aspect of their persona mirrored in Frank's characters, whether it may be through Paula or Kathy or Eve or anyone else.

You should approach the book with an open mind and respect for the writing. If you see that Frank was an intelligent young human being, and not a little kid whose writing you can deal with condescendingly, read this book. Otherwise, skip it. This is honest, wise, well-crafted work, and it should be treated as such.