If Only!

Just finished up with the lovely YA book, Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke, a book which made me wish. But first, an overview.

One of the main characters is a strong, brave little girl named Meggie, who discovers through a series of unfortunate events, that her father can read characters OUT of books. Not only that, but he somehow managed to read several very bad men out of a book long ago, replacing those men accidentally by reading her mother and their three cats INTO the book. These men create a little circle of Hell for themselves in the Italian countryside, but years later they finally find "Silvertongue," as they've taken to calling Meggie's father. And their leader, Capricorn, wants him to read others out of the book, including his very special, very evil friend.

Her father escapes, but Meggie is captured, at first as bait, but then she discovers, in the dark of one night while trying to comfort herself with a little bedtime reading, that she has inherited her father's gift. Now they want Meggie to read above mentioned bad friend into existence, in order to execute some of Meggie's own friends. So it's up to her to save the day.

It was a lovely read, with many twists and turns. It also made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside because it managed to convey exactly how I, myself, feel about books, the written word. Now as for my wish, instead of reading characters OUT of books, wouldn't it be great if I could read myself into stories? Who hasn't wanted to play main character in their favorite novel?!