I’ve just finished reading Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, who is the author of one of my all-time favorite novels, All the Light We Cannot See. Cloud Cuckoo Land is a different kind of novel, a different kind of story. It is about an ancient myth where a man turns into a donkey; it is about a boy and a girl living in medieval Constantinople; it is about a man who survives being a prisoner of war in Korea; it is about a girl living in the future on a space station; and it is about a boy who loves an owl and the library. Their stories all entwine where the power of the myth links them together. An homage to the written word, to sacred texts, and to libraries, in particular libraries as places of refuge for children. It is not a book for everyone, but if you are looking for a thought-provoking, intellectually-engaging, challenging novel about the power of story, this is the book for you.
