Bastian Balthazar Bux, the young hero of Michael Ende’s Die unendliche Geschichte / The Neverending Story, is particularly choosy in the books he likes to read. Here’s why:

“Reluctantly Bastian’s thoughts turned back to reality. He was glad the Neverending Story had nothing to do with that.


“He didn’t like books in which dull, cranky writers describe humdrum events in the very humdrum lives of humdrum people. Reality gave him enough of that kind of thing, why should he read about it? Besides, he couldn’t stand it when a writer tried to convince him of something. And these humdrum books, it seemed to him, were always trying to do just that.

“Bastian liked books that were exciting or funny, or that made him dream. Books where made-up characters had marvelous adventures, books that made him imagine all sorts of things.” – Dutton, 1997, pg. 21.

How about you? Are these the kind of books you prefer to read?