Meme + Nicobobinus, by Terry Jones

[rushthatspeaks]

Bands // Song Titles
Choose a band/or artist and answer only in song TITLES by that band::	Patti Smith
Are you female or male::	Babelogue
Describe yourself::	Dancing Barefoot
How do some people feel about you::	Glitter in Their Eyes
How do you feel about yourself::	Lo and Behold
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend::	Piss Factory
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend::	We Three
Describe where you want to be::	Ghost Dance
Describe what you want to be::	Strange Messengers
Describe how you live::	My Blakean Year
Describe how you love::	Fire of Unknown Origin
Share a few words of wisdom::	Ain't It Strange
Take this survey | Find more surveys

I was wandering through the library recently when I happened to notice a battered old copy of Nicobobinus, and I transferred it into my knapsack with my usual sense of pleasure at the warm thought that more than one of the alums of Monty Python went off to do something not only useful but brilliant afterwards, and then it suddenly occurred to me that I have never seen another human being with nor heard another human being refer to this book.

Which, unless there is a secret cabal of Terry Jones-readers who are keeping remarkably quiet on the subject, is a real shame.

Nicobobinus is a delightfully mad book, and I thought it was weird even when I ran across it at approximately age twelve, which was an age at which I had a deep and sincere belief that there was a volcano underneath our school playground which had to be propitiated every so often by chanting, ritual acrobatics on the monkeybars, and occasional sacrifices of wreaths of grass to the tetherball pole. Otherwise, burning fiery death everywhere. No, really.

In the world of Nicobobinus, not only would there have actually been a volcano, but it would have turned out to be sentient and a devoted philatelist. And everyone would have understood that this sort of thing just... happens sometimes.

Mind you, that is not saying word one about the actual plot of the book, although I couldn't swear with absolute certainty that there isn't a volcano in there somewhere. The thing is, I don't want to tell you anything at all about the plot of the book, because its utter unexpectedness is one of its greatest pleasures, as is the way that everything somehow makes sense eventually, depending on your definition of sense. It has an internal consistency that I would liken to dream logic.

It also has a smart, snarky, resourceful but seriously overwhelmed titular protagonist, who has the great good luck to live in a somewhat more interesting version of fifteenth-century Venice (I know, I know, you can't make fifteenth-century Venice more interesting, but you can the area around it); his best friend Rosie, smarter, snarkier, more resourceful and barking mad; an authorial voice given to digressions upon the local scenery and sudden metanarrative in a way that alternates between hilarious and slightly annoying; and an incredibly fast pace.

And, at least in the standard library edition, it has gorgeous full-color illustrations by Michael Foreman. Well worth a look.

Comments

[thirteen-ravens.livejournal.com]

*raises hand*
I have read it!
I also watched Jackanory when they were reading excerpts for it.

I must have only been about 9 when I read it. I remember the gold limbs totally freaking me out. And when he was hanging on to the side of the ship.
:S

[mixedborder.livejournal.com]

=Puts it on his library list=