The Book Thief

I read Interview in my 20s (~15 yrs ago) so might not think so highly of it if I read it now, I suppose. At the time, I found the vampire's take on immortality quite interesting.

And if I had been 20 when I read "The Book Thief", I may have liked it. If it wasn't the 100th book I read on the subject of WWII and the holocaust, I may have liked it, too.

Death's moronic ramblings just killed the book for me. Here's a list and there's a list. Sky was the color of this and that. I like the color yellow. Wtf? Grow up and say something interesting, dammit. I would have thrown The Book Thief out the window if I didn't have to read it for book club. Those ladies all like "vanilla" books so I don't expect them to hate all the books I hate, but everybody was with me on this one.

I just finished Dan Simmons' "Drood" which is about the last year of Charles Dickens' life, written from the pen of his friend and BIL Wilkie Collins. It is a brick of a book and a bit hard to get into, but goes into London's catacombs, opium dens, "underworld" of people living there, Dickens' fascination with "mesmerism" and a mysterious character called "Drood" who was apparently the namesake for his last and unfinished book.

Now that's the 2nd recommendation I've had for Drood - must add it to my list.

Funny, isn't it, how you re-read things you loved from an earlier age and don't get anymore. Catcher in the Rye was one of those for me, as was The Secret History. I think I fancied myself as some misunderstood dark type back in the day!

Do you do non-fiction as well? I've just finished Berlin by Anthony Beevor - superb read.

I don't read much non-fiction. One great book I read was "Miracles Of Life", J. G. Ballard's autobiography. I can't praise it highly enough. What a life he has had, starting with his childhood in Shanghai, then internment at a Japanese prisoner camp. that he won't be writing any more books as he passed away shortly after this book was printed.

Another one on the list, then. Really enjoy Ballard - he's missed, for sure.

Have you read "Wolf Hall"? I loved it, but my friends seem divided....

I haven't heard of it. I looked now, and it is about Tudor England. Not really a subject I'm interested in, I'm afraid. Actually, I wouldn't have read Drood if it weren't written by Dan Simmons.

I love love loved it, I loved that it was written simply and childishly and most of all I found the book written forvthe book thief really beautiful.