Book Club Report -- Beware: Spoilers for The Book Thief ahead!
I hosted book club on Monday night (later I'll tell you why I'm just now getting to sit down and write about it), and on the recommendation of july_july_july and reading1066 we read The Book Thief. Now I would like to hold an ebookclub meeting on it with y'all!
Everyone gave it a positive review, which is really rare with our club. Most of the time we're split down the middle on likes/dislikes, and at most there's usually one or two holdouts. So everyone agreed that it was good.
But that's not to say that we all thought it was perfect. July, I'd be really interested to hear why you liked the book-within-a-book device so much. With one exception, none of us thought it really added that much. It was cute, but ... we didn't get it. It felt like it should have been a lot more important than it ended up being. In fact, while we all liked the story and the characters a lot, we thought that they were really what made the book. Zusak had this whole "the power of words" theme that he was trying to push, but it didn't really seem to go anywhere. What power did words really end up wielding in the course of the plot?
And The Standover Man ... I have no idea what the deeper meaning of that might have been. In general, I thought Max turned out to be more ... intellectual than his character really should have been. But no one else really seemed to think so, so that's probably just me.
Also the deal with the colors. Not a clue what that was about. He makes such a big deal at the very beginning about how the important thing about your death is what the color of the sky will be, but he never explains what the heck he's talking about. After that, he occasionally notes the color of the sky, but never says what it means. *Maybe* you could go and do some kind of study on it, and figure it out, but that's way more work than reading a novel should be.
We talked a lot about the ending. I thought it was a little ... rushed, maybe. But the biggest complaint by our group was that you didn't get to know enough about where Liesel ended up. I ... was OK with that, I think. I would have liked more, but it was the right place to end. But we were all curious as to whether she married Max. Me and one other person thought it was a strong possibility.
We were all worried at first about the format -- with the asides from Death -- but no one ended up minding it. And I ended up actually liking them a lot. But none of us were too keen on his flowery language. I got used to it enough that it didn't bother me, but I agree that it was a little much. (He actually says in the author's interview in the back that he tries to put at least one exceptional sentence on each page. That's a bad habit. Writers shouldn't do that.)
And then we talked a lot about why it's classified as young adult literature. We thought there were some themes that would be good and applicable for teens, but were skeptical that there would be many teens who would pick it up on their own. (For the record, I think the first time I picked it up was when I spotted it in a summer reading display at Barnes and Noble.) We found an article that said it was actually billed as a regular adult novel in Australia, where the author's from. I go back and forth. It seems really heavy for teens ... but the style also seems like it was written for them.
Regardless, I don't mind reading young adult books at all. Last year we read The Highest Tide, which is a young adult book, and I think that's been one of my favorites that we read.
So. Discuss.
Now. For the explanation of why I have taken so long to write this all down: I had a victory today!! I have been having problems with my apartment complex since the hurricane. I love love love my apartment and the complex. It's got a guard at the gate, so I feel completely safe even in the middle of Houston. And rather than a fenced in porch, I have a little patio that's open to this beautiful pond area with a fountain. And it's, like, a seven-minute drive to work. If you ever need a recommendation on where to live in Houston, live here (and we can split the $500 referral fee).
But. Remember how Ike blew water under the door that stained the carpet? It's been a month and a half and they still have not replaced the carpet. And that was just the beginning.
Following the storm, ants moved in. I went and reported this at the end of September on a Sunday, and they said they'd have an exterminator out on Wednesday. Never happened. I was dealing, though. I put all my food in air-tight tupperware and sprayed some Raid. I don't keep much food at all in the house anyway. Until Sunday. Because I was hosting book club on Monday, and the only rule book club has is that the host has to provide dessert (normally we do dinner, too, but the only necessity is dessert). So we were planning to meet outside because of my carpet situation (and because I was unexpectedly away on a business trip Thursday through Saturday and didn't have much time to clean). It was supposed to be cold, so I was making hot chocolate and thinking vanilla cheesecake would go well with it.
So I bought the supplies on Sunday night. Late Sunday night, even. There was hardly anyone in the store. By lunch on Monday, when I came home to make the cake, there were ants inside the sealed graham cracker packaging.
Oh, and by the way, the reason I was so late getting to the store on Sunday night is that on Sunday afternoon, I came in from gardening (to get my patio ready for book club since we were meeting outside) to find water leaking from the ceiling in my bathroom. My upstairs neighbor's toilet had overflowed. Oh. My. God. Yuck.
So I rush to the store after work to buy new graham crackers and the cheesecake is only so-so because it didn't have time to chill in the fridge. Anyway. I'm cleaning up after everyone left at 11 p.m. on Monday night. I put in a load of dishes and start rinsing off the many, many other ones (because ants -- I don't want stuff sitting in the sink to attract more of them) when my cold water knob starts gushing water on to the counter. And also (unbeknownst to me) under the kitchen sink. Where I have a foot-high stack of phone books stored, along with decorations that I'm not using at the moment. There's water everywhere.
I clean that mess up figuring it's OK, because I'll just stay up and put another load in the dishwasher. Except for as I'm unloading the dishwasher, I notice that the water hasn't completely drained out of the bottom. Not wanting to back it up and get even more water in even more places, I decide I can't use it that night, either.
And since it's after 11, I decide it's not enough of an emergency to call the maintenance guys that night. Instead I call first thing in the morning and get assurances that they'll be out soon. I drop by at lunch to check on it: no improvement. I go by the office and am assured that they have the work order with them and it must therefore be their next stop. I rush home after work and before the office closes: no improvement. I go to the office and they say they'll be out first thing in the morning. I say that's not soon enough given my ant situation. They say they'll call and have him come back and fix it tonight. I cancel my evening's plan and stay home to wait for him. He never comes.
By now I'm totally pissed off. Between this and the ants and the carpet ... I'm in a pissy mood all night and when I wake up the next morning. So. I write a letter! To the company that owns the property! And BOY do I write a good letter. I get immediate results. I come home and everything's fixed! The power of the pen, it is MIGHTY!
I'm feeling so ... empowered right now! *AND* I got a really nice second-hand compliment on my writing at work today. (I don't usually trust first-hand compliments, because I always feel like people are either saying it because they think they need to or because they want to butter you up, but if a compliment is relayed to you second-hand, you can't suspect the motives.) AND I was told that I'm moderating a briefing next week! (OK, that last one is only half good. It means that they trust me enough to put me on TV, but ... nervous! Have to figure out what to wear, which camera to look at, what the reporters' names are, etc. over the weekend. And work is no help. My boss was like, you've done that before right? Um. No.)
Anyway. All that to say my mood is much improved. And as I'm no longer mad at the world, I felt equal to writing about it! Hope you enjoyed. Someday soon I'm going to write something Supernatural, and possibly post some pictures from the zoo and the Grand Canyon.
Everyone gave it a positive review, which is really rare with our club. Most of the time we're split down the middle on likes/dislikes, and at most there's usually one or two holdouts. So everyone agreed that it was good.
But that's not to say that we all thought it was perfect. July, I'd be really interested to hear why you liked the book-within-a-book device so much. With one exception, none of us thought it really added that much. It was cute, but ... we didn't get it. It felt like it should have been a lot more important than it ended up being. In fact, while we all liked the story and the characters a lot, we thought that they were really what made the book. Zusak had this whole "the power of words" theme that he was trying to push, but it didn't really seem to go anywhere. What power did words really end up wielding in the course of the plot?
And The Standover Man ... I have no idea what the deeper meaning of that might have been. In general, I thought Max turned out to be more ... intellectual than his character really should have been. But no one else really seemed to think so, so that's probably just me.
Also the deal with the colors. Not a clue what that was about. He makes such a big deal at the very beginning about how the important thing about your death is what the color of the sky will be, but he never explains what the heck he's talking about. After that, he occasionally notes the color of the sky, but never says what it means. *Maybe* you could go and do some kind of study on it, and figure it out, but that's way more work than reading a novel should be.
We talked a lot about the ending. I thought it was a little ... rushed, maybe. But the biggest complaint by our group was that you didn't get to know enough about where Liesel ended up. I ... was OK with that, I think. I would have liked more, but it was the right place to end. But we were all curious as to whether she married Max. Me and one other person thought it was a strong possibility.
We were all worried at first about the format -- with the asides from Death -- but no one ended up minding it. And I ended up actually liking them a lot. But none of us were too keen on his flowery language. I got used to it enough that it didn't bother me, but I agree that it was a little much. (He actually says in the author's interview in the back that he tries to put at least one exceptional sentence on each page. That's a bad habit. Writers shouldn't do that.)
And then we talked a lot about why it's classified as young adult literature. We thought there were some themes that would be good and applicable for teens, but were skeptical that there would be many teens who would pick it up on their own. (For the record, I think the first time I picked it up was when I spotted it in a summer reading display at Barnes and Noble.) We found an article that said it was actually billed as a regular adult novel in Australia, where the author's from. I go back and forth. It seems really heavy for teens ... but the style also seems like it was written for them.
Regardless, I don't mind reading young adult books at all. Last year we read The Highest Tide, which is a young adult book, and I think that's been one of my favorites that we read.
So. Discuss.
Now. For the explanation of why I have taken so long to write this all down: I had a victory today!! I have been having problems with my apartment complex since the hurricane. I love love love my apartment and the complex. It's got a guard at the gate, so I feel completely safe even in the middle of Houston. And rather than a fenced in porch, I have a little patio that's open to this beautiful pond area with a fountain. And it's, like, a seven-minute drive to work. If you ever need a recommendation on where to live in Houston, live here (and we can split the $500 referral fee).
But. Remember how Ike blew water under the door that stained the carpet? It's been a month and a half and they still have not replaced the carpet. And that was just the beginning.
Following the storm, ants moved in. I went and reported this at the end of September on a Sunday, and they said they'd have an exterminator out on Wednesday. Never happened. I was dealing, though. I put all my food in air-tight tupperware and sprayed some Raid. I don't keep much food at all in the house anyway. Until Sunday. Because I was hosting book club on Monday, and the only rule book club has is that the host has to provide dessert (normally we do dinner, too, but the only necessity is dessert). So we were planning to meet outside because of my carpet situation (and because I was unexpectedly away on a business trip Thursday through Saturday and didn't have much time to clean). It was supposed to be cold, so I was making hot chocolate and thinking vanilla cheesecake would go well with it.
So I bought the supplies on Sunday night. Late Sunday night, even. There was hardly anyone in the store. By lunch on Monday, when I came home to make the cake, there were ants inside the sealed graham cracker packaging.
Oh, and by the way, the reason I was so late getting to the store on Sunday night is that on Sunday afternoon, I came in from gardening (to get my patio ready for book club since we were meeting outside) to find water leaking from the ceiling in my bathroom. My upstairs neighbor's toilet had overflowed. Oh. My. God. Yuck.
So I rush to the store after work to buy new graham crackers and the cheesecake is only so-so because it didn't have time to chill in the fridge. Anyway. I'm cleaning up after everyone left at 11 p.m. on Monday night. I put in a load of dishes and start rinsing off the many, many other ones (because ants -- I don't want stuff sitting in the sink to attract more of them) when my cold water knob starts gushing water on to the counter. And also (unbeknownst to me) under the kitchen sink. Where I have a foot-high stack of phone books stored, along with decorations that I'm not using at the moment. There's water everywhere.
I clean that mess up figuring it's OK, because I'll just stay up and put another load in the dishwasher. Except for as I'm unloading the dishwasher, I notice that the water hasn't completely drained out of the bottom. Not wanting to back it up and get even more water in even more places, I decide I can't use it that night, either.
And since it's after 11, I decide it's not enough of an emergency to call the maintenance guys that night. Instead I call first thing in the morning and get assurances that they'll be out soon. I drop by at lunch to check on it: no improvement. I go by the office and am assured that they have the work order with them and it must therefore be their next stop. I rush home after work and before the office closes: no improvement. I go to the office and they say they'll be out first thing in the morning. I say that's not soon enough given my ant situation. They say they'll call and have him come back and fix it tonight. I cancel my evening's plan and stay home to wait for him. He never comes.
By now I'm totally pissed off. Between this and the ants and the carpet ... I'm in a pissy mood all night and when I wake up the next morning. So. I write a letter! To the company that owns the property! And BOY do I write a good letter. I get immediate results. I come home and everything's fixed! The power of the pen, it is MIGHTY!
I'm feeling so ... empowered right now! *AND* I got a really nice second-hand compliment on my writing at work today. (I don't usually trust first-hand compliments, because I always feel like people are either saying it because they think they need to or because they want to butter you up, but if a compliment is relayed to you second-hand, you can't suspect the motives.) AND I was told that I'm moderating a briefing next week! (OK, that last one is only half good. It means that they trust me enough to put me on TV, but ... nervous! Have to figure out what to wear, which camera to look at, what the reporters' names are, etc. over the weekend. And work is no help. My boss was like, you've done that before right? Um. No.)
Anyway. All that to say my mood is much improved. And as I'm no longer mad at the world, I felt equal to writing about it! Hope you enjoyed. Someday soon I'm going to write something Supernatural, and possibly post some pictures from the zoo and the Grand Canyon.