Dewey 24 Hour Readathon!

********  UPDATED HOUR 17 ********

I wasn't expecting to be able to join this readathon, woo hoo for unexpected reading time! This is my 14th readathon (see links below). Today I'm reading when I can, but also juggling a toddler. 

Here's a link for more info about the DeweyReadathon. Today you can find me posting on Litsy and Instagram as @avidreader25 as well as here. 

Reading Stats

Pages Read: 1,016 

Currently Reading: The Pit and the Pendulum and Other Tales, Bridge of Clay

Books Finished: Sweet Bird of Youth, Bone: Treasure Hunters 8, Bone: Crown of Horns 9, Bone Handbook, You Can't Touch My Hair, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 

Snacks Eaten: Grapes, coffee & pie, turkey & avocado sandwich, broccoli and asparagus soup, Taco Bell (my husband got his pregnant wife tacos LOL). 

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now? I'm reading a few Edgar Allan Poe short stories.  
2. How many books have you read so far? I finished four. 
3. What book are you most looking forward to? I'm thinking I might tackle The Night of the Iguana. 
4. Have you had many interruptions? Not too bad this time considering I have a toddler. How did you deal with those? I have been reading books with my kiddo so she is involved. 
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How well it has gone! 

Introduction Quiz:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Indianapolis, IN

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I'm excited to finished the Bone series. I only have two left! I'm also looking forward to reading more of Zusak's new book. 

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? Because my plans just changed and I can participate at the last minute, I'm not as prepared as I usually am. My snacks might be a bit limited this time. 

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I'm pregnant with my second kiddo, so fatigue and nausea will be part of this readathon for me. 

5) If you participated in the last readathon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? I'm breaking one of my only readathon rules this time around. I usually don't read from any books I've already started. I like picking up new books that I try to finish that day. This time though, I want to read more from Bridge of Clay. It's Zusak's first book in 16 years and I'm currently about 70 pages in.  

Mini-Challenges
Seasons to Read: 
Love this challenge idea! The Night Circus is one of my favorites to reread in the winter. The chilly atmosphere and red, black, and white colors just seem to fit. For some reason Charles Dickens is always a winter read for me too. Spring is for the hope and optimism of Anne of Green Gables. It's all about new life! Since the Harry Potter books all start in the summer I'm always in the mood for those when it gets hot. Autumn is perfect for Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Cemetery of Forgotten Books series. It's a gothic mystery set in Barcelona and the creepy twists and turns are just right for October. 

Modern Classics

Halloween Story Swap  

I picked I Capture the Castle, turning it into a haunted house story.Monster Mash 
ROUS and Hunger Games Mutts!
Vague Recollections 

Book and a Snack
Popcorn and Pit and the Pendulum  (below)
Draw it Out 

I'm currently finishing the Bone series by Jeff Smith and so I decided to draw the main character. Here's my doodle next to the real thing. 

 

PAST READATHON POSTS:

April and October 2011 / April and October 2012 / April and October 2013 / April 2014 / April and October 2015 /April and October 2016  /  April and October 2017 / April 2018. 

Photos by me.

Classics Club Meme Question

What about modern classics? Pick a book published since 2000 and say why you think it will be considered as a “classic” in the future. 

I didn’t even have to pause with this one. The Book Thief immediately popped into my mind. The book, published in Australia in 2005 and worldwide in 2006, is one of my favorites. It’s unique because it’s narrated by Death, but it deals with universal themes. 

It’s set during World War II and tells the story of a young orphaned girl, her foster family, and their small German town. I think it’s one that will stand the test of time because at this point I’ve seen it presented in so many different ways. Though the book is the absolute best, I’ve now seen it as both a movie and a play as well. I’ve read it, re-read it, listened to the audio version and each time it gets better and I notice something new. 

I think the thing that truly makes a classic a "classic" is that it's relevant to new generations and has something new to say to them. There’s no way to know for sure, but I think that in 50 years people will still be discovering this one for the first time and falling in love with the story.

Join in the fun here.

The Book Thief at the Heartland Film Festival

The Book Thief is one of my favorite books. I've loved it since I first read it in 2007. I've pushed it on friends and family members. When I heard it was being turned into a play I took to trip to Chicago to see it performed at the Steppenwolf Theatre. Then in October I was able to attend the closing night ceremony of the Heartland Film Festival. They premiered the film version of The Book Thief and followed it with a Q&A with the director and the movie's stars. 

Director Brain Percival and actors Sophie Nélisse and Geoffrey Rush answered audience questions and talked about the challenges they faced in filming. I had no idea that most of the movie was filmed in Berlin, which means many of the extras are Germans. It certainly added a layer of depth to scenes like the book burning. Percival said he looked around and saw the shame in their faces and realized how intense that scene was for them. 

There's something incredible about seeing a story you love being presented in such different mediums. Each one tells the story in a different way. A few details change, but the heart of the tale remains the same. I'm so glad I had the chance to experience The Book Thief as a play, film and book. It's a tribute to Zusak's talent as a storyteller that each of those versions are powerful in their own way. 

I hope you all get the chance to see the movie when it comes out in theaters. It really is beautifully done! 

Photos by moi. 

Getting the Girl

Getting the Girl

by Markus Zusak

★★★★

The final book in the Underdog trilogy shows us Cameron Wolfe’s evolution from boy to man. He’s constantly trying to figure out who he is and where he fits into the world, but he’s never quite sure. He can’t help comparing himself to his brothers, but he also can’t move forward in his life until he lets go of that comparison. He begins to find himself in the words he writes, a passion he doesn’t share with either of his brothers.

I think it’s impossible not to see yourself in relation to your family. How can you separate your evaluation of yourself from the lens that you’ve frown up with? Cameron bases his success or failure in life on how he compares to his two brothers, the magnetic and charming Rube and the steady achiever Steve. They are the constant measuring stick he uses on himself.

Cam desperately wants to find a girl who will love him. He watches his older brother discard one after another and it breaks his heart. He may be tough on the outside, but his sensitive heart can’t stand to see those girls get hurt.

The whole series is written as a raw internal monologue and so we see Cameron only through his own eyes. This book provides the opportunity to see Cam through the eyes of those around him. We see how his brothers and his sister view him and these different perspectives give us a more complete picture of Cam and the journey he has to take to gain self confidence.

BOTTOM LINE: A must for any fans of Zusak’s work. This early work obviously isn’t on the same level as The Book Thief, but it is a powerful coming-of-age story. Cameron’s struggle is so honest and vulnerable; it would be hard for any teen not to relate to his struggle to figure out who he is and who he wants to become.  

“Very quickly, very suddenly, words fell through my mind. They landed on the floor of my thoughts, and in there, down there, I started to pick the words up. They were excerpts of truth gathered from inside me.”

“‘You ever hear a dog cry, Steve? You know, howling so loud, it’s almost unbearable?’ He nodded. ‘I reckon they howl like that because they’re so hungry it hurts, and that’s what I feel in my every day of my life. I’m so hungry to be somethin’ – to be somebody. You hear me?’”

“I pause a moment and thoughts of death climb onto me. They hang from my shoulders and breathe in my face, and I get to thinking about religion and heaven and hell.”

You can find my reviews of the first two books (The Underdog and Fighting Ruben Wolfe) in the Underdog trilogy here at It's All About Books. 

BOTTOM LINE: You can almost watch Zusak’s talent grow as you read this trilogy. It starts with a relatively simple story and transforms into a powerful one somewhere along the way. The seeds of his writing are there in each book, but they don’t come to fruition until the end.

SIDE NOTE: The original books are incredibly hard to find (at least for me) in the states. Then last year all three books were published in as a single omnibus “Underdogs” and now it’s everywhere.

Top Ten Authors That I'd Put On My Auto-Buy List

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Authors That I'd Put On My Auto-Buy List. These are authors that you love so much you as no questions about their latest book, you just add it to your wishlist. I have lots of classic authors that would fall into this category, but I’m only going to list authors that are still writing books.

1) Maeve Binchy (she passed away this year, but she still has one unreleased book)

2) Jhumpa Lahiri

3) Carlos Ruiz Zafon

4) Jasper Fforde

5) Kate Morton

6) Nick Hornby

7) John Green

8) Tana French

9) Markus Zusak

10) Neil Gaiman

Image form here. 

The Book Thief Play in Chicago

 

(In front of the theatre after the play)

The first time I read The Book Thief in 2007 I fell instantly for the book. I’ve reread it since then and each time my love for it has grown. So when I heard that it was chosen as this year’s One Book One Town for Chicago and it would be made into a play as part of the programming, I was thrilled!

I immediately planned a weekend trip to the windy city to see the show with friends. I was a bit nervous about how it would translate to the stage. How would the narrator, Death, be portrayed? What about Liesel and Rudy, child actors can be off-putting, would they be over the top?

Turns out I had nothing to worry about. It was so beautifully done I could hardly believe it. The book was adapted by Heidi Stillman and each choice was carefully made. Death is played by a friendly middle-aged man. He comes across as curious and kind and is instantly relatable. I can’t imagine how off-putting it would have been to have a lurking Grim Reaper figure trying to tell the story.

Rudy was by far one of the best parts of the show. He is so sweet and sincere, Death puts it beautifully when he says, "He just steps on your heart!" Papa and Mama were just right as well. Papa was kind, caring for Liesel and Max in his quiet way. Mama was brash at first, but the audience quickly realized how deeply she loved her family.

Liesel came across as hard and vulnerable all at the same time, just as she did in the book. She deals with so much heartbreak at such a young age, but she’s still just a girl. Her sobs as she cradles her brother’s body in the opening scene was enough to break you heart.

 

(The Stage)

The stage was bleak and simple. The edges of the stages’ frame have the look of torn pages. There were also three large strips in the background that were used to show depth. At times one would be lit up with a color that Death saw. Other times there were real videos from World War II, bomber planes or marching soldiers, projected on one of the strips.  

Another great addition was a trio of live musicians performing throughout the show. They were costumed to look like the German civilians in the show. One of them played his accordion every time Papa played for Liesel on the stage. It was truly beautiful.

We stayed for a discussion after the show and it was such a joy to hear the reactions of different audience members. Young students were talking about standing up for what’s right even when it’s hard. Adults were talking about the grief of loosing those you love. The story deals with so many issues that it crosses the divides between gender and age with ease. It is a universal tale, one that means something different to each person who reads or sees it.

I can’t say enough about this excellent performance. I hope that it is successful and is produced in other cities. If not, I hope that people will read the book no matter where they live and allow their own imaginations to create the scene in their heads.

For more information about the play and One Book One Town programming visit these sites.

Suey at It's All About Books is hosting a week-long celebration of Markus Zusak's books. Make sure you check it out here! 

Top Ten Bookish People You Want To Meet

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the top ten bookish people you want to meet (Authors, Bloggers, etc.). There’s the normal list that’s a mile long of deceased authors I would love to meet, but I’m going to skip those this time and only limit myself to living bookish people. 

1) My fellow co-moderators at The Classics Club. There are so many book bloggers I would love to meet in person, but it would be so great to sit down in person with Allie, Sarah, Jillian, Adam and Heather. We are constantly chatting behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly on the blog, but we’ve never met in person.

2) Nancy Pearl – I would love to discuss books with this author of Book Lust.

3) Ira Glass – I think he would be fascinating!

4) Amy Sherman-Palladino – The creator of Gilmore Girls is an avid reader and her taste in books is impeccable. I want to pick her brain!

5) Stephen Moffat – He writes both Doctor Who and the BBC’s Sherlock. You just know he would be so cool to talk to!

6) Marjane Satrapi – The author of the Persepolis graphic novels has led an incredible life and she seems to have a sharp sense of humor. I’d love to talk to her!

7) Steve Martin – Actor, author, musician, he is an absolute Renaissance man. Oh yeah, he’s also hilarious.

8) Neil Gaiman – From his books to his love of Doctor Who, Gaiman is awesome. His blog also makes it clear that he would be so much fun to hang out with.

9) J.K. Rowling – No explanation needed.

10) Markus Zusak – I just want to meet him. I want to meet the man behind The Book Thief.
 
**I’ve been lucky enough to meet quite a few of my favorite authors (Jhumpa Lahiri, Margaret Atwood, David Sedaris, Lois Lowry, John Green and Nicole Krauss) in the past couple years, otherwise they would have made the list too!
 
Images from here, here, here and here.

The Book Thief... a Play!

I am so excited about something and I thought I'd share. The Book Thief, one of my absolute favorite books of all time, was selected as this year's One Book One Town for Chicago. As part of the festivities, author Markus Zusak collaborated with a playwright to turn his wonderful book into a stage production.

The show will be at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago this fall and I have tickets!!! I will be seeing the show October 20th and I can't wait. Here's more info and here's where you can get tickets. 

I'd love to hear if any of you guys end up going!