I know, I know--everyone's telling you that, right? But this is a small book--only 97 pages altogether, and several of those are photographs. It's Ann Patchett's What now? She developed this from a recent commencement address given at Sarah Lawrence, her alma mater, and it's absolutely remarkable. I read it in one sitting, at a local funky coffee shop, dabbing at my tears with a piece of paper towel.
Two snippets:
"I'd like to tell you to appreciate your youth, to stop and admire your own health and intelligence, but every writer has a cliche quota and I used up mine by saying, When I was sitting where you are now."
"There's a time in our lives when we all crave the answers. It seems terrifying not to know what's coming next. But there is another time, a better time, when we see our lives as a series of choices, and What now represents our excitement and our future, the very vitality of life."
So, I've been asking the right question, but I think I need to adjust the inflection. Not "What now," as in, what thing is broken or what disappointment is next, but "What now" with wonder and awe and a bit of humor.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Book Thief
No, I haven't taken up shoplifting. The Book Thief is an amazing novel by Markus Zusak. I listened to it on CD, and I was laughing and crying in the car. It's been marketed as a young adult novel, but I highly recommend it to grown ups, too.
Death narrates (okay, an actor is reading in the audio version, but the character Death is the narrator, all right?) this story of a young girl sent to live with foster parents in Nazi Germany. Along the way, she steals her first book--The Grave Digger's Handbook--when one of the grave diggers accidentally drops it in the snow near the burial site of the girl's brother, who dies en route to their foster home.
It's a story of growing up, of mass hysteria and willful ignorance, of pain and survival, and young love.
Oh, and it's about books and the power of language and narrative and art and music.
(God, I'm a lousy reviewer. Just read it!)
Death narrates (okay, an actor is reading in the audio version, but the character Death is the narrator, all right?) this story of a young girl sent to live with foster parents in Nazi Germany. Along the way, she steals her first book--The Grave Digger's Handbook--when one of the grave diggers accidentally drops it in the snow near the burial site of the girl's brother, who dies en route to their foster home.
It's a story of growing up, of mass hysteria and willful ignorance, of pain and survival, and young love.
Oh, and it's about books and the power of language and narrative and art and music.
(God, I'm a lousy reviewer. Just read it!)
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