The annual literacy event, Richardson Reads One Book, hit a home run in 2013. September 10th, on a Tuesday night, Markus Zusak, here from his home in Australia, talked about The Book Thief. The 1,300 seat sanctuary of First United Methodist Church was standing room only, and this young, rising star author had the entire audience laughing aloud for an hour.
The success of his daring, unique novel is phenomenal. Especially when you consider that it is a poignant, personal story of lives touched by the holocaust. Not a funny theme.
And yet, The Book Thief has been on the New York Times Bast Seller List for over 5 years. Now it is a much anticipated film, to be released in November.
Zusak received his proof of the movie poster while he was still in Dallas. Here is the blog post he wrote about the moment, and placed on Goodreads.com.
He shared, in his talk, that his career has partly been driven by the goal of finally getting the best of his older brother – shared with gentle humor, of course. Hopefully his success won’t remove all motivation and bring an end to a brilliant writing career.
The Book Thief is a young adult novel, but if you pick it up for a youngster in your family, be sure to take the opportunity to read it yourself.
