My Latest Obsession

At the library last week, I checked out The Book Thief (Markus Zusak). It had been on my list for a while, but was checked out last time I was there. I read about it on a blog somewhere a long time ago, and by the time I got around to checking it out, I couldn't even remember what it was supposed to be about!
First of all, the book is 550 pages long...and I'm usually reading 3 books at a time, so it takes me a while to get through a long one. I thought ahead and renewed my book early. Totally unnecessary! I devoured that book in 7 days, only reading it before bed at night and before getting out of bed in the morning.
It's a Young Adult book, but don't let that deter you...

The book takes place in a town near Munich between 1939 and 1943...so you know what much of the plot revolves around. The story is narrated by death and follows a young girl as she moves in with a new foster family, learns to read and write, befriends a Jewish man, hides in air-raid shelters, and becomes a book thief. 
You can read more about it here

I find books/movies about this time period fascinating and heartbreaking...and now I have a renewed obsession! Sometimes, I watch a tv show, read a book, or do a project and when it's over, it's over. But sometimes, that tv show, book or project will spark a new obsession. Like how I have now watched every episode of Glee twice (and beginning my 3rd go-through) and listen to the soundtracks on my iPod almost exclusively. Or how I count down the days to Survivor and spend about 4 hours a week on Survivor-related media--the show, extra video on cbs.com, a twice-weekly podcast). Or like the time that I became obsessed with cooking and cookbooks and made 100 different recipes during the year (a great failure as my goal was 265). And since July, spending a great deal of my time thinking of the baby shower that was supposed to be last weekend...I can tell you details of baby shower planning timelines, diaper raffles, the difference between a shower and a sprinkle, the price of renting folding chairs, and rattle off long lists of baby shower themes. It's not entirely my fault... I realized last month that my obsessive nature is being fueled by my own mother and aunt, who sent me an apron-making project for my birthday! Super-fun, right? I got 3 pre-made aprons and enough fabric to make 10 or 12 more for different themes & holidays. Someone looked at me like I was crazy and asked, "Why would you need so many aprons?" and I looked at her like she was even crazier for not understanding that if one likes aprons, one *NEEDS* one for every event and or holiday imaginable. Right???
Anyway, so the latest obsession has been inspired by The Book Thief, (which was probably lingering from reading Sarah's Key over the summer). Even though it's really heartwrenching (if you read it, have your Kleenex ready!), even though there's a certain level of discomfort when you read a book or watch a movie about the Holocaust... now I just have to read more, watch more...and begin planning a trip to Auschwitz. It's not everybody's vacation cup-of-tea, but I just feel like I *need* to go there, like it's a really important thing for me to experience. Don't know when we'll go in the next year or two, but David has agreed that it's a trip worth taking... so it's on the books!

Oh, the book I checked out to follow the Book Thief is Elie Wiesel's A Mad Desire to Dance. I've tried to check out Night a million times at Kadena and it was always out...I'll either pick that one up next or The Kindly Ones (Littel)--but that one is almost 1,000 pages!!