01.05.2009 01:31

The Book Thief and other stories

When I finish a (really) good book, I want to share it with someone. I want to say "this is really something, it blew my mind" or even "it changed my life" and I can only hope that it can change yours. I mentioned a few books before, and only in that context. I don't have a need to write reviews but I wish I wrote more about my thoughts on particular books or ideas and concepts presented in them. I just never got into the habit of writing this stuff down. That's why I re-read my favorite books often.

These days I was reading a nice little book, "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. Death narrates the story of a little girl growing up in Nazi Germany, and revolves around books. It reminded me of how I learned to read, my parents had the presence of mind to buy me a reading primer when I was 4. Unlike some other countries in the region we don't have dubbed TV shows, instead everything is subtitled. It didn't take me long to start pairing what I heard with subtitles displayed on the screen and I learned (or better to say understood) English by the age of 6. I'm very grateful for that as today I am able to enjoy most books in their original form and language, unspoiled by translators.

Unfortunately I don't know many people who read, and I even some that never read a single book. So maybe someone who will read this doesn't read books either, or just has a short attention span. If so, maybe I could interest you in some great short stories. I found "0wnz0red" just recently and didn't have the chance to finish it, parts of it that I did read were excellent. Author is Cory Doctorow and just this winter I read his book "Little Brother", released under a CC license so you can download a copy for free. Reading "0wnz0red" I was reminded of another short story, one by my favorite author. It's called "Jipi and the paranoid chip" and it's about a girl that has to disable car alarm systems, which have personalities of paranoid schizophrenics. It's set in the (not too distant)future and it's a great story.


Written by anrxc | Permalink | Filed under cyberpunk, books