Finished THE BOOK THIEF

I don't know if I will rave about this book a lot.  It is well-written, and has an understandable theme.  I am glad I read it.

But it is sad and it hits the reader over the head again and again with its theme.  Overkill (literally.)  The narrator is perfect for it, however, and his circumspect involved (in spite of himself) manner tends to, unbelievably, soften the subject matter.

Some books must be read for the conversations they start--both with others and also inside our own heads...this is one such book.  Would I have read it in my classroom?  Maybe in some of my classes when their English teachers were reading The Diary of Ann Frank.  For many, the absorption of this theme might help them get through some of their own tragedies...



I have now started Lost Scriptures by Bart D Ehrman.  I read three similar books before by Elaine Pagels, but these were pretty much all commentary and no actual translations.  I don't know how long it will take me to get through this.  I may divide it into sections the way I did with Morte d'Arthur and the way I am doing with Les Miserables.  I don't expect it to be exciting, but I do expect it to be interesting, albeit perhaps in small doses.