Precious stolen moments with "The Book Thief"

I've been busy working.

Right now, besides my continuing kid work, my work is mostly about drawing. I've created the first round of sketches for the next Bones book by David A. Adler. And I am creating the art for a dummy book that goes with a brand new story, soon-to-be shopped around by my agent. Oh, I've not completely abandoned my writing. I ‘ve also started writing a brand new story called "Most Fickle" based on a true story about my husband and I that took place when we were in the ninth grade. And I have been doing revisions on my latest picture book manuscripts.

Still, mostly I have been drawing. And because I have been drawing I get to use the part of me that exists and draws from somewhere between my conscious and my subconscious brain. It's that same place that many of you go to when you drive to work every day, but you can’t remember how you got there-- you just drive by instinct. That is the place I draw and paint from. I think it's located nearer to my heart and farther away from my head. In this place my mind wanders, while my gut makes art.

But to go there to that place, I need to space out. The way I space out is to think about something else while I draw. Not while I create the initial layout, mind you. For that stage I have to “be there.” At that stage I need to think about the text and I need awareness and focus for that. But once I decide what goes where, where the page breaks are, and once I rough out the art--very roughly-- I space out. That is the time I take those very, very rough quick sketches and refine them, bringing them to a better level. My instinctive subconscious does that for me. My conscious head would get in the way.

How do I get to my Zen state? I think about other stuff. Sometimes it is a phone call with a friend, and sometimes it is TV. But lately, it is audio books. And I am now thoroughly addicted. Bless you, Audible.com.

Not long ago I finished listening to Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin. That was very good. I got lost in that world and found the reader, Daniel Passer to be a very effective voice in putting me into the action.

I just now finished listening to The book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Literally, JUST NOW. The tears are barely dry in my eyes. The words of the story narrator, DEATH, will stay with me forever, as will the story itself and the characters and the setting that now is very real in my mind's eye. This book is the kind of poetic, literary substance that does not come along very often for me. The images and story took me away and rattled in my head, even after the drawing was done for the day and I was back to chauffeur mom and homework taskmaster. I found myself thinking about Liesel and Rudy and Papa and Rosa. I found myself calling people "auslach" (please pardon my spelling if I am off) which is German for "asshole."

This book went so far as to make me think about why I have come to enjoy writing as much as I haved always enjoyed drawing. It is THAT good.

I have to say, that after listening to the American accented Daniel Passer read “Rules” so nicely, I experienced some minor difficulty transitioning to the British accented Allan Corduner as he read The Book Thief. But once I got on board, I was carried away completely, and his ability to adopt German accents for the main characters and inhabit their voices and their world was just superb. Listening to him read this book has been a most enjoyable 13 hours and 56 minutes. And the time spent has not only been enjoyable from a literary point of view and a soul feeding point of view. It has been wonderful as a tool for de-stressing, as well as the key to unlocking the door to “that place.” . I have created a great deal of art while I listened, and the sketches I’ve done? Well, I think they are some of my best.

Can’t wait to download another and return to my private outer space….

Comments

[Jen Robinson]

I like that. "My private outer space". I love listening to audiobooks, too. You get such a different experience of the book than you do from reading. It's too slow-paced to do it with everything, but a great book on audio - that's something to remember forever. Kudos to you on listening to the Book Thief. It must have been amazing.

[MotherReader]

Hold on. Fourteen hours? That's why I can't do audio books. I don't have that kind of patience.

I did read The Book Thief, and certainly agree that it is one of the best books I've ever read. Unlike my usual reading style, I read it in bits over a couple of weeks. Usually I read a book straight through, in one long reading or two shorter ones. But at 500 pages, this book needed its own approach.

[Vivian]

The Book Thief is one of my favorite books! I've never listened to it in audio, and your description sounds divine.

Good luck with your work. And by the way, you knew your husband in ninth grade? That is so very cool.

[Liz]

Wow- I totally understand the "space out" zone you need to get into- I need to get there too. BUT I can't listen to something like an audio book! That would throw me off big time- for me it has to be either something I already know (like a favorite movie) or something I don't really care about (like mindless TV talk shows). If something is TOO interesting, I get off-task. I was just eyeing "The Book Thief" in the BOMC listing...now I really want to read it! But I will need to do it the looong, old fashioned way, I'm afraid!

[Barbara Johansen Newman]

Hey, Jen, thanks for stopping by! Yup--listening to a story is wonderful! I'm hooked!

Pam, you have to do it while you do something else. Then it's like the best of both worlds. But, you are so right--whether listened to or read, the book is a remarkable experience.

Vivian, not only did we know each other in 9th grade--we actually met in 7th grade when we were 12! That's how long we have been driving each other crazy.

Liz, definitely read it. With all the "light" reading that is so popular these days, this kind of book reminds me why I love the literary reads.