This Charming Man

A bright spot, in "le jour de la merde", was meeting author Markus Zusak. Markus paid a visit to work today to talk about his book "The Book Thief." The link has full details, which does the book more justice than I could. Once I read it, I'll post a review. I'll admit that I was drawn in by the swoon worthy picture of the author (c'mon, you could live in those dimples). Oh and the positively dreamy Australian accent. So once I mopped up the puddle of drool, he was really an amazing story teller and a personable down to earth guy. He started out by telling this funny story about getting in trouble as a little kid and turned it on a dime into a story about one of his mother's holocaust reveries. It was really amazing how casually he was able to do this. I probably could have listened to him tell stories all day. His passion for the book was so clear and he was able to talk about the craft of writing without sounding like a pompous ass, which I greatly appreciated. He also took the time to personalize and put a message in each book he signed, with amazingly neat and careful penmanship. Pretty rare for an author these days. I was really impressed overall and have high hopes for the book.

I'll end my gushing love letter, by saying that he wrote the book when he was thirty and I don't hate him for that. Given the impending 3-0 that I'm facing, my campaign of aggravation with successful people around my age (F*** Off John Mayer)is at an all time high. The fact that he overcame this speaks volumes.