The Reader

I'm going to try and use proper punctuation and grammar from this blog on.

Anyway, since I've been home for Easter break, I kicked my gym routine up a few notches, cut my hair a little shorter, did a little school work and finally got a chance to read one of the many books on my "books to read" list. I know - NERD. Don't hate.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink was one of the most stimulating novels I've read in a while. A fifteen year old boy fell in love with a thirty year old woman. She was a cougar but that wasn't all - she was a guard for the SS during the Holocaust. She worked at concentration camps like Auschwitz and Cracow, sending women to be suffocated or burned to death. She unexpectedly left town one day, leaving Michael (the boy) hurt and confused. Her past was a mystery to him until he saw her again in a courtroom. The defendants included her and other females and they were being tried for their acts in the camps. Reading about the Holocaust got me thinking. The only material I've read on it were the brief paragraphs in textbooks and the Diary of Anne Frank in the fourth grade. I'm intrigued now to read other survivors accounts of their time in captivity. Night by Elie Wiesel is one that comes to mind. Movies, as well, have been coming out about this. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is one that I want to watch and Schindler's List - I know this is old and I've never seen it. I like books that awaken your mind to something and you take it upon yourself to learn more, read more. But back to The Reader - all of Michael's insights were deep and moving - he questioned the nature of his love and his identity, if who he was and who he'd become had stemmed all from his relationship with this woman. It was interesting to read, to see how the story would end. I started this novel on Thursday and finished it this morning. They just made this a movie so I'm going to rent it. I have high hopes for it since a) Kate Winslet won Best Actress at the Oscar's this year and b) I love Kate Winslet - from Titanic to the Holiday, she's the shit.

Now, I'm going to watch Best Actor, Sean Penn, in this years award-winning movie MILK.