The Book Thief

I finished The Book Thief during Memorial Weekend and I have to say, I really enjoy this book. The author is such a visual writer, who gave color and personality to "words". The power of words are anthropomorphized (what a big word...LOL), and they make sound, they change lives. And on top of everything, the book is not whiny. I've read so many books talking about human suffering and misery full of unbearable whines and anger. The narrator, death, is probably one of the best written characters in the book, he came out cynical and sarcastic, but in the end, you start to feel his heart, full of sympathy and humanity.

The book remind me of 2 books I stole over the years.

The first book I stole was called "Anthology of Modern Science Fictions". It's in Chinese, probably one of the first modern Sci-fi novels I've read. The book was broken when I borrowed from school library. The cover had been long gone, and was replaced by kraft paper and hand written title. Content pages are gone too, so I have no idea what collection of stories were in it when I first turned its pages. The first story is called "2001: A Space Odyssey". There're a good 12 pages missing from the first part of the novel, so I jumped from prehistoric apes to Moon base without anything in between. But missing 12 pages wasn't going to stop me from being completely shocked by this story. The concept of AI (an evil one), the star child, everything is so provocative. It wasn't until much later I realized what I have read is probably one of the most influential Sci-fi literature of the 20th century. I remember every story in that book, because I read it at least 5 times, maybe more. However, the last part of the final story was lost, so I never know how it end. The last story is called "The King and the Toyman" or at least that's how it would translate back from Chinese. I borrowed the book a couple of weeks before I graduate middle school, and I didn't return it.

I figure the school probably won't missed this almost broken book. But somehow I really like it, more than any other books I had over the years. It is one of the books I took with me when I moved to US. I often wonder why I kept this broken book around, with missing cover, missing pages,  missing ending of a story... But I kept it around.

The second book I stole was called Botticelli: Life and Work by Ronald Lightbown. I borrowed it from my college library. But for some reason this book was never on my record, as if I never borrowed it. It's a heavy expensive book, exquisite pictures painted on coated paper. I borrowed it while I was doing my term paper on Botticelli. And I never returned it. Botticelli is one of my favorite Renaissance painters, not only because his elegant style and pagan theme, but also because he's closely associated with the Medici family, which was also my focus of research in college.

My grandma and my parents has bought me many books, and after I got older, I bought even more for myself. I have quite a small collection of books (now sadly piled up in boxes in my parent's garage). Among them, two I have stolen. Nothing exciting really... But nonetheless interesting to me.

Here's a very unfinished book thief sketch

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