I Met the Author of The Book Thief Last Night and it Was Special

Let me make something clear: I would (and did, before I knew) love Markus Zusak even if he were ugly. I would love him if we were old and disfigured or a woman with bad breath and by love I mean respect, appreciate, esteem, and admire. It doesn't matter to me. I'm in--I'm all in--with anyone who could write The Book Thief.

I was prepared to be a little disappointed. What if he's a jerk? What if he's not funny? What if writing the book was a fluke? What if he just got really, really lucky writing the book but in real life he's kind of a thoughtless buffoon? As it turns out, he is delightful, insightful, modest, entertaining, charming, obliging, appreciative, interesting, and unpretentious. He read the exact passage I had re-read the night before and he got a little choked up. It was a genuine treat. At that moment I thought, "Right now is what I love. This is my favorite. Other times I'm bored or stressed out or depressed or not having fun but right now is just what I like."

It was great to be there with hundreds of people who love the book as much as I do--my peeps, if you will. When Zusak came in, I couldn't believe he could write such a soulful book because he is so young and slight. It's kind of like how I don't really expect skinny people to be good moms. I only got fat after I started having kids so my mom-gravitas is all tied up with being chubby. It's incorrect, of course. Then again, if I'd been thin the whole time I've been a mom maybe I would never have become as humble and selfless as I am now. A body shaper has been my crucible. But I didn't tell Markus Zusak that!

He signed 5 books for me, which was nice. Of course,  I did wait in line for two hours. We talked about a lot of interesting things, Markus Zusak and I.  You should have been there. But you can still read The Book Thief. It's set in Nazi Germany, narrated by death, almost everyone dies, and it's over 500 pages long. Enjoy.