"Carry on, Jeeves" by P.G. Wodehouse

The thing about the recent spate of irregular sleep is, it affords an excellent opportunity to catch up on reading. I finished the two books I was reading concurrently, being Terry Pratchett's "The Last Hero" and Wodehouse's "Carry on, Jeeves", the latter a birthday present from Ju and G. I won't review Pratchett, not because it's not a great book, but because this is the second time I'm reading it, and reviewing it didn't seem quite right.

This being my first Jeeves book, I found myself laughing aloud quite often at Jeeves' presumptuous attitude, and how Wooster's ridiculous attempts to assert himself always fail. To say that it is a marvelous inversion of the classic master and servant relationship would not be remiss, I think. It's humourous light reading, and Wodehouse's touch of Brit humour is really quite endearing. Thanks G and Ju for introducing yet another good author.

Was reading the last few stories yesterday on the bed, and sis was beside me. I was regaling her with choice bits from the story and she was laughing along. Then she started on her perennial quest to introduce me to manga, which has many good stories running along similar lines. Was wondering if I should give it a try: after all, I became a convert of graphic novels too, didn't I, even to the pater's derision of "you actually read graphic novels?"

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

After friendly jibes from my friends, especially Ju-Lyn, from time to time, I thought it was time to submit a review :) I've heard about this book from Gary and Lay Suan, the other 2 (more regular) contributors to this blog, but didn't get a chance to read it. That is, until recently when I got it as a Christmas present, courtesy of Ju-Lyn and Gary.

I won't say I got hooked right from the start, but the fact that Death is the narrator makes me wonder how the story will unfold, and I've been reading this almost every night. Anyways, the story tells of a German girl called Liesel Meminger in Germany during World War II. She lost her brother quite early on and her mother disappeared after she was put in the foster care of the Hubermanns. To get back at fate for all the losses that she suffered, she became a book thief.

To be frank, I'm not done with the book. But being a history student who specialised in European (and Chinese) history during my university days, I can imagine how it must be like for Liesel and the other characters in the book living in Germany then. And of course, it showed that there were decent Germans, in addition to those who ardently supported Hitler, not to mention countless others who died opposing him within and without Germany. The fact that her foster family sheltered a Jew, who is the son of Hans Hubermann's buddy during World War 1 who had saved his life, represents redemption. While the story doesn't talk about the war directly, you see its impact on the town, Molching, that Liesel lived in, such as the absolute obedience and worship of the Fuhrer and how this permeates into every aspect of life.

I guess I like the book, both for its innovative narration of events by Death, who is rather sentimental and human, and how it doesn't talk about war in a in-your-face way. But it paints a picture of a society being sucked into the depths of human darkness slowly but surely, but with pockets of hope and yearning for redemption.