The Reader

When the book The Reader by Bernhard Schlink was published in the mid 1990’s, I bought it and remember reading it in about a day or two. It was that compelling. I remember reading it just after it was published, but it was later one of Oprah’s book club selections. Since it has been about 13 years ago that I read the book, I didn’t remember all the details, but was excited to hear that a movie was being made about the story. I can’t believe it has taken this long. The movie, The Reader, that I just saw yesterday, was probably one of the best films I have seen in a very long time, and maybe one of the best I have ever seen.

The casting for The Reader was superb. When I read the book, I was picturing in my mind someone such as Liv Ullman as Hanna Schmitz. Kate Winslet was perfect casting for Hanna. The author of the book had Ms. Winslet in mind from when he first wrote the story. Ralph Fiennes and David Kross were also excellent casting as the older and younger Michael Berg, respectively. I am not a film connoisseur, but the way the movie was filmed (colors and lighting) made a huge difference, I am sure, in the whole look and mood of the film.

Bernhard Schlink is the author of a few other books and is a lawyer and professor and was a judge in Germany. He was born in 1944, making him part of the first German generation after World War II. The story he wrote is partly autobiographical.

Fifteen-year-old Michael is on his way home from school and meets Hanna as he is resting near her doorway from being sick. She helps him and he makes it home only to find out he has scarlet fever. When he has recuperated for months, he goes to thank Hanna and the 36-year-old transit worker seduces him. They have an affair over the course of the summer of 1958 and as they spend time together, she asks him to read to her the books he is studying. These range from Homer to Chekov. Hanna gets promoted at the transit system and abandons Michael and the little flat she lived in.

Years later Michael is in law school and the seminar class he is taking goes to court to watch a trial of some Nazi prison guards and Hanna is one of them. Even more later, Michael corresponds with Hanna once again. I will not say anything more about the story as to not give anything away.

I will say that the book leaves its readers asking all kinds of questions dealing with the people that worked in the concentration camps and who carried out the orders of the Nazis, the next generation of Germans and how the war has affected them and later generations, and lastly, level of education and how it perhaps relates to each person’s understanding of good and evil.

Only the gray area is left to ponder after reading this book and seeing this film . . .

Merry Christmas

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Sincerely, Denise

Legacy Books

I have been meaning to write about the new, independently-owned bookstore where I went to hear Kathleen Kent speak and get her book The HERetic’s Daughter autographed. Legacy Books (www.legacybooksonline.com) is the non-chain bookstore located at The Shops at Legacy (Dallas Parkway and Legacy Drive in Plano) next to the Williams-Sonoma at Home store. When they first opened in late October/early November, I went to check out what an independent bookstore was all about since Dallas doesn’t seem to have any bookstores except the national chains and Half-Price Books. What I found was a huge store that was going to celebrate the grand opening the next week. In celebration, they were going to be having a slew of authors coming in for talks and book signings.

The store is large, comfortable, and different from the chains. On the first level fiction, bargain books, a café, a demo kitchen, magazines, and a huge kid’s section are located. The second level is a small mezzanine and contains mystery and romance books. The third level is non-fiction and has a separate room for huge art books to be spread out on ottomans and has another separate area for authors to discuss their works and room for an audience. Legacy Books will never be one of those disorganized musty, dusty Shakespeare and Company type of stores—it’s too sleek and modern and there were many attentive and pleasant workers wandering the floors.

When I arrived early to hear Ms. Kent speak about the Salem witch trials and her book, Sam Wyly was there talking about his latest book entitled 1,000 and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire. Mr. Wyly is a Dallas resident who founded such diverse companies as Bonanza Steakhouse, Green Mountain Energy, and Michael’s Stores. As I approached he was doing his best Ross Perot imitation. Apparently, he and Mr. Perot worked together at IBM before they both left to start their own companies. Mr. Wyly was very charming and interesting to listen to and he wrapped up his talk and signed books for friends and fans.

Ms. Kent was supposed to begin her talk promptly at 7 pm but an announcement was made that she would speak approximately 25 minutes later. I took the opportunity to leave my close-to-the-front seat to go put some purchases in my car and special order a book called Murder in Montparnasse by Howard Engel. This book is another mystery with Hemingway as a character (with a fictional name). I was not gone for more than 10 minutes and I had missed Ms. Kent’s introduction and she was already speaking. I was miffed at Legacy Books and marched back to my good seat to listen.

Ms. Kent’s talk made up for Legacy Books’ announcement faux pas. She spent about 25 minutes talking about Salem and the witch trials, her ancestors, and her research. She then took questions from the audience and there were quite a few very good questions as the witch trials are an interesting part of early American history. She then signed books and spoke to anyone who still had questions. The next book Ms. Kent is working on is about Martha Carrier’s husband, Tom. Martha was the ancestor of Ms. Kent's who was hung for being a witch. The new book entitled The Giant of Edgehill is about Tom’s life before coming to America and sounds fascinating. Tom Carrier was approximately 7 feet tall and lived to be 109 years old. Apparently, he was involved in some historical events in England and Ireland before emigrating to America.

The only other issue I have with Legacy Books is that they never have called or gotten in touch via email to say that my special order book was in. I even communicated with them via their website to inquire about my special order and still have not received a response. I am going to hear another Dallas author speak soon (Ben Fountain) and will probably find Murder in Montparnasse on the shelf. I will attribute this experience to first week problems but probably will not special order from Legacy Books again. Dallas does need an independent book store and I will be frequenting Legacy Books in the future, especially to hear a variety of authors speak.