02 June 2011

Book'em Danno

Amazon puts on these really cool weekly "fishbowls," where famous authors and musicians come to speak or perform.  Today's special guest: Erik Larson, renowned author of beautifully-rendered historical narratives interspersed with lurid true crime.  My sister introduced me to Larson's The Devil in the White City several years ago, so I was pretty excited to hear about his latest best-seller, In the Garden of Beasts--a story of Nazi Berlin as seen through the eyes of William Dodd, America's first ambassador to Nazi Germany, and his rambunctious 24-year old daughter.

Larson spent the better part of an hour describing father and daughter as characters in a true life Grimm Brothers fairy tale, two "innocents" lost in the dusky and darkening wood that was 1933 Germany. He was easily compelling enough that I had fully decided to bump his book to the top of my reading list--and that was before both Bryant and I won the raffle for a signed copy.

Just one of the perks of being an employee at the world's largest bookstore.

      

1 comment:

Kalen's Mommy said...

I'm SOOOO jealous! (Both of your luck and your awesome job). You're my hero! (And you must send me that book when you finish reading it!)