But let's be honest, the other contenders are all problematic.
(1) Jake Gyllenhal - beautiful, but likely full of himself
(2) Aaron Rogers - athletic and beautiful, but too young and likely full of himself
(3) Matt Damon - mix Bourne Identity Matt Damon with Ocean's Eleven Matt Damon and he'd be pretty close to perfect....but fictional
(3) Matt Damon - mix Bourne Identity Matt Damon with Ocean's Eleven Matt Damon and he'd be pretty close to perfect....but fictional
However, Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, (not that I needed to say that I'm sure), has it all: charming, brilliant, wrote the most beautiful book I've ever read, and speaks with an Australian accent.
Monday night I had a chance to meet him (aka hear him speak). I put on my skinniest pair of maternity pants (yes I'm still wearing maternity pants 10 wks after giving birth and no I'm not bitter about that) and headed downtown to the Harold Washington Library where he discussed his reaction to The Book Thief's success. I must admit I was a bit worried that he wouldn't live up to my expectations. After all, I'd already declared him "the man I'd leave my husband for" after my third reading of The Book Thief. Thankfully, he ended up being as humble, funny, and articulate as I'd hoped.
He spoke about how writing the first half of The Book Thief took him several years, while he wrote the second half in one month. He shared the real life experiences he drew on to write The Book Thief - something I always enjoy hearing. My favorite part of Zusak's discussion perhaps was when he talked about writing and editing. He said he failed thousands of times writing The Book Thief. But every one of those failures was a step closer to its ultimate success - one that has lasted over 260 weeks on the NYT best seller list. I love that.
At the end of the discussion, people had the chance to have him sign books, which I didn't stick around for. I had a house full of boys at home needing baths, hugs, and nighttime stories. Probably for the best. Any time I meet someone I admire, I inevitably say something stupid making me look like the world's biggest idiot. Zusak, no doubt, would have reacted to my awkward behavior in a way that confirmed it and then he would have been ruined. I couldn't possibly leave my husband for a man that finds me awkward - that just wouldn't work. Instead, by leaving without meeting him, Zusak keeps his pedestal, while I keep my dignity....and, of course, my wonderful husband.
Glad you got to hear him speak. But what if he had found your awkwardness attractive?
ReplyDeleteOh Alex - there is adorable awkward and painful-to-watch awkward....in these scenarios, I'm absolutely the latter. I hope we never meet Alex C. With you being a big-time-blogger/author, you'd get the awkward side of me... I'm much cooler through email.
DeleteLOL. Finally someone has the courage to come out with 'The List'.
ReplyDeleteMine: Neil Gaiman, Daniel Craig, Gerard Butler, Adam Levine. And what I like to call the alternate number 5. Which changes on a weekly basis. (stuck now on Ian Somerhalder, 'cause he's just so pretty...)
I'm sure my husband has nothing to worry about though.
Ah yes, Daniel and Gerard - so beautiful.
DeleteWow! It does take time to write a NYC bestseller.
ReplyDeleteHugs and chocolate,
Shelly
That always makes me feel better about writing slowly!!
DeleteHaha, I am laughing so hard at this. That is so cool that he was everything you hoped he would be. And I am a sucker for accents. My pick for leaving my hubby is Zachary Levi from Chuck. And his would probably be Yvonne Strahovski from Chuck. LOL. I don't know if we ever want to meet them either.
ReplyDeleteHuge crush on Zachary Levi - there is something to the dorky adorable type!
DeleteThat is so cool! Isn't great when the people we admire live up to our expectations? :) Glad to hear he was a great speaker and that you got to enjoy it. (And don't worry about those maternity pants. It's nine months up, nine months down, right? Of course my youngest is thirteen months now. . .Whoops.) ;)
ReplyDeleteYou should've talked to him anyway.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll take Hugh Jackman please.
Loved this book, although I have only read it once. I did recommend it recently to a friend!
ReplyDeleteMy husband jokes that he is just borrowing Andre Agassi's closet. And OK, I have had a crush on Andre since I was a young tennis racquet-wielding teenager. As an adult I ran into him at a Las Vegas playground (we only lived a mile apart) and had a total foot-in-mouth moment telling him what a big fan I was. What I really wanted to say was thanks for all the great tennis I had the pleasure of watching over the years... funny how it never comes out the way you want! And Steffi was there too and talked to my son!
My other crushes would be on Joshua Jackson (of Fringe fame... never watched Dawson's Creek) and Drew Seeley. Funny how these two kinda look alike but neither look anything like my husband! :-)
If you don't want Aaron Rodgers, I'll take him! ;)
ReplyDeleteHow exciting that you got to hear him speak! And heh, I fall along the 'awkward' lines myself. I waited outside a theatre here to get Rob Lowe's autograph and was STRUCK DUMB. Lucky I had my friend with me who was able to say 'the play was really good!' while I thrust my program at him ;)
ReplyDelete1st, my hub looks like matt damon but taller =)
ReplyDelete2nd, no one has to kno about the pants!
3rd, i have to move the book theif up on my tbr list after that gushing! sweet you got to be there & see/hear him in person!
LOL! This is great, Kimberly. I love an Aussie accent, too. I'm glad you got to meet an author you admire!
ReplyDeleteI totally empathize. I can't handle meeting anyone I admire. It's painful... :) I think I'll have to look up the Book Thief. I guess I've been hiding under a rock because I haven't heard of it.
ReplyDeleteNY best seller means I must get hold of The Book Thief.
ReplyDeleteSo cool that you got to meet him!
I'd agree that Jake Gyllenhaal seems full of himself, unless that statement I saw on his MySpace page (I think it was MySpace) wasn't really him but was some fake - but in that post he shouted out to "all you Gyllenhaalics out there". Urrrgh. :P I still hope it was a fake.
ReplyDeleteOh Kimberly, you're hilarious! I have a secret list too, but sadly no authors are on that yet. Maybe I need to read The Book Thief (I've also heard it's really good :) so that should probably be my reason for reading it). So cool you got to see him talk about writing!
ReplyDelete