"The Book Thief"

I always recommend this book if asked, “What’s a good book to read?”  However, I always recommend it with some hesitation.  If you want a fast read, or a feel-good novel … this book is not for you.  If you love to get wrapped up in the characters, or have your eyes opened to the heartbreak that many people suffered … than this book is for you.

This story is narrated by Death.  At times I found this narration a little depressive but I think that is how Markus Zusak wanted his readers to feel.  Dealth is also dismayed by the events that are happening all around.  At one point, he stomps on a picture of Hitler on his way to retrieve a thousand souls from a bomb raid.  But through all the dark is a spark of color.

The human race is hard to figure out at times and this novel explores all the twists and turns in a time I hope we never have to revisit.  If you want to explore this book further … here’s a little more about it:

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Narrated by Death, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young foster girl living outside of Munich in Nazi Germany. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she discovers something she can't resist- books. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever they are to be found.

With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids, as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.