The Book Thief

I like to read.

I like to read a lot and I have fairly broad taste in reading material. I haunt the new shelf and the staff picks at my local library. When I hit on an author I like I'll delve into the stacks for earlier works. I've been known to start books I've found on vacation and pick them up to finish at my library once I'm back home.

Currently I'm plowing through the entire Dune Universe. I've reread the original six books by Frank Herbert and I've gotten through eight of the books written by Brain Herbert (Frank's son) with Kevin J. Anderson. Interspersed amongst the Dune saga have been a books with a bit more literary merit (all Dune all the time would be a bit like an all candy diet, only your brain rots instead of your teeth).

One of my most recent literary reads was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. My mother in law had it her house and highly recommended it to me. I read about sixty odd pages while we visited and found the book to be gripping. My in-laws offered to send the book home with me, but it was from their local library and I didn't want to bother. I knew I could get easily enough at home.

The best description of the book comes from within the story itself.

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

I don't want say any more for fear of spoiling the book. It's classified as juvenile fiction, but it's geared towards a young adult and adults, in fact in the author's home of Australia it's classified just under adult so don't let the juvenile label fool you (I certainly would not suggest it to the 9 year olds in our house). I found it to be a very good read that left me sobbing at the end.