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This thread was originally a Reading Challenge that Cassirin, Lissydove and cake.ninjak participated in.
SPOILERS are allowed in this discussion.
Summary from Goodreads:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goodreads
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.
By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.
But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.
In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.
I started this yesterday (after I finished The Night Circus:A Novel). Am I too late to read with you, Mz Erin? Quiet night last night at work, I'm 100 pages in already. Surprisingly fast reading for the subject material. Fast for me anyway.
Professor Pink | Mrs. Bruce Wayne | I'm on a Goat | Glitterpuff | Dumbledore's Defense Squad | BHB
I might re-read this just cuz. IT'S SO GOOD ERN/LISSY/KELVIN YOU WILL CRY.
Probably.
__________________
yeah, there's one thing about me that you should know________________________________ __________________________________________that I can't help from speaking my mind
No! Read with me. I'm only about 50 pages ahead of you.
Did you have any trouble adjusting to the writing style?
Yay! I left off around page 138 last night before I crashed. So tired the night after working. Anywho. Yes. At first I was unsure if I was going to like the writing style or even if I was gonna get into the book but I think I was starting Part One and all of a sudden I realized I was used to how it is being narrated. Next thing I knew after that, I was 100 pages in. Were you into it right away? How long for you to get used to it?
SPOILER!!: a ponder on book thievery
At this point she has only 'stolen' two books. One at the gravesite and the other from the bonfire. To *me* thief feels stronger then what is happening. She found the first but kept it while knowing who the owner is. I guess that is more stealing than the second is.... I say she saved that one. More like a 'Book Rescuer' then a Thief.
SPOILER!!: the mayor's wife
Even though she just showed Liesel her library and I know she will get to go back based on the description on the back of the book.... I still am unsure what to think about the fact she saw the girl take that book from the bonfire and death's warning that 'she (the mayor) was just waiting for the right moment.' For what? Sounds more ominous than showing her a library. Hm.
SPOILER!!: Rosa
I think it is hilarious how everyone is a filthy pig. And I really like her despite the verbal abuse and hidings. heh
Quote:
Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl
I might re-read this just cuz. IT'S SO GOOD ERN/LISSY/KELVIN YOU WILL CRY.
Probably.
Oh boy. I'm only worried about the crying part. Based on the narrator of the book and quite obviously the theme and setting of the book... yeah.
Made of Awesome | Ern-la the Best-wa | TZ's Apogee
I'm not much ahead of you. It's slow reading, and the book is too massive to take to work, so I'm not doing as much reading or as fast as I normally do. That's fine, though, because it means I'll stick with you and not rush.
SPOILER!!: Thievery
My impression is that it must be a bigger thing. Based on what we've seen, the language seems strong, but she has the name from Death in the bigger picture, right?
SPOILER!!: Mayor's Wife
Yeah, I agree... especially because Death does so much ominous foreshadowing. I already felt like I missed something in the stuff you're reading now that is big foreshadowing for what I'M reading right now. I should maybe go back and read that stuff again! Anyway. Foreshadowing.
SPOILER!!: Rosa
I like BOTH of her new 'parents' so much, and for different reasons. I mean, Rosa is HORRIFYING in some ways, but her caring is also so obvious, that all her slapping and cursing and terrible behavior sort of pales behind it.
SPOILER!!: Roro and the Crying
I figured it wouldn't have a happy ending, but I'm awfully intrigued by the stuff Death gives away. You definitely get pieces and parts of BIG STUFF to happen later throughout the earliest parts of the book, which either means the journey to get there is way more important than the actual ending OR that what you think is big isn't nearly as big as you think and there is BIGGER stuff.
Professor Pink | Mrs. Bruce Wayne | I'm on a Goat | Glitterpuff | Dumbledore's Defense Squad | BHB
HEH.
SPOILER!!: no spoilers here, just responding to Ern/Lissy
Heh. Ya'll are spot on with everything, methinks, and I DO remember there being a lot of foreshadowing. So. Book "Rescuer" does not carry the necessary connotations that "Thief" does, and since what she is doing could be so riskyyyy during that time period.... yah, you'll see.
Does anybody else picture Death as the narrator like... like this version of Death in their head?
P.S. LOOOOOOOOVE Rosa. And her papa the painter. GuH he is my FAVORITE.
__________________
yeah, there's one thing about me that you should know________________________________ __________________________________________that I can't help from speaking my mind
Just stopping in quickly as I am about to go out, but I'm just over 400 pages in. Yesterday wasn't a big read day. Work then tired. Anyway.
SPOILER!!: thievery
The term has become more deserved. Still a very complex situation with Mayor's wife. STILL not sure if there is something more sinister going to happen.
SPOILER!!: death and foreshadowing
He gave away a couple of biggies and I'm not sure if you are up to that yet, Erin so I hesitate to say what even in here. He did say he is not fond of suspense, that death. heh I think this way is almost worse. The anticipation of the event and then the heartbreak of it happening. I think it is the road to get there rather then the end that is the most important thing.
Big Tuna | Booger | Team Men | Chris's SS!BFAM | Jules says I'm RAD | #Superman | Dustbin
I just started reading this. Only about 25 pages in. It definitely takes time to adjust to the narration, but I like it so far!
EDIT:
Okay so I'm a bit further into the book (not much), but I can tell I'm going to be taking quotes from this a lot. Two that have stuck out to me so far:
SPOILER!!: THE QUOTES
* * * AN OBSERVATION * * *
A pair of train guards.
A pair of grave diggers.
When it came down to it, one of them called the shots. ___________The other did what he was told.
The question is, what if the other is a lot more than one?
* * * A DEFINITION NOT FOUND * * *
IN THE DICTIONARY Not leaving: an act of trust and love,
often deciphered by children.
Last edited by cake.ninjak; 01-22-2012 at 03:31 AM.
Made of Awesome | Ern-la the Best-wa | TZ's Apogee
I finished this afternoon. Earlier, I thought I might try to say something intelligent about things I thought/felt as I was reading, but then I actually got to the last few chapters and I'm very "..."
...
One thing I will say is that I enjoyed the fact that this book looks a historical period we generally tend to think we KNOW about, whether from history class or from reading other books, and makes you connect emotionally to it on a different level. I don't know that I've ever read a book set during WW2 from the perspective of a German citizen, specifically a child, and I think the war ends up being just as much a character as anyone else. I kind of felt this way after reading The Help, when I felt like intellectually I understood what the characters were going through before reading, but the book actually took me into the reality of what living that experience was like. I dunno if I'm making sense, but I just enjoyed that the author could do that for me.
Professor Pink | Mrs. Bruce Wayne | I'm on a Goat | Glitterpuff | Dumbledore's Defense Squad | BHB
So I'm teaching Elie Wiesel's memoir Night right now and since it's a shorter non-fiction book, I'm having my students also read a WWII/Holocaust FICTION book too.
Three of them are reading The Book Thief, which is a book I love. Read it twice. Two of the three kids reading it love it and have almost finished it; one of them I can't even get to learn Liesel's name. He keeps skipping around and not appreciating it.
GRR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cassirin
I finished this afternoon. Earlier, I thought I might try to say something intelligent about things I thought/felt as I was reading, but then I actually got to the last few chapters and I'm very "..."
...
One thing I will say is that I enjoyed the fact that this book looks a historical period we generally tend to think we KNOW about, whether from history class or from reading other books, and makes you connect emotionally to it on a different level. I don't know that I've ever read a book set during WW2 from the perspective of a German citizen, specifically a child, and I think the war ends up being just as much a character as anyone else. I kind of felt this way after reading The Help, when I felt like intellectually I understood what the characters were going through before reading, but the book actually took me into the reality of what living that experience was like. I dunno if I'm making sense, but I just enjoyed that the author could do that for me.
You should read Germany Boy by Wolfgang W.E. Samuel. We read that in my 9th grade World History class back in 2004/2005. It's pretty good. I read it twice; once the summer before, and once during class and even my brother, who doesn't read, read it and liked it and recommended I read it.
It's a memoir like Night, but it's told from the perspective of a German child citizen, someone similar to Liesel but even more displaced and homeless due to the war.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cake.ninjak
I just finished. I want to go sit in a hole for the rest of my life now.
I hope you guys enjoyed The Book Thief, as sad as it is. It's still a gem.
__________________
yeah, there's one thing about me that you should know________________________________ __________________________________________that I can't help from speaking my mind
I just finished. I want to go sit in a hole for the rest of my life now.
I was just cruising over this thread because one of my guiltiest pleasures is watching people start The Book Thief and fall in love and the spiral that follows through reading SO, YOU KNOW
This gave me an awful gleeful smile, Kelvin.
Mostly cos every time I think about The Book Thief, I crawl back to that hole.
lives in a hobbit hole || Ern and Touz's Nuzzle || roflysst || looking at a seed packet
Seeing this thread and rewatching the movie recently makes me want to actually.... read teh book. Because honest: I haven't read it all the way. I've read pieces, because I worked in a bookstore and I grabbed it a few times on breaks, but then uni happened and other thiiiiings. AND I GUESS I'm posting here as a promise to myself to read it properly.
__________________
love is like a letter wrote :: and life is like an envelope
be careful who you give it to :: they might not give it back to you
ThunderPUFF | Whoodley | MRD&LKD | Graphics Queen | Tristalen | Mrs. A | Hunny Bun
I have read it but haven't watched the movie yet. But the book is amazing and to quote Natalie, "I WAS TEARS."
Tegz you def have to read it all the way! Such an amazing story!
__________________
⫷⫷____________________________________________ I know that you're afraid to...
...let all the dark escape you._____________________________________________⫸⫸
This book starts off with an interest concept of making statements that have been oft repeated and then giving the narrators take on those statements. It's a great break from reality.
~ Mrs. Steve Harrington ~ It be like that sometimes.
This book broke my heart. The most heartbreaking thing for me was Rudy's fate. I really love him - such a good friend. Aside from that, I'm glad to have an insight of the war that happened. That... just hurt, man; all the happenings of that time. But like our narrator, even I feel haunted by humans.
'The Book Thief' by Marcus Zusak (Sa13+) 
x7 
x8
I might not be able to read it at the same time as everyone else, but it'll happen!
Quiet night last night at work, I'm 100 pages in already. Surprisingly fast reading for the subject material. Fast for me anyway. 
I left off around page 138 last night before I crashed. 
So tired the night after working. Anywho. Yes. At first I was unsure if I was going to like the writing style or even if I was gonna get into the book but I think I was starting Part One and all of a sudden I realized I was used to how it is being narrated. Next thing I knew after that, I was 100 pages in. 
I'm only worried about the crying part. Based on the narrator of the book and quite obviously the theme and setting of the book... yeah. 
GuH he is my FAVORITE.
He did say he is not fond of suspense, that death. heh I think this way is almost worse. The anticipation of the event and then the heartbreak of it happening. I think it is the road to get there rather then the end that is the most important thing.
GRR.
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