The Book Thief, Week 1

To catch you up super quickly, we met last Friday night for Book Club, fun was had by all (or everyone is an amazing actor), we decided to read The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak, and for those who don't want to or can't come to actual book clubby meetings, they could follow along while I talk about it here.

I broke up the book into roughly four parts, but I have already read more than half the book since last night the whole darn thing since Thursday. Officially, we are only reading through Part Two, so if you are following along, I won't be giving anything away past Part Two. Though, you will notice the narrator gives us plenty of glimpses of what is coming ahead anyway, so I can't imagine I'm going to give away much. 

Please, if you are reading along or have read the book already, shoot me a comment with your thoughts thus far. I will get a little pretentious book clubby with some of my questions. Just a fair warning. I'm not, like, trying to be pretentious, it's just an unfortunate by-product of book club questions and their lingo. I may also throw in some questions that I come across that are (in my mind) so pretentious I don't even get them. You know for laughs. Though I am sure you all will get them just fine and I'll look stupid. So basically, it will all even out.

When I use a quote, I will put the page number, but the numbering may be off since everyone has different books, kindles, etc. Hopefully, it will still be relatively easy to figure out where I am in the book when I quote something. I'll make some obsevations, but when I list a question, I'll answer it in the comments section as a part of the discussion, rather than in the post. 

Well, now, where was I? Oh right. Potentially pretentious book club discussion. Here goes nothin'.

The Book Thief, Parts One and Two

A couple of things jumped out at me. First, was the use of color as descriptors. Do you have a favorite? Mine is when the narrator describes the sky over the battlefields of The Great War as being milky white and spreading over everything.

Second is how the narrator (Death) describes gathering souls. Did you notice any in particular and what were your thoughts about how Death describes that process?

"I walked in, loosened his soul, and carried it gently away" pg 11 

"It was exactly when I knelt down and extracted his soul, holding it limply in my swollen arms. He warmed up soon after, but when I picked him up originally, the boy’s spirit was soft and cold, like ice cream. He started melting in my arms. Then warming up completely. Healing." pg 17

Death tells us he made numerous mistakes when it comes to Liesel, saying,

 "Mistakes, mistakes, it’s all I seem capable of at times. For two days, I went about my business. I traveled the globe as always, handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity. I watched them trundle passively on. Several times, I warned myself that I should keep a good distance from the burial of Liesel Meminger’s brother. I did not heed my advice.
From miles away, as I approached, I could already see the small group of humans standing frigidly among the wasteland of snow. The cemetery welcomed me like a friend, and soon, I was with them. I bowed my head." pg 18 

Why do you think he felt so drawn to the funeral and why do you think he felt it was a mistake to go?

What were your impressions of Hans and Rosa when you first "met" them vs by the end of Part Two?

Who is your favorite character so far and why?

The last sentence of Part Two:

"Beneath her shirt, a book was eating her up."

Why do you think Liesel is so drawn to books that she feels compelled to steal them when necessary?

OK! That is it for this week! I'm also curious how many people read through the whole thing already? It was such a quick read. I'm finding myself already drawn in to read it again. I can tell it is going to be one of those books where I notice more and more with each read through.

Are you YA enough for this book club?

My bedroom growing up had a whole wall of floor to ceiling bookshelves. The previous owner had used the room as an office, and when fourth grade me saw those bookshelves I made it my mission to fill those shelves. I almost did, too. By the time we moved I'd amassed a collection of nearly 1,000 books. Ramona, The Babysitters Club, Sweet Valley High, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Secret Garden, Sleepover Friends, Matilda, R.L. Stine, Anne of Green Gables...my collection was non discriminatory. Little Women shared shelf space with blonde twins from California. Really bad teenage love stories cozied up to Gone With the Wind. 

I didn't love reading right away as a kid and to encourage me to read more my parents bought me literally every single book I seemed vaguely interested in. Their (very expensive) scheme worked, I loved to read and in the process found a very special place in my heart for YA lit - Young Adult literature. 

A few years ago it came to my attention that my friend Megan is also my literature soul sister and ever since then we have been trading books books like the madwomen we are. A couple years ago she became the Scholastic book mom for her kids classes and turned me onto such literary gems as Twilight, The Hunger Games and amazing teenage mermaid stories. We used to hide our YA shame, but this week I decided that enough was enough. Not are we no longer hiding our love of the Young Adult novel,  we are starting a book club. 

That's right. Young Adult novel book club is happening. As it turns out, we are far from alone in our taste in books. Within about 2 hours of announcing on Facebook my crazy plan of a book club I got 15 or so ecstatic messages from friends ready to read the angst. Bring on the coming age stories and the dystopian heroes and heroines. Bring on the romance and misunderstandings. Bring on the vampires and mermaids, because we are taking them all on. 

If you are local and interested, send me a message. If you aren't or don't fancy being in a room with a bunch of 30 year old women reading teen lit (well, when you put it that way...), you can follow along here on the blog. Our first meeting is February 7 where we will be deciding between one of these three books. I scoured Amazon for ideas and decided to narrow it down between a social issues book, a classic, and a soon to be released book-to-movie title.

Vote for the title that most interests you in the comments below and the pick for the Friday Night Book Club will be revealed on the 7th. If you are so inclined, you can request to join the Facebook page where we will let our literary freak flags fly high and proud. If you choose to buy any of the titles, please consider clicking through to Amazon via my carousel at the bottom of the post. I will get a small percentage of each purchase, which will make my husband happy considering how easy a Kindle 1-click is at 2 am when I have just finished book one of a particularly amazing series and cannot possibly wait another second to start book two. 

If you can relate, this is probably your kind of book club. 

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush - who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.

Thirteen Reasons Why is the gripping, addictive international bestseller that has changed lives the world over. It's an unrelenting modern classic.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser. This classic, written by S. E. Hinton when she was 16 years old, is as profound today as it was when it was first published in 1967.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak's unforgettable story is about the ability of books to feed the soul.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she 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.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.