Nose in a Book

I'm a 27 year old reader and dreamer working in the publishing industry. I live in Toronto with my cat and some books.
carpetaway: “ barcelona ”

carpetaway

barcelona

5 years ago 213 notes Source Source
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Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak “It’s 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” In January of 1939 Liesel Meminger...

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

“It’s 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”

In January of 1939 Liesel Meminger steals her first book, The Grave Digger’s Handbook, which she finds covered by snow on the day of her younger brother’s funeral. As the girl and her mother stand by the boy’s grave, Death watches from afar. The story takes place in Germany during the Third Reich and the Second World War, a time when Death, the story’s narrator, is especially busy. Liesel finds her life changing dramatically as she loses her brother as well as her mother, who leaves her at a foster home outside of Munich. Liesel is taken in by Rosa and Hans Hubermann, who live in a poor area outside of Munich. Her accordion playing foster father teaches her to read her stolen book at night, beginning her love affair with words. Liesel steals her second book from a Nazi book burning and begins her collection. She shares the stolen words with her neighbours as they wait in shelters during the air raids. Things take a dangerous turn in November of 1940, when a Jewish man named Max Vandenburg arrives at the Hubermann’s door with a copy of Mein Kampf.

You can see a very good trailer for the book here. The video is spoiler free, but the comments below are not.

The Book Thief is a beautifully written story about the lives of lower class German citizens throughout the Third Reich. This isn’t just another book about the Holocaust. Moving and thought provoking, this is the type of book that can be life changing. The writing style is different from anything I’ve ever read (in a good way) and I enjoyed Zusak’s creative approach. I love the characters in this book because they feel so real and can be so complex. Rosa Hubermann, for example, is a foul-mouthed woman who “possessed the unique ability to aggravate almost anyone she ever met.” However, throughout the novel she proves herself to be a loving mother to Liesel. The most memorable character for me is probably Rudy Steiner, Liesel’s best friend who infamously coloured his skin with charcoal so that he could look like Jesse Owens. The characters and the story stayed with me long after I finished this book.

I’ve read The Book Thief twice- first in high school and again in January of this year. Maybe if I was writing this right after finishing the book I’d be able to think of more of its flaws. At the moment, all I can think of are the things that I loved. However, I’ve read some reviews and have heard people say that they thought the book was hard to get into, that they found Death’s narration annoying, and that they thought that the book was full of gimmicks. If you’re not drawn into the book at first and are tempted to give up, I’d really recommend that you keep going, or at least give it another chance another time. Personally, I really enjoyed the book’s narration and unique style. I never felt that Death’s narration was a gimmick, since he had a distinctive personality and offered a unique perspective that was appropriate for the story. Death as the narrator is part of what makes this book so memorable to me.

Overall, I found this book to be an original and engrossing read that I’d recommend to anyone.

5/5

“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.”

markus zusak   the book thief   Book Review  
7 years ago 154 notes
Book Review: Pies & Prejudice (The Mother-Daughter Book Club) by Heather Vogel Frederick Three years ago, the Mother-Daughter Book Club was formed when four friends decided to start a book club to bring them closer to their daughters. The four girls...

Book Review: Pies & Prejudice (The Mother-Daughter Book Club) by Heather Vogel Frederick

Three years ago, the Mother-Daughter Book Club was formed when four friends decided to start a book club to bring them closer to their daughters. The four girls had very little in common, but they soon became best friends and book lovers. Now Jess, Emma, Megan and Cassidy are about to enter the ninth grade. All their plans for high school change when Emma’s family decides to house-swap and spend the year in Bath instead of Concord. The book club perseveres by having Emma and her mom attend the monthly meetings via webcam. In honour of Emma spending the year in Bath, the book club is going to read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. While Emma moves to a village outside of Bath, a new family lives in her house. The boys, Simon and Tristan, go to school with the other girls in the book club. Cassidy immediately clashes with Tristan, a stuck up ice dancer. Megan hits it off with Simon and starts a fashion blog called Fashionista Jane. However, her blog causes problems for her at school and with her budding relationship with Simon. As Jess struggles with her crush on Emma’s brother Darcy, she also worries about not knowing what she wants to do when she grows up. When Emma gets on the wrong side of Annabelle, a regular Caroline Bingley, she makes Emma miserable with some unflattering photographs. The girls want to surprise their friend by paying for her to come visit for spring break to cheer her up. They come up with their own business selling pies to friends and neighbours, called Pies & Prejudice. As the girls adapt to high school and deal with crushes and Queen Bees, they ask themselves, what would Elizabeth Bennet do?

I picked this one up based entirely on the title, since it references two things I love (I’m referring to pies and Pride and Prejudice, not pies and prejudice. That would be weird- I hate prejudice.) I really wish that these books were around when I was a pre-teen, since I would have loved them. When I was younger I would have related to Emma, since we have a lot in common. We actually were both named after the book Emma, oddly enough. The girls were all great characters and a lot of fun. They were all very different and I feel like there’s a character for everyone to relate to. I loved how all the girls found different things that that enjoyed and found their own projects to do. They were all so resourceful! I thought Megan’s blog was very clever and hilarious, although I knew it was only going to cause trouble. From early on I knew what was going to happen in the story, but I still had fun reading. The audience intended for this book is middle school aged, and as a whole it didn’t matter that I’m 6 or 7 years older than the characters. The actual book club discussions were too juvenile for me, but I still enjoyed the book overall. It was very character driven and I really liked that. The writing was great and I found myself feeling everything along with the characters. It didn’t matter too much that I hadn’t read the earlier books in the series, although now I want to read them. I loved how Pride and Prejudice was worked into the plot. Throughout their first year of high school, the girls dealt with a lot of issues, such as dealing with bullies, crushes and finding out who they are and what interests them. Overall, Pies and Prejudice was a fun take on a classic, and a great read for middle school aged girls.

4/5

“Never say ‘I can’t.’ 'I can’t’ is a limit, and life is about breaking through limits. Say 'I will’ instead.”

book review   books   reading   lit  
7 years ago 22 notes
Book Review: Looking for Alaska by John Green So, I should start off this review by saying I was wrong the first time I read Looking for Alaska. I first read this book in late December and thought it was pretty good. However, I also thought that it...

Book Review: Looking for Alaska by John Green

So, I should start off this review by saying I was wrong the first time I read Looking for Alaska. I first read this book in late December and thought it was pretty good. However, I also thought that it didn’t quite live up to the hype. I was kind of like, “Sure, there’s some pretty quotes, but that doesn’t make it a great book.” Later on, all the love for this book made me doubt my judgement, and I decided to re-read it (when I first saw Pirates of the Caribbean I didn’t like it that much. I saw it again a few months later and thought it was crazy amazing. Since then I always give things another shot and assume that I could be wrong, or could have been in a bad mood and taken it out on the book/movie). I just finished reading it for the second time, and I loved it. A lot. And I was completely wrong the first time. Last time I gave it 4/5, this time I’d say 5/5.

I don’t think that I could write a good enough synopsis, and I really like the one from the back of my book: “Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the “Great Perhaps” (Francois Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She throws Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. After. Nothing is ever the same.”

Overall, Looking for Alaska was heart wrenching, but it was also beautiful and funny at the same time. I think that this book was amazing and that John Green is absolutely brilliant. I feel like no one but him could have possibly written a book like this. There’s a reason his next book was Amazon’s Top Seller for six days before it even had a cover. If anyone ever tells you that they hate YA, or that YA is no good, make them read this book. After re-reading it, I’d say that it’s one of my favourite books, and a must read for anyone.

5/5

“I found myself thinking about William McKinley, the third American president to be assassinated. He lived for several days after he was shot, and toward the end, his wife started crying and screaming, “I want to go, too! I want to go, too!” And with his last measure of strength, McKinley turned to her and spoke his last words: “We are all going.”

review   Book Review   john green review  
7 years ago 18 notes