Markus Zusak's The Book Thief

Read this book. Seriously. If you have not read it, do it. If you have read it already, do it again. This is a great story. A story about Nazi Germany and a German girl. Her experience is a wonderful story with strong images and unforgettable characters. Rudy is probably my favorite. Just read the book already!
Oh, and another thing - the narrator is Death. Seriously. Death. And Death actually makes for a moving storyteller, especially in this context.
The book is not like any WWII Germany story I've ever read and that is refreshing in and of itself. It's about people, not so much ideology or groups of people. It's about humankind. The fictional characters are "real" in the sense that they are people - not labels or archetypes really.
I loved it. Oh, and it happens to be only the second book (Peter and the Starcatchers was first) in a REALLY long time that included illustrations; call me crazy, but I love that. Oh, and the illustrations were actually part of the book rather than images to show the readers what they should visualize. Good stuff.
Read the book. Just do it.

Welcome to December

So, I survived (and WON!) NaNoWriMo 2009. My novel is currently 50,055 words in length. Now, it is in serious need of some editing...oh, and did I mention that I'm about halfway through with my story at this point? I'm thinking of plowing ahead towards a conclusion and then returning to edit. Just not at the break-neck speed of one month for 50k.
Also, I'm working on editing a book for a friend (yay - freelance gig!) and I'm still plowing away at my read and blog challenge. The Book Thief is really good...I'm enjoying it more and more. Despite the crazy month that is November, I think I want to slow down reading this because I don't really want it to end...or really, because I know how books about Nazi Germany end...and I'm afraid for some of these characters and what might and probably will happen to them.
I think my next book with be Outlander - a time-traveling love story type deal...and yes, it's part of a series.
I love reading. And writing.

Sidebar - People are Watching...

So I have discovered that people are reading what I have written here. How do I know? (You might wonder...) Well, as is often the case, make a statement that someone disagrees with (or one that is inaccurate/wrong/etc. etc. )and you will be informed of your "wrong-ness". By perfect strangers.

This is actually very cool to me. I am thankful to the person who commented on my last read and it's (now supposed) status as a viable prequel to Barrie's Peter Pan. Even though I was only stating my opinion of the book, I am happy to have someone who differs say so and point me to their preferred prequel/source, etc. So, to my most recent commentor - Thank you.

Now, my next read will be The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I'm already into it a bit and loving it...