Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Popular Doesn’t Mean Good

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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Bingo: Black I feel a little guilty saying this, but I was singularly unmoved by Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. I feel guilty because the book was trying so hard, and so obviously, to strike the reader’s heart. But no matter what happened, what threats were faced, what deaths were shown, I could not squeeze out an ounce of caring. The book’s narrator is death. His attention is captured by a young girl named Leisel, who he calls the book thief for her irresistible urge […]

The Book Thief – an absolutely beautiful story

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

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I am late to the party, I admit it. This book has been out for a long time, won many awards, and even been turned into a film (which I plan on watching this weekend). Yet I had not read it until very recently. That is my loss, because this novel is fabulous. Usually, one can categorize a book pretty clearly, but not in this case. Yes, Death is the narrator here and there are descriptions of souls but does that make it fantasy? Nah. […]

Such highs and lows in my reading this year

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

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After losing their mother, the five Dunbar boys are living a semi-feral life and they’re fine with that. They’ve got their menagerie of pets (mostly named after characters in Greek myth) and some weird routines and overwhelming memories of their mother, Penny. She who loved the ancient Greeks and her piano and told them stories of where she came from. Into all this walks the Murderer – otherwise known as their father, who walked out on them some time before. And it is Clay, the […]

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

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Saumensch I don’t know how I managed to go so long without reading The Book Thief but it was worth the wait. I thought I would be reading an uplifting story of a young woman who found comfort in the written word while the world crumbled around her but instead I got sucker punched in the feels. While I have some minor quibbles, namely the flash forwarding to the characters’

The Book Thief: Just as good the second time around

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This was a reread, so I’m going to share both my initial thoughts, and my input after another, and more recent, look. My first review (2011): I wish I could give this book 10 stars. I had actually started this book once before and couldn’t get into it for some reason. I am SO glad to have given it another chance because this definitely is now on my list of favorite books of all time. I’ve learned about the Holocaust and read literature by survivors […]

Unlike death I’m late to the party

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This is a sweet story set in Germany during World War II. Death starts the tale with his musings on life and color before launching into the tale of a young girls named Liesel. Death meets Liesel just threes times in her life, yet from those instances and a story written in a basement he creates a story and a world. For accurate summary see here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/387598058?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1 The book, while revered by many, was just too obnoxious for me. A little too see through. And […]



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