Our March read will be 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak, chosen by Sam. Enjoy everybody and post away!! No, seriously...
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A Special Meeting - May '09
Relay for Life Sept '08
September 2008
Book Group Belles Xmas07
Must Reads List
- 'To the Edge of the Sky' by Anhua Gao
- 'One Day' by David Nicholls
6 comments:
Thank you loads Sam for choosing this book. It has got me reading again after a few months of finding impossible to settle at anything. Ah peace at last ! Smartie
As you see from our current header picture - even Jonnie Depp cannot distract a Book Group Belle from her book. Well done Janie !
Sx
The Book Thief – Markus Zusak.
My thoughts – I love the whole schmeer of this book – every little thing. The opening line “Here is a Small Fact: You are going to die!” … one of those first lines you never forget (like Tolstoy’s Karenina). The picture book in the middle (like Silverstein). The snowman in the basement. The childlike weather reports. Its charm as a story enveloped me from the start. The playful nature in which the harsh realities of surviving Hitler’s Germany showed that no matter how tough things become life still continues – the volume of emotions, both happy and sad is simply amplified. Thank you Sam for suggesting this book. It is a book which I shall recommend to others; young and old.
KAM's Comments on Book Thief
The Book Thief.
I enjoyed the book, I did not find it hard to get into as some people said it would be,
The only thing that I did find that it dragged out for too long which made me keep wanting to put the book down. I did finish the book.
Page 396( I think it was)
The long walk to Dachau was very emotional I felt my heart racing and asking questions like why did Hitler think only certain kind of people had the right to live and not others,
Who has the right to put other humans down.
How did he sleep at night,
As The Book Thief was based on some facts this made the story more interesting to read it gave us the chance to see what life might have been like and what they were going through plus their thoughts on war, how people felt about going into war. How the German peoples lives were ruined and not just the Jews.
It was good to read that there were good people like the Hubermanns around .
I can see myself reading this book again.
MEETING NOTES - bY JANIE J
We missed Sarah and Kam (hope all went OK with the appointments), Deirdre (hope the party went well), Jayne, Clare, Nic, Kate and our lovely Nina. We had a wonderful surprise when Sam and Jason arrived with baby just after she had been registered and we got to have a cuddle!!! Thanks so much for bringing our little 'Book Group Babe' along!
Everybody present, Deb, Alyson, Helen, Theresa, Sam and myself all loved the book!! It made several of us cry!! Well written and superbly told from the Grim Reaper's point of view, all the characters were believable and totally compelling. We loved them all, even the beastly bullies!
This book makes you realise the value of every moment of life. At any moment the men and boys in Nazi Germany can be, and are, snatched away to serve the Reich. The central character, a girl called Liesel (from a Communist family), loses her brother but is fortunate to find refuge in the home of a German couple who each care for her in their own way. Her foster father is tender and loving in a way that brings beauty and music to a story where brutality is never far beyond the front door. The foster mother is interesting as she, it seems, is brutalised in her manner and language by the food shortages and misery but in fact she shows her love by sharing what she does have with strangers, including a Jewish man. And so, despite the physical deprivation of her life, Leisel grows into a sensitive and (significantly) book loving girl with whom we share many touching moments.
The use of death as the narrator didn't add a great deal for me, he tells us that foster mum Rosa had a heart, but we knew this anyway. Be prepared to shed a tear or two as you read this novel!
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