I read this book, The Book Thief, when I was au pairing in Germany. We were driving from Northern Germany to Venice, Italy, and I read as we zoomed through the alps, while the children dozed in and out of sleep. I'd flip through the pages in between passing out various snacks to pacify the inevitable hunger that strikes when you are bored, and four, and on a road trip. It was the perfect book, for the perfect time in my life. It's a remarkable story that touches on themes of life both from the time period and setting in which the book is set, WWII Europe, as well as the world today. I highly recommend it, and without giving to much away, have compiled a few of my favorite quotes below. (Tonight I'm finally watching the movie version... I'll let you know if it lives up to the book! Fingers-crossed.)
“When she came to write her story, she would wonder when the books and the words started to mean not just something, but everything.”
“I like that every page in every book can have a gem on it. It's probably what I love most about writing--that words can be used in a way that's like a child playing in a sandpit, rearranging things, swapping them around. They're the best moments in a day of writing -- when an image appears that you didn't know would be there when you started work in the morning.”
“The best word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest. One such word shaker was a small, skinny girl. She was renowned as the best word shaker of her region because she knew how powerless a person could be WITHOUT words.”
“When she came to write her story, she would wonder when the books and the words started to mean not just something, but everything.”
“I have to say that although it broke my heart, I was, and still am, glad I was there.”
“She took a step and didn't want to take any more, but she did.”
“I want words at my funeral. But I guess that means you need life in your life.”
“I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I even simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant...I AM HAUNTED BY HUMANS.”
“The point is, it didn’t really matter what the book was about. It was what it meant that was important.”
“Even now, I wonder how much of my life is convinced.”
“I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant.”
“She was a girl with a mountain to climb.”
“At first, she could not talk. Perhaps it was the sudden bumpiness of love she felt for him. Or had she always loved him?”
“If only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter and bread with only the scent of jam spread on top of it. It was the best time of her life.”
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