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The Book Thief

I have a case of the winter blues. It doesn't matter that it is 60 degrees out today - don't be fooled people, it is still winter and that nasty thing called cold is lying in wait getting ready to attack. This weather is such a tease and I'm no fool -I know that snow is still inevitable. I hate this time of year: the dreariness, the slushy sidewalks, the brown grass and barren trees and of course the lack of anything to do. I really do get depressed this time of year and now I'm sick with a bad cold which is making me extremely grumpy, not to mention lazy. I've had no energy for anything these past few days - just sleep and work thanks to heavy dosages of dayquil. My phone also up and died on me which is kind of awesome because I've never been a big fan of the cell phone but I realize in this day and age its a necessity so in that way it kind of sucks to not have one. Note to self: back up people's phone numbers next time. What a fun process it is turning out to be trying to track down people to give me their numbers again. You get the sarcasm right?

Ok, now onto the good things: the superbowl is this weekend and I'm excited about that although I'm not going to be able to go to Boston as I had hoped because this nagging cold will barely allow me to work and back never mind 5 hours on a train/bus and back but I'm excited to watch the game no matter where I am. I'm also reading a new book and after a very slow start, I'm starting to get into it. It's another young adult novel because apparently this is all I read lately called, "The Book Thief." To be fair, I didn't know it was young adult literature until after it came in the mail from good old trusty amazon. It's the second book in only a few months that I have read where the backdrop is WWII. I swear I'm a glutton for punishment. I am a tad obsessed with anything from this era even though it is always heartbreaking and difficult to digest. The story is about a girl growing up in Germany at the dawn of the war who can't read but loves books and ends up stealing them so she can read them with her foster father at night. The author, Markus Zusak says that the idea of stealing books during this time really appealed to him because Hitler was burning books and stealing words and identities from the German people and he wanted to show these same people fighting back in small ways. I'm about halfway through the book and even though it got off to a very slow start, it is a good story and I'm drawn to the characters. It is also beautifully written and the author has a very lyrical way of writing that is soothing and poetic. I'll write more when I finish...

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