It's a tricky choice this one - I've got a couple of other books that have recently arrived, written by local authors that I desperately want to read - but this is next month's bookclub book, and I love those discussions - and I want to have read this book and had some time to think about it. So it's jumping in front of a couple of other ones and I've got my fingers crossed for a cold weekend (given up even contemplating the vague possibility of rain).
From the Blurb:
Death, a sardonic and articulate character who is afraid of humans, narrates this WWII coming-of-age story about faith, love, hope amidst tragedy.
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.
By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.
But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.