Every day until Christmas Eve, a member of Suffolk Libraries staff will reveal a book, CD or DVD they will be giving as a Christmas present, and why. Today, library and information advisor Tanya Collins recommends The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak.
I just love this book. It gripped me from the first sentence and didn’t let go until long after I’d finished it, if at all. Narrated by death, a brilliant concept, it tells of Liesel, a young girl living with her foster family in Nazi Germany. Clever, enthralling and soul-stirring, Zusak beautifully tells this story highlighting the importance of words and books. I left it a long time before I borrowed the film from the library, which although good, is of course not a patch on the book! If there could be only one book on my shelf (what a horrible thought!) this would be it.