The Book Thief by Marcus Zukar

I'm in love with words. The way they come together to create beautiful sentences. The way they can be manipulated. Simple little marks on a page that can make us laugh or cry. They can evoke anger. Nikki Grimes once said, "Are you the master of words, or are they the master of you?" As an author I hope to say it is the first but more often than not it is the second. Yet I just finished  The Book Thief by Marcus Zukar and he is definitely the master of his words. Examples:

"She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Liesel kissed her best friends, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like the regret in the shadows of trees and in the glow of the anarchist's suit collection. She kissed him long and soft, and when she pulled herself away, she touched his mouth with her fingers. Her hands were trembling, her lipes were fleshy, and she leaned in once more, this time losing

 control and misjudging it. Their teeth collided on the demolished world of Himmel Street."

"...it was raining on Himmel Street when the world ended for Liesel Meminger. The sky was dripping. Like a tap that a child has tried its hardest to turn off but hasn't quite managed."

"Upon her arrival, you could still see the bite marks of snow on her hands and the frosty blood on her fingers. Everything about her was undernourished. Wirelike shins. Coat hanger arms. She did not produce it easily, but when it came, she had a starving smile."

"He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world. She was the book thief without words. Trust me, thought, the words were on their way, and when they arri

ved, Liesel would hole them in her hands like the clouds, and she would wring them out like rain.:

How beautiful is that? This is an unconventional book written from the perspecctive of death and covers so many issues that were dealt with during World War II. See what a master of words can really do with the language.