"The Book Thief" {by Markus Zusak} Book Club Ideas

OCTOBER BOOK CLUB:

THE BOOK THIEF

By: Markus Zusak

PART I:

Welcome to Himmel Street, Germany

{Decorations}

Framed photo of Rudy's idol, Jessy Owens.
"He was the crazy one who had painted himself black and defeated the world."

Domino's

PART II:

THE MENU

PART III:

MUNCH AND MINGLE!

Caitlin, Chanel and Mandi

Shalease, Libby and Sandra

Just one more picture of Cade, he's so sweet!

Melissa and I were "twiners" at this book club! Lol!
(I guess we just have good taste)
;)

Angie, Libby, Kitch, Betsy, Sandra and Shalease



Karen, Mindy, Kellie and Robin


PART IV:
Discussion Time

For the FIRST TIME EVER....I won a prize at book club! 
It took me 6 years but I FINALLY won a game!
Libby won the prize for Mandi's creative "WORD SHAKER" game!

My winnings!

Some of the questions we discussed were:

1. What did you think of the unusual narrator of the book?  What does Death contribute to the novel?  Why is he so “haunted by humans”?

2. How does Leisel and Rudy’s friendship grow and change throughout the novel? Death says Rudy doesn’t offer his friendship “for free,” what does he mean by this? What does Rudy want from Leisel? Why is it difficult for Liesel to love Rudy? How do you feel about their end?

3. Why do you think Leisel and Max’s relationship is left open at the end of the book? Do you think Max became Leisel’s husband?  Why or why not? What are your thoughts about the ending?



PART V:

MAKING MY OWN "BOOK THIEF BOOK"

When I finished "The Book Thief" I did what many of you have also done. I shut the book, sat on the couch in a ball to think about what I had just read and cried. Not the kind of cry where you wipe a few tears from your cheek NO, I did "the ugly cry." Where you cry unabandoned, smearing your makeup onto your forehead while your nose is dripping and you don't know where the OFF button is!!

What else can you do with a book like this and an ending like that?

(I rest my case.)

To say the least, this book is now in my top 3 favorite books of all time. Why? Because of the emotions it was able to extract from me which I did not expect (I NEVER cry in books, never. Call me heartless if you will, I won't cry about it. ;) The other reason I fell in love with this book was mainly because of the absolutely exquisite writing by Markus. His descriptions and narratives are beyond anything I've ever read. There are too many "jems' in this book to count, I highlighted my book so much the pages might as well have been published yellow.

But I digress...

I wanted to do something that would honor this life changing book and create a keepsake for myself and my book club. So, I created my own Book Thief Book.

1. I found an old used hardback red covered book (like Mien Kempf) & slightly distressed it to look as though it had gone through a war. 

2. I painted ever single page with off white paint (yes, that did take a long time) just as Max did so he could write his own story.

3. I printed off velum pages from each chapter of the book that touched my heart, struck a cord or stood out to me in some way. (There were a LOT, 80 pages worth!)

4. Then at our book club I passed my book around and had anyone who wanted to write a small passage, note, thought or feelings about the book on the unwritten pages that were in the book.

 *We wrote on the blank pages so that we could tell Liesel, Hans, Rosa, Rudy and Max our feelings, to tell them how they have touched our hearts and plucked strings within our souls. 
And, we wrote to tell Liesel that, "We have hated words and we have loved them, and you have made them right." 
(Slightly adapted for my purposes)
Thank You for your words Liesel.
And Thank You for YOUR words ladies, I will cherish my book forever.

I'm ending this post with one of my favorite quotes from the book,

"His soul sat up. It met me. Those kinds of souls always do - the best ones. The ones who rise up and say "I know who you are and I am ready. Not that I want to go, of course, but I will come." Those souls are always light because more of them have been put out. More of them have already found their way to other places." — Markus Zusak

"Even death has a heart."