books-a-million . . continued

More of some of my favorite all-time books.. . . .with some tossed in that I've read that maybe aren't so great, so hopefully a mixed bag of reviews.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

      The. best. book. ever.  The end.  The guy can turn a phrase like no other author I've ever read.  I love his writing, his descriptions, some of the scenes had me laughing so hard I was crying.  I would try to read some of the funny passages out loud to Jim, but I could never get through them because I couldn't stop laughing.  Lots of other passages were read out loud, just to share the amazing descriptions and characters.  We especially liked the FBI agent, otherwise known as the "putrid fed" in the book.  Funny.  Sweet.  Spiritual.  Sad.  Insightful.  Mostly about the love of a family, and the importance of those ties.   Don't miss it.











The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

     This is a very unique book, mostly in that it is narrated completely by Death.  The narrator simply observes what he is seeing, and comments on his role when the time comes.  In this case he is observing a German family at the outset of WW II.  We follow this family throughout the war, and we are given a picture of what this war was like from a German point of view.  The family consists of the older couple, and the foster child they have taken in, the neighbors on their street, and various people in their town.  It was very interesting to see the war from someone inside Germany, and the different outlooks, depending on which person we are looking at.  The main characters in this book are some of my very favorites in literature, ever.  By the end I hated to close the book and say good-bye to them and to the narrator.