Friday thoughts...

It's Friday in the library!

Friday mornings are great here at Fredericton Public Library - Nashwaaksis. Lots of toddlers and parents come in for Toddler Time. It can be noisy and that's great. It's lovely to see them all enjoying the stories, songs and craft.

Personally, it's been a landmark week. Firstly, I have employee status from this week. Yay! Secondly, My family is celebrating four years in Canada. We landed in Halifax on February 4th 2010. I remember stepping out of the plane and into a freezer, that's how it felt. Thirdly, I'm filling out our citizenship application having reached the required amount of qualifying days. My two days off this week were filled with photocopying documents for said application and filling out the forms.

I have been reading too. Ever looking for what to read next, I decided to read some books before I watch the movies. I like to read the book first - it's almost always better. This week I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The story is set in Germany in World War II. On reflection, I seem to be drawn to books that are set in times of conflict and particularly the second world war and that era. Maybe it's just because there are so many books based in that time period, I don't know. While my husband loves old war films about the big battles, I like the micro stories of individuals and communities. I think my fascination came when I was a child listening to my Grandmother telling me stories about her experiences in the war.

  by  Darien Library 

The Book Thief is narrated by Death. Sounds gloomy but the result is actually a very moving story. Certainly not light relief, true, but I like a book that makes me think and feel. Death tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a young German girl whose brother has just died and is just about to be left by her mother with another family. Liesel is the book thief. Words comfort her even before she can read them. As her story goes on she realises that words can be powerful for both good and evil, and she and those around her experience this for themselves as the war goes on and they struggle to survive in war-torn Germany. The book is full of tragedy, but the reader is given plenty of warning that it is coming.

I thought this was a beautifully told book. It brought home again the horror and madness of what went on in Nazi Germany and across Europe. Death, at one point, describes himself sitting at the mouth of chimneys collecting the souls of Jews. It's sinister yet deeply moving. As ever in a book set at a time of war, the most extreme emotions and character traits of humanity are on show. These are some of the things it made me think about: