The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I thought this book was fascinating!!



I marvel at Markus Zusak's writing style and vivid use of words in extraordinary ways. I like that it gave the perspective of Germans in the midst of all the happenings of WWII and how it affected them (as he conveyed in very real and personal ways). I appreciate the ways in which Zusak made hard circumstances a bit lighter with his sometimes "dark" humor. I was drawn in by the cleverly written perspective of the the narrator, death, and the outside perspective of the human race.



It was one of the best books I've read in a long time! It moved me very much!!

Park City Weekend Getaway

My older sister and her husband invited us to go to a weekend getaway in Park City the last weekend of July and it was simply FANTASTIC!!! GM and I had so much fun we've decided we need to get ourselves a fancy schmancy condo with it's own hot tub on the balcony! (Simple pleasures!) :)

The first night we wandered around downtown Park City enjoying the atmosphere and looking for a place to eat. We couldn't decide on just one restaurant so we decided to restaurant hop. We ate an appetizer at a Mexican place, I think it was called Tia Rosa's (but it slips my mind). The appetizer was SUPER and it was tempting to stay and have more of their yummy food but we decided to stick with our original plan. So we moved on to a bistro place where GM and I shared a Miso trout with yummy mashed potatoes on the side and some delicious green beans.

GM had to check out the cool Ferrari! :)


At the bistro we chose because of it's menu as well as atmosphere




Then we were pretty full so we decided to fore go a sit-down restaurant for dessert (the bistro had great bread with exceptionally good oil and balsamic vinegar) but we really wanted some fudge from their local fudge shop so we headed over to see what they had. It turned out that the girls were the only ones really craving fudge so GM and my BIL headed into the bookstore that was connected to the fudge shop. We got some fudge to-go and then perused the bookstore. After a while, since our husbands were very engrossed in their selections, my sis and I sat down to talk about our dreams and aspirations. One of which turns out to be that we'd both REALLY LOVE to have a book/antique store (two of my favorite things). So we started dreaming together and talking about all the details that would make it so great.

After dinner in town we grabbed some groceries so we could cook ourselves a fabulous breakfast in the morning in the condo and then we all went out to the hot tub on the back patio. We just couldn't get over how cool it was to have our own hot tub! :)

The next morning we used the lovely kitchen to cook some yummy omelets (but we were all quite perplexed that this nice "fully stocked" kitchen had such a glaring lack of any knives let alone nice knives like the four of us are used to. We got over it, thanks to my always prepared husband who happened to have two great knives we could use). :)

We spent most of the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine, playing in the pool and talking about the power of positive thinking. We enjoy having good discussions with like minded people.



The pool had a slide that was really meant for smaller people than GM and my BIL but they loved it despite the cramped conditions and crazy way it spewed them out the end :)




After the pool we met up with my youngest sister and her hubbie. We all went to dinner at a place called "Bandits" that does great ribs and such (most of us got the ribs, that's how we know). :)


For our evening entertainment we headed over to Kamas to see what being a true red-neck was all about. We went to a "Demolition Derby". It was a new experience for GM and me, and it was pretty entertaining, but I'm not sure I could ever convince GM to go back up on those tiny, overcrowded bleachers....he felt quite claustrophobic up there. It started to rain just as we got there so GM grabbed a big denim quilt that we keep in our car and some of us huddled under it while watching the derby. In the end my sisters and I were so cold that we had the quilt wrapped clear down over our heads like a little tent and we couldn't see a thing. GM convinced the other guys that we should leave after that. :)

While waiting for the derby to start we hid behind a random car seeking shelter from the rain




My sis her husband and her BIL (whom we met up with there) watching the derby


Thanks to the rain there was a beautiful backdrop to the derby


I took several videos of the derby because I knew that BR would just LOVE to watch them (BTW: I was right) :)

I'll spare you the rest, unlike BR, I doubt you'd dig soaking in every second of every video. ;)

We spent the rest of the evening watching movies in the condo...after some shuffling about, it ended up being the three girls in one bedroom watching "A League of Their Own" and the three boys out in the living room watching an old Die Hard movie. In the morning our little sis and her husband left to go fishing and the rest of us went to get brunch and then headed home. It was such a perfect, fun, relaxing vacation!! Thanks A&A for letting us tag along!

Spring Break

Spring Break started last Thursday for my kids so we started out the weekend with a sleepover. (My sis and her husband had stake temple night so we paid them back some of our babysitting debt).

MC often plays under our countertop height kitchen table. This evening she and her cousin were playing under there but they got shy and ran upstairs anytime they felt anybody watching them. So I offered to make a fort out of the table and sheets so that they could play undisturbed. :P They were all over that idea. Well, just as I finished with their fort and start walking up the stairs, the boys, BR and his cousin, walked over, took one look at the girls' fort and said in unison, "No fair!!" They then came and asked me if they could have a fort too. Well...okay. :) (Forts were one of my favorite things when I was a kid....and apparently I'm still a sucker for them). :P

I started to build the boys a fort in the living room but it wasn't so easy (no pre-maid support structure like a table over which I can drape sheets). I went out to the loft to grab some string and more blankets and then started constructing. GM finished his homework shortly after I got the string so he came down and helped me. It ended up taking up our whole living room. (We had to include the TV in it so they could still watch their movie (The Seeker) and play the Wii. They wanted to sleep in the forts (all except my niece that's BR's age, she was happy to have a bedroom all to herself) :). They also wanted to stay up late playing the Wii. In the end MC went to sleep before anybody (probably around 11 or 11:30. She went to her table fort and fell fast asleep before anybody knew it. At this point, her little cousin decided she wanted to sleep in the big fort with the boys so she went and lay down in there waiting for them to get tired too. At 12:30 I called lights out so they all went to bed.

The next morning the house was quiet and peaceful till almost eleven o’clock!! MC woke up just before ten when my visiting teachers came. I chatted with them on the porch so the rest wouldn’t be disturbed. (I was shocked that they slept so late, usually when they have late sleepovers their back up again at the crack of dawn!)

The kids played in the forts all day and then we went over to dinner and a movie at my sister’s house. (We left her kids there this time) :P.

When we got home BR and MC asked if they could sleep in the forts again. We said they could with the condition that they help clean them all up in the morning. After a lazy morning of reading and playing in the forts, we finally cleaned them all up.

Book on CD Junkie

Since I love to read so much and I don't have time for that right now with my other activities and obligations (I don't really have that much going on I'm just a plodder I guess. Whoever, besides me, takes six hours in the kitchen at night?!?! I'm such slow cook!! That must be why, if I have to choose, I'd rather clean than cook...I'm not SO slow at that.) So I've been frequenting the public library to get my fix and coming away with stacks of books on CD at a time. They will only let me take ten at a time so I usually get all I can and then have BR get a few for me on his card. :) As it is I get strange looks from the librarians. :P When I get them home I download all the disks onto my ipod and then I can satisfy my craving to read while I'm driving around and especially while I'm cleaning houses.

These are some of my recent "reads":

Great Expectations

I just finished Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens. I found it a fascinating book, with interesting twists and turns in the plot, and marvelous characters. I wondered to myself during the book why I found it so dull in 7th grade when we had to read some sort of abridged version from a text book. I wondered if the wording was changed, or maybe some of the plot was lost...or perhaps I have matured a bit in my span of interests and depth of understanding. :P I venture that there are elements of all three involved. Nevertheless, I very much enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it if you haven't read it. I must warn you though, if you aren't interested in books that are sad or tragic, you probably would not like this one.

As I pondered on the sadness of much of Pip's (he's the main character by the way) life, caused by both circumstances and poor choices, it reminds me of the tragic events (some quite recent) that have occurred in the lives of a few members of my family. It tears my heart out to see people I love experience pain and heartache. I wish I could take it all away for them and fix all their problems, but alas I am powerless to do much besides offer compassion and a listening ear. As I compare such adversity to the misfortunes that happened to Pip (as well as other players in "Great Expectations"), I look at how it shaped his character and eventually made a difference in his choices and his heart. Because of the growth he experienced, it would seem that such tragedy is not for naught, but sometimes I still wonder at the price that must be paid to gain those gems of character. Do you think that "the refiners fire", as it were, is the only way to glean the moral jewels found in the hearts of people who have endured great trials? Is there no other way to cultivate character? What are your thoughts?