Finished (E-Reader) - "The Book Thief" - Markus Zusak

I really liked "The Book Thief".  I had run across the title as a recommendation on best seller lists, but otherwise had not heard of the story.

I started it and found the story very compelling.  The basic storyline is an orphaned girl adopted by a family in the Munich area during WWII.  The father of the family was as WWI veteran who made contact with the family of a soldier who had saved his life during the war, and offered to help out the widowed family.  Years later a man showed up on his doorstep - a displaced Jewish man, the son of his wartime friend.
The story is narrated by death, which is interesting in itself, and focuses on the orphaned girl and her experiences primarily during WWII - wartime austerity, drafting of friends and family, wartime losses in the community, and eventually the bombing of her hometown by the allies later in the war.

The "Book Thief" title is derived from the orphaned girl's initial struggling to read and her fascination with stories and books, and her occasional foray into acquiring books in a less than appropriate manner.

There are many strong characters in the book - Max (the man in the basement), Liesel's parents, Rudy the neighbour boy, all of which are developed enough to provide compelling storylines on their own.

All in all, a difficult book to put down, and very much worth the read.