This unique book is among the favorites of many readers, and for good reason. Set in World War II Germany and narrated by Death, the book brings us Liesel Meminger. A foster girl who is taught to read and about quiet acts of resistance by her accordion-playing foster father, Liesel attempts to make sense of the horrors happening around her while living her day-to-day. When Max, a Jewish man, moves into the basement, Liesel shares her (stolen) books with him as he shares his stories with her. That the story is narrated by Death hints at its direction, but the tragedy of World War II is never a question. It's Zusak's vividly imagined daily lives of Germans in World War II and a dutiful Death lingering in everyone's shadows at that time that (perhaps ironically) brings this story to life.

Bridge of Clay is Markus Zusak's followup to The Book Thief, which I enjoyed but didn't love as much as many readers. I will be interested in reading more reviews on Bridge of Clay, because it didn't capture me. Over 100 pages in, I still could not track the characters and just didn't care very much about what was happening. I didn't finish this one.