My favorite book

(This is Day 18 of my Journaling through January series)

What is your favorite book? Write about the lessons you learned from it or how has is shaped who you are.

My favorite book. Hm. Something that has shaped who I am. Lots of books fit those categories. Today, however, I choose The Book Thief, by Markus Zursak.

This book is about a German family during World War II. The characters are vivid and beautiful, and sometimes when I read about them, I want them to be alive and real so much that I can scarcely breathe. Zusak uses his words so well that the emotions nearly drip off the page.

 One thing I love about this book is that no one is an angel. No one is perfect or vice-free. The little girl steals books from other people. The mother has a terrible temper and can curse up a storm. The mayor's wife stays in her bathrobe in her house all day and doesn't give the village the help it needs. Every character is flawed, but in the midst of their imperfections they bring forth beauty and love and hope in immense amounts. It gives me hope that, despite my own vices and impurities, I, too, can bring beauty and light into the world. Someday, somewhere in the eternities I will be perfect (or I hope I will be!), and then my ability to create beauty and joy will be endless. That day sure is not today, nor will it be tomorrow. Until then, I am happy to know that there is still so much good I can do, no matter how limited or unworthy I feel. This book taught me that, and many other things.

This is Tyler and I in the SUU library, when we were dating. We loved to pick favorite children's books out and read them to each other sometimes on dates. Man, my ribcage was skii-ii-ny!