I find the true test of a good book is if you want to reread it.  Last summer I reread the novel: The Book Thief by Markus Zuask.  It’s a story of an orphaned German girl adopted by an older couple at the beginning of W.W. II. and the family’s adventures as they decide to hide a Jewish man with a personal connection to the husband.  The girl steals books.

The story is told from “Death’s” perspective, and includes a dark sense of humour running through it, which matches my own.  The second time I picked up on themes of hope, compassion, love, and the power of words, and the human imagination.

This summer I re-started the Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin.  These books are 5-700 pages long, and I’ve always marvelled at his power to keep a reader’s attention.  Reading the prologue a second time it’s easy to see how.  His prose, use of verbs, and description keeps the story moving and creates an entire world the reader can enter simply by turning the page.  It also helps to have different chapters  own the full series to-date, and am hoping that if I take my time with them, maybe by the time I’m finished Martin will have the final one out.