‘The Book Thief’ Book Review

My favorite thing about reading is the perspective shifts that come with being exposed to glimpses of other people’s realities. My favorite thing about fiction is the boundless amount of possibilities that humans’ imagination allows for exploration. Add a fictional perspective to realistic events and you got yourself a book guaranteed to be on my favorites list.

In ‘The Book Thief’, Markus Zusak chose death to narrate his story. Death, the most thought about, discussed, and feared event of every human’s life. An event that humans spend their entire lives trying to avoid yet know so little about. But what if death was a man? What would he have to say on the mess we’ve made of our little world?

‘If I Stay’ Book Review

‘If I Stay’ by Gayle Forman is the story of a seventeen year old cellist, Mia Hall, who was gravely injured in a car accident that took both her parents along with her baby brother, Teddy. While in a coma, Mia’s soul gets to wander around and is completely aware of the events that are unfolding around her. She’s aware of her loss, aware of the friends and family members visiting her, and more importantly, she’s fully aware of the choice she has to make. Does she stay? Or does she pass on and join her family? In the process of making such a decision, she takes us on a trip down memory lane in an attempt to imagine how life would go, or not, once she does decide.