Page 84 - The Book Thief

The Germans loved to burn things. Shops, synagogues, Reichstags, houses,
personal items, slain people, and of course, books. They enjoyed a good book-
burning, all rightwhich gave people who were partial to books the opportunity to
get their hands on certain publications that they otherwise wouldnt have. One
person who was that way inclined, as we know, was a thin-boned girl named
Liesel Meminger. She may have waited 463 days, but it was worth it. At the end
of an afternoon that had contained much excitement, much beautiful evil, one
blood-soaked ankle, and a slap from a trusted hand, Liesel Meminger attained
her second success story. The Shoulder Shrug. It was a blue book with red
writing engraved on the cover, and there was a small picture of a cuckoo bird
under the title, also red. When she looked back, Liesel was not ashamed to have
stolen it. On the contrary, it was pride that more resembled that small pool of felt
something in her stomach. And it was anger and dark hatred that had fueled her
desire to steal it. In fact, on April 20the Fhrers birthdaywhen she snatched that
book from beneath a steaming heap of ashes, Liesel was a girl made of darkness.

The question, of course, should be why?

What was there to be angry about?

What had happened in the past four or five months to culminate in such a
feeling?

In short, the answer traveled from Himmel Street, to the Fhrer, to the unfindable
location of her real mother, and back again.

Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.