i got "the book thief" as a gift. as i started reading it i realized how original the author was in the way he told the story of a german girl during world war II. it's a long book, but at the end you find yourself completely into the story, and for a second, you feel like you understand how human beings are so imperfect that they actually make sense and how tragic and beautiful the human behavior is, all at the same time. needless to say, i really liked it.