The best word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest.

There were not many people who could say that their education had been paid for with cigarettes.

… it was raining on Himmel Street when the world ended for Liesel Meminger. The sky was dripping. Like a tap that a child has tried its hardest to turn off but hasn’t quite managed.

She closes the door completely, and I crouch there. I allow myself to fall forward and rest my head on the door frame. My breath bleeds. My heartbeat drowns my ears.

My voice is like a rumour. I'm not sure if it came out or not, or if it is true.

Humans, if nothing else, have the good sense to die.

All told, she owned fourteen books, but she saw her story as being made up predominantly of ten of them. Of those ten, six were stolen, one showed up at the kitchen table, two were made for her by a hidden Jew, and one was delivered by a soft, yellow-dressed afternoon.