Since I enjoyed reading Zusak's The Book Thief so much, I thought I'd read another book by this same author. I picked up this book (I Am the Messenger) from the Friends of the Library used book store in Rockville, Maryland. I now look forward to reading it.

I am registering this book for BookCrossing's Race to Four Million!

I started to read this book today to participate in the November theme read 2008 - Australian literature for LibraryThing.

This was a very fun and enjoyable book! I loved the message. What a clever, surprise ending!!

This author does not disappoint. If this is your first book by Zusak, run to get The Book Thief, another of Zusak's books I thoroughly enjoyed.

I Am the Messenger is now off as a RABCK to bookczuk in South Carolina along with the hope that someday I'll get to meet her in person. I send this book in friendship...

"You got a book in the mail, " my husband said, after a visit to the mailbox just now. I could barely contain my glee and when I finally had the package in hand, and saw who sent it, my smile got even bigger. You see, that's the funny thing about BookCrossing-- you make friends all over the world, even if you've never met them in person. Even odder is that I have lived about a third of my life in the DC area. I was born there, and married there. I went to graduate school there. How funny to think that but for a twist of life, I could still be in the area, and SqueakyChu and I might actually have met. (Though given the way life works, were I still in Maryland, she'd be in Timbuktu or something!)

Anyhow, I am eager to read this, as The Book Thief is on my all-time favorites list. Thank you, my friend.

Markus Zuzak is the reason why my own YA manuscript moulders away is a musty corner of the house. His books are so good, that instead of encouraging me to trot mine around to publishers and such, I just get discouraged. He blew me away with The Book Thief and basically did the same thing with I am the Messenger. His use of language in unexpected ways is still delicious. The plot entertaining, interesting and thought-evoking. I found myself trying to determine the relationships between the names given on the cards and the messages delivered. I also found myself disgustingly glad that the messages, or the methods of the messages, were not all sugary sweet and perfect-ending.

From the Publisher

Meet Ed Kennedy—underage cabdriver, pathetic cardplayer, and useless at romance. He lives in a shack with his coffee-addicted dog, the Doorman, and he’s hopelessly in love with his best friend, Audrey. His life is one of peaceful routine and incompetence, until he inadvertently stops a bank robbery. That’s when the first Ace arrives. That’s when Ed becomes the messenger. . . .

Chosen to care, he makes his way through town helping and hurting (when necessary), until only one question remains: Who’s behind Ed’s mission?

Winner of the 2003 Children’s Book Council Book of the Year Award in Australia, I Am the Messenger is a cryptic journey filled with laughter, fists, and love.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Bringing to our monthly meetup.

To the finder of this book:

Welcome to BookCrossing, a unique community of book lovers, sharing their libraries with the world. This book is now yours to read, enjoy, keep or pass on to another reader. The BookCrossing ID, which you entered in the "Enter a BCID" box on the website, is unique to this copy of this book. If you make a journal entry (either anonymously, or as a BookCrossing member) all previous readers of this actual book will be notified by email, and can follow the book as it travels. BookCrossing is free to join, completely confidential (you are known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address) and a heck of a lot of fun.

This book is a part of the BookCrossing "The Reader" Challenge: to find and release books that somehow relate to the award winning book “The Reader” by Bernhard Schlink. The movie based on the book opens January, 2009 (in the U.S.). Be sure to check local theaters for listings.

As an added bonus, if you have found this book before February 22 and join BookCrossing, you can enter our The Reader movie contest. Simply attend a screening of "The Reader" and save your ticket stub. Print your screen name on the back of the stub and send it to BookCrossing: The Reader Contest at 323 Pine Street, Sandpoint, ID 83864. We will hold a drawing shortly after February 22, 2009 to determine the winners and you will be notified by email if you have won. One more reason to sign up for BookCrossing today! (Full details available online at www.bookcrossing.com. )

PS And if you find yourself liking BookCrossing, Charleston has an active group of BookCrossers who meet monthly (second Sunday of the month) at various spots in the Tri-county area. Come join us! For more information, see our yahoo group here! Be on the lookout for other books left in the "Wild"!

Got this at our BC meeting today. It comes highly recommended, for sure.