Shall We Read? {The Book Thief}

Who is up for a little reading?

I have the very start of an idea forming, and I need your help tying this whole concept together into a pretty little bow.

I'm currently about halfway through Heaven Is Here (by Stephanie Nielsen, blogger behind nieniedialogues.com, who survived a small plane crash along with her husband and tells the tale of that journey). I'm enjoying it so much. Stephanie's blog was one of the first that I ever read. Our lives did not have a lot of similarities, but I was captivated by her perseverance and strong, active love for her family. She writes beautifully, and I have been reading every night before bed (and sometimes sneaking in a few pages during Camille's naptime).

I'm hoping to have lots of time to read this weekend -- 100% chance of rain! -- so am aiming to wrap it up soon.

Leading me to the question, what next?

I read the other day that our local library is hosting a Community Read initiative, where they invite community members to all read the same book and engage with each other about what was read. I was really excited to see that one of the titles they chose was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It was chosen for their teen/young adult category, but I have talked to plenty of adults who have absolutely raved about this book. It's been on my "must be read" list for a while.

I have decided that The Book Thief will be my next read, and I'd love to find a way to engage with you if you'd like to read it along with me (and many of Charlotte, NC's library patrons!). Here's where I need some ideas ... how could we make this happen? I'm not even sure if a formal discussion really needs to occur -- maybe it's just enough that we can all take a pledge to read this book in October?

So, I'd love to hear your thoughts -- are you in? Any ideas on how to engage with each other? And if you've already read this book, are we in for a real gem of a read?