Why Leaving Thomas's Annika Odegard recommends The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This interview originally aired on Oct. 8, 2018.

Annika Odegard makes up one half of Calgary's pop country duo Leaving Thomas. The singer-songwriters released their debut EP, Leaving Thomas, in January of 2018 and received two Canadian Country Music Award nominations.

Below, Odegard discusses one of her most recent reads, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

"I am currently reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. It's essentially about a nine-year-old girl named Liesel who moves in with a foster family in Germany. She's stolen her first book at a Nazi book burning. At the time she is illiterate. Over the course of the book she learns to read and teaches a Jewish man that is staying with them how to read. She uses the books that she's reading as an opportunity to teach people and connect with people and calm people during bomb raids.

"The author uses interesting figurative language to describe what's happening from Death's perspective, which is one of the reasons I love it. At the end, you can definitely feel hope because the whole book is so focused on relationships rather than what's happening during that period in Germany."

Annika Odegard's comments have been edited for length and clarity.