This is the first of a series of book reviews by staff member, Nancy Fort.  Looking for a great book to read?  Check out her recommendations!

You’ve heard of “Eat the Rainbow”…now you can Read the rainbow.  Several of the books that I have read recently use colors to add depth to the characters and story.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak  I didn’t really want to read another book set during World War II but this offers such a unique perspective that I was immediately drawn in. Zusak’s narrator often notes the color of the sky or landscape to illustrate the emotional temperature of the scene. There is a film adaptation of this novel available at the library and I just may borrow it to see if the filmmakers carried this use of color into the film.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami  This was the first book that I have read by this well regarded author but it won’t be the last. The story begins with the teenager Tazaki and his group of four friends. All of their names refer to colors in Japanese, except for Tazaki’s. He feels this makes him a bit of an outsider to the group and as the story unfolds, he spends many years trying to reconcile this image of himself with the events of his life.

Sacré Bleu, a comedy d’art by Christopher Moore  This story follows the quest of French impressionist painters for the sacred blue. It is a strange and fanciful tale of painters and the lengths they will go to for their art.