The Shadow of the Wind

tangaloomababe

tangaloomababe

Living in Paradise
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Nov 27, 2006
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Ok before you all growl at me, I know I probably should have put this under "What we are reading in whatever month" BUT there is a good little story to this one.:)

Yesterday I was browsing the bookshop looking for something to read, picking up and reading blobs and just not finding anything that sparked me enough to want to read it.

Then my hands moved to a book, picked it up, looked on the back to read the blob, it wasnt ther, nor on the inside cover, I knew nothing about this book and had never hear of the author "Carlos Ruiz Zafon" What was this book even about?

Usually after having read the blob I like to skim a few pages, see if I like the style of writing. I opened it up and the very first chapter is called

"The Cemetery of Forgotten Books" That was it for me, sucked in without having to read any more, there was mystery about this book.

What I wanted to share with you all though is a few short paragraphs which touched me.
'This is a place of mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read itand lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, everytime someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.

When a library disappears, or a bookshop closes down, when a book is consigned to oblivion, those of us who know this place, its guardians, make sure it gets here. In this place, books no longer remembered by anyone, books that are lost in time, live forever, waiting for the day when they will reach a new readers hands. In the bookshop we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owners. Every book you see here is someones best friend. "The shadow of the Wind" Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

For those of us who love books, this has great meaning and he has written just how I feel......
 
The magic book reached for you from the shelf, Tanga, congrats for discovering this fabulous modern classic!:) I love it.
 
It was one of my favourite books last year. And the hardback is absolutely lovely. So much of trouble they took to make it look old and weathered.

And it's a lovely tale. It's got some of everything. Fantasy and romance and mystery all wrapped up in an ode to books and reading.

The book has some absolutely lovely passages about books and reading and there's that Cemetery of Forgotten Books.
 
Thanks for Nesa's thread JD, yes I am loving this book, between time here and reading not much else is getting done around my place, but its worth it. I am about 130 pages in and would be further except that I keep going back and reading bits.
Zafon has a way with words to such an extent you have to read them again.
there are a few short lines when Daniel returns to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books that I thought so sad

I felt myself surrounded by millions of abandoned pages, by worlds and souls without an owner sinking into an ocean of darkness,

I am looking forward to reading more and wonder what Zafon's other novels are like and if they have been translated, however I think that this is just a special book with much magic around it.
 
I absolutely loved this book. We discussed it at my local book club and whilst we could all pick a few holes ie his depiction of women didn't seem all that great and a few other things, it didn't detract from the general experience.

I love the wonderful ambiance he creates in the spanish streets and it really did carry me along. I can't remember being this excited during reading a book for ages. I just couldn't put it down once I'd started it.
 
tangaloomababe said:
I am looking forward to reading more and wonder what Zafon's other novels are like and if they have been translated, however I think that this is just a special book with much magic around it.
Click to expand...
The only other novel I'm aware of is called Marina, which I've put an order in for.
 
I wish there will be a film of The Shadow of The Wind, preferably European production directed by Roman Polansky. It deserves it.
 
It's interesting... So many people with different tastes loving the book. (I adored it and read it almost in one go...) There are very few novels I know that get this kind of unanimity.
 
tangaloomababe said:
Zafon has a way with words to such an extent you have to read them again.
there are a few short lines when Daniel returns to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books that I thought so sad

I felt myself surrounded by millions of abandoned pages, by worlds and souls without an owner sinking into an ocean of darkness,

I am looking forward to reading more and wonder what Zafon's other novels are like and if they have been translated, however I think that this is just a special book with much magic around it.
Click to expand...

Yes, there are many passages in that book where the way he (or Zafon and the translator) expressed a thought would catch me up short; it is a beautifully written piece, and I look forward to anything new by him.... This one definitely goes down as one of my favorite books....
 
It's a beautiful book, both entertaining and literary, a feat not easily accomplished :) In some ways, it reminded me of Arturo Perez-Reverte,
another Spanish author of literary mysteries, but I thought Zafon is more optimistic.

Also, I liked it how Barcelona came alive in the book. I've been in Barcelona last year and it was fun to read about familiar places (Las Ramblas, etc.) Now I want to go there again :(

The only thing that might be a downside is a lot of melodrama happening in the second half of the book (lost children, family secrets, etc.) but it can be attributed to borrowing from Dumas and other 19th century writers.
 
Nesa I have hunted down a copy of Thirteenth Tale, its readily available here, sometimes its hard to find a book. Took me forever to get a copy of Vampyrrhic and eventually I had to order it overseas. So I have my next book all sorted out. My book collection is growing rapidly.

JD You have it in one you read a line or paragraph which moves you so much you have to read it again, hence its taking me awhile to get through this book. I dont recall doing this with such frequency with other books...
 
What are your favorite quotes from the book people?
Here's one of mine:

Once, in my father's bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later - no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget - we will return.
​
In my case, this book was The Lord of the Rings. What was yours?
 
I think mine is this one, from close to the end of the book:

"...that the art of reading is slowly dying, that it's an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind, and great readers are becoming more scarce by the day..."

It's not the bit about the art of reading dying but the bit about what reading and book are about that always strikes a chord. I was glad to see in print something that I've always felt to be true.

Tanga ... enjoy Thirteenth Tale. I don't believe this woman had this story scribbled on sheets of paper and tucked away in a drawer because she thought it was just not good enough. Am eternally grateful to the creative writing class she took that gave her the courage to send the manuscript to a publisher.
 
I remember both quotes and there are quite a few passages I had to read twice. The book is like an aged wine yet refreshing in many ways. I'd read it again definitly. And Nesa, since you mentioned the HC a couple of times I think I'm gonna get the HC version as well. And, I'll have to see Barcelona again, this time from Carlos Ruiz Zafón's eyes. :)
 
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