Contrary to the NYTimes blurb, this is not a combo of Eco and Marquez. I was hoping for more.

RELEASE NOTES:

Picked this up when I was checking on the OBCZ (making sure it was stocked, neat and orderly, etc.) Thanks for releasing it farrout222 and for dropping off other books in the OBCZ.

Pleasantly surprised. I was intrigued by both the title and premise of the book. Loved the idea of the Cemetary of Forgotten Books. As an avid mystery reader the ending wasn't much of a surprise and was much expected but overall a well written piece of fiction. Will need to search out more of his work.

RELEASE NOTES:

released at Minimeetup to bobbarama who had just put this book on his wishlist this am. Great timing :) Enjoy :)

I got this book earlier tonight from vraciousrdr at our book club meeting at the Panera Bread bakery-cafe ... where, I might add, you can get a really yummy tomato and pepper bisque soup!!

I had just put this book on my wish list this morning. How cool is that! (smile) Thanks. Looking forward to giving this my undivided attention.

Brief synopsis: Barcelona, 1945 --- A great world city lies shrouded in secrets after the war, and a boy mourning the loss of his mother finds solace in his love for an extraordinary book called The Shadow of the Wind, by an author named Julian Carax.

When the boy searches for Carax's other books, it begins to dawn on him, to his horror, that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book the man has ever written.

Soon the boy realizes that The Shadow of the Wind is as dangerous to own as it is impossible to forget, for the mystery of its author's identity holds the key to an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love that someone will go to any lengths to keep secret.

My review of the book

This is terrifically entertaining stuff.

If you've never read a gothic thriller ... and don't let that word 'gothic' scare you off ... then you're in for a real treat.

I say 'gothic,' by the way, because it has that kind of feel to it ... an atmospheric mystery with plots and subplots and subsubplots, murder, revenge, seduction, Dickensian characters, tragedy, passion and intensely deep loyal love.

It's the kind of novel that has you trying to guess ahead ... and, in fact, you won't even realize how intricately plotted this book really is until those last 100 pages when it all comes together.

And don't even start the last 100 pages unless you're prepared to go the distance, because once you start you won't stop. Seriously riveting stuff! Page-turning pace. Heart-breaking and heart-stopping, with lots of oh-my! moments.

The lead character is a young bibliophile named Daniel, but the real joy in this book is Fermin Romero de Torres, the remarkably entertaining, woman worldly, tough, bawdy, verbose, rescued-from-the-streets begger. I LOVED Fermin Romero de Torres. He's one of the most original, most memorable characters I've read in any book ... ever!

And, of course, the concept of a Cemetery of Forgotten Books is really wonderful.

It's been a long time since I've had this much fun with a novel.

Zafon said in a recent interview that this is the first of his four "gothic Barcelona" novels, which he describes as "a sort of narrative kaleidoscope of Victorian sagas, intrigue, romance, comedy and mystery with 'newly' fashioned old-fashioned good storytelling."

And, in fact, this book is all about good old-fashioned storytelling, and this guy is remarkably good at it.

The amazing thing is that this is Zafon's debut novel. I can't even imagine what he'll do with his next three books, which sound like separate books with different characters set in the Victorian-like shadows of post-war Barcelona.

I'm in for anything this guy writes. He's that good and that fun.

An aside: The cover of the book, designed to look old and well-read, feels somehow rough and age-beaten, like the leather cover of a book worn down through lots of use. Very clever. Very cool.

The Shadow of the Wind Bookring

LyekkaMarengo (Pennsylvania)
TheBowieFollies (New York)
librarymousie (New Hampshire)
follygirl (Canada)
lauraloo29 (Canada)
zugenia (Pennsylvania)
Thursday5 (Ohio)
-Psyche- (Minnesota)
bobbarama (Successfully completed July 14. Woo hoo!)

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The Extras Start Here
Carlos Ruiz Zafon interview!

Special Note: I didn't see anything in the interview that would spoil the book if you haven't read it yet.

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Shadow of the Wind Trivia

Earlier this year the online edition of The Independent in Britain asked 100 authors, publishers and book sellers to name their favorite fictional characters ... the characters who gave them their "greatest reading pleasure."

There were lots of names you'd expect to see: Sherlock Holmes AND his sleuthy sidekick Dr. Watson, always-hungry Hannibal Lecter, Tolkien's Gandalf, Hamlet, The Cat in the Hat and James Bond, to name just a few.

Also on the list: Fermin Romero de Torres ... the wonderfully witty, verbose, bawdy, worldly ex-begger in 'The Shadow of the Wind' ... and the same guy I fingered in my short review as "one of the most original, most memorable characters I've ever read in any book ... ever!"

Here's what bigtime British book seller Scott Pack told The Independent: "The most memorable fictional characters are the walk-on parts. My favourite is Fermin (Romero de Torres), the silver-tongued tramp with the dark past from Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow Of The Wind. A true gentleman."

I'm pretty sure you'll find Fermin Romero de Torres just as fascinating and just as fun as I did. (smile)

And, in fact, I think you'll find the entire list of 100 of the most memorable fictional characters pretty interesting!

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3-minute sound bite

This won't spoil anything since it takes place within the first few pages of the book, and it certainly sets the 'mood' for the story.

It's from an abridged version, meaning it cuts and slices its way through some great context and background, but, even so, it's truly wonderful stuff.

So go ahead ... listen in as Daniel's father tells him about the wonderfully atmospheric Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

(Click on Audio Extract when you get there ... and make sure your sound is on. Then just sit back and enjoy!)

NOTE: The site goes down periodically. If it's not available, try later.

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New Carlos Ruiz Zafon interview **

** I didn't see anything in this interview that will ruin the book for anyone who hasn't read it yet.

RELEASE NOTES:

We're off! The Shadow of the Wind bookring is officially under way!

I mailed this book to LyekkaMarengo in cold, snowy Pennsylvania first thing this morning on my way to work. (Brrrrrr!)

Arrived safe and sound in State College, PA, USA on Dec. 8th. Sorry about the delay in the journal entry but just haven't had time to sit down at the computer. Ten inches of snow here in Central PA, just the weather for reading. One and a half bookrings ahead of this one and both are short so I should be up to this one next week. Thanks for the ring and all the little extra's, what fun!!

As I've learned in bookcrossing everyone has different tastes in books but I just have a hard time believing anyone found this book unsatisfying. I was captured by the first chapter. How could I not love The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. It certainly sounds like someplace I could spend some time.

I suspect that any translation (as this one is) is only as good as the translator but that translator, Lucia Graves must be a genius. I had just recently read another translation which I felt was stilted and sparse but the same can not be said about this. The images are wonderful and the talk about books at the beginning was lovely. There are always references to the title "shadows" such as when Daniel's father wakes him to go for the first time to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. "Daniel says 'Now? At five o'clock in the morning?' 'Some things can only be seen in the shadows,' my father said, flashing a mysterious smile probably borrowed from the pages of one of his worn Alexandre Dumas romances." The references continue even to the last page. "...their steps lost forever in the shadow of the wind."

His fathers description of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books sounds a lot like bookcrossing. "Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eys down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens...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 reader's hands."

His other descriptions are equally evocative. "That Sunday, clouds spilled down from the sky and swamped the streets with a hot mist that made the thermometers on the walls perspire." or "I glided up to the first floor, blessing the blades of a fan that swirled above the sleepy readers, melting like ice cubes over their books."

As previously stated as a mystery there is not a real surprise but like many a beloved TV show or movie, it's the characters that make the story so compelling. You know they are all connected somehow and can just about work it out but.....

And bobbarama is right about the very "gothic" feel to this book even though it is not set in that era. It's something about the foreboding atmospheric tensions. As far as that last hundred pages goes, I seriously neglected all domestic and holiday duties last night so I would be able to finish the book and not stay up half the night doing it.

Thanks for the ring and the extras. Mailing on to bowiefollies next week.

01/05/2006 Mailed to TheBowieFollies in Brooklyn, NY. Sorry for the delay but things sort of just came up over the holidays.

I am proper excited about this, the most anticipated bookring Ive been on to date. CHeers Lyekka for getting this to me.I have a premonition that I will be absolutely riveted...Cheers Bobby Bubby for the cheeky California postcard!! I will be back soon to deconstruct, so convene with me at the algonquin table me ole chinas!
chin chin

The consummate read! To say I was thoroughly enchanted with this could never suffice the magic that this book emanated. This Victorian potboiler, replete with tales of passion, skullduggery, complicated love and finally redemption, is a book I failed to put down for any extended periods of time.
Daniel, its protraganist plays the perspicacious central figure and Fermin his right hand man, is often the veritable scene stealer. It is apparent Mr Zafon is beyond infactuated with literature and this was definitely a labour of love, to all the authors who served as his muse. Particularly Hugo, If it were not for Hugo, I believe SHADOW OF THE WIND would never have come to its fruition! It is rare to find something of this calibre in the modern day! The erotic undertones brought to mind unexpurgated Lawrence and there were elements of Gide as well. This was absolutely brilliant. Its must read TV...
Have confirmed the address of librarymousie and will be posting this later or beginning of next week.

Update - This book is now merrily along its way as of 27.01.06 to librarymousie in New Hampshire....fantastic read this is, enjoy!

TBF

Arrived in today's mail. Thanks so much! I am really looking forward to reading this one... :)

LyekkaMarengo, I have to agree with you in that I just can't fathom anyone not enjoying this book. Seriously--what's not to like? It's a book about books! Although I was more or less hooked in the first few pages, I have to agree with others who mentioned the necessity of allowing the book to take precedence over everything in the last hundred pages or so. [Yes, I finished the book in two sittings. No the laundry has not been done. Oops.]

The story was amazingly well-crafted, and while it may not have been the most suspenseful or surprising novel I've ever read, there were moments where I found myself tensing under the covers or nearly jumping out of my skin when the cats stampeded into the room. And Fermin....what can I add to his accolades? If it takes me a couple more days to send this on, it's because I'm copying out some of my favorite phrases to share with others as a means to encourage them to pick up the book....

"Television, my dear Daniel, is the Antichrist, and I can assure you that after only three or four generations, people will no longer even know how to fart on their own and humans will return to living in caves, to medieval savagery, and to the general state of imbecility that slugs overcame back in the Pleistocene era. Our world will not die as a result of the bomb, as the papers say, it will die of laughter, of banality, of making a joke of everything, and a lousy joke at that."

Or... "Love is a lot like pork: there's loin steak and there's bologna. Each has its own place and function."

Although, as much as I love Fermin and his witticisms, Bea says something to which I think we can all relate: "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." Sad, but perhaps true....that we are all great romantics being overshadowed by the ease and availability of television....

Thanks so much, bobbarama, for including me in this ring. I'm off to PM the next lucky reader and hopefully this book will be on the move again by week's end.

Last week did not go according to plan....however, the book is out and moving again--on its way to follygirl in Canada via USPS Global Priority Mail, so it should reach its destination in under a week.

The book is safe and sound in Canada.
Once I finish a library book I am 3/4 the way through I will start this one. It looks interesting.
thanks for the postcard bookmarks Bob I will pass them along.
and lirbrarymousie your angel is staying with me! thanks.

I don't dissect books or ramble on about them, I either enjoy the read, or not. I loved this intricate story and the rich characters. It is beautifully translated and I could 'see' this story, the language is fluid. This is a book I will read again in the future. Bob, thanks again for sharing.
I will get in out in the mail, asap.

ETA: Mailed Mar 13

Arrived today. I have a couple of books before it, but I'll keep it moving. Thank you!

I'm struggling with this book. I might have continued with my slow read, but I've had 2 more rings come in the mail today. I don't want to get behind. :)

I'll get this in the mail this Thursday or Friday. Thank you for sharing!

This arrived safely in PA -- thanks for passing it along! I'll read it soon and get it moving again.

What a wonderfully entertaining read this was! A pitch-perfect gothic novel written and set in the 20th century, The Shadow of the Wind proves that the art of good old-fashioned storytelling is alive and well in the contemporary world. This is truly a book for people who love books, and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books seems like it was designed specifically to appeal to bookcrossers. Thank you so much for sharing.

I accidentally packed this book up with the rest as I was preparing to move across the country last week. It should arrive in a few days, and then it will be on its way!

The book has been unpacked in Arkansas and will be on its way to Thursday5 tomorrow morning.

Shadow of the Wind arrived yesterday. I have been looking forward to reading this book as it has had so many good reviews from Bookcrossers. It is a rainy day today so I might just curl up with it on the sofa this afternoon. The cover has become quite fragile and has ripped from the binding a little on the botton-I'll try to be gentle with it. Thank you Bob for the San Diego postcard-postcards do make good bookmarks!

Zafon can certainly tell a story! Love and evil, adventure, twists and turn in plot, and unforgetable characters abound. All this, and characters who love books, mark this book as a sure hit for bookcrossers.

There are some great lines in the book including: A book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us. I'm not sure what I think of this line. On one level there is truth in it, but I like to think that books have opened up new worlds to me, given me new ideas, and opened my eyes to new perspectives and points of view.

Thank you for the "extras" you put in the journal bobbarama.

I have sent a PM to -psyche- requesting a mailing address so the book can continue on it's way around the bookring.

Unable to make contact with -psyche- so I am sending the book off to Bobbarama today on it's last leg home.

This ring has ended its journey! Woo hoo!

Thanks for the postcard of the covered bridges of Ohio, Thursday5. You're right, bridges are like books --- they make connections. So true.

I'd like to thank everyone for keeping the ring moving. You were all wonderful. We couldn't reach -Psyche- by PM ... and we tried several times. (If I still have the book when and if you see this I'll mail it to you.)

Thanks again, everyone. It's always nice to get a bookring back.

Take care.

Bob