a Swiss teacher travels to Lisbon where he finds mysteries, friends and himself

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

to the winner of Marcenda's Portuguese Custard Tart Sweepstakes

Thank you Releanna! Ooooh... this loooks really good! The jacket says that people who loved The Shadow of the Wind, will love this book. And I loved Shadow of the Wind. So its a given, right? Thanks!

It took me a long time to finish this book, but it was worth it. The plot is almost non existant, the book is a philosophical inquest into life -- making the reader ask what might happen if you give up everything that makes you "you". The main character in this book, Gregorius, impulsively walks away from his routine life and explores the life of a Portuguese doctor. The more Gregorius learns about the doctor, the more he discovers about himself.

The reader is compelled to think deeply about their own life, who they truly are, about their relationships with others, and about human nature in general.

This one is for CestMoi. Enjoy!

I recently found a box in my storage closet full of random stuff. There were 6 bookcrossing books I had never read. I had journalled all of them - except this one. So rude! I'm sorry! This arrived just as I had started a new job and I remember reading the first chapter on the bus that first morning and then I thought I misplaced the book, and never did find it - and sadly, over time, forgot about it completely. But here it is again. It is next up on TBR so I will journal again soon.

Hope you are keeping well CynthiaA. Reach out if you'd like to meet up again. I'm still in Hamilton!

I think CynthiaA summed up this book really well. It was hard to read.

Is it folly or freedom to suddenly decide to walk away from everything you know?
I wonder if Gregorius' sudden decision had anything to do with his dizziness - if he was already experiencing some sort of health issues or if it was more of a psychotic break? I wonder what the real trigger was?

I think Prado's journal made Gregorius face his own life and created this internal dialogue because he had no one close to him in his life, and through Prado's words he found friendship, community and love. Perhaps that was Prado's talent - bringing people together through his words.

There were many profound thoughts in Prado's writings but this one stuck with me, page 214

"Life is not what we live; it is what we imagine we are living."

To me that means that if we believe we are happy, successful, loved, intelligent - any trait at all - then it must be true.

Hello - this is a bookcrossing book.

This book was released to celebrate International Bookcrossing Day - April 21st of each year! The theme I chose was "bookish books" i.e. books about well...books and bookstores, bookshops, libraries and anything else book-related!

I hope you enjoy this book you've found!!

Bookcrossing books travel around making new friends along the way. You can join it's journey by making a journal entry here.

You have not only found yourself a good book, but a whole community of booklovers dedicated to sharing books with each other and the world. I hope you'll stick around a bit and get to know BookCrossing --maybe even make a journal entry on this book.

You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (its free!) Feel free to read and keep this book or pass it along to someone else. If you do choose to join and journal, you'll be alerted by email each time someone makes another journal entry then you can follow its travels.

It's all confidential (you're known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free.

Happy reading! Join us in making the whole world a library, won't you?