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Dear Fredric,

You mentioned at the meeting that you thought you had a book for me. Well, I'm wondering if it's this one as this is exactly the type of book I love to read. I'm sure I will enjoy it. I hope you don't mind but I have just received Mr Golightly's Holiday on a bookring. So I'll have to read this first and then I'll be straight on to the Shadow of the Wind.

best wishes
Debbie

Australia/Pacific Bookring for this book. From the back cover:
It is 1945 and Barcelona is enduring the long aftermath of civil war when Daniel Sempere's bookseller father decides his son is old enough to visit the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books. There Daniel must 'adopt' a single book, promising to care for it and keep it alive always. His choice falls on "The Shadow of the Wind".
This is a fascinating read with interesting characters and a gothic atmosphere. I found I got a little bogged in the middle, was thinking of maybe leaving it for a while until I read the last line on page 333! Pm me to be included.

Bookfrog - Sydney - read
goodthinkingmax - Sydney - read
catsalive - Sydney - read
peggysmum - ACT - partly read
Lisagt - Sydney - read
woosang - NSW - read
celestewa - read
amberC - NT - read
puppymummy - read
meganh - VIC - read
Lacrimosa - the book is here!
gypsyrose02 - WA
Funkybamboozle - Sydney
buggyhare - Brisbane

Released on Wednesday, January 05, 2005 at about 8:00:00 PM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at bookring in By post, Sent to another BookCrosser Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:

posted to Bookfrog - the first on the ring

Rcd yesterday - was running around like a mad person and so didn't open it straight away as the writing on the envelope looked like my sister's writing and I didn't need to open her package then and there.

Finally opened it last evening and went huh this is not the information of where to stay in Adelaide and what to see but instead it is a book from lakelady.

Have already started reading and am enjoying. Thanks!

I am not sure if my journal entry is going to do this book justice.

It was funny for I was reading the book and thinking hrm pretty interesting and then I read a sentence and it gripped me and so I had to read it again (maybe twice more). My eyes flicked to the bottom of the page - page 333! My eyes flicked back up and read that sentence again - yup that's the kicker.

Unfortunately a few chapters later I went on holidays and forgot the book... eek. Finally retrieved yesterday and sat down and read the rest in two sittings.

I throughly enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to others - it is long and big and hefty and alot of things going on but the past reflects the future, oh wait is that vice versa and not too many characters so you forget whose who which is lucky for me as I get lost if there are too many characters.

Anyway you have to finish it to find out what happens to everyone!

Received today. I look forward to reading this one asap. It sounds great.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, up there with my best reads of 2005, even if it is only February!

I flew through the first chapters and like Lakelady, lost my momentum in the middle for about 100 pages and was impatient to move back to the present, but then raced to the exciting end. The reference to page 333 in the other journal entries kept me going. So many vivid characters, settings, mysteries. Mind you, I did roll my eyes slightly at the very "soap opera"ish twist (won't put any spoilers in but those who have read it can probably guess which bit.

I think I was won over in the first chapter with the Cemetery of Books and the description of the impact of books on page 6. I'll definitely be recommending this one to others.

Off to catsalive in tomorrow's mail.

Book received. 3 bookring books on one day - Sigh!

“Well, this is a story about books.” p.186 …And it is.

”Welcome to the Cemetry of Forgotten Books, Daniel …… 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 it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes 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. In the shop we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owner. Every book you see here has been somebody’s best friend.” p.4

What a beautiful idea and extremely apt for a BookCrossing book.

I loved this book. It is very well-written and the characters drew me in. Fermin is my favourite, his rhetoric is clear-sighted and contagious, and I also think it would be worthwhile meeting the extremely minor character, Braulio Recolons who runs the pork butcher’s, he sounds like a hoot…. “and has a great talent for both making sausages and composing witty aphorisms.”

I found I kept forgetting just how young and innocent Daniel Sempere really was. In most cases he handled events with the maturity of a much older man. The trouble with that is, because I kept forgetting his age, I expected him to react with maturity all the time. I had to remind myself often, when I found myself becoming irritated with him, that he was extremely young. So, my only real criticism is of myself.
I highly recommend this book. Don’t let its size daunt you. It has kept me company all this week as I journeyed in and out of the city, and given me good company at that.


If I make it to Picton on 13/3 I'll hand this over to peggysmum, if not, I'll send it on Monday 14/3.
Given to Calissa at the Picton meetup to pass on to peggysmum who couldn't make it.

Thanks for dragging it across NSW for me, Catsalive. Calissa delivered it to work yesterday.

I look forward to reading a book that combines two of my passions, cemeteries and books (peggysmum the proto-goth)!

FYI Peggy had surgery yesterday to remove an obstruction from her throat just above the heart. She's doing well and we hope to have her home by the weekend.

Glad to hear Peggy is doing well. Thinking of you.

Yes, me too. Poor, Peggy, love. I hope you're feeling better soon, Peggy.

Shows how distracted I was when I confused a journal entry with a PM, sorry to inflict my little distress on everyone else.

Thanks lakelady and catsalive for your good wishes. Peggy's improving, I got to visit her this afternoon. Not a happy little dog, but alive.

With one thing and another, couldn't finish this book - but it was enjoyable while I was reading it. Thanks for your understanding lakelady2282.

Posted to Lisagt 3 May '05.

WOW! Look at the size of this tome! I might have to cancel all my plans for the next few weeks just to make an inroad! It looks inviting though so I'll do my best. Please be patient as I have a few other books on my TBR but as this is a ring I'll try hard to read it sooner rather than later.
Thanks lakelady2282 for starting the ring and peggysmum for sending it on...

I've finally finished this fantastic story. I can see this being made into a movie one day as it has all the major elements required - mystery and intrigue, romance, forbidden love, civil war, secret identities and a story that spans decades.
The beginning is simple but tantalising - a young boy is taken to the Cemetary of Lost Books by his father and told to choose a forgotten book to make his own. He chooses The Shadow of the Wind and becomes fascinated with finding out about the author. Little does he realise the sequence of events he sets in motion. You'll have to read it yourself to find out as I don't want to give any more away!!!!
Posting to woosang this week....

AARRGGHHHH another book ring. That is three in two days. Appologises if I take took long. Please feel free to PM me and hurry me along.

JUst couldn't resist this book any. To the detriment of all the other book rings I have waiting, I have been looking forward to this book and just HAD to read it, NOW!

So glad I did. I found it dragged inthe middle, but the beginning and the finale were fantastic. I highly recomend this book to others.
Favourite quote - "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 eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens."

Sounds like Bookcrossing to me and the BEST OBCZ!

Oh and the PIc?? It is the site I see at work and where the book spent its week.

Goodness, this is a big book! It is next on the pile... Thanks to woosang for its arrival.

Thanks for letting me read this book. It has been a constant companion for the last few days with me as I have been waiting beside my father's bed in Intensive Care. It was a good book because it kept my interest and gave me a chance to escape from the real world for awhile.

Posted to AmberC 16th August 2005. Sorry it took so long but it has been hard to get to a post office.

arrived safely today. it is BIG. i will get to it asap.

i agree with others, the beginning and the end were really good, the middle dragged.

i love the idea of a Cemetary of Forgotten Books.

i can understand the impact reading one special book could have on Daniel.

thanks for sharing this special book lakelady.

I am afraid I don't have time to journal that this was received, as five bookrings arrived all at once - I obviously lost track of how many were on the way. No time for BookCrossing, must read! I will get through them as fast as I can.

Stop wasting time with journals & read, puppymummy. I have just managed to get my bookring pile down to 5 so I'm sure some more will arrive this week. I must stop signing up for bookrings. I must stop......

Loved it loved it loved it! I kind of had the same experience as others - except that I didn't find that the middle dragged, I found it a bit more of a breathing space in the breakneck pace of the rest of the book. I've been reading slow books recently :)
It might have taken me another few days, except that last night as I was reading in bed I thought I'd just read one more chapter - taking me to the end of page 333! At that point I had to read about five more chapters before I could put it down and go to sleep. It really does start out as an ode to books, and with books as a continuing theme it was absolutely wonderful. Thanks everyone for the chance to read this!
Will be passed to meganh at the next meetup - is the 15th for us rather than the 8th due to Cup day and calendar malfunctions.

Collected this off puppymummy at last night's meetup - says she came specially to give it me! It is a big book but (touch wood) I have no other bookrings at the moment so I should be able to start it soon.

I did little else on Saturday as I was totally absorbed in finishing this book and I would definitely incude it my top 5 reads for the year! What a suspenseful novel, I loved the parallel stories and characters running through it's entirety. I didn't find it dragging during the middle and like all other readers, the page 333 sentence seemed to be pre-empting the end of the book, but instead it gave us a surprise ending. I did think it was not entirely necessary to tie up all the loose ends of the individual characters in the last section and that the story could have finished after the confrontation in the Aldaya mansion.
I have given it a 9 only because the writing style seemed a little simplistic (which is probably more to do with the translation.)
Off to gypsyrose02 as soon as I have her address.

Meganh has let me bust into the bookring because she hasn't had an address from the next person.

521 pages. 3 days to do it ... Let's begin!

Lacrimosa handed this back to me this morning - unable to finish it with Christmas festivities interrupting her reading - how dare she have a life! Anyway I've put the book in the mail to gypsyrose02 today - mailed it Express Post because it was cheaper than normal postage.

arrived today. yay! have been wanting to read this for ages. have a few before it but will get to it asap.
thanks guys.

ok....must be something wrong with me. cant get into this. again...not in the right frame of mind. thanks for including me though. shall get it out soon.

Received today - thanks! I've been dying to read this book, I hope I can get to it soon!