Every once in a while you come across a book that just takes your breathe away. These are those books that were not given as gifts or recommended by someone or you saw on the NYT bestsellers list. You just happen upon them. It's not to say that they weren't NYT bestsellers, as this one was, but that when you came upon it, wherever that may have been, it wasn't due to any recommendations. I recently came upon such a book at my local library. I noticed it for the second time in one of those rolling carts libraries use to return books to the shelves. In my small town library, this cart is always by the new books section and perpetually stacked with books of all genres. As I perused the assemblage, this book caught my eye. I think it was first the color of the spine which is a deep brown like old leather and then it was the title. The Shadow of the Wind. It's written by one Carlos Ruiz Zafon, a writer I knew nothing about nor had ever heard of before. The novel was first published in 2001. Translated into English in 2004 and later published in a paperback edition in 2005 by Penguin. It was just such a copy that I picked up at the library. I don't know how to describe the magnificence that is this story or the depth of wonder it evokes as you become absolutely immersed in its pages. It's a story of love at its center but also of hatred. It's a story that spans decades but easily jumps back and forth through time without loosing the reader for even the briefest of moments. It's filled with mystery, suspense, intrigue, and real life. The language flows like that of a beloved poem but it isn't overly stylistic. I realize I've praised this novel without giving a single element of the story away and with good intention. If anyone reading this has any love of good literature, then you must read this novel. I dare you not to love it.
