"The Shadow of the Wind" -- A Book About Books

I must admit that when the TBB Online Book Club members suggested The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon as this month's reading selection, I was unfamiliar with the book. When the book club members tell me to read a book, I don't ask questions. I go out and get the book and start reading.

It's a good thing, too, or I never would have found out about this gem of a book. According to the inside of the dust jacket, The Shadow of the Wind is:

The international literary sensation about a boy's magical journey through the secrets and shadows of postwar Barcelona in search of a mysterious author whose book has proved as dangerous to own as it is impossible to forget.

There are several beautiful passages in the first chapter about the magic of books. One of my favorites is:

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. For me those enchanted pages will always be...

You'll have to read the book to find out.

I look forward to hearing what you thought about this book when I post my review at the end of the month.