The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz ZafónMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I found that this book featuring a story within a story starts out very, very slow, but with some dedication and perseverance, it picks up and more than makes up for the slow beginning. It's basically the story of a boy who falls in love with a book with a mysterious backstory, and as he tries to unravel that backstory, his own life gets sucked into the life of the book's even more mysterious author. This is a read that requires a lot of attention and focus because of all the names and places and convoluted relationships involved, but again, it's worth it. The author shows a mastery of plot and, even more, a mastery of language. Seriously, some of the metaphors and other uses of language, even something as basic as a description of the weather or a simple turn of phrase are put together beautifully. And there's a bonus to be enjoyed by anyone who truly loves books: there are quite a few descriptions of just how wonderful a good book can be, just how moving and transformative a good read can be. All in all, I can't recommend this book enough, and am very much looking forward to reading the prequel the author penned later.
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As you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed the nineteenth book in the Recommended Reading Challenge, a recommendation I received from a random place online. I have one more random online recommendation I can fall back on next, but I'd much rather get one from someone I actually know, so if you know of a good book, that person can be you!
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