On my bookshelf

The Shadow of the Wind :: Carlos Luiz Zafon

Nearly 500 pages of plots within plots within plots; of a parallel coming-of-age tale of two young men and the women they love, a labyrinth, of a sadistic police officer driven by psychopathic lust to hurt and kill, of books that are hunted down and destroyed. Murder, love and mystery rule while quiet moments of regret, loss and longing give pause and a lump in the throat.

This is a delicious Gothic novel in the same vein as Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. It's one of those books that you'd want to savour every page, to prolong its inevitable conclusion yet at the same time, want to rush through to find out what happens next! There are nail-biting scenes which will have you reading well past bedtime on a work night before you get to a spot where you can close the book, however reluctantly. But whatever you do, don't read ahead.
I'll be looking for more of Zafon's novels to add to my library. Highly recommended!

Now reading: Maureen Corrigan's Leave Me Along, I'm Reading, and Sheridan Hay's The Secret of Lost Things.