2. the SHADOW OF THE WIND

Carlos Luis Zafron, english translation 2004

A story set in Barcelona, about ten year old Daniel Sempere's adventure soon after he picks out a book, The Shadow of the Wind from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. He then goes into a quest to find out about the life of the book's author - Julian Carax. It is part mystery, part thriller, and ultimately a love story.

"I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time."

"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 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 strngthens."

"A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept."

"Making money isn't hard in itself...What's hard is to earn it doing something worth devoting your life to."

"Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.
There are no second chances in life, except to feel remorse."

"Gustavo Barcelo had a way of listening that seemed both contemplative and Solomonic, like a doctor or a pope."

"Fools talk, cowards are silent, wise men listen."

"Sometimes what matters isn't what one gives but what one gives up."

"Coincidences are the scars of fate. There are no coincidences. We are puppets of our subconscious desires."

"Of all the things that Julian wrote, the one that I have always felt closest to my heart is that as long as we are remembered, we remain alive."

"Julian had once told me that a story is a letter the author writes to himself, to tell himself things that he would be unable to discover otherwise."