finished.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. (translated by Lucia Graves)

lovely.

one of the many paragraphs i liked:

"Day was dawning when i reached home, dragging myself in that absurd loaned suit through damp streets that shone with a scarlet hue. i found my father asleep in his dining-room armchair, with a blanket over his legs and his favourite book open in his hands--a copy of Voltaire's Candide, which he reread a couple of times a year, the only times i heard him laugh heartily. i observed him: his hair was gray, thinning, and the skin on his face had begun to sag around his cheekbones. i looked at that man whom i had once imagined almost invincible; he now seemed fragile, defeated without knowing it. perhaps we were both defeated. i leaned over to cover him with the blanket he had been promising to give away to charity for years, and i kissed his forehead, as if by doing so i could protect him from the invisible threads that kept him away from me, from that tiny apartment, and from my memories, as if i believed that with that kiss i could deceive time and convince it to pass us by, to return some other day, some other life." (p296)

and the witty dialogue:

"you're delirious, Fermin. Bea's getting married when the lieutenant finishes his service."

fermin gave me a sneaky smile. "funny you should say that, because i have a feeling she's not. i don't think this pumpkin's going to be tying the knot anytime soon."

"what do you know?"

"about women and other worldly matters, considerably more than you. as Freud tells us, women want the opposite of what they think or say they want, which, when you consider it, is not so bad, because men, as is more evident, respond, contrariwise, to the dictates of their genital and digestive organs."
(p131)

shall leave the rest of the reading to you guys. a good read! -thumbs upppp-