The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Penguin, 2005

The Shadow of the Wind is, without a doubt, one of the best novels I have read. Ever. If you enjoy fiction (either just the reading of it or a general appreciation for it on a grander scale) or if you’re a bibliophile and you haven’t read this book you are doing yourself a huge disservice. The Shadow of the Wind is one part bildungsroman, one part gothic romance, one part mystery, and one part paean to the power of books and reading. It is a novel that functions on multiple levels and its subtly striated narrative structure will likely appear different based upon what each reader will bring to the reading.