The Shadow of the Wind

LT Review:
This is an excellent and thrilling tale with complex and likable characters and a Barcelona setting that becomes a character itself. I was engrossed from the beginning by the complexities of the connections between the characters and their beautifully developed relationships. The history behind the story is gradually fleshed out through a series of flashbacks, but rather than feeling fragmented, it is easy for the reader to remain connected to the emotions the characters must be feeling as they learn the same information. Full of twists, magic and coincidence, heroes and villains (both truly evil and just misunderstood), this is a book that will keep you engaged throughout. A delightful read. (4.5 Stars)

Maggie's thoughts:
So I initially picked this up as a book on tape to listen to driving back and fourth to visit Andrew the Wonderful. When I was buying it, I had apparently forgotten that I live MUCH closer to Andrew than I used to. This is a good thing for pretty much every aspect of my life, except that it means that the drive isn't long enough to finish most audiobooks.
I do have to say, while I only listened to the first half of this book, the recording is WONDERFUL, and if you are an audiobook person, I VERY highly recommend it. It had me sitting in my car outside the hotel and listening while Andrew the Wonderful was at work.
Anyway, I didn't really have time to listen to the rest of the book, but I found myself thinking about the story *all the damn time* so during finals, when I knew that I was going home for break, I went to the bookstore and picked up a copy. I decided that since it had been a couple of weeks and it's a pretty complex story, I would start again at the beginning. I spent part of my evenings at the Mountain View Grand in New Hampshire sitting either in front of the fire or in a wonderfully warm tub getting totally sucked into the story (again). (I should also note, the more important activity of my time in New Hampshire was getting engaged. This is the now the blog of the future Mrs. Andrew the Wonderful!)
I didn't finish the book in NH, and when we got back to my place in CT, where, after reading until I was about 30 pages from the end, I left the book on the bedside table in the basement bedroom.
It would seem that God didn't want me to know the end of the story.
But who cares, because I wanted to know the end of the story, so I got ANOTHER copy at the Cincinnati Public Library, and finally finished the damn thing.

The real point though, is that the book was worth all the effort. It's wonderful. Go read it. Now.