My Favorite Author

For my borthday, by my good friend Avichi, I was given the third book of the series by Carlos Ruiz Safon.
He is a spanish writer who is my ultimate favorite. I cannot even describe what his novels make me feel, the way he inspired me since I was 15....

His first book I randomly found in my family's house back when I was 15. It was translated to russian and had a pretty interesting cover, later I found out it had stunning romantically gothic sketches inside.
The story of me beginning to read this book was a while after me and Boris first met, and I had discovered he reads tons of books and only in russian, not barely in hebrew. I wasn't even close to a reader back then and I thought, hey, why not trying to read a book in my mother language, for fuck's sake??
So I found The Shadow of The Wind. My mother jolly noted that I would LOVE this book and it would really suit my age. She wasn't wrong. I don't know how to even write this down, when I was almost swallowing this amazing story of Barcelona and it's mysteries, those enchanting books and the gothic-some themes everywhere. I cried like a madman at the end. I never cried from a book that way in my life.

The russian example of The Shadow Of The Wind that I own.

A few years later I was excited to by the second continuous novel, The Angle's Game. This time I spontaneously bought it at a book store in hebrew, and it was amazing as always, thought I kind of missed the russian translation and the beauty of the language, but it was also satisfying to dive into the same world again.

The Angle's Game in hebrew

And then I, again, spontaneously found another book by Safon in the teen section, which occurred to me as "teen fiction" labeled.  I hated that label immediately hence the book was so enchanting and wonderful I absolutely fell in love with it, and I highly recommend it if you enjoy Tim Burton's movies or anything a like. 

 The Prince of Mist in hebrew. Such a hideous cover.

I just finished reading the third and last novel by Safon, The Prisoner of Heaven. I cried again, and I was so happy to read again something with such passion, to not want to lay my eyes off of the book. I promised myself already that I will by every single book Safon has and will publish, and I also hope I would be able to find a copy in english of one. I adore everything in his stories, they tell dark tales of horrid reality, but still he manages to save something warm and good of friendship in love, and people who you'd like to meet and who you'd like to be your friends. The characters are interesting, and places, and I'm not a fan of Barcelona but ever since I red the first book I want to visit there.

Fun Fact: my mother went to Barcelona about 2 years ago with an organized tour. Somewhere in the city the tour guide pointed to an alley stating that "that was the alley that inspired Safon to describe the path to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books". Who won't like to visit in such a wonderful place? My mother took a picture of that alley especially for me.

The Prisoner of Heaven.

I highly recommend to read one of these, I think that also for the gothicly inclined that can much inspire.

+ Nebel Violet +