“We are just going to have to read translations.”<\/p>\n
My book club friend and I had been talking about what book to read next. We’re choosy, and we have already run through so many–MOST–of the good ones.<\/p>\n
We’ve shot the canon.<\/p>\n
So. For our next book to read, what do we have left? I refuse to spend the rest of my life re-reading books. There must be something more out there.<\/p>\n
By chance, the next weekend, I was introduced to a spanish language undergrad. “Can you point me to a few good novels from Spain?” I asked.<\/p>\n
“Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Zee-Ay-Eff-Oh-En.” She assured me he was the real deal.<\/p>\n
The Shadow of the Wind<\/a> is where I began. One of the major catalysts for the action of the story is a place called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.<\/p>\n Now, taking a moment to be personal here, I am a writer. See that? I just wrote that.<\/p>\n As I have learned more about writing and written more, I approach books differently. I am now always aware of the author when I am reading. I used to be able to forget about the author, but now I am aware of the author’s choices when he or she decides to tell the story a particular way.<\/p>\n For example, I read Until I Find You by John Irving<\/a> and loved it. Hooray! a new author! I went to read more of his works. Then, not very far into the next book, a little boy got his eye put out in a freak car accident. I could not forgive the author for mistreating a little kid, and refused to finish the book. I don’t think he had to do that! Even if eyes of little boys are sometimes put out\u00a0in real life. I didn’t think the author had to go there.<\/p>\n Back to Zafon: the Cemetery of Forgotten Books is an enormous labyrinth, a very secret place, where books will be protected. They will not disappear, they will be preserved and saved. The stories’ action start or is affected by this place.<\/p>\n In the next story by Zafon, The Prisoner of Heaven<\/a>, the hero is an author. He writes sensational horror for money, and finally gets a chance to write a REAL story. He writes and pours his soul into this one, and it is dismissed by the critics. His evil publisher pulps all but a very few copies, and he is devastated.<\/p>\n He knows this one is better than the popular stuff he has written, and goes to the mysterious bookseller’s shop, staggering with \u00a0broken heart and having nowhere else to go.<\/p>\n ‘You once told me of a place where you could keep a book, where it would never be destroyed and be safe forever.’<\/p>\n Oh.<\/p>\n Oh, Zafon. I understand now. That’s what the Cemetery of Forgotten Books is about.<\/p>\n I am preparing my latest book for publication. This one is the one that matters. I have spent ten years running my soul through a meat grinder to tell this story. And I am about to make it into a book, which has every likelihood of being ignored.<\/p>\n If I had to sell it to a publisher who had a right to destroy it, I might be in the same spot as the brokenhearted hero. It *could* be destroyed by unscrupulous people.<\/p>\n I am not giving up my rights to my story, because I don’t have to. But with great gifts come great responsibility. I will have to find a way to tell the whole world that they need to hear my story. And the whole world is notoriously uninterested in me.<\/p>\n It is possible that this ten year story will bear the same fate as my little 5 month Miriam the Camel Driver<\/a> story; a few people read it and were delighted.<\/p>\n A very few.<\/p>\n I know there are at least 10 people who will read this Big One. And I know that many more people’s lives would be changed if they read it too.<\/p>\n Be fickle, Fortune<\/a>, and let this one be discovered. But if not, even if my 10 were the only ones that read it, \u00a0for the sake of ten it is still worth it.<\/a><\/p>\n What else was I gonna do with those ten years? My soul was going to be ground up anyway.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “We are just going to have to read translations.” My book club friend and I had been talking about what book to read next. We’re choosy, and we have already run through so many–MOST–of the good ones. We’ve shot the … Continue reading