tales of Suchita

A book that I loved – an impossible question to answer for any bookworm. So I decided to make my job easier. To prevent my poor brain from going into a tizzy I asked myself another question instead – if you had to recommend a book, which one would you recommend? That considerably reduced the pile since I couldn’t in all honesty recommend a book that was the third of a trilogy and also happened to be the ninth in an overall story arc!

So here’s a book that I loved and would thus also recommend: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. When I picked up the book, I knew I would read it. When I started reading it, I wasn’t so sure. The Spanish street names did not fly off my tongue as easily as the American names I was used to. And after having read a slew of fantasies, I didn’t know if I’d be able to have an equally immersive experience from a stand-alone book.

But I knew this book was special when I read the following lines:

“…the peculiar aroma he exuded, despite the baths of eau de cologne in which he marinated his Rabelaisian anatomy.”

I had never read a line quite like it. It made me laugh, then pause, then frantically look for my phone so I could take down the line. And then there was this one:

“Women have an infallible instinct for knowing when a man has fallen madly in love with them, especially when the male in question is both young and a complete dunce.”

When a book is that well written (and well translated), you forget your misgivings as you try to keep up with the number of story lines meandering through the book. You can only hope, vainly, you’d be given some time to catch your breath.

If you haven’t read it, you must. If you have, read it again! A rich story full of complex story lines and characters with an end that will leave you satisfied and happy.

I will leave you with another quote that I feel is profoundly relevant:

“Three saints have my Spain. St Holier-than-thou, St Holyshit and St Holycow. Between us all, we’ve turned this country into a joke.”

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Written as part of #ChatterPrompts