“La sombra del viento” (”The Shadow of the Wind”) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I just finished the book “La sombra del viento” (”The Shadow of the Wind”) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. This is a novel that has managed to sell around 10 million copies, I think. Quite amazing!

The book is quite nice and the story is gripping, though I guess it won’t get him the Literature Nobel Prize. You shouldn’t have much difficulty in finding it, or you can always get it at Amazon.

But what I found quite amazing is that while I was reading it, most of the people I talked to about it didn’t know the author (I have to confess that I didn’t know him either before starting the book). How come we have an author that manages to sell 10 million copies of a book and gets comparatively so little attention in the media? Comparatively with sportsmen, for example. I always find incredible how much attention the news devote to sportsmen, in particular football players… it is just amazing: they even show us every day how they are training, how they travel to a new city, and all sorts of silly stuff like that!! Why does our culture value so much football and so little so many other professions that really make a difference? When was the last time you saw on TV news the work of a doctor, a scientist, a writer ….?

Anyway… the book is nice. Read the reviews at Amazon, turn off the TV and have a go at it!