the shadow of the wind

I was lost for the last two days in 'the shadow of the wind'.

It's a book, and one which held me spellbound for hours. (Quite a thick book.)
I was almost sorry to see it end, so delicious was the time I spent reading it. In short, it is a story about self, love, reading, and set in a post-war Spain... a bit 'dark', yet humourous... the type of story I like best. The writing's so good you start to imagine and have a visual image of the characters in the book, start to feel like them, imagine how they might speak. And many things the characters speak about does ring true. Like when the main character says that books are a reflection of one's soul - how you feel about them reflects your true self.

And how, many of us, are trapped in prisons of the past - be it prisons of memories, prisons of words, prisons of love lost. It's true that we can only count the things we have in life as gifts from God. For there are many who suffered more than what they can bear. When I was in the first months of my relationship with The Boyfriend, I sometimes had the morbid fear of something bad happening to him. Especially if he did not contact me for some period of time, I would think the darkest thoughts - did something happen to him on the way back home? Accident? ... I think I'm not alone in this, that once you have loved something near and dear to you, you worry ceaselessly about their well-being. And even when you are not with them for some prolonged period of time, you only think kind thoughts about them and about and their lovely actions.

Even for a pet... my absent minded Mom forgot I told her to feed Mushroom and that I was away for the weekend... he got so hungry that he ate the dirty toilet paper in his toilet... I was appalled... bunnies have very nervous systems and once their guts are not functioning, it could spell the end of the road for them. So I gave him a buffet of his faves xioabaicai, carrot, celery and tomatoes when I got back, first thing, and monitored him and his toilet. I think that after this rabbit, I will not get another one. I feel that unlike my previous rabbit the alpha female, I could bond deeper with this sweet Mushroom who has a very mischievous and cheerful personality. He doesn't get angry - only once ever, this weekend when he saw the buffet, he thumped his foot loudly and *humpf* at me, as if for leaving him without his grub... He even stays still for grooming and brushing, the vain one. I love to feel him relaxing under my skillful head massage... Somehow I just think in my heart that I could never find another cuter and well-mannered rabbit like this.

Been reading many books lately, in the last 2 weeks I've devoured

'The Professor', by Charlotte Bronte
'The Client', by John Grisham
'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho
and 'The Shadow of the Wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

I must say I feel highly intellectual now.