19. Jean-Dominique Bauby - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

A short story this week by Jean-Dominique Bauby. He's the famous French Vogue editor-in-chief who suffered from the Locked-In syndrome when he was around 40 years old. He had a stroke and he fell into a coma. When he woke up all his brain function was intact but physically he couldn't do anything any more. He could only move his left eyelid.

In The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Bauby describes what life is like when you can still think and hear and see, but you can't do any thing yourself; he can't even breath or swallow without machines. He describes the frustration of having to be around his kids without being able to touch them or talk to them, while he has so much to say to them. 

The book isn't a literary masterpiece. It is however an emotional masterpiece. He wrote this book together with Claude, a specialised nurse. She pointed at letters that were sorted by popularity and he blinked when he wanted to use that letter. The book isn't long but if you can even imagine how much effort it much have cost him, it is quite impressive. You would expect a robotic story but it isn't at all, the way Stephen Hawking speak for example. It is a beautifully worded summary of what it is like to live a year locked-in with only your thoughts.

18. Sharon Osbourne - Extreme: My Autobiography

Some easy literature this week to give my brain a little bit of rest after the last few weeks of "serious" novels. Sharon Osbourne's Extreme: My Autobiography is good regardless of anyone's expectations. I know that most people don't think much of this loud-mouthed woman, but after all the stories I've heard I became quite interested in her life. We all now those stories about Ozzy biting the head of a bat and Ozzy almost killing Sharon. Granted, most of these stories are related to Ozzy so maybe I should have started with his Autobiography. However, a view from a third party is quite refreshing. Although Sharon's book peeked my interest in this bizarre family, so I might keep on reading.

It's hard to describe in this short blog what Sharon Osbourne has been through throughout her life. I don't understand how someone can be so strong when writing about Ozzy and her violent relationship, her horrible bond with her father, cancer, numerous burglaries and lies from people who she thought she was close to. The story about Randy Rhoads almost made me cry and a second later some passages make me laugh. Reading this book is like riding a rollercoaster. It's thrilling and exciting with a few stops and sad moments when it's already over too soon. 

All I can say  at the end is that I'm genuinely happy that her life has worked out the way it has, after all her misfortunes she seems perfectly happy. Good for her!

17. Carlos Ruiz Zafón - The Angel's Game

Remember how positive I was about last week's book? The book Carlos Ruiz Zafón wrote before The Angel's Game but which takes place after the events of this week's novel. Where The Shadow of the Wind takes your breath away in all the complicated story lines and numerous characters who appear in the novel for no reason whatsoever, The Angel's Game dulls the senses completely. 

It's translated by the same translator, Lucia Graves, so it's definitely not the language that's not great about this novel. It's still poetic as its predecessor. I can open up a random page and read a random line and it would still sound beautiful: "The train came in almost an hour late, a serpent of steam slithering beneath the storm" (Zafón 99). So if it isn't the style and the language. What is so wrong about this novel?

The story line! Like I said before The Shadow of the Wind is complicated, but it pulls you in. Also the ending makes sense. In The Angel's Game it doesn't. Remember that this book takes plays years before Daniel Sempere is born. 

It's about a young writer David Martin who is down on his luck. He is fired from the newspaper where he has worked is whole life. He is in love with a beautiful girl Cristina who is very close to his best friend Vidal. He is basically alone in this world. When his life seems hopeless he is approached by a man dressed in white who tells him to write him a book. A book which, like any religious work, should make people want to follow it. After he agrees a whole series of events unravels, which are too complicated for me to write down and I don't think it would help if I would try to untangle it anyway. The novel does not make much sense and it is long winded. Most of the characters die and at the end I still don't know why. And I don't feel like finding it out... I think Zafón should write a book that matches The Shadow of the Wind otherwise his four book series will be a complicated disaster.. 

16. Carlos Ruiz Zafón - The Shadow of the Wind

Most people I know are already familiar with this this book by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I, myself, have read it before when it was just translated in 2004. The Shadow of the Wind is one of those books that literally take your breath away and reading the last line gave me goosebumps. 

Soon afterward, like figures made of steam, farther and son disappear into the crowd of the Ramblas, their steps lost forever in the shadow of the wind. (Zafón 487)

The reason I'm rereading it is because of The Angel's Game which has been waiting in my book case since October 2010. This is the prequel to the book I've devoured for this week. It is said that Zafón is planning to make this a four book series. And I fervently hope he will do so.


As I said before, I'm not a fan of translated works, but for Lucia Graves I'd gladly make an exception. She's the daughter of poet Robert Graves and she is an amazing translator. The way she uses words and plays with expressions in the novel is really exceptional and I believe it's a shame she has only translated two books, which are the two books I mentioned earlier in this blog.


The Shadow of the Wind is about a bookseller who takes his young son to a secret library which is full of abandoned books - The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Young Daniel may choose one book which he has to keep with him for the rest of his life. The book he chooses is the book that will not only stay with him for the rest of his life it will set the tone for it as well. Daniel is completely enthralled by the unknown writer, whose book he has randomly picks, called Julian Carax. The rest of his life he will be chasing the story behind this obscure author who has lived a life not dissimilar to Daniel's only then with more intrigue and betrayal. While Daniel is on a mission to find out more of Carax' life, a maimed figure is lurking in the darkness waiting for his chance to get a hold of  this mysterious book.


The language that is used is fantastic and poetic. Reading it is a trait! I don't often reread books (apart from Wuthering Heights) but it was a pleasure to do so this time and I hope The Angel's Game won't disappoint.