(Re-read) book review: The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #1)

Two years ago I discovered a treasure called The Shadow of the Wind, it is a novel written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, an author from Spain whose talents extend into music compositions. The Shadow of the Wind was the first book in The Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, it is a gothic thriller set in the mid 20^th century Barcelona. The Cemetery of Forgotten Books became my close companion for many wintry nights, and I was spellbound by its mysteries which haunted the gothic buildings under the ashen sky. Three installments from the series were available at the time; The Shadow of the Wind, The Angel's Game, and The Prisoner of Heaven. I devoured all three novels in a month. I loved them.

However the series was incomplete. At the time, the English translation for the fourth and the final volume was still in the works. Therefore I was forced into an agonizing wait until recently, when the English translation for the final book is finally available. While I was waiting for the trusty bookseller to ship the fourth novel to my home, I decided to revisit the series, beginning from the very first book. This is my first time re-reading a book, and having read The Shadow of the Wind, my favorite book, for the second time, I can testify that re-reading your favorite book is like visiting an old friend.

Synopsis:

The story took place in Barcelona and the year was 1945. The city was recovering from the bleeding wounds of the Spanish Civil War. It was a misty morning, and on the street a father and a son walked hand in hand. The father, an antiquarian book dealer, was taking his son, Daniel, to a secret place known as The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Young Daniel mourned the loss of his mother, but among the sea of forgotten books he found solace – a mysterious book titled The Shadow of the Wind, written by a little-known author, Julián Carax.

Daniel became fascinated with Julián. He searched for more of Julián's works, only to discover that a shadowy individual had set himself on a quest to destroying every book written by Julián. As a result, the book in Daniel's possession was one of the last surviving books penned by Julián Carax.

Who was hiding in the shadow and destroying Julián's books? And why? Daniel's search for the books of his favorite author might awaken Barcelona's dark secret.

My thoughts on the book:

My 2^nd visit to The Shadow of the Wind made me realize the joys of re-reading a book. This time, I was in no hurry to discover the plot, and so I made new discoveries about this beloved novel. Furthermore, I could better envision the book's world and its characters, and I noticed some humors and quirks which escaped me previously. This time I greeted the characters as if they are my old friends, and together we treaded the labyrinthine streets of Barcelona to relive this story of love, of hatred, and of the dreams that live in the shadow of the wind.

Zafon wrote beautifully, and in this re-read I came to appreciate his writings even more. Although it has been 2 years since I read the book, but I still have memories about the major plot twists and reveals, and this allowed me to view the story's structure from a high level. I came to appreciate the intricate and the seamless way in which the multiple story threads were put together. In my spare time I engage in a number of hobbies, but I forgot about my other hobbies when I was reading The Shadow of the Wind. Just like the last time, this book hooked me in the moment I read its opening paragraph. Who needs a TV when you can read a book as good as this?

I let out a sigh of content when I closed the last page of the book. I was eager to re-read the next installment, The Angel's Game, but I also decided to myself that not only will I start to re-read more books, but this is also not my last visit to The Shadow of the Wind.

Book Review: The Hard Way by Lee Child (Jack Reacher #10)

Jack Reacher sits in a cafe. He likes the coffee here. It is his new favorite place in New York. Reacher watched a man cross the neon-lit street and drove a Mercedes away. A few minutes later, a stranger walked into the cafe and asked Reacher to describe the driver's face. The stranger, the man, spoke with a British accent and Jack figured he had military trainings. Probably ex-special force. Probably ex-SAS.

Why would someone like that be interested in the driver and the car? The strange ordeal seized Reacher's attentions. The stranger, the ex-SAS guy, took Reacher to see his boss, one Edward Lane. It turned out that Lane runs a mercenary band for hire and he is pretty rich. All that $$$ also made Lane a target. Someone kidnapped his beautiful wife and stepdaughter. The ransom, one million dollars.

Lane offered Reacher a job; find Lane's wife and stepdaughter and he would reward Reacher handsomely. But there is a catch – no cops.

Reacher may be one hella hunter but the case has little clues, so this time he has to do it the hard way.

The Hard Way is the 10^th installment in Lee Child's super duper thriller series. It is about a man called Jack Reacher. The series needs little introduction because it has sold over 100 million books. Let's just say like many others I am a fan of these books. Meanwhile, if you haven't read Jack Reacher and you like action thrillers, then do yourself a favor and check out a book called Killing Floor.

The Hard Way is a very good addition to the series. This one is a bit different to Lee Child's other books. The highlight in this book is Jack Reacher's ability as a crime-busting detective than an one man army. This also means there is little fight scenes in The Hard Way. The book consists mostly of Jack Reacher searching for clues and piecing the puzzles together. It is a full on detective noir. One would have expected this book to be slower than Reacher's other adventures. Surprisingly the story in The Hard Way is fast paced, there are many unexpected twists and the story is suspenseful.

However The Hard Way is not a one man show. A cast of supporting characters appeared alongside Reacher and each had a unique and important role in the plot. I cannot say too much about the supporting characters without revealing some spoilers, but in this book the characters' motives were believable, and as the story unfolded some of them really surprised me.

Lee Child wrote The Hard Way in his signature style; the writings are hard boiled, punctual, and he used short sentences. The story is set in New York, and the writings painted a noirsh tone to the world and its characters. When I was reading this book, it felt as if I was watching a detective movie set in the night time of a buzzing metropolitan. This is a refreshing change to the series, considering other Jack Reacher books were often set in rural US towns.

The Hard Way is a very good thriller novel. It is easily in my list of top 5 Jack Reacher books just after Killing Floor, Gone Tomorrow and Worth Dying For. If you like Jack Reacher books then you cannot afford to miss this one out. On the other hand, if you are a newcomer to Jack Reacher's journey to dispense justice, then The Hard Way might be a good place to start.

A Book Review: Boomerang, by Michael Lewis

For many people, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 is a fresh memory. It has only been a decade since the day we learned there is no such thing as "too big to fail". 

GFC 2008 was a spectacular disaster, and today the world is still feeling the pains. What caused it? We know the culprit in the US was the subprime home loans. But what about in the other parts of the world? Why was the Greek government close to bankruptcy? Why did the real estate market in Ireland tumble? Why did the banks in Iceland fall down like dominos? Why did the German government have to rescue their banks? And perhaps most importantly, what is the lesson to learn from all of this, and will history repeat itself, only this time on a bigger scale?

In December my book club read Boomerang, by Michael Lewis. If you haven't heard of Michael Lewis, then perhaps you have heard of the 2015 movie, The Big Short. The movie was based on one of his previous books (a non-fiction book of the same name). Boomerang is a continuation from The Big Short, where Michael Lewis extended his investigations to the international waters, and unveiling what went on behind the curtains of those countries hit hardest by GFC 2008, namely; Iceland, Greece, Ireland, Germany, and then finally, the US.

In this book, Michael Lewis detailed how debt was the common denominator behind the economic downfalls in every country, but there is also a great diversity in the manner each country spent their cheaply borrowed credits. Between 2002 and 2008, it became very easy to borrow money. In Iceland, the entire country turned into a giant hedge fund, where the bankers used the money to engage in aggressive acquisitions of foreign assets, which they bought and sold at grossly inflated prices. In Greece, the government wasted the loans on a mass spending spree, thus dragging down the banks with their public debts. In Ireland, the loans fueled a construction frenzy, in which they built an oversupply of homes and sold them at hyper inflated prices. The German bankers, meanwhile, purchased mountains of subprime loans from the US and bonds issued by Greece, all the while thinking those were "risk free investments". Finally, in the US, they incurred mass public and private debts because people wanted to live above their means.

Boomerang described how each country spent their loans and created the economic bubbles, each in their unique ways. The author attributed the diversity of money spending to the national cultures. Some people criticized the author for cultural stereotype. I am not a scholar in this field, so I don't know the role of national cultures in these affairs. However, I do think there is a common theme behind it all – GFC 2008 was a result of people wanting to live above their means, and sacrificing long term interests and common good in exchange for short term gains.

Boomerang is funny, but it is also scary. The stuff that people did was nothing short of incredible, in a bad way. You would have expected to find this sort of stories in satires and parodies like Discworld, but not in the real life! Yet, the stuff mentioned in this book is our recent history. Truth, is indeed stranger than fiction! This is why the book is also scary. I mean, take a look around, and start paying attentions to news in the financial world, does it look like the world has learned the lesson?

I highly recommend Boomerang.