Author Ogling

By Bookman and I ventured out last night to see Carlos Ruiz Zafón, author of The Shadow of the Wind. If you have not read this book yet, what have you been waiting for? It is a reader's book, and I guarantee you, you will see pieces of yourself in it. Anywho, Zafón told the medium-sized bookstore audience a little about himself and about Shadow. He modestly told us that the book is the best selling book ever in Spain. It was also the first book from Spain to ever make it on the French bestseller list, and it has been on the German list for about three years. When I say he was modest, I mean it. He was obviously proud of his achievement, but he is not a snooty, made-it-to-the-big-time author. He is funny and seems like a genuinely nice person, the kind you'd like to have as a friend. During question time someone asked if the book was going to be a movie. Absolutely not. Zafón used to write movies and he said he knew what would happen to his book if a scriptwriter got hold of it. Besides, he said, some things don't need to be commercialized, some books should be left as books, and there could be no better movie than the one the reader creates in his head while reading the book. He also admitted that he is fortunate enough to not need the money that a movie would give him. He said if this was his first book and he was struggling to pay the bills, sure he'd sell the movie rights. But he is glad he doesn't have to do that and I'm glad too. If you have read Shadow already, you might be interested to know that Zafón is writing three other books that take place in Barcelona and involve the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. They are all stand-alone books but will overlap here and there. I can hardly wait!