Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I have to be open here.  I did try to read The Shadow of the Wind but I just couldn't get into it.  I put it to one side to try again in another mood.  It seemed perfect for me.  A spooky mystery story, about books, set in Barcelona.

I recently listened to a BBC World Book Club podcast.  It was a question and answer session with Carlos Ruiz Zafon, discussing his most famous book The Shadow of the Wind.  In the podcast he gave a couple of readings from the book and discussed many aspects of himself as a writer and the book.  All the time coming across as a thoroughly nice man.

What I liked most were two of the points he made.  One when he was asked if he could avoid old book shops and their wares.  he made it quite clear he could not, then said  "I remember when I was a kid, I always thought that if you can take just paper & ink and create characters & worlds & images that was the coolest thing.  It was like magic.  And I still feel that way.  I think it's wonderful that you can create all those things out of ink and paper, nothing else."  I thought was a wonderful thought to have as a child and take through with you to adulthood as a best-selling author.  I do think he's missing the two shakes of fairy dust though.  You need a write with the imagination to put th pen to the paper.  Then you need your own imagination to help you vision it as you read.  Here is a man that would understand when I say I can only truly lose myself in a book I love.

Later he was asked if he had any offers or plans to put his books onto the screen "Nothing tells a story with the depth, the riches, the complexity that a novel does when it's done right.  The best film version you're ever gonna see of Shadow of the Wind is playing in the theatre of your brain when you're reading.  The book is designed to work like that.  To evoke these images, these textures and the dynamics, movement & light and out you there.  So the idea of a movie seems extremely redundant and wrong to me.  And the only real reason to do that would be money.  Money is a great thing because it buys freedom and time, so I'm not putting down money.  But I think that the money I'm not making by not selling these books is the price I pay to preserve them as I think they should be.  And I think that because of the success of this novel has been made by the readers, by people who love books, who recommend this book among themselves.  In many ways I feel I owe it to readers to keep the books as they are.  Not sell them as a some piece of merchandise so they become something else."  Here he received a round of applause.  He acknowledged that he is lucky to be in a position to have this choice and that not all writers are so lucky.  Then he promised no films of his novels over his 'dead body'.  Even though you don't have to see the film made of the book you love.  Knowing it's out there is enough to bug you.  I think the man is right.  Vision your greatest reads yourself.  Film screenplays not my favourite books.

Oh, and yes.  I will be picking up the book for a proper read very soon.  It sounds wonderful :-)

The BBC World Book Club podcast can be found here