Shadow of the Wind by Zafón
Ref: Carlos Zafón (2005). Shadow of the Wind: The Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Penguin Books.
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Summary
Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals from its war wounds, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love (goodreads).
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Misc Quotes
“Not evil,” Fermín objected. “Moronic, which isn’t quite the same thing. Evil presupposes a moral decision, intention, and some forethought. A moron or a lout, however, doesn’t stop to think or reason. He acts on instinct, like a stable animal, convinced that he’s doing good, that he’s always right, and sanctimoniously proud to go around fucking up, if you’ll excuse the French, anyone he perceives to be different from himself, be it because of skin color, creed, language, nationality, or, as in the case of Don Federico, his leisure habits. What the world needs is more thoroughly evil people and fewer borderline pigheads.”
Man heats up like a lightbulb: red hot in the twinkling of an eye and cold again in a flash. The female, on the other hand heats up like an iron. Slowly, over a low heat, like a tasty stew. But then, once she has heated up, there’s no stopping her.
You are talking to a professional in the craft of seduction, and this business of kissing is for amateurs and little old men in slippers. Real women are won over bit by bit.
The eternal human stupidity of pursuing those who hurt us the most.
Refined people liked to discover unusual qualities in marriageable girls, besides submissiveness and the fecundity of youth.
The fragrance of the eternal feminine no longer overpowers me the way it mesmerizes you. At my age the flow of blood to the brain has precedence over that which flows to the loins.
“Ah, the army, blight and refuge for the basest simian instincts. All the better, because this way you can cuckold him without feeling guilty.”
“The most efficient way of rendering the poor harmless is to teach them to want to imitate the rich.”
“Making money isn’t hard in itself,” he complained. “What’s hard is to earn it doing something worth devoting one’s life to.”
Fools talk, cowards are silent, wise men listen.
Time goes faster the more hollow it is. Lives with no meaning go straight past you, like trains that don’t stop at your station.
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