JJ's Book Reviews

SHADOW OF THE WIND by carlos ruiz zafon;

he's a spanish writer and its his only book in english to date, its a story of a family whos tradition it is that when the boy comes of a certain age (about 12-13) his father takes him to a very old cemetery called the cemetery of forgotten books and how the boy is chosen by a book (because a book always chooses you) and so begins his fascination with this book he reads, and his fascination with its author.

a fantastically written, wonderfully atmospheric descriptions of Barcelona. a great book.

GREY SOULS by Phillipe claudel

One freezing cold morning in the dead of winter, a ten year old girl, one of three daughters of the local innkeeper, is found strangled and dumped in the canal. Suspicion falls on two deserters who are picked up near the town. This is a literary detective story about the murder of the young girl in a small town in Northern France in 1917.

one of the very few french authors i have ever read, if this guy seta a safe precedent for others from his country then bring it on, this is stunning writing, it is the only book in english from this guy that i know of again, really look forward to seeing more, there is one of those lines in this book that you hope you`ll find in all books you pick up (but rarely do) and it will never leave me, and the author delivered it in such a beautifully off-hand way that made it all that much better, not often can you call a crime book beautiful, this time its safe.

FRANKENSTEIN, beautifully adapted from mary shelley's, by margrete lamond and illustrated by drahos zak.

this is a hard back book with the coolest illustrations depicting the visions of the original story, i couldn't imagine reading it without them its got a real magic to it.

my favourite for the books that came out this summer.

CARRY ME DOWN by M.J Hyland.

seen through the eyes of a 6ft 11 year old boy, john egan, who is also very eccentric, intelligent and bordering on mad, with a passionate love for the Guinness book of records, and convinced he has a very special gift for lie detection, set in country ireland and dublin, this is the story of a family trying to survive and come to terms with each other.

this is some of the best writing i`ve come across by an author i have only just discovered, she has another book called HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN.

By JJ Aitken