Thérèse Neelands

This Isn’t A Book Review.

I’ve had this draft for awhile, and haven’t had a chance to finish it, but I got sick of seeing my previous post, so here we go…

I think it may have been the first time in my life that I’ve given up on a book. I’ve definitely put a book back on the shelf after the first few pages of disliking it, but rarely, if ever, have I been half way through and said forget it.

Which is what I did with The Enchantress of Florence, Salmon Rusdie. Amidst the hmming and hawing I thought “But it’s Rushide!! Isn’t Rushdie supposed to be, like, a guaranteed good read??” I would carry the thing around in my purse (as I do every book) and never have the will to pull it out. I would clamber on the train after a day’s work and feel the weight of it there, and decide to read an ad about erectile dysfunction instead.

Finally, in my mind’s eye, I saw my mother in-law wagging her finger at me. “Don’t you dare force yourself to read a book! There are far too many good books in the world you’d be missing out on!

With a heavy heart, I returned Rushdie to the shelf.

Once bitten twice shy. Normally one who prides herself on being able to judge a book by its cover, I was now completely out of confidence. Finally, after caressing every book in the store, I came across the $20.00 table. Hardcover, The Angel’s Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, author of The Shadow of The Wind, the best book ever, and one I had been waiting to come out in paperback in what seemed like forever. (It was a toss between The Year of The Flood  and the aforementioned, but don’t tell Margaret. I can hardly believe it myself). I walked out with The Angel’s Game.

The Angel's Game, Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Excellent! Best of all I love the writing. Dramatic and atmospheric and a definite page turner.

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