Unexpected blessings on the funniest night in ages

It is one of the unexpected blessings from The Crossing build that we now have the Acorn theatre in the old URC building. I love a little bit of theatre - anything from Coward to comedy (I guess Coward is comedy but you know what I mean).

Last Wednesday, I spent the funniest night of the last decade (and probably longer) with Ian McMillan, aka the Barnsley poet. From the moment we entered the theatre, he was waiting on the door and we didn't stop laughing for the next 90 minutes.

Shadow of the wind

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

If enough people tell you that a book is good, you really ought to listen to what they are saying. I had tried and given up with this book a few months ago, and couldn't see what all the fuss was about.However, it was chosen for the May read at the reading group and so I started again and persisted this time.

For the first two thirds of the book I continued to feel confused. This book has a lot of characters, a lot of the names begin with F, and they are all Spanish! The book takes you down all sorts of little paths, that seem to lead nowhere. There are very specific details given about characters hwo are merely passing through. Now some people will see that as a delight, I find it perplexing because I am trying so hard to remember everything, just in case. The way the plot develops reminded me of The Da Vinci Code, or Labyrinth by Kate Mosse with all of its twists and turns.

The final third of the book is its redemption as the pace speeds up and all of the threads seem to get woven together. The story itself was original and thought-provoking. In my opinion, it could have done with some careful editing. All in all, worth it for the 150 pages.