The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - I struggled with actually being able to type what I am about to type. As a librarian, the words that follow carry a weight outside of themselves when I repeat them to others, so I do not use them lightly...this book is, quite possibly, the best book I have ever read. It was difficult for me to get into this book, to really sit down and embrace it, as I was busy and distracted throughout the first half. That is never the way to read a book. This one deserves to be savored, each and every word of it, and I fully intend to go back and read it in order to give the parts I took lightly the respect I failed to give them initially.

I can't really even describe what this book is about as it is about so many things, it is the story of so many people, and it is the story of a city...Barcelona. On the facade, it is a book about a book. But, once inside, the reader finds that it is really a book about how books affect us, emotionally, spiritually, and physcially. How a book can reach out and grab us and take us down an entirely different road than we had anticipated. That is all I am going to give you about the plot of this book...if you don't take my recommendation simply on its own merits by now, then anything I write about the book won't sell it to you. READ THIS BOOK....

Run by Ann Patchett - Our first Rival Readers' novel of the year was a well-written dissappointment. Although the author has a wonderful skill in portraying her characters almost perfectly through her prose, she failed to capture my attention by making the plot too uneventful and predictable.

The story of twin brothers adopted from poverty into prosperity, Tip and Teddy Doyle grew up in the priveleged atmosphere of Bostonian wealth. Their adoptive father Bernard Doyle, a mayor of Boston in their youth, gave them every opportunity to excel, and excel they did. The book, which takes place over a 24 hour period, finds them in the midst of their college years, each finding his own path. An eventful car accident on a snowy night throws the Doyle family into turmoil, something they've not had to experience. A mother, a sister, and a long-lost brother all join the book during the short night. In the end, we find out more about Tip and Teddy's past, but all in an unremarkably uneventful way.

Hopefully, our second book, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory McGuire, will be much more interesting!