Photography by Romina Shama

Photography by Romina Shama.

Anthropologie Pick's

Book Review

The Shadow of the Wind
By Carlos Ruiz Zafon

This book was so incredibly good I can't even explain. I am such an avid reader, and to be completely honest, a very hard critic in my own right, but there was absolutely nothing that I didn't like about this book. I loved the Gothic-mysticism this book exuded, and the characters were so vivid. The story line is so amazing and how it ends is unbelievably perfect.

In a nut-shell: Young Daniel lives with his father in post-Spanish Civil War Barcelona atop their small bookshop business that barely keeps them afloat. One night, Daniel's father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books- an old library containing single editions of long-lost novels. Daniel picks a book titled The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax, and soon becomes enraptured by both the intriguing storyline and of the author himself. As Daniel begins searching both about the life and other works by the young author, he becomes the target of a haunting and disfigured man named Laín Coubert, who happens to share the same name of a sinister character in Carax's novel. Daniel suspects Coubert has a history with Carax, as the troubled man has been left faceless from severe burns and has one goal in his mindset: to collect all of Julián Carax's novels and burn them.
Soon Daniel learns that his copy of The Shadow of the Wind is the sole remaining novel by Carax in existence, which increases the tension between him and Coubert. As Daniel learns more about the life of Carax, the striking parallels that are drawn between him and Daniel is startling, and the reader fears Daniel will end with the same fate as the young author.
This book is amazing, and definitely worth the read! It literally transforms you into another world and you become enraptured by the storyline. Zafon is such a talented author and when I learned he has another novel titled The Angels Game, I was ecstatic! If you love books as much as you do, this one will be on your All-Time Best lists, that's guaranteed!

Favorite Interiors

Tim Walker

Perhaps one of the most beautiful ad campaigns for perfume... ever.

An Education

Loved everything about this film. The storyline, the directing, the costumes, the cast, the soundtrack is beautiful, and almost every scene you could frame and put it on your walls- it's pure photography. The acting was absolutely superb and I am so excited that it's nominated for several Oscars this year.

Jenny, a young schoolgirl from a small English town has a promising life in front of her, of academic achievement and personal success. However, when she meets David, a convincingly charming older man one rainy afternoon, she soon believes that the lessons you learn outside the classroom are more exciting and worth-while. Soon, David whisks Jenny into an exciting world of nightclubs, fashionable (and expensive!) shopping outings and an enchanting trip to Paris on the eve of her seventeenth birthday. Jenny becomes intoxicated with David's world, and her academic future at Oxford becomes a dream of the past. Set in the glamorous backdrop of the 1960s, Jenny transforms from a naive and innocent girl into a elegant, beautiful (and still naive!) young mistress.

I am definitely buying the soundtrack to this one, it'll make fabulous dining and entertaining music! I LOVE French music, and the ones by the wonderful Juliette Greco are mesmerizing. Duffy sings another fabulous one entitled "Smoke Without Fire", which she wrote especially for this film, and amazing Beth Rowley's "You've Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger" is definitely one of my all time favorites. The stunning Melody Gardot also sings "Your Heart is as Black as Night" which I find myself listening to countless times.

This movie deserves to win an Oscar. Carey Milligan is fantastic.