The Spanish Bow is the story of Feliu Delargo. Born in 1892, the book follows his life as he grows up in a small Spanish villiage, follows his journey to becoming a world-renowned cellist, and follows his life trying to use his fame to try to make his world a better place. We get to see how WWI, the Spanish Civil War, and WWII all effect his family, his professional life, and his friends.

First, let me say that this book has one of my two favourite opening hooks that I’ve managed to stumble across this year:

I was almost born Happy.

I positively love that sentence. It goes on to talk about how the main character was almost named “Feliz”, but really it could mean almost anything as a first sentence. It just completely sparked the imagination, and dragged me into the book immediately. Unfortunately, about a third into the book, I found that it started to drag a little bit. But the last third of the book really picked up again.

This book was certainly more of a character-driven book than plot-driven. It does of course help that the book follows one man from birth through until he is about mid 80′s, but even the other characters were all so well developed too. I love that two of the main characters who performed so brilliantly together were the opposite in every other respect – manners, personality, political stances, etc. It certainly gave different perspectives to everything that was happening in their world.

But by far, my favourite was everything relating to Aviva – a young woman who is a bit of a violin prodigy. She struck me as a very Ophelia-ish character. I don’t want to spoil anything about her, but suffice to say we do get to watch her go a little mad.

It’s hard to believe that The Spanish Bow was Romano-Lax’s first novel. She does have roots in journalism, and you can see that in her writing, but still. I’ll definiely be looking forward to more of her books.

Yup, that’s me. HOWEVER. Christopher Plummer returning to Stratford deserves quite a bit of excitment as I love him and missed him last time he was at the Festival and vowed that the next time I would have to see him. So he’s going to be there next year huzzah! (Yes, I’m all bouncy now. And will be for the rest of the night. It’s fun.)

ALSO. Yay Serenity Collector’s Edition on DVD released today! Yay!

AND. Radio stations that play only stuff from musicals is the greatest thing in the history of ever. Except for perhaps the Doctor. Yes.

Midway through Carl V’s R.I.P. challenge last year, I decided that I had wished I had joined it. I didn’t, but it certainly gave me something to look forward to this year. For the past few months, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for books I want to read for the challenge, and huzzah! Now that it has been announced, I’m quite excited for the next two months. Gothic fiction is something I go in spurts with, and this year it seems like I’m getting back into my love for it, so most of what I’m reading for the challenge will be somewhat gothic in nature.

R.I.P. II is a September 1st through October 31st celebration of all tales gothic, eerie, creepy, and dark. Tales that one reads in the dark of night, experiencing delicious shivers of terror and suspense at each creak of the floorboards or each gust of wind.

I’ve decided to go with Peril 1 for the challenge, and I will be reading the following books:

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (a re-read)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Prowlers by Christopher Golden

Possible Additions:
Among the Shadows by L.M. Montgomery
Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
Mirrormask by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean
Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

In all honesty, I want to read all of my possible additions for this challenge, but I doubt I’ll have the time… but if not for the challenge, definitely soon. One of the main reasons that they’re in the additions list, and not one of the books I’m definitely going to read for the challenge is that I already own all of the ones I’m going to read for the challenge, and have to go on a hunt for the rest.