I know I’ve confessed on this blog before that I have a little crush on a specific man, but I reckon after last night it’s turned into a proper full blown obsession. Honestly, he is everything you want: Articulate. Clever. Funny. Modest. Just Perfect.
His name is Carlos. He’s Spanish. Although if you ask him he’d say he just happened to be born in Barcelona, he could have been born anywhere. Where you’re born is not that important he says. Home is the place where he lives at any given time. Home can be anywhere.
Now before you think I’m having some juicy affair behind my awesome Geek’s back. I’m not really. I’m talking about Carlos Ruiz Zafon. That amazing author of Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game. His stories are dark and gothic and oh so beautifully written.
In Shadow of the Wind I walked with Daniel on that misty morning to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Actually I WAS Daniel. I saw the winding labyrinth. I smelled the musty pages of the books with souls. And the opening paragraph in The Angel’s Game had me clutching the book to my chest as I rushed to the counter of the bookstore to pay. I mean: “the sweet poison of vanity in his blood” and “he machine-gunned the text with corrections and amputations.” How amazing right?
Carlos (I feel I can call him that, I’ve looked into his eyes, I’ve earned that right) confessed that he does not have a muse calling him on his cell phone with ideas. And that he would love for Microsoft to develop a software programme called MetaphorX to write his metaphors for him. Apparently he has to squeeze his brain real hard for anything to come out. Just like any other mortal. That statement made him even more perfect in my eyes.
And he does have two vices. Alcohol is not one of them; it gives him a headache. No it’s cigars and caffeine. I don’t think the cigars part is much of a vice because he only smokes one every six months or so. But it sounds like if he could he’d mainline on Coca Cola, which to a fellow caffeine and sugar addict is not such a bad thing really.
After the talk he sat patiently and signed all the books placed in front of him. He chatted to every person. I must confess, I was star struck. I mean I’ve had a crush on the man for who knows how long and then suddenly he’s sitting right in front of me. So rather than saying something stupid I just smiled like that obsessed fan Annie Wilkes in Stephen King’s novel Misery. But he still signed the book for me. Thank you Carlos!
