Marina

Marina is a fantasy and sci-fi novel developed in the second half of the twentieth century in the city of Barcelona. This book was written in 1999 by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, the author of The Shadow of the Wind  and The Prince of the Mist, amongst other good books. This story  leads up to Shadow of the Wind.

The book tells the story of Oscar Drai, who returns to his hometown, Barcelona. He tells a story that happened fifteen years ago, in September of 1980, when he discovers that he cannot escape from his past. Oscar is fifteen years old and he lives in a boarding school. There, he explores the surroundings, and decides to enter an abandoned  old house which belonges to Sarriá. There he meets Marina and her father, Germán Blau, a painter and a widower who is very sad about his wife's death. Oscar falls in love with Marina, but their love story has mystery and terror. Oscar, with this family, try to discover the mystery that hides the Velo-Granell, an old orthopedic factory from the 1940s in Barcelona.


The prestigious weekly Der spigel said that Marina was one of the most read books in Germany in 2011.


I found this story intriguing because I never knew how the characters were going to react in  extremely tense situations, in lives they are playing. Moreover, the story seemed to be pretty incredible especially the resurrection of Kolvenik, although the first half of the novel could be true.


I think this book is very good, I like it a lot.. In a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate it a 7.

J.K. Rowling

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born in United Kingdom in 1965. She is the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series. These books books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards and sold more than 400 million copies. 

Before publishing her first book, Bloomsbury, her publisher thought that perhaps some young people would not buy books written by a woman, so they advised her to use two initials.

When she was a child she enjoyed writing fantasy stories and she often told these to her sister.

She started to write Harry Potter when she was delayed in a train between Manchester and King's Cross. She usually writes for ten hours a day.

In 2001, Rowling bought a luxurious nineteenth century house near the Tay River in Aberfeldy, Scotland. She also has a home in Merchiston, Edinburgh, and a mansion worth 49 million dollars in Kensington, West London,  in a street with private security all day.

Forbes has named her as the first person to earn 1,000 million by writing books, the second richest female artist and the person number 1062 with the most money in the world. The Sunday Times Rich List ranked Rowling as the 144th richest person in Britain.

Rowling has received an honorary degrees from the University of St. Andrews, Edinburgh University, Napier University and the University of Aberdeen. 

In 2003 in Oviedo, Spain, she became the first female writer to be awarded the Prince of Asturias for Concord.

Rowling has a difficult relation with the press. In 2001 published some photos that she had not authorized of her daughter and her on a beach in Mauritius, published in the magazine OK!. Rowling has said that she particularly dislikes the British tabloid the Daily Mail, which made references to a stalker Rowling insists does not exist, and conducted interviews with her estranged ex-husband.

In 2000 Rowling founded the Volant Charitable Trust, which annually donates 5,1 million dollars to combat poverty, social inequality, and to help single parents and sclerosis research.

Rowling is now the president of the One Parent Families, a charity that helps single parents, because she was a single mother too. 

In 2008, the eve of the Labour Party Conference, Rowling announced that she had donated 1 million of dollars to this political party to help poor families and did not win the Conservative Party nomination.

 http://www.jkrowling.com/es