When it comes to eBook formatting and production, most authors have been led to believe it’s a more complicated procedure than it really is. With the use of a $45 program, you can eliminate dozens of formatting hours, (potentially) thousands of dollars to pay a professional, and a lot of frustration. All you need to know is How to Build a Professional eBook in 9 Easy Steps Using Scrivener.

1. Start a project.

Scrivener doesn’t have “documents”; it has projects. Click File, then New, then the template you wish to use – the blank one works best – and then name your project. Once you’re in, you can either compile the whole thing into one document – more on that in a moment – or you can export individual “drafts,” which I usually call “chapters,” into their own separate file outputs (and yes, it is compatible to Word).

• Click File and New Project…
• Then, name your project.

2. Create your chapters.

By simply right-clicking “Drafts” on the left sidebar (or clicking “Drafts” with two fingers if you’re a Macbook Pro user), you will get a drop-down menu. Select “Add,” and then “New Text.” Do that any time you wish to break chapters. (Trust us, it’ll make the table of contents go like a dream on the final compile.) From here, you can write out each chapter. And that’s the last thing we’re going to say about the actual writing part because, after all, this is about producing a professional quality eBook as easily as possible.

• Right-click Drafts and select New Text to add a chapter.

3. Proof your final text.

Now we’ll be skipping ahead, and assume your 50,000 to 100,000 words are out of the head and onto the screen. What next? Well, before you even think about creating an eBook and putting it up on Amazon’s or another bookseller’s site, you need to have it proofed and edited. Make sure you haven’t written an embarrassment that will equate your name with crap for the remainder of life. Remember, this is about building a professional eBook. We can’t emphasize step three enough.

4. Add the images you want.

Fancy decor isn’t necessary for eBooks. People don’t buy them to see what kind of header image you have announcing Chapter 2. However, if you want to add a touch of flare, it isn’t difficult, though you may need some help from design programs, such as Gimp, Adobe PhotoShop or Apple’s iPhoto. These programs will help you get the sizing and effects right. Try to keep any images at a reasonable file size (around 500KB is fine if you’re not going too image heavy). Do your homework, and ensure you’re not violating anyone’s copyright. Your own skills with a camera or places such as Flickr’s Creative Commons, Fotolia, and Stock.XCHNG are great sources for free or low-cost images. Once you’ve decided where you want those images to go within the document, click “Edit,” “Insert,” and “Image from File,” or simply copy and paste the image into the document. Both methods have worked effectively in my own efforts. Note: This does not apply to your cover. For that, make sure you have the full cover image uploaded into the “Research” section along the left sidebar. We’ll tell you why later.

• Move your cursor to where you wish to position the image in the document, then click Edit, Insert, and Image from File. Select the picture you want to use.
• Don’t forget to add your cover to the Research portion of the project.
• Your cover will show up in the main pane in its true resolution size when you click on it on the left sidebar.

5. Open ‘Compile.’

Under the “File” menu at the very bottom, you’ll find the option to “Compile.” Click this. A dialog box should come up along with a host of options to the left and a drop down menu at the bottom. Go first to the drop down menu, find .epub or .mobi, click one, and then turn your attention to the left sidebar of the dialog box (“Compilation Options”). These options start with “Contents” and end with “Meta-Data.”

• Click File and Compile.
• At the bottom of the dialog box, note the Compile For: drop down menu. Find the .epub or .mobi option.

6. Set your front cover.

When you get to the “Cover” option, here you will be able to choose the photo you want to include as the eBook cover. But again, you can only do this if you’ve uploaded your full-sized cover to the “Research” section – see Step No. 4. If you have, just click the drop down menu by “Cover Image:” and select.

• When you get to the Cover Compilation Option, you can only pick from the images in your Research field. Aren’t you glad you added the Cover already? Now all you have to do is select it from the drop down menu.

7. Do your final checklist.

There are about nine more options to go after this. Move down through each and determine whether what is applicable – it’s all very self-explanatory at this point.

• Work through the remainder of the options.

8. Compile.

Find the “Compile” button in the bottom right corner of the dialog box. Click it. The program will now download the .epub or .mobi to your folders. You can check formatting in Adobe Digital, but we recommend using the real deal. Grab an eReader, hook it to your computer, and drag the .epub or .mobi file – not the Scrivener project – into the device’s files. Note: Extensions here are very important. The Scrivener Project would not be readable on the Nook Color, Kindle Fire, iPad, or other reading device, and it would likely fail to open at all.

• Click Compile in the bottom right hand corner of the dialog box.

9. Play with the formatting.

Remember when transferring files – it’s .mobi for Kindle devices, .epub for everyone else. Once you have the file transferred to its corresponding device, open that bad boy up and take a look. It’s not enough at this juncture to look at how the cover displays (though you should). You should also flip through each page, pay particularly close attention to how your images are displaying, and play with text size to make sure that it doesn’t throw anything off. Once you’re convinced everything is ready to go, find some fellow writerly types and strike up a good rapport with them on Google+ or one of the other social networks. Offer to send them a free digital copy in exchange for their honest opinion as well as their comments on any formatting or text errors they notice. (You never know. You may just find your first positive review in the process once you’re ready to upload to Amazon. Remember these people. If they enjoyed the book, they’ll have no problem posting a review at your request later on.)

Epublishing facilitator Mark Coker of Smashwords has written a lengthy manual on how to format your eBook for mass consumption. It goes on for about 32 pages. Why put up with all that? Get Scrivener. Follow these steps. Save your money and the headache. Mission accomplished.

What have been your experiences with Scrivener? Share your thoughts below!

How to Build a Professional eBook in 9 Easy Steps Using Scrivener is a post from: Lifed

Think you live in a totally free society? Ask the authors of these 7 Books that Were Banned in the U.S. To be fair, all of these books are now available, but considering many were written in the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries, we’re not far removed from when they were hard to come by. Not all were banned outright by the government. Some were simply removed due to parental or administrative pressure at the high school level. Regardless, they are all proof you can’t just say whatever you want to in this country, even today.

Ulysses by James Joyce    

What It’s About: A Modernist re-imagining of the poem The Odyssey set in 1904 Dublin. Leopold Bloom is the Odysseus character. Stephen Dedalus is Telemachus. Molly Bloom is Penelope. However, the 265,000-word novel takes several forks from the original work and emerges as a completely original stream-of-consciousness piece.

Why It Was Banned: Sex. Why else?

When We Wised Up: Ulysses was published in 1922 and faced a temporary government ban stateside, which finally went away in the 1933 case of the United States vs. One Book Called Ulysses. Most people who hate reading find the language and structure of the novel difficult to deal with and would probably prefer it stay out of the curriculum.

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

What It’s About: Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer is an autobiography of sorts detailing his time as a struggling author in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Why It Was Banned: Many agree that Tropic of Cancer is the reason literature today has such a wide breadth in the U.S. It didn’t get there easy, however. Originally published in Paris, the first edition was banned by our government in 1934 for its overt sexuality and candidness. An American printing by Grove Press in the early 1960s led to obscenity trials as the book fought the label of being “pornographic.”

When We Wised Up: In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the book as “safe.” A 1970 film starring Rip Torn and retroactively rated NC-17 was to follow. Don’t know about you all, but Torn in an NC-17 film is something we’d be okay with banning.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

What It’s About: A woman’s husband is crippled and rendered impotent. She loves her husband dearly, but also loves sex. With his approval, she seeks a resolution to the problem.

Why It Was Banned: The official ban was for the violation of obscenity laws. With “Lover” right there in the title, we think you get the picture. Best we can tell, this was banned in the 1930s. U.S. Senator Reed Smoot offered this critique of the book and the author: “I’ve not taken ten minutes on Lady Chatterley’s Lover, outside of looking at its opening pages. It is most damnable! It is written by a man with a diseased mind and a soul so black that he would obscure even the darkness of hell!” (It is believed he did not particularly care for the book.)

When We Wised Up: The ban was overturned in 1959.

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

What It’s About: A young boy is awakened in the middle of the night and has an out-of-clothing experience that sees him almost getting baked in an oven. (It’s a children’s book, just go with it.)

Why It Was Banned: Author Maurice Sendak’s previous work Where the Wild Things Are was released in 1963 and already had folks on edge for its dark tone. When Sendak featured a naked little boy in the artwork of In the Night Kitchen – and we’re not talking just a butt shot – the censors took note. It wasn’t long before school administrators and teachers started seeing phallic and semenal symbolism in other parts of the book and drew comparisons to Sendak’s homosexuality.

When We Wised Up: The book is not banned outright – at least not by the government. However, schools are reluctant to include it in their curriculums, with some banning it outright even today.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly by Harriet Beecher Stowe

What It’s About: The story of a Christian slave, who stays true to his faith, even in the face of death. This is his story, and the stories of the lives he touches along the way.

Why It Was Banned: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, as it is more commonly known, was initially banned in the southern United States for obvious reasons. It portrayed the atrocities of slavery, a practice very popular in the South, for what they were and mobilized the abolitionist movement.

When We Wised Up: Since the end of the Civil War, the novel’s main trouble comes in the form of its portrayal of African-Americans. There are many stereotypes throughout, and that gets it a bit of a bad reputation. However, many historians believe it was responsible for bringing about the Civil War and the end of slavery, so it’s tough to be too critical. One apocryphal story alleges that President Abraham Lincoln himself met the author and referred to her as “the little lady who started this great war.”

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

What It’s About: An American becomes embroiled in the Spanish Civil War and falls in love against the backdrop of a dangerous mission to ignite a vital bridge.

Why It Was Banned: For Whom the Bell Tolls contains several instances of brutality including a gang rape scene, but it was the perceived pro-Communist message that caused the U.S. Post Office to react, declaring the book unfit for mailing.

When We Wised Up: The ban occurred in 1941, but lasted only briefly. By 1943, Gary Cooper was starring in the film version alongside Ingrid Bergman.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

What It’s About: The adventures of a mischievous youth and his friend, an escaped slave, along the Mississippi River.

Why It Was Banned: Huck Finn is one of those books that continues to be problematic for word choice. The easiest time it had was in England where it was first published circa 1884. As early as the 1885 U.S. Edition, libraries were nixing it from their inventories. Censorship of the novel persists even today with “updated” editions like The Hipster Huckleberry Finn, which replaces the notorious N-word with “hipster.”

When We Wised Up: The constant use of the N-word is difficult to get around for many, especially in the high school environment. As a result, urban areas are reluctant to teach it in its pure form. Well into the 21^st Century, school districts are still playing avoidance, though the novel remains accessible.

What about your experiences? Ever had a book removed from your school’s curriculum for objectionable content? Share your experiences below!

7 Books that Were Banned in the U.S. is a post from: Lifed

Comics have undergone a resurgence thanks to digital sales, yet some otherwise technologically sound fanboys stick to the old ways. Add to that the fact that comics haven’t really been profitable despite their characters producing some of the highest grossing films of all time, and you’ve got the beginnings of a compelling argument for why we should stop keeping these things around in their current form. In that spirit, Life’d now looks at the 5 Reasons to Ditch the Traditional Comic or Graphic Novel.

1. Print comics eat up too much space.

We live in a shrinking world. Thanks to rising costs, shrinking wages, and an overall rotten economic outlook, we need all the living area we can to survive. And since most of us won’t be upgrading houses any time soon, it’s time to think about maximizing the space available for the best possible use. It’s doubtful long white cardboard boxes filled with poly-bagged comics is the answer. You’d be surprised at how quickly your sequential storytellers can choke out the floorspace in your room. Why obsess over it when you can simply make the switch to digital?

2. Digital sales allow you to buy once and keep forever.

Over the years, some of my favorite comic books disappeared into thin air. Okay, so maybe they were really just misplaced, destroyed or stolen. The point is, those comics that I used to own and cherish are now gone. I don’t know where they are, and they’re not coming back any time soon. Thanks to cloud-based technologies, this harsh reality no longer needs to be of concern. Simply make a purchase, and your comic or graphic novel will always be there, even if you remove it from the device used for the purchase. Ever want to read it again? Just re-download for free, and you’re back in action.

3. Prehistoric distribution channels shut out the indie.

At one time, the so-called “Direct Market” was a friendly place for independent publishers to be. And before you deride indies as crap, remember names like Image, Dark Horse, and Valiant. None of these brands would have ever had a prayer if they were starting out in the “Direct Market” of today. Diamond Comic Distributors, an increasingly worthless bane on the comic publishing community, is mostly to blame for forcing cash-strapped creators into offering the same discounts as the big boys and setting sales standards that were too high for most any indie without a big-name license to achieve. Of course, this same industry will deride income inequality and vote Democrat at the polls, but they have no problem sticking it to the little guy. Basically, Diamond throws up every obstacle they can until you’re able to make it IN SPITE OF them and not BECAUSE of them. Digital sales have started to level the playing field between Spider-Man and quality independents like Atomic Robo, hopefully hastening the day of the distributor’s demise.

4. Digital sales grant the owner privacy.

Growing up I was a closet comic book fan because I had to be. My town was a football town, and if you weren’t playing in the big game on Thursday and later Friday nights, then you were hopelessly labeled a geek. Unfortunately, “geek” in the Nineties wasn’t as cool as “geek” in 2013. We hadn’t discovered how to create apps and make millions at that point. However, in some pockets, comics still have an unsavory stigma attached to them, and thanks to digital sales, you can read whatever you want, whenever you want, and no one has to be the wiser for it.

5. Comics are no longer collectible.

The only comic book that you’ll ever make six- or seven-figures on in 2013 are ones that were created 70 or 80 years ago. To get top dollar, they have to be in good shape, too. Good luck with that. The hard truth is, no comic created after the 1960s is going to be paying for your Hawaii vacation or serving as the down payment on a house. The vast majority are worthless, especially comics of the last few years. Since there is no monetary reason to keep new comics around anymore, you might as well cut your losses and go to digital.

The comic book industry, unfortunately, does a pretty good job of killing itself. You don’t need to speed along its demise by supporting the archaic paper copy delivery. If you want to see the art and the storytellers survive, buy a digital today.

What about you? Are you “off” paper comics? Have a compelling argument why we should keep them around? Sound off in the comments section below.

5 Reasons to Ditch the Traditional Comic or Graphic Novel is a post from: Lifed

Always dreamed of writing the Great American Novel, but aren’t sure where to start (or don’t have the patience)? Query letters, rejection slips, writer conferences that cost a small fortune to attend…forget all that. Becoming an author who makes money today is much easier than it was 20, or even 5, years ago. But get ready to wear more than one hat. After all, you’re not a writer anymore. You’re a writer entrepreneur. And these 9 Steps to Immediately Launch Your Career and Earn Money as an Author Tomorrow will help you bypass the old guard and earn your creative (and financial) freedom.

1. Write a first draft.

Every great journey starts with a small step. And your first should be writing a first draft. Don’t worry. It doesn’t have to be good. (And if you’re convinced it is, then you’re setting yourself up for embarrassment.) But you do have to get the words out of your head and on to the computer screen. That takes focus, planning, and commitment. For The Congregation I used timed writing sessions in three 20-minute increments each day and made sure I was writing the whole time the timer was running. This netted me around 2,000 words per day for an hour of work while holding several freelance jobs, paying the bills, and paying taxes. In less than a month, I had a first draft.

2. Read aloud (to yourself). 

The best way to know what works and what doesn’t is to set aside a time and a place to read your work aloud. Each time you stumble, focus on the wording and make notes as to what it was that caused you to stop. This process will root out many of the mistakes and story gaps that plague first drafts. Just make sure you’re not reading aloud in the same room with your wife as she’s trying to watch the latest episode of “Once Upon a Time.”

3. Run text through editing program.

You’ve written a first draft and slogged through the oral reading. You’ve made notes, and then changes based on those notes. The book’s ready to publish, right? Wrong. Over time, you’ve grown too close to the material, and no matter how hard you try, there will still be dozens of things—either story- or grammar- and spelling-related—that don’t work. Editing programs can help. My favorite is web-based and requires a membership that’s something like $50 per year. It’s called AutoCrit.com, and it catches far more problems than spelling and grammar. It notes homonyms, Flesch-Kincaid reading ease, number of sentences, number of words per sentence, overused words and suggestions for how to fix, repetitive and redundant phrases, and so much more. All of this is tabbed out in individual sections, making it easy to follow and correct.

4. Beta test.

Now you’re ready to let another pair of eyes look at your work. The good news is, you can do this for no more cost than providing a free eCopy to friends and followers on your social networks. Goodreads and Google+ are the best resources for finding helpful souls willing to tell you what’s working and what isn’t. Inevitably some will enjoy and some won’t. Make two folders – one for the fans, one for the critics. You’ll need these later.

5. Get editorial help.

If you’ve followed steps one through four, then you should be dealing with a fairly clean story. At this point, consider hiring a professional editor to give the book a final review. Review his notes. Make changes if they make sense. Ignore if they don’t. Pay as little money as possible.

6. Design a good cover, and if you can’t do that, hire someone to do it.

With The Congregation, my first, I knew better than to go it alone. I hired a professional designer named Joie Simmons, and was blown away with the results. I found him by posting a forum thread that stated upfront the dollar amount I could afford on the Digital Webbing Talent Engine (free). He responded via email, and from that point forward, no one had a shot. Since then I’ve studied what Joie did to make that cover work, and I’ve been able to cobble together a few efforts that I’m convinced will keep me out of the featured section on Nathan Shumate’s Lousy Book Covers website – a place you don’t want to be, but will deservedly end up if you put out something that looks like this.

Generally, for a cover to show up well on an eReader and as a thumbnail on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, you’ll need an original file resolution of at least 600 x 900. Here’s what Joie did.

And here’s one I recently did using legally free images from http://www.sxc.hu/ and free fonts from http://www.1001freefonts.com/.

Even though I’m convinced I’m okay at this, I’ll use Joie again. The guy works fast, and there is a level of excitement and enthusiasm that comes from letting another person create an image based on your vision.

7. Get Scrivener and compile your eBook.

If you haven’t heard of Scrivener, then welcome to the writing profession! The program, which was built for Apple but does have a Windows version, allows you so much flexibility when it comes to organizing your ideas and making order from the chaos that is writing. It also allows you to create an entry for each chapter within the overall project. This is important because when you use the “Compile” feature to convert your project to .mobi (Kindle’s ebook format) or .epub (everyone else’s), it automatically creates a hyperlinked table of contents. Adding stationary images to your eBook is a breeze and compilation takes all of 10 seconds.

8. Proof one final time on actual eReader device.

I have a Nook Color, a Kindle Fire, and an iPhone, and I use each one to make sure my formatting isn’t doing anything wonky before putting a book out there for sale. Additionally, I will choose one of these devices and give my book a final read for enjoyment purposes. Thanks to all the eyeballs that have touched it leading up to this point, the book should read very smoothly. That doesn’t mean the world will love it, but it does mean you can put out a product that won’t embarrass you. One that some folks might even enjoy. (Remember the two folders with your beta-testers’ contact info from Step 4? Get ready to use that again.)

9. Upload to Amazon (and other sites if you choose).

Amazon is a must if you plan on making any cash as an indie author. They base their search results on keywords, algorithms and performance rather than the pay-to-play system of Barnes and Noble and Apple. I do very little marketing work for The Congregation and sell at least one per day compared to one every couple of months at the other sites. Now I’m part of the Kindle Owners Lending Library (Amazon Exclusive) and that has helped even more. Most writers who take time to produce quality work also admit that with each new release the sales of all their books increase. Makes sense. When was the last time a first-time author without New York’s marketing push caught your attention when grouped in with the Stephen King section? Digital is no different. The more you have for sale, the easier you are to find. But don’t compromise quality. This isn’t a fast-track way to financial independence, but it is a way to build your career gradually and responsibly. And reviews help. To get those, contact the people who enjoyed your work and ask them if they wouldn’t mind leaving a review on the Amazon site. Most, if not all, will be happy to.

9 Steps to Immediately Launch Your Career and Earn Money as an Author Tomorrow is a post from: Lifed

When choosing reading material for relaxing at the beach or lounging by the pool, odds are that you’re looking for a thrilling page-turner or something light and funny that you won’t have to think too hard about – War and Peace, not so much. That said, don’t we all have the goal of being more “well-read?” Unfortunately, chick lit and pulp thrillers can’t really help us meet this objective. To fulfill both your low-brow and high-brow needs this summer, we’ve put together this list of entertaining yet literary books that wouldn’t be out of place at the beach or on a literature class syllabus. Now you have no excuse not to crack open a book!

Madame Bovary

First published in 1856, this tale of adultery in provincial France became infamous after its author was tried and acquitted of the crime of “obscenity” for writing it. While Madame Bovary is today considered one of the greatest works of fiction ever written, the main character of Gustav Flaubert’s masterpiece could also be considered the original “Desperate Housewife.” Rich, bored and self-absorbed, Emma Bovary begins cheating on her husband after being seduced by the glamorous and wealthy Rodolphe. Her life then begins to spiral more and more out of control. This book will have you turning the pages til the very end to see what will happen next with Emma and her series of bad decisions. As a bonus, you’ll also be able to impress your friends by telling them a thing or two about literary realism. Très chic!

Rebecca

British writer Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 classic Rebecca has all the trappings of a good thriller: a spooky mansion in the English countryside, dark secrets involving a dead bride, and a sadistic villain – appearing in the form of an uber-creepy housekeeper named Mrs. Danvers. Mrs. de Winter is a young American who, while traveling on the French Riviera, is swept off her feet by a wealthy British widower, Maxim de Winter. The two quickly marry and move to Manderley, his isolated West Country estate. However, the second Mrs. De Winter soon begins to realize that while the first Mrs. de Winter, a.k.a. Rebecca, is long-dead, her memory is very much alive in Manderley. Besides being an enthralling, eerie mystery, Rebecca is also on many lists of the greatest books of the 20^th century.

The Code of the Woosters

Looking for some lighthearted yet witty entertainment? If you’re also a fan of British humor, you might want to check out The Code of the Woosters, the most critically acclaimed book in P.G. Wodehouse’s hilarious “Jeeves” series. These books primarily revolve around the funny antics and misadventures of the foppish English gentleman Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves. Nothing of very much importance actually takes place in The Code of the Woosters, first published in 1938 – the book begins with a bad hangover, and its main conflict involves the recovery of an antique cow creamer (with a sub-plot involving the theft of a policeman’s helmet). But if you’re a fan of Seinfeld, Oscar Wilde or Mr. Bean, you’ll probably get a kick out of this classy comedy. The best part is that there are over a dozen more books in the series to read if you like this one.

Fear of Flying

Erica Jong’s hilarious, sexually-charged first novel is today considered a feminist classic, although it was highly controversial at the time of its publication almost 40 years ago, being one of the first mainstream novels written by a female author to discuss women’s sexual desires in frank terms. Fear of Flying is about the journey of Isadora Zelda White Stollerman Wing, a neurotic yet likable writer who, at 29 and on her second marriage, fantasizes about having a completely uninhibited extra-marital affair – and ends up doing just that. This book wouldn’t really fall into the “erotica” category like the naughty and insanely popular 2012 bestseller, 50 Shades of Gray, but when Fear of Flying was published in 1973, it struck a chord with many married women who felt unfulfilled in their marriages. Though dated in some ways and not necessarily representative of the modern feminist view, Fear of Flying is both fun and funny, and it is still racy enough to make most readers blush. If you liked The Diary of Bridget Jones or any of Chelsea Handler’s books, this bawdy book is sure to delight.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary

Pretty much any book you pick up by David Sedaris, a contemporary humorist, essayist and National Public Radio contributor, is going to be side-splittingly funny. His accessible yet erudite style has both put him on the New York Times Bestseller List and earned him the distinction of “Humorist of the Year” by Time magazine. However, the “beachy-est” of Sedaris’s works is probably his latest short story collection, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary. Don’t let the large print and illustrations fool you – this book is for adults! This collection of hysterical, fable-like short stories, some of which Sedaris has read on NPR’s This American Life program, is about animals with human characteristics and predicaments – e.g., a cat and a mouse who meet in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, a chipmunk and a squirrel who begin dating but eventually “run out of things to talk about.” If you have a taste for dark humor and the absurd, pick up this highly entertaining and subtly thought-provoking collection.

The Shadow of the Wind

Love historical fiction, gothic romances or mysteries? Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s award-winning 2001 novel is a gothic, self-aware mystery that will keep you up into the wee morning hours. The setting is 1945 Barcelona, the protagonist, a boy named Daniel who has been initiated into the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a secret library. In this library he finds a book called The Shadow of the Wind, and from here unfolds an epic tale of magic, madness, romance and murder. This seductive novel captures your imagination with its descriptive language and rich sense of setting. Whether you’re lying out on the beach in Jersey or by the pool in your apartment complex, reading this book will utterly transport you away to a distant, dreamy place – which is the ultimate goal of summer vacation, is it not?

6 Literary Beach Reads: Your (Somewhat) Classy Summer Reading List is a post from: Lifed