Javier Marías’s novels give some of the greatest and most unusual reading pleasures currently available. Dark Back of Time is a good one to begin with.
here’s a great article about him
http://www.newyorker.com/critics/content/articles/051114crbo_books
and here is his own website http://www.javiermarias.es/main.html
The back cover quotes this blurb from TLS "[Dark Back of Time] shows sensitivity in exploring an entire shadowland of human experience just beyond the reach of words, and could be said to be a culminating point in the author’s long career. Esther Allen’s excellent translation conveys the feel of her author’s idiolect."
The best words here are "shadowland" and "idiolect." Even in translation, Marías
is amazing for his "idiolect." The narrator has a distinctive way of telling his story, the prose itself feels strange and fresh and disturbing in ways that are captivating and unnerving. He’s not to be missed.
