An excellent novel that I read recently as part of a Book Ray. The original copy has now been sent on to the next person on the list. I also bought myself a copy to add to my permanent collection as I fully intend to re-read it.
This copy will be wrapped up to give as a surprise christmas gift at Leeds Meet Up on Dec 13th 2005. I hope whoever gets it will enjoy it as much as I did.

What a great "secret santa" present - I love Christmas! ;-)

I look forward to reading this - hope to have some spare time over the festive season.

Well it took me a while to get through this - partly I think because it was so rich and full, not a wasted word. I thought it was excellent, I've not read anything like it before. It takes the form of 10 short stories which at first seem to be unrelated. It soon becomes clear that they do have a tenuous link - almost as if they are just brushing past each other anonymously in a crowd. As the novel progresses the relationship seem more and more relevant and the stories, which would probably stand on their own quite comfortably, come together to make something much greater than the sum of their parts.

RELEASE NOTES:

TBR

This was Mitchell's debut novel, or perhaps debut short story collection would be a better description. Ghostwritten is subtitled 'A Novel In Nine Parts', and then helpfully contains ten stories.

I spent the whole time reading Ghostwritten in a state of contented confusion, each of the stories, starting with the immediate aftermath of a terrorist nerve gas attack, are interesting and pleasing. All are linked, but sometimes only by the most tenuous of threads as the story goes from young Japanese lovers to a financial advisor having an epiphany to the life story of a Chinese woman running a tea shop on Holy Mountain.

There's a bit of something here for everyone, love stories, brutal lives, a Local Hero type melodrama with remote islanders trying to stop the evil Yanks from stealing their famous scientist, and some rather sci-fi like bits with a wandering soul and the mysterious semi-Godlike Zookeeper.

Is there a point or moral the point that Mitchell is trying to put across ? I'm not sure, war is bad ? We really need God ? Mankind is hell bent on self destruction ? I quite enjoyed reading this, although for me the plot is buried just a little too deeply.

RELEASE NOTES:

Leeds bookcrossers.

Did managed to follow the threds through after a hard start.

I originally picked this up to give to the hospital for Christmas but reading the comments I've decided to swop it for something that's been on my 'To be read' list for a while. I'm intrigued as to whether i'll be able to follow the various threads.

For some reason I had convinced myself that I wouldn't like this book which is why it took me so long to get started with reading it. I finally decided that I would pick it up and give it a chance and if it wasn't any good after 50 pages I would give up. 50 pages later and I was completely hooked.

I don't normally like short stories as I find that by the time i've gotten into the stories they are coming to an end. I did find this a little bit with this book but I thought that the various segments were about the right length and I liked the way they all linked together and culminated in something more.

To be released at tonight's Leeds Meetup

Not my usual kind of fare but this was really well pitched to my last night at the meet and I am actually really looking forward to reading this soon.