'Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies...' Six interlocking lives - one amazing adventure. In a narrative that circles the globe and reaches from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of time, genre and language to offer an enthralling vision of humanity's will to power, and where it will lead us.

This was the best book I read last year. It's incredible. And it's a very big book - not so much in terms of length (although it is fairly long) but in terms of everything that's going on under the surface. I got the same feeling as I do when I read Kazuo Ishiguro - that there is this whole other world there that you can find, but it is so subtly and cleverly done - you have to find it for yourself. Nothing is pushed at you or overdone - it's just quietly left there for you to think about. I need to read this whole book again from the start to get the bits I missed, of which I think there are many. I especially liked the bits set in the future, but I thought the whole thing was brilliant - he has such an ability to jump into different times and voices totally convincingly. This book is just so clever! Very, very, very good.

I am a bit of an advocate for this book (unsurprisingly) and think that everyone in the world should read it, and am beginning my quest by lending it to forager. Hope you enjoy it!

Thanks to Clarrie-Rose for passing it to me this morning.

A very clever collection of short stories that bring together a number of big themes in a highly imaginative way. This book explores the value of belief to human experience and society, the concept of civilisation, our responsibility (and lack of it) towards the planet, each other and life in general. Mitchell manages to pull off a difficult trick too - demonstrating the way history repeats itself without becoming repetitive and predictable. Of all the stories I think my favourite was "The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing", which has echoes of "Sea Wolf" by Jack London. I also thought "Sloosha's Crossin' an' Everythin' After" was brilliantly done. I don't usually get on with authors who write in a dialect (Rudyard Kipling and Iain M Banks are two examples that leap to mind) but Mitchell has managed to do it without becoming exhausting to read. I've always thought it would be good to create a set of short stories that somehow tie together without the links being too limiting. It's good to see a book that not only achieves this but also incorporates a range of genres into the bargain. It's an excellent and imaginative work and I can see why Clarrie-Rose is so taken with it.

Posted back to Clarrie-Rose this morning.

This got back safely a few days ago, accompanied by tasty chocolate - thank you! I will now try to find some more people to force this book upon.