Not officially fiction, but such a good story that it reads as such

[Bleats]

Hello all

Apologies for the double post but I have to recommend The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal.

This is a book that starts off looking at things, specifically 264 nesuke which are tiny Japanese ornaments designed to hold, and explodes the history of a family.

The author is a potter by trade and so I gained an entirely new perspective on objects and there importance. He is immensely careful with his subject and his interest in these objects pushes him to learn about their history. Without giving too much away he talks about how this collection comes into his family and explores the cities, life, society and politics of the times.

This book combines lovely factual analysis (without heavy academic theorising) with the insight into the human psyche that you get from a novel. Quite wonderful and deserves the award it has already won.

Does anyone else agree?

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0099539551/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

I HATED this book. I big pile of pretentious, boring tripe. I have read nearly 200 books already this year and this is by far the worst.

Just a big yawn.

I'm yet to meet anybody in RL who remotely liked this book.

have to agree with ILDN, the author liked the sound of his own voice far too much, left it in a foreign land as couldnt be bothered to bring it back into the country. I think this is definately a 'marmite' book.

I'm reading it at the moment and I'm utterly gripped......

Kazmus and daintynuts (great name) I am so suprised by the reaction - it has been a real shock that people hate it; however as a marmite lover I am happy with the analogy.

Terpsichore as someone who is enjoying his style let me say it just gets better.

Love a bit of Sunday controversy.