timtamsforbreakfast t1_j6cd032 wrote on January 29, 2023 at 9:10 AM

I have only read Cloud Atlas and Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. I liked both a lot, so would be open to reading more books by David Mitchell. Would you reccomend Ghostwritten as the next one to read?

surells t1_j6cg3na wrote on January 29, 2023 at 9:53 AM

Depends what you're after. Ghost written is his first book, and he hasn't quite landed his style yet, but it has great characters and moments. It's essentially a book of linked short stories on a theme.

If you prefer something with more narrative coherence then Number 9 Dream could be good. Set in Japan, strong plot but also some beautiful writing. Maybe my favourite.

His most down to Earth novel is Black Swan Green. Set in small town England following a key point in life of a boy with a stammer (quite autobiographical). Introduces a cool character who's key in Bone Clocks.

Later books like Bone Clocks and Utopia Avenue are great, but do build heavily on what's gone before, so I'd recommend reading some earlier stuff first. That said, if the blurb to any of them appeal you can certainly just go ahead and read them - they wont be incomprehensible., and it might be fun to go back and see where characters started.

Enjoy!

ackthisisamess OP t1_j6gjgwd wrote on January 30, 2023 at 3:56 AM

I was wondering what you thought about Utopia Avenue? I have not read it yet and was curious on what others thought, as well as if it shares some similarities with Bone clocks and/or ghostwritten?

surells t1_j6h7ns3 wrote on January 30, 2023 at 8:16 AM

It's probably closer to Bone Clocks, but there's much less magic for most of the book, and the narrative is quite straight forward. I liked it a lot; it's very well written and the characters are charming and have strong voices. The magic comes in quite naturally and had some great links for previous books that made me excited to see what he'll do with this world in the future. It's focused on the musical scene in Britain and the US in the 60s. Mitchell writes about music and people that love music really well. My only criticism would be it did sometimes feel the characters were randomly running into famous musicians early in their careers a bit too much. It started to feel like a Simpsons episode where they all shout "Tony Hawk!? What are you doing here!?" But it didn't ruin the book for me.

ackthisisamess OP t1_j6cfdzj wrote on January 29, 2023 at 9:43 AM

I read these as well, and actually did not like them that much personally, however it could just be that I got a bit confused and would benefit from re-reading them at some point.

Ghostwritten and Bone Clocks are my two personal favs! Maybe try out Ghostwritten first, as it's a bit shorter, so if you start and don't like it it's a bit less of a commitment if that makes sense :)