by David Mitchell
David Mitchell is by far my favorite author these days. I’ve read all his books and every one is awesome, but the very best is Cloud Atlas. Mitchell has a very intense way of writing. He can create a character in a particular time and place, seemingly any time and place, from the 18th Century to the 1970s California, to contemporary Japan to science fiction far into the future. In this novel he has chapters in all these places and more. At first it reads like a series of short stories but the reader gradually becomes aware of a grand plan, or a vast web that the author is patiently weaving around the reader. This book is a masterpiece.