Ghostwritten

David Mitchell is all the rage here in England. His latest novel—Cloud Atlas, which I got obsessed with—is in the chain-store windows and was a Booker Prize finalist. Like that book, Ghostwritten is a collection of interlinked stories with a common theme: all life is chance, but guided by laws we can only discern dimly. This one got missed for the Booker lists, and one reviewer said Mitchell's chaotic second novel, Number9 Dream, got shortlisted for the prize not on its own merits but because the committee felt bad they'd missed his first book. But I'm going to give Number9 a try. He's now officially one of my favorite authors.