Art houses

I have surprised myself by not only reading but really enjoying a non-fiction book. My average is two non-fiction titles a year and I've reached that number already with a quarter of the year still to go.

At the top of my non-fiction list is this prize winning biography/history/social commentary The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal.

This book caused quite a stir in the UK earlier this year, winning the Galaxy new writer's award, the Costa Biography Award and the Ondaajte Prize for a work that "best evokes the spirit of a place". de Waal though is not writing about one place, his narrative, subtitled a family's century of art and loss, moves from Paris to Vienna to Tunbridge Wells to Tokyo to Odessa and finally to London. The story follows the family heirloom collection of Japanese netsuke as it moves from place to place with the tide of history.

A combination of family history, art history and social history and including the tragedy of war, the dehumanisation of the Jewish people and the horror of the Holocaust this book is perfectly pitched to be page-turningly readable. In the words of judge Ali Smith it is a work "whose lightness, when it comes to dealing with the weight of history, is almost miraculous" and poet Don Paterson said that the book "never slips into sentimantalism; it is as smooth and perfect as his own ceramic works".

Yes, de Waal is an artist, a potter, and describes the netsuke, the paintings and other aspects of art, design and architecture with understanding and love.

I found myself revisiting the Impressionists and the works of Klimt, searching for more images of the netsuke, reading more about Odessa and Vienna and finding out about de Waal's celadon cylinders.

Reading this book is an all-round experience; it is personal but universal, sad yet happy, interesting and enlightening. A perfect read!