Thursday, April 30, 2009

Three Bags Full

Karen Sakamoto, who has made some truly excellent reading suggestions in the past, e-mailed last week and said I read Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story. She said it was a murder mystery revolving around the death of a shepherd, but the the twist was that the murder was investigated--by his sheep.

Well, that got my attention.

In the book world, the sheep can hear what humans say, but they don't necessarily understand all the words. And while we can understand what the sheep say ("we" as in readers, not the humans in the book), they still act very much like sheep.

It is an absolutely beautifully written book, because the author (Leoni Swann) takes a wonderful idea and proceeds not to overwrite. It would have been very easy to write beyond the idea, if that makes any sense, but she doesn't.

Besides the unique point of view, the book is very gentle, almost tender, and it's very, very compelling to read. So if your reading stack is empty, this would be an excellent next choice.

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