The Love We Share Without Knowing is a wonderful book.  It’s the sort of novel that makes you hate, detest and want to strangle the writer – in this case Christopher Barzak – because you know you’re never likely to write a sentence as good as he does.

Hyperbole aside, it really is a very good book.  It’s a series of short stories, all set in Japan, and about a series of characters who, as the novel unfolds, are linked in strange and subtle and sometimes extraordinary ways.  It’s a book very firmly about love, set in a society where an expression of one’s emotions is frowned upon.  Not every short story works, but the novel more then comes together as a whole.

While the book isn’t actually meant to be a travelogue, you can’t help but be immersed in the Japan that Barzak depicts.  It’s a Japan of spirits and ghosts, but also a Japan of strict rules and cultural observances.  It’s the contradictions that make the book so interesting, and at times you do get the feeling that Barzak was struggling with a love / hate relationship with the country when he was writing the book.

So, like I always promise, I’m sharing the good shit around by telling you all to go and buy this book.