Looking for something a little more fantastical to read after Slaughterhouse-Five, I reached for Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I read "Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norell 1000 years ago, and while I couldn't tell you a single thing that happens in that book I remember it fondly.
Spoilers after the jump
-Pirnesi follows a curious amnesiac man in a strange infinite labyrinth that's part mansion and part ocean, filled with countless rooms of statues, seaweed, and birds. I was completely charmed by the book, as this man, the protagonist, was portrayed as utterly innocent.
The house robs one of their memories over time, leaving only the core of the personality of Piranesi -- he is left with only his curiosity and scientific mind. He tirelessly records his findings, his explorations, his experiments, and his completely innocent interactions with what he believes to be be the only other living human in the world (the only world he remembers).
Watching this character slowly solve the mystery of who he is (was) was fascination and captivating.
Unfortunately I feel the story gets lost in the seaweeds a bit. Much of the story ends up being the writings about other people that the protagonist discovers. Many chapters are nothing but documented notes about this person or that -- all tied to the overall story, but not as interesting as the protagonist's reaction to the information. I wish there had been more to uncover, as the overall story is fairly short and simple with only a handful of moving parts.
I still loved my time with the book, and the narrator of the audio version wonderfully captured Piranesi's character and that of the handful of other humans present in the story.
Even though I wish the book had done some things a little different, I loved my time with it.