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The White Road
The White Road: A Pilgrimage of Sorts | Edmund de Waal
5 posts | 8 read | 1 reading | 5 to read
** A Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller ** "Other things in the world are white but for me porcelain comes first" A handful of clay from a Chinese hillside carries a promise: that mixed with the right materials, it might survive the fire of the kiln, and fuse into porcelain e" translucent, luminous, white. Acclaimed writer and potter Edmund de Waal sets out on a quest - a journey that begins in the dusty city of Jingdezhen in China and travels on to Venice, Versailles, Dublin, Dresden, the Appalachian Mountains of South Carolina and the hills of Cornwall to tell the history of porcelain. Along the way, he meets the witnesses to its creation; those who were inspired, made rich or heartsick by it, and the many whose livelihoods, minds and bodies were broken by this obsession. It spans a thousand years and reaches into some of the most tragic moments of recent times. In these intimate and compelling encounters with the people and landscapes who made porcelain, Edmund de Waal enriches his understanding of this rare material, the e~white golde(tm) he has worked with for decades. ** Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 **
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review
jenniferheidi
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Mehso-so

I enjoyed this social history of porcelain, which takes the reader to the white hills of China, to the grandeur of 18th century Dresden, to Plymouth via America and ending in the concentration camps of Dachau. With just enough detail about the technicalities of producing and designing porcelain but a real emphasis on its status and role in history. I found it wondered off into de Waal‘s musings occasionally but not enough to stop me reading.

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Oblomov26
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Pickpick

Yes I enjoyed this. Author is an English ceramicist (potter does not do him justice), who examines the history of porcelain , both on a personal basis as an artist, and on a historical basis by travelling to a series of cities around the world who are pivotal to the history of this art. A surprisingly interesting tale covering two continents from a man who understands this subject with a level of expertise I will never possess on any subject.

Cathythoughts Beautiful picture 💜💜💜 6y
Oblomov26 @Cathythoughts wished it was mine 😉 6y
Cathythoughts Me too ! 6y
See All 12 Comments
Ms.Story Thanks for sharing -- I have a slight obsession with English china 😍Will have to check this one out! 6y
Oblomov26 @Ms.Story think you will like this 6y
Sace Have you read The Arcanum? 6y
Oblomov26 @RestlessFickleBookHoarder no but it is now on my sizeable to read pile 6y
KikiLovesBooks I work in an Indie bookstore in Homewood, Alabama and we have sold many copies of this title since it came out! And of his previous one as well (Hare with the Amber Eyes). FYI: our local art museum, Birmingham Museum of Arts, has the largest collection of Wedgewood outside of England! 6y
LeahBergen @KikiLovesBooks Little Professor? I‘ve been there! 😍 6y
KikiLovesBooks @LeahBergen SMALL WORLD! I‘ve been here for about 3.5 years now! Were you just passing through or do you live...nearby? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 6y
LeahBergen @KikiLovesBooks I live in Canada but we owned a condo in Mountain Brook for 5 years while my husband was doing business there. I flew down all the time! I loved your bookshop and also Alabama Booksmith. ❤️❤️ 6y
LeahBergen And sorry to “chat” on your post, @Oblomov26 ! 😂 Speaking of porcelain, I have this interesting sounding one waiting on my shelf. 6y
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review
LapReader
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Pickpick

My closest book shop The Book Grocer does 6 books for $50! This is today's haul. I have wanted to spend some time in there for weeks. Books make me happy when I am sad. I have read De Waal's book The Hare with the Amber Eyes and loved it so hopefully this one is just as good. He writes marvellous descriptions, if you are into that. I wanted to be around for the war, he is that good! I also have an obsession with Vita Sackville-West hence Dennison.

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Oblomov26
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Why do I feel the need for Booklovers Anonymous? My TBR pile is a TBR bookcase yet walk into a bookshop to see what is new and come out with two more books.

MrBook 😂😂😂👍🏻 8y
LeahBergen Yep! 8y
BookishMarginalia That's a "problem" I have too ? 8y
ValerieAndBooks Same here! As for the de Waal book l'll be curious what you think. I took four semesters of ceramics in college and love pottery but I just couldn't get into his Hare with Amber Eyes book, not because of the topic/story, but because of his writing style. 8y
26 likes4 comments