I read this at the behest of my mother who had loved it. I too found it incredible.

Several years later I was training to be a teacher of English as a second language in London and was told to prepare a lesson with the theme of biographies. At the time I was staying with a friend and seeing Wild Swans on her bookshelf decided to take it along the next day to use as a prop in my class.

At the end of the class one of the chinese students came up to me and asked if I’d enjoyed it. When I replied that I’d loved it she broke into a smile and said, “It is about my family”. I was amazed to find that I had Jung Chang’s sister in my class! She got me to look at the photos and there she was as a child but still recognizable.

Although nicely-observed and well-written this saga of ordinary people living ordinary lives was ultimately boring not to mention long.

This book has had me in its grips for the last few days. It was a bit slow near the beginning (I could have done without the character with all the war stories) but picked up pace as the book progressed. I felt like I couldn’t put the book down and had to read the book quickly to reach the end before the ship sank mirroring what was happening in the book. If you want a page turner try this.

When I started reading this I was a bit disappointed as I was expecting it to be a hilarious lol read. However as I read on I warmed to the latter stories more. Sedaris is an excellent observationalist writing with a wry witty style. I ended up reading bits out loud to my husband (something I hardly ever do). His observations on the nature of long-term relationships were spot-on and his portraits of the people in his life made you glad you aren’t one of them.

I grew up on this stuff. I now live in Australia so we have Vegemite in our house but it’s just not the same. Marmite is superior in every way. (…waits for immigration to come to evict me)

A guilty pleasure I haven’t indulged in for years.

Great tasting and they don’t go soggy quickly like other cereals.

An enjoyable murder mystery with interesting characters and setting. I wasn’t a big fan of the long paragraphs – I find seeing a huge block of text on the page offputting – but in the end it didn’t detract from my enjoyment too much.

I had no idea what was going to happen so it took me by surprise. Three cheers for that as it rarely happens. Great acting and scenery.

I’d love to be able to look down on this but it’s actually quite delicious. My hubby (an aussie) takes the top off and puts a huge dollop of tomato sauce inside the pie before consuming.