This is amazing, just plain amazing. Definitely the best book I’ve read in quite some time.

This is my third or fourth reading of this one and somehow the ending makes me sadder and madder each time. I’m now basically counting the minutes until July 21st!

This was my first book of 2007 and I absolutely loved it. The ending was a bit of a let-down, but in general I thought Smith did a phenomenal job of juggling different time periods, generations, ages, and ethnicities—not to mention almost too many characters to keep track of! Dealing with the kind of themes she dealt with takes serious skill and her characters were truly three-dimensional. Despite the somewhat disappointing ending, I enjoyed this immensely and will probably read it again someday. Until then, I look forward to reading more of Smith’s writing.

These are the tastiest drinks I’ve ever had. The most memorable ones I actually ordered in Russia, which I found kind of entertaining (because I’m easily entertained).