This is maybe the third or fourth time I’ve read this book. I never get tired of it.

This book is about a group of English children who get kidnapped (although kidnapped isn’t really the best word) by pirates while travelling from Jamaica to England. I’ve read a review that described this book as a predecessor to “Lord of the Flies” because it doesn’t portray children as darling, lovable little angels, but rather as complex and puzzling and not altogether pleasant human beings. A good book, but also a bit disturbing, for reasons I cannot quite explain.

A beautifully written book.

Ian Rankin writes some of the best police detective novels I’ve ever read. I’m happy that my library stocks so many of them.

The highly entertaining story of a young ecoterrorist and his campaign against a group of crooked politicians, lobbyists and drug dealers turned real estate developers who want to despoil a small Florida island of it’s natural beauty by constructing a sprawling golf development. Oh, and there’s an actual sick puppy (a Black Labrador) as well, who plays a critical role in the story.

I sort of lost interest in this book towards the end. And I wish that Klein has presented some more concrete ideas on how I, as a consumer, could make informed and ethical choices to combat the increasing insidiousness of multinational corporations and branding. I suppose however that having had my awareness raised, and if I really want to be a conscientious consumer, it’s now up to make to do the research and gather the information necessary to inform those choices. After all, I shouldn’t expect Ms. Klein to do everything for me.

The reviewers quoted on the back of this book offer extremely high praise. Chinua Achebe, apparently, disagrees with those reviewers. I haven’t read enough of the book yet to make up my mind.

[Edited to add that I never made it past page 11. Not saying that the book was awful or anything, but I wasn’t enjoying it, and it was making me feel glum. Maybe I’ll try it again later.]

I love Anne Tyler’s books. That’s all I have to say.

My introduction to Nick Hornby’s writing, and one of my favourite books ever.

A brilliantly written story of Kenya in the years of the Mau Mau revolution and the way that revolution and the changes in the country affect one close-knit family. I read this book through from beginning to end in one go—it was entrancing.