The descriptions of food in this were amazing, and I plan to try some of the recipes, but this is much more than a food book. It's funny in places, nostalgic, a bit sad too. Most if all it's a reminder of how we can choose who we are and how we behave towards others. Eye opening and enjoyable.

It might be heresy, but I think I would have liked this book better and given it 5 stars if I had read a printed version. It was lovely to hear Mary Oliver reading her own poems, but I feel I might have taken them in more if they had been written on the page.
Still, Mary Oliver is Mary Oliver, and I love her "pay attention, enjoy the moment, reflect" poetry. My favourites of this collection are "Wild geese"(which was my mum's favourite poem, we read it at her funeral, and I will always love it for her sake), "Her grave" (although that made me sad as well as happy) and "Peonies" (mostly because I love peonies).
Planning a re-read with a printed edition.

I feel I need to re-read this little book to even begin to get to the heart of it.
What I did get most of all on my first reading was a kind of quiet sadness that, "this is how the word is, and it doesn't need to be this way." It's almost acceptance, but it isn't because Baldwin is unrelenting in his assertion that things must change.
More than 40 years on, some things have changed, superficially at least, but it is a sad indictment of our society that so much of this book remains directly relevant today.
(This book also made me want to know more about James Baldwin, and also about the Nation of Islam.)

I adored this book. I loved the structure of the stories-within-story and how they all wove together to create the whole. I loved the whole premise of the labyrinthine library beneath the earth and those who loved, protected and LIVED it. I adored the protagonist. The cast of characters was fantastic.
Can you tell I liked this book?
I'm not sure I understood or "got" it all, and I will be re-reading. A favourite.

I downloaded this after watching "Hamilton" as I realised how little I knew about American history and that I knew nothing at all about Hamilton himself. It was a good well-written account of his life, which I really enjoyed reading.

Beautiful illustrations, Heartbreaking text. Aimed at children, but eye-opening for readers of any age.

I started reading this on audiobook, but didn't get very far as I found I wasn't able to keep track of the myriad characters. Once I switched to a paper copy, that was easier, though I did find myself thinking, "who?" about a couple of characters in the penultimate chapter when a number of the characters are all in the same place at the same time for the first time.
I found this hard going at first, even with a paper copy, but persistence paid off and I liked it more the more I read. I sailed through the last 150 pages or so in a day. I found it was more like a series of short stories, maybe even "character sketches with development" than a conventional novel, but as most of the characters were interesting and engaging that was not a problem. I liked how their stories overlapped and intersected without it being to obvious - although the epilogue was maybe a little bit too good to be true. (Having said that, I both saw it coming, and was glad when it did happen.)
The writing style, eschewing capital letters and conventional punctuation was - odd, but once I got used to it, it seemed to add to the stories. I think it made it feel more like someone was telling the story about someone they knew, rather than writing it down. It also made it more personal and realistic as the characters' own stories, even though they were written in third person.
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Recommended.

I really enjoyed this. The author did a great job of exploring the confusion and emotions of Ben as they tried to explore their own identity and sort out their far from easy life. Lots of messy emotions, believable characters, and a very realistic sense that life is a work in progress with no easy solutions sometimes. Recommended.

What to say about a classic that hasn't already been said? The science, as you would expect from Asimov, is clearly explained and - as fair as I can tell - accurate. The characters are believable, mostly likeable, and a little over-the=top at times. I especially like the middle "alien" section of the book, which is the part I remember best from previous readings., although I do have some reservations about the denouement of that section. Enjoyable.