I wanted to love Candyfreak. Occasionally, I'll watch FoodTV's "UnWrapped" and be amazed by the art and technology that goes into my favorite snacks, and I expected a amimilar approach to candymaking in this book. On this note Steve Almond's book does a good job. When Almond sticks to the history and manufacture of candy, the book is enthralling, but when the book strays into memoir, I was disappointed.
My next book is the second Haruki Murakami novel I will read this year, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was fantastic, and I'm expecting nothing less from this novel.
Posted by david on May 19, 2004Hard-Boiled Wonderland is currently on my all-time Top 10--other Murakami books might be technically "better," whatever that means, but it's the one that really kicked my ass. I'm interested to see what you think of it.
Posted by: T. on May 20, 2004 01:24 AMI'm about to embark on a tour of all Murakami books, please let me know how the book went for you.
Hard-Boiled Wonderland" was my introduction to Murakami and now I can't stop. Great and fun novel.
Posted by: Erik on May 20, 2004 05:28 AMI am a real big fan of Murakami. You went for the cherry straight away. Windup bird is really a culmination of his two styles. My first were Hard boiled ... and a wild sheeps chase. Surreal detective stories. Norwegian Wood was a suprise as it was so down to earth. Hope you like Hard boiled. It's one of those can't put down thingies.
Posted by: Belgatom on May 25, 2004 09:53 AM