Just really awful - so bad I couldn't finish it. Which is a great shame because I bought this on the strength of Nip the Buds Shoot the Kids, which is a great book.

Birdsong is well written and a heartbreaking story, but the main character is unknowable. This must be deliberate, but I think it means that the book leaves a foggy impression.

Excellent; as good as everyone says. There's a magazine in the UK (Word) that in every issue asks the famous and not-so what their recommendations for music, books and so on are - this book kept on popping up, and so eventually I bought it.

The John Irving comparison that another reviewer makes is good: both writers seem to have the knack of magic realism without the magic. Magical realism, perhaps.

You don't realise quite how strange this book is until it's finished. I find that all Magnus Mills books are addictive, but I certainly don't mean by that that there's a lot of plot.

Nothing much happens in this book, but it doesn't happen in a sinister way.

Mostly useful and interesting for the list itself - the accompanying description of each of the albums is sometimes the worst type of rock-crit.

I'd say this is a good introduction to making ice cream, and will inspire enthusiasm.

Once you've got going though, I'd recommend 'Ices' by Caroline Liddell and Robin Weir, which is really thorough.