Candy. Candy. Candy. There's just something so nostalgic about it. I'm sure that everyone's had the experience of biting into a piece of candy, and as soon as the flavour swells in your mouth, little bits and pieces of your childhood come back. For me, it's the little Choc Nut bars -- little powdery chocolates flavoured with peanuts, each delicately wrapped in a red and white paper. Everytime I bite into one of these guys, I'm reminded of Sunday shopping with my parents at the Asian mart, and they'd let me pick my favourite candy.

Steve Almond, a self-proclaimed candy freak, writes this book to serve as both a memoir and a tribute to small businesses. Almond travels around America to visit small, independent candy companies that can't compete against giants like Nestle. Almond makes me salivate by describing some of his experiences: picking chocolates off the conveyor belt ( a little I Love Lucy, wouldn't you say?), going into chocolate test-labs, potato-shaped candy... scrumptious. Make sure that you aren't on a diet when you're reading this book, because this will make you want to go out and buy candy. While the author's adventures around the USA was entertaining, he describes the manufacturing process of each candy in great detail. This gets a pretty repetitive.

The little bits of the book about Almond's life are at time hilarious, and at times sad. Almond clearly has a fetish with candy. Through out the book, he goes through various lengths just to get candy. He also admits to being an emotional eater, and recalls his sad experiences as child, how he uses candy to fill up emotional voids in his life.