Found on the backs of toilets and the tops of coffee tables everywhere, the 'Chicken Soup' series has been incredibly successful- there are Chicken Soup books for everyone from teens to vets to teachers to pastors and beyond. There may be a reason for this success. While I think they suffer from the stigma of being a little too precious, a little too feel-good, there are actually quite a few really touching, really lovely stories contained in these volumes. Some will make you smile, some will have you fighting tears as you peruse a story in the doctor's office... some will leave you feeling not much at all, but with this many stories collected in one volume, there are bound to be a few duds.

Overall though, the editors have done a really good job at creating a consistently solid collection. Even though there are now many flavours of Chicken Soup, there's nothing quite like the original.