After a tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan...and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary works of fiction in recent years.

I'm trying to expand my reading horizons, and having heard such good things about this I thought I'd give it a go. I'm really interested to see where this idea goes, as I'm guessing it's about as far removed for The Jungle Book as can be. It's probably going to take a while to get to, but I have a suspicion that it'll be worth it.