I wasn't a fan, but lots of people whose taste I respect rave about Lanark: A Life In 4 Books by Alasdair Gray.

Were you channelling Cormac McCarthy for this sentence? (No sarcasm meant, by the way. Like some of his sentences, I had to read it twice, and it was quite enjoyable to do so.)

I teach Creative Writing in England. I realise that my experience is relatively small, but here's my two-pennorth: the number of young people coming to my classes has increased massively in the last 5 years. The urge to tell stories is wired into human nature, and the novel is still a pretty good way to do it.

@EBuzzMiller:disqus I think there's a doc that ties in with the John Harris book. Hilarious interviews with the Gallaghers, and slightly strained ones with Damon Albarn, that sort of thing. Liam being told he's androgynous, and then having the concept explained to him, is as good as you might imagine.

According to Hemingway in A Moveable Feast, he also had breath that could make you vomit.

SPOILER, mate, SPOILER.

I love Dos Passos. Is he neglected, do you think? In England, at least, he never gets mentioned one tenth as much as Hemingway, Fitzgerald or Steinbeck. 
But I love his long, narrative sweeps in U.S.A. - Mac, Joe Williams, Janey. Lovely stuff. And I love the socialism as well.

Popular Fiction choice: Red Dragon, Thomas Harris. I read this about 20 years ago, then became a literary snob, but went back to it recently, and it's unbelievably good.

Hey - can you ask Martin Amis why he isn't returning my emails/letters/calls? Do I have to escalate this?

It's a shame it's the 4th of July and none of our cousins are around to appreciate this.

It manages to be euphoric or melancholic, depending on your mood. The Byrds, early REM, The Stone Roses' first album, that sort of thing.

I had to get this off ebay about a year ago, and it's fantastic - just fantastic. I mean, everyone knows it's an injustice that Big Star didn't have more success - but what about Chris Bell? There's no word for the scale of the injustice.

Try mentioning I Am The Cosmos if you want to see blank looks … though not, of course, on the AV Club. Scroll down.

I came here to say this, and much else besides.

I think someone on here the other day said it was RT's favourite of his own stuff. It's a formidable body of work, but I would go with Pour Down Like SIlver.

Martin Amis's journalism, if that counts as essays? Try The Moronic Inferno, Visiting Mrs Nabokov, and The Second Plane.
And Christopher Hitchens - you might not agree with them, but they're well-written. Arguably is the big collection.

Live in England, very early 40s, recently single after a longish relationship. Teach Creative Writing part time, write for myself the rest of the time. Had a few plays performed locally, and a few short stories out there on the web, and the usual high hopes for the next thing.

MC5 - Shakin Street
Mark Knopfler - Miss You Blues
Richard Thompson - Cooksferry Queen
Creedence - Green River
The Stone Roses - I Am The Resurrection

I'm wondering if anything could be done with the Nick Adams stories. Probably too disparate for a film, but still …

Isn't there a George Carlin quote about patriotism basically being egotism? It's not the country that's important, more the fact that you were squeezed out into that particular one. He said it better than that, of course.