That cover screams 'airport novel'.

Y'know what, I like that song - although the only version I've heard is Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan, so it's not really the song, more that it's two great artists duetting…

Y'know what, I like that song - although the only version I've heard is Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan, so it's not really the song, more that it's two great artists duetting…

I honestly can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or if you just are a regular Johnny Killjoy.

I honestly can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or if you just are a regular Johnny Killjoy.

Oh you're right - the true greatness of the novel is only really revealed when you go in with a guide. To be honest I was feeling cocky and wanted to see if I could hack it taking one of the most notoriously difficult, yet celebrated, works of English literature unaided.

Oh you're right - the true greatness of the novel is only really revealed when you go in with a guide. To be honest I was feeling cocky and wanted to see if I could hack it taking one of the most notoriously difficult, yet celebrated, works of English literature unaided.

I'd already heard people complaining here about the 'irresistible probable self-insert protagonist' so I was braced for the worst. Luckily the plot is engaging enough that you can really just shrug off the weirder love-life bits.

I'd already heard people complaining here about the 'irresistible probable self-insert protagonist' so I was braced for the worst. Luckily the plot is engaging enough that you can really just shrug off the weirder love-life bits.

I'm a little worried about reading more Heller because Catch-22 was so good (probably one of my all time favourites).

I'm a little worried about reading more Heller because Catch-22 was so good (probably one of my all time favourites).

After reading that I couldn't help but laugh every time a character stepped on a twig which is, as Twain says, a lot.

After reading that I couldn't help but laugh every time a character stepped on a twig which is, as Twain says, a lot.

I've just come off of studying it in a Modernism module at uni. I think I was one of the few who absolutely loved it. I think it's a true 'desert island' book - you could spend ages re-reading passages to get all of the different little tricks and jokes he drops in there.

I've just come off of studying it in a Modernism module at uni. I think I was one of the few who absolutely loved it. I think it's a true 'desert island' book - you could spend ages re-reading passages to get all of the different little tricks and jokes he drops in there.

Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie (beginning with Case Histories) novels are really good. The plotting is great - disparate threads revealing their significance without seeming at all forced.

Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie (beginning with Case Histories) novels are really good. The plotting is great - disparate threads revealing their significance without seeming at all forced.

They both also shouldn't be allowed to have children.

They both also shouldn't be allowed to have children.

Dick Hoe had a popular light entertainment show on the wireless during the late thirties.