Bob Wilson's Ultimate Collection of Peculiar Sporting Lingo - Bob Wilson

A diverting toilet book containing the etymology of terms such as steeplechase, hatrick and gymnastics. Some of the stories were interesting, but Arsenal legend Wilson's attempts at humour are generally excruciating.

The History Boys - Alan Bennett

Saw the play, watched the movie, now I've read the play too, so obviously I like this a lot. The plot is unconvincing and anachronistic, but the exploration of educational processes and the compelling characterisation is gripping, and some of the gags are priceless.

The best one-liner is a cynical student's definition of his subject, as included in the film trailer:

The Map That Changed The World - Simon Winchester

This pop history/biography about William Smith, the "Father of English Geology", has so many characteristics that should appeal to me; a satisfying story of scientific discovery, bridging my favourite period of history (either side of 1800), and full of amusing incidental detail and colourful supporting characters. Frustratingly, the genuinely fascinating 200 page story is buried in a poorly edited 300 page book full of clumsy repetition, and containing a self-indulgent autobiographical digression midway.

Have I been spoilt by Peter Ackroyd's admirably terse "Brief Lives" series?

Intimacy - Hanif Kureishi

There is something perversely admirable about this. An Anglo-Indian screenwriter who has recently left his partner and young kids writes a first-person novel describing an Anglo-Indian screenwriter leaving his partner and kids in which the narrator is an unmitigated arsehole. There are some unsettling observations about domestic life but the overlap of art and life is both distracting and disconcerting.

Mr Darwin's Shooter - Roger McDonald

I really wanted to enjoy this historical novel, reading it as I was on Darwin's 200th birthday and the nominal subject - the clash of rationalism and faith - being one of my pet topics. Sadly, I found both the story and language irritatingly overelaborate and a barrier to my understanding and enjoyment of the author's thesis. On the positive side, there was some fascinating period detail and the central character is a convincing and compelling creation.

The Human Factor - Graham Greene

Here is Greene in Le Carre territory, giving us a claustrophobic post-Philby spy story. The tone shifts from comedy to thriller to minor key tragedy with beautiful subtlety. Much is made of the insidious nature of the class system, the corrosive effects of deception and - the book's overriding theme, I think - the vulnerability we take on when we fall in love.

There are also some good jokes about Maltesers.

Silas Marner - George Eliot

Eliot is always excellent on the pre-Industrial Revolution rural milieu, and peppers this simple fable with endearing minor characters and a subtle critique of social and religious conventions. The central story of an isolated miser finding redemption through the love of his adopted daughter is sentimental but I cannot deny finding it quietly affecting.

Gilgamesh

The best ancient Babylonian epic poem I have ever read, for reasons that I leave you to deduce for yourself. Its quite interesting, actually, introducing a number of themes and techniques that recur throughout later literature. There's also a variation on the biblical flood story that tickled my fancy.

The Child in Time - Ian McEwan

McEwan is one of the writers I admire the most right now, and the set pieces in this odd novel - a ghostly vision of the protagonist's parents as a courting couple, the tedium of a government committee, a happy ending - don't disappoint. In particular, the opening sequence in which a three year old girl is abducted from a supermarket shook me immensely, probably because I have a daughter that age myself.

The trouble is that there are other elements of the narrative that don't quite work, in particular an undercooked subplot about licensed beggars and an unlikely home visit from the Prime Minister. Even in the context of a sort-of-science-fiction-ish tale, this breaks the mood somewhat and disrupts the .

No matter. Ian McEwan is a fabulous stylist as well as a profound thinker, and I'm sad now that I have now read everything he's done, so I'll be waiting impatiently for his next publication.

The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

What a flawed and curious book this is. The plot is overly complex, the characters inconsistent and weirdly passive, and our hero disappears for a great chunk towards the end of the tale. In Peavar's translation the well-known story is told with a rambuctious panache that gambols along nicely enough, although to much less effect than the marvellous Count of Monte Cristo.

The Brookly Follies - Paul Auster

My first Auster, The New York Trilogy, was characterised by flinty intelligence and a darkly brilliant precision of language. By contrast this much later work is a warm plea for compassion and understanding in the face of human failings.

Set largely in New York - significantly, before the devastation of 9/11 - the plot and characters ramble along in a manner that initially appears aimless but mask a surprisingly complex structure. There are some neat observations, lots of good gags and, surprisingly for this author, a broadly optimistic outlook.