My Life As A Fake - Peter Carey

In theory a book heavily influenced by two of my favourite novels - Shelley's Frankenstein and Nabokov's Pale Fire - should be a treat, but unfortunately it turned out to be a bit of a slog. The tangled narrative of literary intrigue and shifting identities swallows its own tail, resulting in a confusing and unengaging story. For a writer of Carey's usual ebullience, it's also a strangely humourless work.