Stone Junction - Jim Dodge

Another mainly blokey book for when you are trying to find your way in life. This time with positivity. This is American counter-culture, and reminds me of Tom Robbins and other Seattle literary hippies. However, Dodge has managed to pull off a contemporary picaresque novel about self-belief, opportunity and philosophy that should see any backpacker through a fumble with the locals and an overnight bus journey to nowhere.... Good if you’re in the mood – shame about the terrible dust jacket.

Kitty

he sailor who fell from grace with the sea – Yukio Mishima

A classic concise tale from Mishima about becoming a ‘real’ man. Actions speak louder than words, and Mishima’s thirteen year old anti-hero despises his step-father’s submission to his mother. A haiku of torment, and Mishima is showing signs of the psychosis that drove him to commit seppuku in 1970. Do you feel his anger and disappointment – then book yourself some psychoanalysis smartish.....

Kitty

Theft – Peter Carey

I’m not sure I really get Peter Carey. He’s brilliant but it’s all a bit too removed for me. It reminded me of Mice and Men. The two brothers locked together in enmity and love.

Events and reactions from Hugh the big guy with learning difficulties and his brother Butcher the fucked up Artist. True love will out and it does against a backdrop of contemporary art, Tokyo and New York.

Kitty

Shooting History – Jon Snow

It’s fact not fiction – it’s the last 30 years of your life. Jon Snow dissects the themes that underpin political events across the world – the Berlin wall, Nelson Mandela, Central and South America, Afghanistan, Idi Amin etc.

The great thing about hindsight is that random events become obvious moves in the now defunct Cold War. Move over Communism there’s a new player at the table and they’ve studied the form.

If you’re lazy and politically challenged – this will give you everything you need for that 5 pints of lager conversation with your work colleagues on a Friday night.

Kitty

On Beauty – Zadie Smith

This story is set in the world of American academia and focuses on two families linked together by being both a bit Black and a bit British, and in opposition by politics. Howard Belsey (liberal nihilist) hates Monty Kipps (Neo-Con 'man of faith') despite the fact that they both study Rembrandt and screw their students.

A relationship between a son and daughter bring the families together, and the wives develop an unusual friendship in an idyllic American suburbia. Issues of race and class are pursued through the causes and friendships of the adult children.

So you’re not mixed race, in America, or academic – still we can all empathise with a teenage or mid-life crisis when it hits....

Kitty