I would recommend two that brightened my holiday :

Molesworth (all 4 books in one handy volume) - Willans & Searle is £9.89 there and Filthy English by Peter Silverton is £6.00

Any Human Heart - William Boyd

It was one of those books that I could pick up and read again. That doesn't happen to me very often. I don't find the time to read too much these days so I like to make the most of the precious time that I do. This was time well spent.

Phillip Kerr's crime fiction trilogy featuring Private Eye Bernie Gunther. All three novels are set against a historically accurate and brilliantly drawn 1930's Berlin. Chances are they'll have to order it for you as they're keener on stocking the likes of Katie Price and Justin Lee Collins, etc these days, but it'll be worth the wait.

The Molesworth suggestion from Elhombemalo is a good one.

On a more musical bent, I would add either Fear of Music or This is Uncool by Garry Mulholland:
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/garry+mulholland/fear...
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/garry+mulholland/this...

(Fear of Music is slightly better in my opinion)

Can be used online - fantastic! No need to go out!

They're both great reads - and lovely looking books too.

grab yourself a copy of 'Dazzling Stranger' by Colin Harper, also of this parish, which is a densely researched yet immensely readable history of the British Folk revival of the 60s and 70s and beyond. It's hung around a biography of Bert Jansch, which puts it centre stage to cover the tales of Davey Graham, Anne Briggs, John Renbourn, Ewan MacColl and a host of others along the way. Highly recommended at a measly nine quid or thereabouts.

With the balance, plus a few pence, you can pick up the paperback of Ian Rankin's 'Doors Open', a crime thriller set in Edinburgh, which has also been Bert's sometime home. If you find you enjoy Rankin's dastardly plotting, you'll want to dip into the Rebus novels as a result. Therein lies many hours of grimy crime thriller joy to explore. (Read them in sequence until the final story leaves you wishing there were more to come from the old grouch...)

I can recommend the Viv Stanshall biography 'Ginger Geezer' - I'm half way through and as I turn each page I don't know whether I'm going to laugh or cry, or both.

(Also I second Vulpes's recommendation of Ian Rankin's Rebus novels - sequential reading is essential.)

The Massive responds with supreme good taste and diversity.

Thanks to all who have taken the trouble to make suggestions so far.

..."Pies & Prejudice" etc, then post them to me, please. I tried to get someone to buy me these for Christmas, but I have now discovered that my mind control powers are not working very well.

eldritch sci-fi meets a profound appreciation of modern bureaucracy ... two novels so far: The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue ... number 3 in the series appears in summer '10 (The Fuller Memorandum) ...

All three aforemntioned books are tremendous and I haven't yet had time to buy let alone read his latest, Ordinary Thunderstorms.

Canyon of Dreams may float your boat, it's another of those Laurel Canyon books the best of which is probably Barney Hoskyns' Hotel California. And don't forget the Warren Zevon bio I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, crucial and ghastly in the same breath

My festive stocking included "How Not To Run A Club" by Peter Hook and the Luke Haines grumpathon Bad Vibes. I think you could probably pick the pair up for your £15 and they made for a decent Boxing Day reading.

very good too - From memory The Ice Cream wars and A good man in Africa. Can also also vouch for The New Confessions. Neil Cross is another highly readable author - I am particularly fond of Always the sun. However if you want to have an unforgettable experience of the best of current American writers get both of the Willy Vlautin novels Northline and Motel Life - Northline is an absolute corker of a book with characters so real you cry for them. He is the lead singer in Richmond Fontaine and as good as they are he is an even better novelist. His third novel comes out in January or February.

.....and got some books on Boxing Day.

If you like paperback novels, their 3 for 2 deal should get you 3 for around £15-16.

My 3 for 2 were -

Ben Goldacre - Bad Science. This isn't a novel. Goldacre slams the bullshitters who misuse science.
George Pelecanos - The Way Home. Latest from one of the writers of "The Wire".
John Le Carre - A Most Wanted Man. Latest from the master spy writer. I haven't read any of his for 20 years or so...I'm looking forward to something different.

I also bought The Classical World (an epic history of Greece and Rome) by Robin Lane Fox. I love all that Roman stuff!

All this and still £2 left on the voucher! I can't vouch for any of them yet as I haven't read them but between these and the other 4 I got from Santa, I'm really looking forward to the next few months reading.

The Pelecanos book is really good - I'm sure you'll enjoy it, as is the next one (The Turnaround)

I've also been reading the Wire Re-Up and Ian McGeechan's book on the Lions. Both good so far (the Wire book is better that The Truth be told so far).

Since it is that time of year I have also been working my way through the Bedside Guardian, always a real treat.

Get The Neon Rain which is the first in a series of about 20; then it'll be easy to choose the next 19 books.

I nearly bought The Way Home today as it's just out in paperback but as I've stopped commuting by train I seem to have stopped reading.

I think I need to find the off switch on the tv and to leave this laptop alone.

a book of rock photography recommended by Patrick Crowther is well worth a look. A quite frightening image of Mick Jagger in a sand pit in just hot pants has kept me from sleep all over Christmas. The picture of Marianne Faithful in the shower is the perfect antidote! It's full of great photos even for an amateur muso like me.

Bad Science is a must.

I'd also grab some Ian Marchant, mentioned elsewhere in this blog. Mainly by me, admittedly..

If you like strip cartoons, have a look for some of Scott and Borgmann's Zits treasuries.

http://www.seattlepi.com/fun/comic.asp?feature_id=Zits

Will give you an idea of what they're like.

Andy, while you're at Waterstones, have a quick look at Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. It's a big book but it's wonderful - a true story of his time on the run in India. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Having said that, I agree with the recommendations above, particularly early William Boyd and Stuart Maconie (Cider With Roadies is hilarious).
My Christmas reading includes A Week In December by Sebastian Faulks (highly readable so far) and the new Bill Bryson book on Shakespeare which is fascinating.

by John Niven.

Can't praise it highly enough. It was recommended by the Massive, so I'm passing it on.

I was looking for my copy the other day, and then remembered that I'd caned it in Borders over several Starbucks mochas. Oops!

by Gary Mulholland, if you don't have it already. A book so good you wish you'd have written it yourself.

500 singles rated and praised, and if you're not off to your CD shelf/Spotify after reading two pages you are a better man than I.

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is going for £20-00. (£10-00 off)
The gift that will keep on giving!

saw me leave with 'A Little History of the World' by EH Gombrich.

On sale in trade pbk in Waterstones - well worth a punt...

Because this is ultimately going to cost me a fortune.

The original 15 quid will be swamped. I want the Molesworth, A Rankin, Bad Vibes, and Dazzling Stranger and could very easily dip into John Niven and Ian Marchant.

Stop being so bloody helpful!

Ladies and Gentlemen thank you very much. You're all magnificent.