...Joanna Kavenna's 'The Ice Museum'? Travelogue, mystery, history, mesmerisingly written, compelling but not 'heavy'...

Second hand copies for a couple of quid here (below). You'll not regret it!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/014101198X/sr=1-1/qid=1307745979/ref=...

I have read on holiday is Triksta by Nik Cohn. 50 year old white man spends time in New Orleans trying to ingratiate himself into the local rap scene. Extraordinary book.

something a bit different, try 'Skippy Dies' by Paul Murray - a combination of comedy, tragedy and string theory !
Bargepole will be posting a review in the 'reads' section in the next week, but highly recommended in the meantime.

I whizzed through that on holiday, well worth it, if you liked his radio 'work' ('-' is as he'd see it).

Now this sounds very worthy doesn't it? Famously atheist 18th century French Philosopher writes a book satirizing contemporary religious mores. In fact, this short, very easy to read, novella is one of the few books that really had me laughing out loud. Like a cross between Carry on Disaster and Monty Python and The Holy Grail, we follow the (literally) innocent abroad Candide as he stumbles from one disastrous Act of God to another. Bad taste jokes and comic slap-stick set pieces, involving syphillis, the death of thousands in earthquakes, and torture, follow. All the while Candide's tutor, Dr Pangloss keeps telling him that since God created the world, "everything is for the best."

Plus, reading it next to the pool will make you look dead brainy n all.

...assuming you haven't read it already. It's got music, horror, travel and there are thrilling bits too. It's perfect holiday read territory.

That said, the new one looks terrible. Anyone read it?

I've just finished this and it is certainly the funniest book McEwen has written and a good tale to boot.

It concerns a womanising, self-deluded, nobel laureate scientist who is resting on his laurels and coasting through life, but in turmoil and despair after his 5th wife initiates an affair with their builder. After an event (which I won't state to avoid spoiling the book) his professional life is transformed and it seems that this cynical man could be the saviour of western civilisation, but....

I heartily recommend it to you.

..by Simon Armitage. Poignant and very funny meditation on the author's youthful (and grown up) love affair with pop music. Don't be put off if you don't care for poetry, it's mainly prose. Worth it for the account of his visit to Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons alone.

by Boff Whalley - a very entertaining story of the life of one of Chumbawumba.

Also very good was The Last Mad Surge of Youth by Mark Hodkinson - a novel set partly in the post-punk era, which captures beautifully the mindset of the times.