Now worries, lovely. It was only £8 on Amazon ... but then I spent another £7 to get the free delivery ... dagnammit .. they ALWAYS get me on the free delivery offer .....

Don't feel guilty, my local library (Mills and Boo, LARGE PRINT capital of the library universe) had no intention of getting it in, I couldn't be bothered to go into town to get in from the central library and I didn't have the patience to wait for it to come from another library because - see? Nothing to feel guilty about

£8 is not bad, the shop I was in was charging £17. I've read about 180 pages so far and it's a really gripping thriller. I think you'll both like it, I'm impressed although I do cringe a bit at the family chat. I've no idea how it's going to turn out but at the moment it's gone into a David Lynch type "mysterious video" scenario like the one in Lost Highway.

I've finished Lunar Park. I'm not sure about the ending but overall I was hooked from beginning to end. I won't spoil it by giving the plot away.

I'm reading this one! Although it's having to share eyeball time with a book on the history of Spain I'll report back soon.

Good for you Husker. Did you get the book from the library? I didn't have a long wait for my copy. It's Husker or Wiseblood to choose the next book.

Mine copy arrived this morning. I'm only 30 pages in so far because I got distracted by a demented squirrel outside trying to attack my cat. Was v.funny.

Got this in the library this morning, and it's excellent thus far - sort of missing link between Philip Roth's 'Philip Roth' novels and Stephen King's 'The Dark Half'. I won't suggest the Robert Fisk book I'm tempted by as it's 1000-odd pages long...will ponder for suggestions, though if Husker wants to suggest first that's fine!

I'm resding 'sophie's world', it's amazing, it gives you a real insight into philosophy and brings up some very important questions about us.

has anyone read any books by William Maxwell? they're absolutely brilliant, that is if you like that sort of writing style. for a further recommendation on Maxwell's books, JD Salinger was also a great admirer of both his person and his works.

Finished Lunar Park.

And, despite a narcissistic quality and a bit of a wonky ending i enjoyed it. Very clever and, dare i say it, slightly Stephen King-esque. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised as the only Easton Ellis book I'd read before was 'American Psycho'.

I felt the ending disappointed especially when the novel shifted from autobiography into thriller mode. However he was playing with the genre of autobiography and thriler/horror so I suppose it was only to be expected he would withdraw from a conventional ending and leave it ambiguous. It did remind me of Stephen King but I found this more interesting and better written than a SK novel.

Wiseblood, do you want to choose the next book?

Finished it. Yeah, I enjoyed it, liked the blurring of fact and fiction. I was never sure how far to trust the more autobiographical stuff. The unreliable narrator and all that! According to Ellis it's often some of the weirder stuff that's true. I like stuff that plays with perception and tends toward ambiguity. More later. Yeah, go on Wiseblood, dive in!

It's funny, as I was reading the opening chapter I accepted everything as fact but I couldn't place Jayne Dennis. A quick glance at IMDB gave me the answer. Doh!

There is a website for the novel.

Lunar Park

NEXT! Husker you pick if Wisey isn't ready to yet ...

I'll pick one later tonight, if that's OK?

Excellent, i'm about 100 pages off finishing my current book so i'll be able to move onto to your choice pretty much straight away.

I'll look out for your choice W. I've just started a book but I'll try and fit them both in. Maybe you've read it Wiseblood, it's Jacques Derrida - Writing and Difference.

OK, I have picked one book and have a back-up in case people have read it - the choice being 'Thursbitch' by Alan Garner, which is in paperback and hardback and should be in libraries. I have read several reviews that declare it a great novel. The write-up someone who worked in a bookshop for it was even better - it isn't the kind of book I'd read and I haven't read any Alan Garner. Plus it's only 157-pages long

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099459361/ref.../202-0236986-8373437

But if people have read it, I'd probably pick either 'Life with a Star' by Jiri Weil or 'The Child Garden' by Geoff Ryman...

Must admit Derrida was hard work for me and I bailed out...might try again as I like early Scritti Politti so much! 'Of Grammatology' gave me a headache must admit...

OOooooh, goody. I haven't ready any Alan Garner for aaaaages and I haven't read 'Thursbitch'. Marvellous choice ...

I've never heard of Alan Garner but look forward to reading it.

I've only read excerpts from Derrida so this is my first book of his. Just read the first chapter so far and enjoyed it. There's alot of theory to grasp and probably needs to be studied but as long as I get a few ideas from it then that will suit me.

Yeah, the Garner's good for me too. As soon as I finish Pat Gilbert's book on The Clash I'll find a copy. (Why do I keep reading books about The Clash? I know the story inside-out and back to front by now.)

I've ordered the Garner book so all I can do is wait for the library to track it down.

What was the verdict on Lunar Park? I thought it was a cracking read and I liked the way he played on the unreliability of the autobiography, in particular the use of fictional and real life characters such as Harrison Ford and Brett Easton Ellis himself. Really unusual to use himself as a character in a novel, thought it worked really well and I actually believed he was telling his life story in the opening chapter! Did anyone else fall for it? Probably not. It did remind me at times of Stephen King but Ellis is a far better writer and avoids the saccharine of a King novel. I suppose the ending did work because he wasn't aiming to write a conventional thriller and perhaps it would have been too predictable if he tied up the loose ends. The characters basically dissolve into thin air once he's resolved the outstanding issue of his father's ashes, and that is essentially the basis of his anxieties throughout. Yes, a good novel.

I must admit I'd heard a couple of interviews with BEE prior to reading the book so I suppose I was primed for it. One was on Front Row and the other is on the BBC Collective site which, if you haven't come across it, is great for interviews, reviews and live session tracks with bands. The writers, artists, filmmakers and musicians they cover tend to be those not covered by the mainstream so it's well worth a weekly visit to see what's new. http://www.bbc.co.uk/collective/ But the book! Yes, it appealed to me and I enjoyed searching for genuine autobiog bits, of which some of it is. Very post-modern and self-referential though but I don't mind that sort of thing. What's truth and what's fiction anyway? Wasn't it Dennis Potter who said there was no more truth in the Six O Clock news than in a Bugs Bunny cartoon? Also, odd as it may sound, I don't really mind how a novel resolves itself as I tend to read a book as an aesthetic thing that happens to have a plot. That's not to say plot isn't important, just that too much emphasis can be placed on endings.

By the by, I got a copy of 'Thursbitch' today. Someone at my library must be a Garner fan because they appear to have his entire body of work in stock! Also, I've already got an idea for the next book. How does 'Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World' by Haruki Murakami sound? But 'Thursbitch' first.