There are a few I can read over and over again without losing anything, despite knowing the whole stortyline. The first one on anyones list must surely be, "The Hobbit". The tale that sparked all modern pseudo-mythological sagas.

"Beer and skittles", by Richard Boston, a former Guardian beer columnist wrote this highly interesting and entertaining history of the beer-makers art right through to the sad decline of the Britsh brewing industry and the social nucleus, "The great British pub".

"Vanya", by Myrna Grant, is a true story of a Soviet army conscript who suffers in so many ways purely because he was a Christian.

That's enough to be getting on with.

Shoukld finish my Paul Theroux this evening.