Aha! So James Lasdun has a new novel out ( immediately beats his way through the crowds thronging Ottakers). This is why he was mysteriously bigging up Irvine Welsh in the Guardian a few weeks ago. One of the few writers whose work makes me tingle with anticipation, " The Horned Man" was a kind of masterclass in measured, resonant storytelling, everything that crowds around and weaves its way into the interstices of the story is the real story, a novel in which everything unsaid and unrecorded becomes what's vital, and which unashamedly pitches off full tilt into "fantasy" toward the end, too. An amazing writer. Give him the booker! Banville then Lasdun, two of my faves on consecutive years, that'd be great.

And you say that (from the sublime to the ridiculous) Tim Willocks has also got a new one out! I loved "Bad City Blues", "Green River Risng", "Bloodstained Kings"...looks like that's my holiday reading sorted out....