THE BIRDICT

This is one of my favourite books and has influenced a lot of my own writing, particularly The Lottery Club.

More about the characters than the plot, it is a darkly funny exploration of the point of living and the meaning of happiness.

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SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO...​​

Nick Hornby's style is so distinctive it's hard to compare him to others. But if you like this, try Nick Spalding for light humour, Mike Gayle for flawed characters and - one of my faves - Paul Torday, for both.

THE BLURB

'Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block?'

For disgraced TV presenter Martin Sharp the answer's pretty simple: He has, in his own words, 'pissed his life away'. And on New Year's Eve, he's going to end it all.... But not, as it happens, alone. Because first single-mum Maureen, then 18-year-old Jess, and lastly American rock-god JJ turn up and crash Martin's private party. They've stolen his idea - but brought their own reasons. Yet it's hard to jump when you've got an audience queuing impatiently behind you. A few heated words and some slices of cold pizza later and these four strangers are suddenly allies. But is their unlikely friendship a good enough reason to carry on living?