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Frank O’Hara is a poet who really appeals to me. His aimless wanderings in New York City are recorded in his poems, scribbled down on serviettes and scrap paper during his lunch breaks. These are improvisational, non pre-mediated writings that are so deep and revelatory, with so much charisma and appeal! O’Hara takes us to New York, to his city; he lets us see a world through a poet’s eyes; he offers us intimate insights into a poet’s life and maybe even inspires us to scribble down a poem or two. - Telka

Carson McCullers’ work is timeless and deals with somewhat obscure and grotesque characters. Or are they, really? What does it mean to be different and how does society receive individuals? Probably the most well known story is ‘The Ballad of the Sad Café’, which tells of Miss Amelia, who was once married to violent Marvin Macy. She leads a solitary life until the hunchback Lymon enters her world, claiming to be her cousin. Without giving away too much, this is a story that beautifully demonstrates the frailty of humanity, the fickleness of love and the crushing pain of rejection. - Telka

A weighty-but-worth-it book from the man who brought hit TV show The Wire into the world. Following the case load of the over-worked homicide detectives in America’s Baltimore and uncovering untold amounts of violence and intrigue.

Tove Jansson is a Finnish author mainly known for writing the Moomin stories. However, I would like to direct your attention towards her fiction. I loved this book because it paints a perfect and intriguing portrait of Scandinavia. Cool and quiet as falling snow, it’s full of nature; it’s so daunting, and yet so inviting as Scandinavia itself. - Telka

Tolle’s immensely popular book helps the reader to refocus on something which is actually very simple but which gets lost in the speed or routine of everyday activities. He encourages living in the present, valuing now and the happiness that is to be found in this more centred. Open approach to life. In this sense it’s spiritual and meditative but very readable. - Louisa

The rise and fall and rise again of Lev, a man searching for a new life and opportunities in Britain straight from Eastern Europe. A very humane portrait of a modern immigrant, tenderly drawn, funny and much like a modern fable. One of the best novels I read in 2008. - Rachael

When the brilliant professor Philip Philipovich befriends a stray dog Sharik, he has all ingredients to conduct his most groundbreaking operation. He implants human testicles on Sharik, which results in an appalling and intolerable human being who has a penchant for chasing cats. If you can’t make a man out of a human, how do you expect to make a man out of a dog? Inventive and experimental, this book is both entertaining and politically and socially critical, in a proper Bulgakovian style. - Telka

A funny, moving and terrifyingly erudite look at family life and the burden of being very very clever. Preferably preceded by For Esme with Love and Squalor for an introduction to the characters. Proof that Salinger produced more than just the excellent The Catcher In The Rye. - Jen

These dark, elegant and disturbing three novellas posses strange beauty which draw you in and don't let go. First they introduce you to a teenager who falls for her foster brother and secretly indulges in cruelty, then continues to journey through peculiar pregnancy and finally climaxes with a story as dark and teasing as the first two novellas. Nothing is as it seems and the sublime beauty of the writing gives you a pleasurable read which tingles in the mind long after. - Telka