one down...

Now, I'm not much of a reader (don't get me wrong, I'd like to be) but I've spent the last week and a bit buried in books with a spluttery cough and achey bones, which is quite handy as I've vowed to discover five new authors as part of my 2010 list.  And this book (can I claim this?) might just be the best book I have ever read.

I won't go into a huge amount of detail, because it would be boring, and Jonathan Safran Foer can do it much better, but Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close follows the thoughts of eccentric characters and beautiful strangers on a quest led by a nine year old boy, Oskar, who searches relentlessly for a lock he can prize open with a mysterious key left behind by his late father.  The book is interspersed with photographs Oskar takes and the text often takes a direction of its own.  I could hardly bare to let it go (but Bath Library got angry and sent me a letter).  Read it.

But the cough remains, so I'm onto this one after rave reviews from my illustrative friends, and Nick Hornby, no less.  It is a romantic fiction, which is new for me, and typically addictive.  I'm sure I will be recommending this one too.  Roll on new author number three...