The New York Trilogy - Paul Auster

No idea what to say about it. Baffling but brilliant. The complexity of both the prose and the stories, the strands of narrative and ideas that grow and branch out in all directions, makes it like a living organism. But "what's going on?" is the main impression I'm left with. Like a David Lynch film, it's as frustrating as it is compelling. Who's the narrator? Is it the same person in all three stories. Seems to be. How much of each story physically happened? Maybe it was all metaphor, maybe it's a book about a man alone in a room and that's all. Will re-read.

Oracle Night - Paul Auster

Another damn good one. My first encounter with Auster apart from a graphic novel (City of Glass, I think). This reminded me very much of Murakami: a similar writing style and the same kind of weird, not-quite-coherently related events, and an odd supernatural premise lurking beneath a very human sort of story. I read it in three or four sessions - very rare for me. Looking forward to coming back to this author.

The Last Werewolf - Glen Duncan

"Sometimes the entire weight of her self-loathing was compressed into the angle at which she held a cigarette." Beautiful. The prose is like this throughout and the story is good and strong and fast-moving. The werewolf and vampire (yep, vampires too as an added bonus) lore is interesting and gets just the right amount of narrative attention, and there's a lot of philosophical jibber-jabber for smart-arses like me to get our teeth into. This is this guy's seventh book. I think I'm onto a winner.

'Salem's Lot - Stephen King

Just simply bloody brilliant. Beyond the characters, plot and effortless prose you expect from King, it has a bunch of passages scattered throughout that are simply beautiful, poetic works of art, and which approach social commentary (on one level 'Salem's Lot is very much about the Vietnam war) without threatening to push the vampires and the action into the background. This is a book to study and re-read, as an example of how to do novel-writing and of what it can be at its best.

Dracula - Bram Stoker

Not disappointing, although not mindblowing either. Compared to modern fiction there is no tension whatsoever between the good guys (except what is caused by Mina's "false" badguy status). They are a happy family, constantly talking about how brave and noble they all are and patting each other on the back. I suppose a strong "ka-tet" was necessary to defeat the vamp. he certainly is a frightening villain. All in all a good antidote to today's stupid preening pretty-boy American high school heart-throb vampires.

Becoming A Writer - Dorothea Brand

A very impressive book setting out a thorough system for turning yourself into a writer; hopefully as helpful as it is impressive. One thing definitely in its favour is it addresses the problem of "writing at all" - overcoming apathy, absence of ideas and so on - rather than technical advice. It shows its age and certainly isn't meant for a "busy, fast-paced, modern lifestyle" but then who ever said that that lifestyle is compatible with the lifestyle of a writer? Have taken one exercise to heart and begun writing first thing each morning. This is quite exciting and I can't believe I never thought of it myself.

Rashomon and Other Stories - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Very tightly written and imaginative stories. I can certainly see how they influenced Murakami. The role of the narrator is very interesting. In some stories it's just a voice as is usual in modern third person fiction; in some it's an unnamed person who seems to have been present during the story's events; in some it's apparently a historian piecing the story together later; and in one it seems to be Akutagawa himself, admitting that it's fiction yet still approaching it as fact, telling it like it's a true story while writing as a fiction writer.