I was astounded by the Patrick Melrose whatever-it-is (a trilogy is a set of three books, but no idea what you say for a set of five). I more or less came across them by chance. Very, very black. He obviously had a childhood from hell. Very funny. Edward St. Aubyn makes black into funny. Don't know how he does it. A magician.
At the moment I'm reading a book which is virulently anti-Europe and explains why it's a good thing to get out of Europe, because I believe in reading against the grain (i.e. I'm not interested in reading books that tell me what I already think). I must say I'm having to grit my teeth to read it, and it's blocking me to move on to other books that I'd rather be reading. I keep picking it up, reading three pages, putting it down in exasperation. But I'm going to go through to the last page, because I'm puritanical like that.
