A A  Gill – any collection of his journalism is worth reading. But not his novels, seemingly.

Howard Jacobson – again, give the novels a miss, but read his collection of newspaper columns, “Whatever It Is, I Don’t Like It”

Elmore Leonard – “The Poet Laureate of wild assholes with revolvers”. 52 Pick Up was the first I read. Check out his Top 10 Rules for Writing

Graham Greene – I must have read “Brighton Rock” half a dozen times. Hard to say why, but I love it.

Bill Bryson – “The Lost Continent” is my favourite. It must be difficult to make writing look so easy.

Bill James – Relatively unknown British crime novelist. “Top Banana” springs to mind as a good example of his slightly odd style.

Paul Theroux – “Sunrise with Sea Monsters”, a collection of his early writing, is probably top of my list. His travel books are all good and “The Kingdom By the Sea”, a tour he took through Thatcher’s Britain of the early Eighties, is still a classic.

Jeremy Clarke – “Low Life” charts his social progress, or lack of it, first published in The Spectator magazine.

Simon Armitage – The Book of Matches (poems). With poems, you have to sift a lot of muck to find brass, but it’s worth it when you do.

Hunter Davies – Another author/journalist. His collection “Mean with Money” shows how frugality should be done.