Booklover - Herald on Sunday - 15 November, 2009

Mark Crysell is the Europe correspondent for TVNZ News & Current Affairs

The book I love most is....the nominees are: The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer, a haunting white trash epic, devastatingly written. Songlines by Bruce Chatwin, beautiful evocative writing about why we travel. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, a classic, I've read it five times and each time I get something different out of it. The Book Of Fame by Lloyd Jones, the story of the 1905 All Blacks beautifully written as a team diary and about being a wide-eyed New Zealander overseas. And the winner is The Book Of Fame – it just seems right for where I am right now.

The book I'm reading now is....Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard, America's greatest living crime writer in my humble opinion.

The book I'd like to read next is....A Most Wanted Man by John le Carre. I love le Carre and his characters. He’s survived the Cold War better than any other spy novelist. And also D-Day by Antony Beevor, a historian who writes about great battles with the skill of novelist and a feel for the ordinary soldier.

Thanks Mark, some great choices there, and thanks to the Herald on Sunday for permission to reprint this.