The Locked Room, by Paul Auster is the final book in The New York Trilogy and demonstrates that the trilogy really is a single book divided into three large sections. I thought this was substantially better than the other two, being able to build on the foundations they laid, and I had to take a two-week break from reading it thanks to the existential angst it was causing me, which was half the point of the novel, and so well done!

Secondly, When you are englufed in flames by David Sedaris, who is known to millions as the brother of Amy Sedaris.

This is one of his many collections of humorous essays - a slice of comic autobiography which I read because a) I've had one of his other collections (Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls) on my amazon wishlist for literally years and b) it was on the shelf of the "American literature" section in my local library when I walked past. To paraphrase another: I read it because it was there.

I don't read biographies - auto or not - because I find them interminable, and don't care sufficiently about anyone who would want to write one, to read it. But this did have some good moments, his awards and bestseller-statuses are earned through his ability to write engagingly and amusingly about what most people would think mundane, and although it doesn't of course go anywhere I still enjoyed reading it. I'm not sure I'd have made it to the end without the reminders from the library telling me that it needed to be returned, since there's no real impetus to keep reading after the first dozen or so anecdotes and I feel no need to go and read others from his oeuvre, but I'm glad I've read one.

8 Princesses and a Magic Mirror is written for children but I found myself moved by the earnest and heartwarming tales here, any of which could easily fall into the canon of timeless stories told endlessly at bedtimes. Joyful, sad and exciting in different measures I loved reading this. One of The Guardian's best children's books of the year in 2019 and very worthy of that title.

Love Among the Chickens by P. G. Wodehouse is a fun, short read although not up to the heady standards of the Jeeves series, of which he published the first story six years after this and you can certainly see the first steps towards those giddy heights here. I found this book via Gyles Brandreth's interview with Alexander Armstrong on the Rosebud podcast (also on all other podcasting services) since the latter is the President of the PG Wodehouse Society UK.