God I love a book. As if I didn’t get enough of the written word during the day!

No matter how crap/cold/frustrating/boring/suicide-invoking the day might have been – hopping into the sack with a good book and a heat snake is one of life’s sweet pleasures. Here are five literary marvels I recommend you search out.

Dog Boy by Eva Hornung
Shocking, heartbreaking and ultimately exhilarating, this one’s a classic for all those Elsternwick Park dog ladies out there. The fact that the writer’s a local lass from Bendigo makes it even more impressive.

A Scandalous Life, The Biography of Jane Digby by Mary S. Lovell
Set in the 1800’s, an aristocratic young lady gives the toffs the bird and heads south to partake in wild affairs with swarthy Mediterranean types. Eventually she shacks up with a Bedouin sheik young enough to be her own son and learns how to run up the neck of a camel. My kinda gal.

The Outsider (aka The Stranger) by Albert Camus
I don’t know why it took me so long to discover this book, but I thank the Lord I did. A stunningly beautiful read, and finally I get what The Cure were talking about in their song ‘Killing An Arab’. Only took 30 years!

Monkey Grip by Helen Garner
I love you, Helen Garner. You made being broke in Melbourne romantic.

Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
Pent up schoolboy frustration complete with liver and milk bottles. So wrong it’s right.

Happy reading folks!