The World Book Day
poll is now open. They're looking for people to vote on which book says most about the UK and its inhabitants today. I went with Things can only get better by John O’Farrell for England, although the list of choices wasn't quite what I'd have expected.

For example, Wendy Holden was in there and Jilly Cooper wasn't. Now, Wendy Holden's a good enough writer but surely, in that genre, Jilly Cooper is more quintessentially English?

And Nineteen Eighty-four was in there. I love the book, even though it gave me nightmares the first time I read it, but surely anyone who picked it as representative of England has a bit of a bleak outlook?