Intoxicants

Okay, I know that some class warriors will hate me for recommending this. But seriously, he is the master of comic writing, a brilliant prose stylist and he makes it all look dead easy. (Let's just forget about that episode in Berlin for the moment.) And none of his characters - or so it seems - are ever seen without clutching a glass of something delicious and intoxicating.

Intoxicants are only one part of the intricate fabric of Anneliese Mackintosh's compelling world. Reading Any Other Mouth is like reading someone's diary. It's so real it's heartbreaking, but it's also inspiring. So feel-bad it's good.

So noir, so yes. Detective Philip Marlowe is the epitome of the noir anti-hero: hard-drinking and tough, but smart and cultured too. Complex and exciting, it's no wonder The Big Sleep is on TIME's list of the 100 Best Novels.

This portrayal of a recovering alcoholic is unflinching: a story of wasted lives, flawed relationships and the horrors of old age, but through it all, humour and hope rebalance the drudge and misery.

How well do we know people -- even when we all belong to a small, ex-pat community in a foreign capital? This edgy and disturbing study of English-speaking alcoholics living in Rome examines this great literary theme -- and does much more besides.

Some Bukowski worshippers would have you believe his short stories are only for those who like their meat raw and marinated in cheap hard liquor. But there's lots for vegetarians to enjoy too, such as Bukowski's bottomless pit of humanity and his pitch perfect ear for dialogue.