It's always nice to add a new book to 'The Pile'.

'The Pile' is unlikely to ever run short - it would take a publishing crisis running into several millennia and the destruction of every Penguin Classic ever printed.

Particularly seeing as 'The Pile' only exists in my mind and generally changes depending on what mood I'm in.

I am - of course - referring to the list every book lover has of 'what I'm going to read' topped generally by 'what I'm going to read next'...

Now, here is a book I've been meaning to read for some time - the giveaway might be the fact The God of Small Things won the Booker Prize in the dim and distant days of 1997.

Twelve years ago. Oh dear.

But are the advertising executives responsible for promoting a certain brand of Irish stout correct when they say ... good things come to those who wait?

Let's see...

Lots of lovely things coming up for book lovers across Merseyside.

We've got author Malcolm Gladwell (pictured) on his way to Philharmonic Hall, so more on that in a bit.

There's lots going on at independent booksellers News from Nowhere plus South African author Gillian Slovo is on her way to talk about her latest novel.

There are also forthcoming performances of the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists...

This is a quirky little tale.

A Case of Exploding Mangoes is based on the true life plane crash that killed Pakistan's military ruler General Zia ul-Haq - and most of his gang - in 1988.

Don't worry, it's not a heavy novel, it's exactly the opposite.

There was apparently never a public investigation into the crash, which throws it wide open for conspiracy theorists... and people like this author and former Pakistan air officer Hanif to form their own entertaining explanations.

I loved jimps' comment on my post about the reading material of servicemen when they're abroad (see here).

Who would have thought two grown men - and two men in the special forces' boat service (SBS) at that - could come to blows over a copy of Harry Potter?

I mean these are guys who are off fighting the Taliban and carrying out maritime counter terrorism operations.

They must have really wanted to know if Hermione and Ron were going to get together... 

Ever been to the library with no idea what book you want?

It rarely happens to me (I've got a permanent 'books to read next' list floating around in my head) but I'm sure that with summer approaching plenty of people will be wandering down to their local library in need of a good beach read.

The lady pictured left is hoping she can help...

I've just returned from a week living with a group of Merseyside soldiers on the vast prairies of Canada - where they were training for a potential stint in Afghanistan.

All our lads were brilliant sports - happy to be interviewed and appear in our videos - and they all made me feel right at home, albeit in a rather large tank.

The Canadian prairies are a hostile place. There's rattlesnakes, black widow spiders and the odd elk wandering the plains...

Here's a first.

Me suggesting a book I haven't actually read.

But Marilynne Robinson's novel Home has just won the Orange Prize for fiction ... so I figure there must be something in it.

So now I'm throwing the floor open for reviews... if anyone has finished it yet?

Hands up if you like feeling mildly uncomfortable.

How about guilty? Happy feeling guilty?

Nope, me neither ... I get that twisting feeling that I should do more to change the world. Then I inevitably reach for another kit kat ... and another book.

Still, perhaps we all do more than we realise - boycotting the Daily Mail maybe or spoiling that perfectly friendly dinner party by arguing with the I'm-not-a-bigot bigot in the corner.

I think you should read this book.

Congratulations to two Merseyside book clubs who have been shortlisted for a national prize.

The Eliot Reading Group and Ruskin Reading Group have reached the finals of this year's Penguin Orange readers' group prize.

But unlike most other book clubs - which exist purely for the laughs, food and chance to debate with other like-minded folk - these clubs are proving their medicinal worth.

Both are based at Ashworth Hospital, the high security psychiatric hospital in Maghull...