Ok, the last five authors of books that you've read all the way through. And anyone brave or judgmental enough can issue summary justice on others...

For me it's:
Russell Hoban (Pilgermann and about 4 others too)
Albert Camus (The Plague)
Jose Saramago (Blindness and Seeing)
Richard Yates (The Easter Parade, Revolutionary Road and Cold Spring Harbour)
Andrew Crumey (Pfitz and d'Alembert's Principle)

Worryingly all-male, it has to be said.

Edited to add the books: I've been basically moving between four of these authors recently. The exception being Camus - that's the first of his I've read. Bloody good it was too.

Ezra Pound - Personae: Collected Shorter Poems
William Gaddis - The Corrections
David James Duncan - River Teeth
Simon Blackburn - Ruling Passions
Joss Whedon - Buffy The Vampire Slayer series 8: Volume One


Ditto on the all-male thing.

To my mind, the titles would be more important to know (and then judge on) than the authors. Unless you only read fiction, I guess.

Patrick O'Brian (Master & Commander, Post-Captain, and HMS Suprise - All re-reads)
Karel Capek (Tales from Two Pockets)
Steven Brust (My own Kind of Freedom - Firefly fanfic)
Susanna Clarke (JS & Mr. N)
Ian McEwan (On Chesil Beach)

The first three are three of my favorite authors though, so I don't know if that counts. The 4th wrote one of my favorite books of recent years. And the last is Ian McEwan.

Nicola Barker, Darkmans
Anne Bronte, Agnes Grey
Kristen Britain, Green Rider
Christian Jungersen, The Exception
Antonia Quirke, Mrs Depardieu and the Beautiful Strangers

Four women, one man... One tragic genre trash thing though.

Oh, don't be so hard on bronte:)

I couldn't tell you the book I read before the one I'm reading now... but the last five would probably have been

Lee Child
W.L. Ripley
Lawrence Block
Peter O'Donnell
Robert B Parker

Off the top of my head:

The Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks - Christopher Brookmyre
Calcio - John Foot
A Tale Etched in Blood and Cold Hard Pencil - Christopher Brookmyre
Behind the Curtain - Jonathan Wilson
Ajax, the Dutch, and the War - Simon Kuper

There's a kind of theme there, isn't there? And it continues with the fact that I've just started Dynamo: defending the honour of Kiev.

I'd like to think that my reading is generally more eclectic than is reflected in this list (and it is, honest) and I've a John Le Carrι and a Robert Ludlum on my waiting list, as well as Killing Civilians by Hugo Slim.

Most recently read last:

Death's Jest Book — Reginald Hill
On Kitsch — Odd Nerdrum
A Life of Picasso Vol 1: The Prodigy 1881–1906— John Richardson
A Life of Picasso Vol 2: The Cubist Rebel 1907–1916 — John Richardson
A Life of Picasso Vol 3: The Triumphant Years1917–1932 — John Richardson

I suppose it might be cheating having three volumes of the same bio, if so stick Beekeeper by J. Robert Janes and The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock up top.

Reginal Hill - brilliant stuff.

A Brady Bunch book that a friend found at a flea market and sent me because of my love of retro pop culture: My expectations were low, and this book fell short of them. It was pretty awful, but then again, I'm not a 10-year-old in 1969, but I stuck with it because I almost never quit a book in the middle. I hated myself afterward, though.

Gene Tierney and the Invisible Wedding Gift, by Kathryn Heisenfelt: I found this at a flea market and was surprised to learn that there was fanfic in the 1940s, and as a kid I loved series literature for girls, so I gave it a shot. It turns out that Gene Tierney was no Nancy Drew.

In the Fall, by Jeffrey Lent: A would-be Faulknerian tale of a multiracial family in New England from the Civil War to the 1920s. Not bad except for weird punctuation.

Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year in High School by Jessie Flower: Used to belong to a coworker who collected vintage literature for teenagers. I really enjoyed the insight into life around a hundred years ago.

Rococo, by Adriana Trigiani: A fairly contemporary story for once. I like the author's novels set in southwestern Virginia, but not so much this one about Italian-Americans in New Jersey, but I needed some fluff after...

Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala, by Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer: Especially interesting in light of current events.

Most recently read:

Dan Rhodes, Gold
Nicola Barker, Darkmans
Haruki Murakami, After Dark
Dominic Sandbrook, White Heat
Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Richard Dawkins (ed) (does that count?)
Ed Smith
Gary Imlach
HG Bissinger
Can't remember.

Not unusual that all the ones I can remember are non-fiction, but it's a bit atypical that fully three are about sport.

I've just started Pale Fire, which maybe rescues me slightly. Assuming I finish it.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicles - Haruki Murakami
American Pastoral - Philip Roth
Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

I enjoyed all 5 greatly. I am loving my reading these days.

I see the listing...where's the judging?

The Two Faces of Islam - Stephen Schwartz
The Siege of Mecca - Yaroslav Trofimov
In Defense of Globalization Jagdish Bhagwati
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Paul Torday
No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy