Looking for some new writing to sink your teeth into this summer? The UK's leading authors reveal the last book they loved...

Jonathan Coe, author of The Rotters' Club (Penguin)
'I've just finished reading Heartland by Neil Cross and it blew me away. It's a childhood memoir - a genre that Cross, better known as a novelist, has obviously approached with some trepidation. It tells the story of his upbringing at the hands of a violent, racist but somehow loveable South African stepfather, followed by his descent into a life of teenage vandalism. The writing is fantastic - spare, powerful, endlessly compassionate - and I couldn't put the thing down until I'd finished it, bleary-eyed, in the early hours of the morning.’

Ali Smith, author of Hotel World (Penguin)
‘I've just read This Human Season by Louise Dean. It's humane, compelling and unshowy, set in Belfast in 1979 - 1980 just before the hunger strike protest in the Maze. What I like about Dean's writing is that she never wastes a word. This novel questions heroism, blends a pretty risky humour with survival instinct, and never short changes you when it comes to measuring the real humiliations and losses suffered by real people.'

Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife (Jonathan Cape)
‘I am reading Break, Blow, Burn by Camille Paglia. It is her close readings of forty-three poems; they range from Shakespeare to Joni Mitchell and include some favorite poets of mine, Marvell and Donne. Paglia's commentary is incisive, careful, and occasionally inspired. It's a treat to read the poems with someone who takes them as poems, not as an excuse to do psychoanalysis or biography. Paglia is a professor, and I am enjoying the feeling of being a student again, and particularly I am enjoying being her student.'

Carol Drinkwater, author of The Olive Harvest (Orion)
'I'm reading Mediterranean Winter by Robert D Kaplan. I found it by accident in Paris when I was scouring the shelves of Left Bank bookshops searching for material on Mediterranean history. With writing that is both astute and lyrical, Kaplan takes us on an out-of-season journey, orginally made by him in 1975, of ancient Mediterranean lands. The book is steeped in history and full of poetry as told through the eyes of a young man, recently graduated, who is seeking his place in the world.'

Ian Rankin, author of Fleshmarket Close (Orion)
'The book I'm reading just now is The Whole Equation by David Thomson. He's the author of the majestic 'New Biographical Dictionary of Film' and this latest book is subtitled 'A History of Hollywood'. As always with Thomson, what you get is a very personal, beautifully written interpretation, which embraces everything from 'Ace In The Hole' to Adolph Zukor. Whether or not you're a fan of Tinseltown, you'll be enthralled.'