BOOK 162: LOITERING WITH INTENT: MURIEL SPARK

Published in 1981 by Bodley Head it was short-listed for the Booker Prize that year. It contains many autobiographical references to Spark's early career and was reprinted in 2001 by New Directions, in the US, and in 2007 by Virago Press in the UK (with a foreword by Mark Lawson).

BOOK 104: THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER: CARSON MCCULLERS

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940) is the debut novel by the American author Carson McCullers; she was 23 at the time of publication.

When published it created a literary sensation, enjoying a meteoric rise to the top of the bestseller lists in 1940; it was the first in a string of works by McCullers that give voice to those who are rejected, forgotten, mistreated or oppressed.

The Modern Library ranked the novel seventeenth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Time magazine included it in TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.In 2004 the novel was selected for Oprah's Book Club.

British artist Joe Simpson referenced McCullers' book in his painting of the same title 'The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter' in 2014. The painting shows two characters both reading the book on the London Underground, it is taken from his ongoing series 'London'