Recently I was asked by Damian Barr on behalf of the new W Hotel in Leicester Square to be one of ten writers to choose ten books each for the hotel's library. I decided not to include any prose fiction because no one pays £500 a night for a room in central London in order to sit there reading Vanity Fair (which Bret Easton Ellis picked) from beginning to end. Here's my list:

U & I by Nicholson Baker

Banvard's Folly by Paul Collins

Nobody's Perfect by Anthony Lane

The BLDGBLOG Book by Geoff Manaugh

Absolute All Star Superman by Grant Morrison

Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris: Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry by Leanne Shapton

An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar by Taryn Simon

Exquisite Corpse by Michael Sorkin

Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut

The Irresponsible Self by James Wood