curious george called and said the copy of russell hoban's the mouse and his child that i ordered several weeks ago has arrived.

so now i can finally say that your book recommendations, heath, are:

fiction: russell hoban - the mouse and his child,
non-fiction: francis spufford - the child that books built,

both of which you will receive in the post as soon as i buy a new spufford. (forgive me, but i allowed von to make off with your copy last week.)