Fleur Macdonald

Welcome to the inaugural post of Bookbenchers where we ask backbench MPs what they read when they're not white paper-pushing. Kicking things off is Steve Baker, former engineer officer in the RAF and currently MP for Wycombe – when he isn't helping run the educational charity The Cobden Centre, or skydiving. What book's on your bedside table at the moment?Anarchy, State and Utopia by Robert Nozick What book would you read to your children?I don't have children but I have a photo of me reading Jesus Huerta de Soto's Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles to my godchildren. What literary character would you most like to be?Captain Jack Aubrey, of the Aubrey-Maturin series. I'd rather be sailing. Or skydiving.

What do John Boyne, Tracy Chevalier, Joe Dunthorne, Anne Enright, Jane Harris and Kazuo Ishiguro have in common? Apart from the obvious? And apart from only coming in the first third of the alphabet? Graduates of the University of East Anglia’s Creative Writing course seem to be the only people writing novels at the moment. Or novels that people will buy. The enigmatically named DW Wilson - the latest from the prestigious literary stable - and his short story finished frontrunners in the National BBC Short Story Award. The Canadian post grad beat off competiton from Jon McGregor, M J Hyland, Alison MacLeod and K J Orr to be crowned the youngest-ever winner of the £15,000 prize.

The most influential authors, retailers, critics, agents, publishers, broadcasters and poets were all listed in The Guardian Book 100 this weekend. First prize went to the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos who - in addition to diversifying from books to groceries - is currently setting up Blue Origin, a company which offers space travel to the general public. Author JK Rowling; Google CEO, Larry Page; Waterstone's last chance, the Daunt/Mamut team and Chief Executive of Hachette UK, Tim Hely Hutchinson, followed close behind. Richard & Judy continue to slip down the rankings while Stieg Laarson won't let death get in the way; his ghost checked in at number 18. Charles Dickens also manages to extend his influence beyond the grave.

6,000 names on the petition and five tweets a week: the Society of Authors has launched its attack on Radio 4. BBC Controller Gwyneth Williams’ decision in June to reduce the BBC short story slots from three to one drove a cohort of objectors, including Ali Smith, Joanne Harris, Neil Gaiman and the SoA, to organise their campaign: the short story tweetathon. Every Wednesday, from 11am, a famous author will tweet out the first line of a very short story with four tweeters invited to complete the story in 670 characters. Last week, Ian Rankin sounded the starting pistol: "I woke up on the floor of a strange bedroom, clutching a single bullet in my right hand. I couldn't see any sign of a gun.

One of the literary excitements of this week, The Fear Index by Robert Harris, showed that the journalist and novelist continues to mine both the ancient and modern world for inspiration.  His latest thriller revolves around a mad scientist who’s created a beast he can’t control. So far, so Shelley, but this monster is unmistakably of the moment: a computer program designed to monitor fear in money markets for a hugely profitable hedge fund. His tale tips into gothic when the soulless monster switches and starts to track fear in the mind of its master.

The Booker Prize longlist is perennially accused of pandering to the masses and to publishing publicity departments in particular. Heaven forbid the award might encourage reading or even book-buying. This year highbrow eyebrows shot up even further at the inclusion of titles so obscure they made current front-runner DJ Taylor, put forward for Derby Day, look like, well, Thackeray. Even the efforts by more famous nominees have been deemed under-par.   We wonder if this disregard for critical opinion could have something to do with the fact that Booker chairwoman Stella Rimington, former head of MI5 and now departure lounge novelist, is no stranger to bad reviews herself.   Can you guess which Booker nominees these critics are badmouthing?

The US president’s summer reading list has recently been at the centre of a media furore. The White House released a statement that Barack Obama had bought two books at Martha’s Vineyard bookstore to add to the three he had brought with him from Washington. Other sources say that Obama actually bought five books at Bunch of Grapes, which is reputedly an extremely liberal bookseller. We’re unclear as to the whole truth but we’ll keep you posted as more revelations filter through. The list – as it stands – is as follows: 1. The Bayou Trilogy by Daniel Woodrell 2. Rodin’s Debutante by Ward Just 3. Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese 4. To The End Of The Land by David Grossman 5.

'They dined on mince and slices of quince,     which they ate with a runcible spoon' The Owl and the Pussycat, Edward Lear, 1871 To hazard a guess at the exact nature of a runcible spoon, you’d have to consult Edward Lear's 1849 illustration of the Dolomphious duck (pictured) on the point of devouring its dinner. A ladle. Or a spork? Named after a Runcie or a Runcy? Robert Runcie polished silverware as butler for Lear’s patron the Earl of Derby, while Lear's friend, George Runcy, polished up children's manners by concocting up cutlery designs. But what about a runcible cat? Or Lear's description of himself as a spherical form topped by a runcible hat? The inverted logic of nonsense verse abandons words to mere sounds and inky squiggles.

Reviewers this week flexed their intellectual muscles as they got to grips with clever clogs Edward St Aubyn’s latest novel.  His roman-a-clef At Last was a double boon: the perfect opportunity not only to indulge in a spot of sordid literary gossip but also to parade their mastery of the Literae Humaniores. And in numbers as mighty as the Achaeans swarming on Trojan plains, they did both. Caroline Moore in the Telegraph tried to trump the account of childhood rape – which  almost became banal when trotted out in every single review – with this biographical anecdote: "He turned up to sit his Oxford finals armed with the shaft of an empty Biro for snorting heroin, but without a conventionally filled pen.