The Misogynist, By Piers Paul Read

Over 30 years on from his 1979 bestseller A Married Man, Piers Paul Read revisits the mid-life crisis. Geoffrey Jomier is a retired barrister living in Hammersmith.

He spends his days uploading his diaries so that every detail about his life will soon be contained on a "memory stick the size of his thumb."

Looking back he sees his ex-wife's affair as the moment when he might have become a misogynist, though deep down he's convinced he's a lover of women.

He's put to the test when introduced to Judith, a menopausal women whose tinted hair and crepe-like skin does not offend.

This is a highly readable tale of stultified West London types and Viagra-fuelled romance, though Jomier's most satisfying relationship remains with his new 32-inch flat-screen TV.