A farewell to arms / Vendela Vida --
A squeaky office chair / Jonathan Franzen --
Post-it notes / Will Self --
The Baths of Diocletian / Alan Hollinghurst --
Stövchen / Benjamin Markovits --
Jarry's spiral / Tom Robbins --
A Maglite / Janine Di Giovanni --
A cork wall / Eric Chase Anderson --
A large desk / Alain de Botton --
Ganesha / Luis J. Rodriguez --
A picture from Prague / Gina Ochsner --
Chocolate / Douglas Coupland --
A blindfolded rhino / Melissa Bank --
Simon Wiesenthal and the Simpsons / David Baddiel --
Clippity / Lionel Shriver --
Through my window / Geoff Dyer --
Nicotine / Anthony Bourdain --
Unknown keys / Siri Hustvedt --
Notebooks thrown across rooms / A.L. Kennedy --
Portland Meadows Racetrack / Willy Vlautin --
People I don't know / Isabel Young --
Yerba Maté / James Flint --
Oblique strategies / Rick Moody --
Hot water / Jane Smiley --
Oxford Bar / Ian Rankin --
A cabinet of curiosities / A.S. Byatt --
Laurence Stern / Adam Thirlwell --
Speedball / Natasha Mostert --
The pens / Hanif Kureishi --
Names / Jonathan Lethem --
Driving / David Guterson --
Alphabets / Marie Darrieussecq --
A body plummeting / Nicole Krauss --
In the wee small hours / Neil LaBute --
The monkey's jaw / Iain Sinclair --
The rituals of tea / Tash Aw --
A cypress cone / William Fiennes --
The lights of my writing life / Tony D'Souza --
My grandmother the dancer / Jake Arnott --
Krautrock / Michel Faber --
Portrait / Joyce Carol Oates --
An axe in my hand / Jay McInerney --
Cocktails from water and ice / Nick Laird --
"This childish task" / Javier Marías --
Akhenaten / Ahdaf Soueif --
Terry's fist / Ronan Bennett --
The dogs / Arthur Bradford --
Tempus omnia revelat / Bruce Robinson --
Earplugs / Nicholson Baker --
The importance of my navel / Tim Carvell --
A purple pen, a portable home / Elif Shafak --
The head of a saint / Audrey Niffenegger --
Red and blue notebook / Peter Hobbs --
Seahorses / Jill Dawson --
"Office" / Caren Beilin --
Typewriter / John Byrne --
Barricade / Nat Segnit --
Rock bottom / Dan Rhodes --
Hotel rooms / A.M. Homes --