Books & Poetry

‘The Night Watch’
Sarah Waters
Triumphantly subtle account of ordinary London lives during the Blitz.

‘The Book of Dave’
Will Self
A cabbie’s buried ramblings become holy gospel in the year’s funniest novel.

‘Against the Day’
Thomas Pynchon
You can’t accuse him of insufficient research.

‘Winter in Madrid’
CJ Sansom
Historical-thriller high jinks in Civil War-era Spain.

‘The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox’
Maggie O’Farrell
A young woman discovers a great-aunt she never knew existed – because she has been in an asylum for 60 years.

‘The Road’
Cormac McCarthy
The future’s dark in this sparse, horribly compelling post-apocalyptic parable.

‘The Lay of the Land’
Richard Ford
The further adventures of Frank Bascombe: unbearably sad, unfeasibly funny.

‘The Story of You’
Julie Myerson
The torrential force of loss explored as a mother mourns the death of her baby.

‘Everyman’
Philip Roth
Roth’s unconsoled, illusionless vision condensed into a masterful novella.

‘Black Swan Green’
David Mitchell
A successful departure: life in rural Worcestershire in the early ’80s, told from the viewpoint of a 13-year-old boy.

‘Londonstani’
Gautam Malkani
Launched on a tide of unhelpful hype, this electrifying debut deserves to find a larger audience in paperback.

‘Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins’
Rupert Everett
Unexpectedly likeable warts-and-all memoir, written with wit and brio.

‘Constitutional’
Helen Simpson
Precise, unflinching short stories from a chronicler of small things and quiet moments.

‘Seeing’
José Saramago
A city is thrown into confusion when voters cast blank ballots in a terrific satire from the Nobel-winning novelist.

‘The Assassins Gate’
George Packer
Beautifully written reportage, telling the full story of the invasion of Iraq.

‘The Life of Kingsley Amis’
Zachary Leader
The old devil may not merit such lavish treatment, but Leader’s 1,000-page biog is still an exemplary piece of work.

‘Nova Swing’
M John Harrison
Harrison’s latest SF tome reads like mainstream fiction soaked in noir.

‘The Secret River’
Kate Grenville
1806, and convict William Thornhill awakes in a mud and bark hut in the penal colony of Sydney…

‘Restless’
William Boyd
Fiendishly exciting wartime spy thriller.

‘The Damned Utd’
David Peace
Brilliant fictionalised account of Brian Clough’s traumatic 44-day tenure as manager of Leeds United.

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