Song of Achilles - Miller Enjoyable new take on the Iliad. Newcomers enjoyed the story & characters but those who know Homer were less keen.

Forgotten Waltz - Enright. An affair destroys two marriages in present day Dublin. Decay pervades this sharply observed & unsympathetic book

Is it just me? Miranda Hart. Witty popular autobiography Occasionally one gets caught with a customer who monologues. Sorry, but tough going

Strangers Child - Hollinghurst. Elegant literary novel episodically moving through the 20th century. His declining world echoes Brideshead.

Marriage Plot - Eugenides. Well described triangle set in a 1980's US university. The characters psychology & motivation take centre stage.

Secret Listeners - Mackay. Y-service people were posted abroad during WW2 to report on the enemy. 1st hand interviews support a strong text.

On the Map - Simon Garfield Journalistic dip into our relationship with maps. Enthusiastic, anecdotal, & written in short chapters. Good fun

Horologicon - Mark Forsyth. More bizarre words, sorted by their use through the day. Gentle fun - we love witty language books at Christmas.

A Possible Life - Faulks. Five stories from different eras. People adapt & change by force of circumstance. Calm restrained and understated.

Back to Blood - Tom Wolfe. The soul of Miami unpicked in this hectic yarn, full of raw anger, chaotic people, ethnic tension & sheer energy.

Toby's Room - Pat Barker. A return to WW1 and the artists in 'Life Class'. Stunning writing, in which the truth of war is brutally laid bare

Sightlines - Kathleen Jamie. Collection of perfectly judged essays on the natural world. Few authors convey a sense of place so convincingly

Sabotaged & Defeated (Final Glimpse) - Jeffery Grayer. Good collection of new colour pictures of last days of the Somerset & Dorset Railway.

Iron Curtain - Anne Applebaum. Authoritative history of post war communist East Europe. Benign cooperation swiftly turns to cynical bullying

Is that a fish in your ear? David Bellos. Engaging, witty & highly readable book on translating. Is féidir a bheith aistriú ionadach maith.

Raffles & the Golden Opportunity - Glendinning. Flashman-style title apt for this superb biography spanning his life in Singapore & London.

Citadel - Kate Mosse Well researched WW2 novel from South of France. A female resistance cell race to find an ancient Codex before the Nazis

Everybody Matters - Mary Robinson. Outstanding memoir from former President of Ireland. Politically insightful & compassionately written.

Country Girl - Edna O'Brien. Candid & nostalgic memoir of a truly courageous writer. It is best read in the context of her early novels.

Sweet Tooth - McEwan A female Cambridge graduate joins MI5 & manipulates a young writer. More of a comfortable period piece than a spy novel