Along the lines of the book choices that appear in all the papers at the end of the year, what were the best books you've read in the last year (old and new)?
My top picks are:
We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver (stunning, gripping, thought-provoking)
The Reader - Bernhard Schlink (moving, beautifully written spare prose, thought-provoking)
The Brothers - Bernice Rubens (epic family saga, now revisiting as many of her books as possible)
An Intimate History of Humanity - Theodore Zeldin (original, brilliant)
Toast - Nigel Slater (made me cry, unputdownable)
Cooking with Fernet Branca - James Hamilton-Paterson (funny, quirky)
The Diary of a Nobody - George and Weedon Grossmith (but I read that every year)
Is it just me or is everything shit? - Lowe/MacArthur (excellent next-to-the-toilet curmudgeonliness)