Listmania!
Xmas 2009: Cream of the crop
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' NestThe Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson
Buy new: £8.99 / Used from: £8.53
Latest and possibly best of this hugely popular Swedish trilogy. No more where this came from, sadly.
The Girl Who Played with FireThe Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Buy new: £8.99 / Used from: £3.38
Things may be bad in the UK; but at least you aren't being trafficked into sex slavery and then killed. So can't complain, really. Dark fun.
The Einstein GirlThe Einstein Girl by Philip Sington
Buy new: £8.94 / Used from: £2.99
Engaging, authentic and powerful mystery that travels through the shadows of madness and genius.
The Boy in the Striped PyjamasThe Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Buy new: £4.25 / Used from: £0.77
The premise is shaky but the execution is good, in this story of a child awakening to the truth of the world he is living in.
The 19th WifeThe 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
Buy new: £4.79 / Used from: £0.01
Murder and religious bigotry among polygamous Mormons. You'll be glad to live in a secular society, even one up to its eyeballs in debt!
Wolf HallWolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Buy new: £8.49 / Used from: £8.00
More authentic than Boleyn girls, but rambles on in places, like Mantel's last.
The Glass RoomThe Glass Room by Simon Mawer
Buy new: £9.67 / Used from: £9.10
Intelligent, somewhat contrived novel about art, architecture and history.
A Week in DecemberA Week in December by Sebastian Faulks
Buy new: £8.54 / Used from: £7.99
A story that cuts across the class divide in modern London, showing how we are all connected. Hmmm...
One DayOne Day by David Nicholls
Buy new: £6.46 / Used from: £6.00
Enjoyable Hornby-esque story about growing up, ideal for the beach.
The Luminous Life of Lilly AphroditeThe Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite by Beatrice Colin
Buy new: £4.75 / Used from: £0.32
Colourfrul romp through the decadent world of Inter-war Germany. A fascinating period which the Nazis brought to an abrupt end. At least that won't happen here (will it?)
The Secret ScriptureThe Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
Buy new: £3.99 / Used from: £0.86
Fictional Irish memoire told in a plain, folksy voice that some will find tiresome. I did.
The Time Traveler's WifeThe Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Buy used from: £28.95
Weird, romantic and a bit too long. Just don't take the philosophy too seriously.
The Quickening MazeThe Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
Buy new: £7.76 / Used from: £6.17
Lyrical if overambitious novel about poetry and madness set in Epping Forest.
LustrumLustrum by Robert Harris
Buy new: £9.46 / Used from: £8.57
Togas, blood and treachery served up in Harris's latest Roman romp.
Three Cups of TeaThree Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
Buy new: £6.25 / Used from: £4.21
Revealing and affecting account of living and working in the troubled tribal border lands of Pakistan.
The White TigerThe White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Buy new: £3.84 / Used from: £0.25
Deliberately raw and eccentric confession of an ambition Bombay murderer. Very readable.
A Thousand Splendid SunsA Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Buy new: £10.88 / Used from: £0.97
Bombay is a picnic compared to Afghanistan. After a taste of that place, anywhere else would seem like paradise.
The Children's BookThe Children's Book by A.S. Byatt
Buy new: £8.49 / Used from: £8.00
Overlong but nicely written saga of artists and families across the 1890s and through the First World War.
Revolutionary RoadRevolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Buy new: £4.79 / Used from: £0.47
Piercing critique of American suburban life, one of the first to tackle a subject that has become an American mainstay. Not ideal recession reading, but skilfully done.
The GargoyleThe Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
Buy new: £4.84 / Used from: £0.01
This author was paid a fortune for this book in the US; then it didn't sell very well. I can understand the latter, not the former; although it's clearly some people's bag; so check it out.
The WildernessThe Wilderness by Samantha Harvey
Buy new: £7.76 / Used from: £4.07
Quasi-life-affirming novel about a men descending into Alzheimer's.
The Uncommon ReaderThe Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Buy new: £3.46 / Used from: £0.01
Gentle comic fantasy about HRH QE II and her reading habit. Even HRH has her worries, although getting the sack probably isn't one of them.
The Road HomeThe Road Home by Rose Tremain
Buy new: £4.85 / Used from: £0.01
Well written tale of East European migrants - many of whom have a lot tougher time than the locals.
Under the DomeUnder the Dome by Stephen King
Buy new: £9.49 / Used from: £9.01
Mammoth sci-fi effort from the King of horror, available for under a tenner. A good choice for a bookish (probably male) teenager, and not a vampire in sight.
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill HouseThe Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale
Buy new: £4.29 / Used from: £0.01
Quite a weighty social history, built around a notorious murder and its (seminal) investigation. An education rather than a romp.