BOOKS THAT WILL KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF (1 OF 2) BOOKS OF THE YEAR

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Dec 3, 2006

Tom Leonard, poet THE Israeli historian Ilan Pappe's astonishing TheEthnic Cleansing Of Palestine (Oneworld Publications, GBP16.99) illuminates what must now be the incontrovertible facts of 1948. As Samuel Beckett writes near the end of his novel, Watt: "Change all the names." Guyanan poet Martin Carter's collected poems and selected prose, University Of Hunger (Bloodaxe, GBP12), cover his journey from colonial prison cell to government minister.

The late Hugh Savage's Born Up A Close (Argyll Publishing GBP10.99) is an enjoyable account of growing up and working in Glasgow, delineating a radical political tradition that bodies such as the headache-inducing melange of the new Kelvingrove Art Gallery would rather we all now ignored.

Jamie Byng, Canongate publisher MY delight at Canongate having both Maria Hyland and Kate Grenville on the Man Booker shortlist was tempered by the sadness I felt at Andrew O'Hagan's Be Near Me (Faber, GBP16.99) missing out. It was my novel of the year; an engrossing and profound work of enormous power and great delicacy that brought to mind some of the fiction of the late, great Muriel Spark. Michael Cox's TheMeaning Of Night (John Murray, GBP17.99) is, by comparison, a pure entertainment, but what an entertainment. Think Shadow Of The Wind with its exuberant storytelling, intricate plot-weaving and fantastic characters. And then there is The Gift (Canongate, GBP15), Lewis Hyde's far-reaching study of the place of gifts within society. This exceptional book is essential reading for anyone who cares about the arts. It's a genuine life-changer, a masterpiece that everyone you give it to will be eternally grateful for.

Andrew Greig, author IN Orpheus , (Faber, GBP12.99), Don Paterson's versions of Rilke's Sonnet are astounding in their grace and directness, binding unpredictable energy with formal beauty. An inexhaustible work of European literature has been restored.

TheHot Kid (Orion, GBP6.99) by Elmore Leonard is another gem from the master. It does character, story, great dialogue, escapist thrills and like many American crime writers insight into the turbulent psyche of that troubled nation.

1599: A Year In The Life Of William Shakespeare byJames Shapiro (Faber, GBP8.99) presents not the godlike myth but a creative businessman embedded in the ambitions, anxieties and politics of a time of mis-aimed foreign wars, state control, rumour and religious paranoia reflected in Henry V, As You Like It, Julius Caesar and Hamlet, all knocked out in that busy year.

Liz Lochhead, poet and playwright FROM Canadian Alice Munro, simply my favourite living writer, TheView From Castle Rock (Chatto & Windus, GBP15.99) fiction, but departing dazzlingly from "the facts" of the lives of various swiftly-illuminated individuals (up to and including herself ) from 200 years of her father's side of the family, the very Scottish emigrating branch of the Laidlaws of the Ettrick Valley.

Elements familiar from previous short stories might seem nearer the bone, more "autobiographical", but I'm left in awe at the mystery of human existence. Tom Leonard's pamphlet, Being A Human Being (Object Permanence, GBP2.50), did more for my heart and mind than any fatter volume from the poetry shelf. Jackie Kay's second book of stories Wish I Was Here (Picador, GBP12.99) is delicious, deft, wicked and finally, very moving.