What a strange and brilliant book! The subtitle is 'Outlaws, Poets, Mystics, Murderers and a Coward in London's Great Forest', which is a bit of a mouthful. The forest referred to is Epping Forest, which is 24o hectares of ancient forest on the outskirts of London. Will Ashon owned and ran an underground record label in the UK for some time, and has a distinctive and very peculiar approach to life.

Following the lives of a number of closely linked characters across multiple generations, this is a moving novel about family secrets, the legacy of the Holocaust, and memory and its failings. Starting in 1947, in London, it moves forwards in time across different characters, and then moves back to 1938. It's a quite brilliant piece of writing; O'Sullivan's significant achievement is to manage a number of characters and time periods without confusing the reader. I think this is a landmark New Zealand novel, a classic in the making, and will win awards.

Tom Scott's biography is pretty intimidating - columnist, cartoonist, political journalist, TV drama and documentary writer, film writer, playwright, author, and now memoirist. This hilarious and brilliantly written autobiography chronicles his life, from his tragic-comic childhood, student newspaper days, years as a political journalist and commentator, and later years as a successful collaborator on more projects than it's possible to summarise. He's a stunningly funny writer, but he can turn on the tears as well.

This is a romantic novel about living in contemporary Paris, about people grappling with love and fidelity, and a mystery with a surprising twist at the end. It's beautifully written, a sophisticated entertainment for those who love books and Paris.

A brilliant little book from the renowned English classics professor, which confronts how women have been treated from the classical world to the present day, and seeks to redefine the structures of power.

John McPhee - now 86 - is one of the pioneers of creative non-fiction, and has had a long association with The New Yorker. Many of his 29 books have been based on stories first published there, including this one - published in that magazine in 1969, and in book form in 1970. This is a welcome new edition. In 1969, he moved his family from New Jersey to the island of Colonsay, off the coast of Scotland, to live in the land of his forefathers. This book explores the history and legend of the remote island, and provides entertaining portraits of many of its 138 inhabitants.