Potatoes, peel and pie...

The winner of The Times WHSmith Paperback of the Year Award has been announced. Among shortlisted names of Aravind Adiga, C.J. Sansom and Barack Obama, it was Mary Ann Schaffer and her epistolary novel 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society', that came out on top. The judges said of the novel; 'We live in a culture that stresses dysfunction and cynicism. This book is not about that at all — it is about love and friendship and the ability of these qualities to survive adversity'. The first UK award specifically for paperbacks, The Times WHSmith Paperback of the Year award was set up in September and included authors Alexander McCall Smith and Erica Wagner as well as WHSmith buyer Sandra Bradley as judges.

McCarthy rules the naughties...

The Times, has published a list of the '100 Greatest Books of the Decade'. Including works from all genres, Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage and Seamus Heaney are the ambassadors for poetry, with 'Rapture', 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' and 'District and Circle' respectively. Non- fiction works also feature; Obama's autobiography leads the list at number 2, and Dawkins, Bryson and grammatical work 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' occupy a place in the top 100. Naturally the list is dominated by fiction novels, with household names, such as Ian McEwan and J.K. Rowling, as well as Man Booker Prize winners Yann Martel and Aravind Adiga. Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road', was voted as the greatest book of the decade. Running in conjunction, was the '5 Worst Books of the Decade'; a list including 'Being Jordan' by Katie Price. Author Dan Brown has the unusual accolade of being cited on both lists; perhaps testament to the success of his novels in both polarising opinion and raising publicity.