Leila Aboulela

Minaret by Leila Aboulela (Bloomsbury, June 2005)
The story of a young Sudanese woman whose family is forced into political exile in London.
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The Translator by Leila Aboulela (Polygon, 2005)
Aboulela's debut.
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Ronan Bennett

Havoc in its Third Year by Ronan Bennett (Bloomsbury, June 2005)
An exploration of the darker aspects of religion and individual conscience in 17th-century England.
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The Catastrophist by Ronan Bennett (Review, 1999)
Shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Prize.
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Joan Didion

The White Album by Joan Didion (Flamingo 1993)
Essays on the collective hangover the US experienced after the 1960s.
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Where I Was From by Joan Didion (Perennial, 2004)
Beautifully controlled account of the author's family history.
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Louise Dean

This Human Season by Louise Dean (Scribner, 2005)
A story of violence, politics and human entanglements.
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Becoming Strangers by Louise Dean (Scribner, 2005)
Won last year's Betty Trask Prize.
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Diana Evans

26A by Diana Evans (Chatto & Windus, March 2005)
The story of twins growing up in a mixed race family in 1980s north London.
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René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo

Asterix and Cleopatra by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo (Orion, 2004)
The sixth book in the Asterix series is a classic.
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Niall Griffiths

Wreckage by Niall Griffiths (Jonathan Cape, 2004)
The fourth novel from Niall Griffiths, who is making a name for himself with inventive narratives and lyrical, muscular prose.
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Abdulrazak Gurnah

Desertion by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Bloomsbury, May 2005)
A tale of a passionate affair, written with grace and intensity.
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Richard Jones

Soft Machines: Nanotechnology and life by Richard Jones (Oxford University Press, 2004)
Explores the potential of 'soft' nanobots in medicine, computers and renewable energy.
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Tim Krabbe

Delay by Tim Krabbe (Bloomsbury, July 2005)
Krabbe's new relationship thriller.
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The Vanishing by Tim Krabbe (Bloomsbury, 2003)
Krabbe's classic, which has twice been filmed.
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Michael Kustow

Peter Brook: A biography by Michael Kustow (Bloomsbury, March 2005)
An exploration of the great theatre director's work.
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Gwyneth Lewis

Two in a Boat: A marital voyage by Gwyneth Lewis (Fourth Estate, April 2005)
A story of marital and maritime tempests, vividly and wittily told by the award-winning poet.
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Robert Lewis

The Last Llanelli Train by Robert Lewis (Serpent's Tail, June 2005)
Debut novel from a 26-year-old, which mixes noir with black comedy.
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Patrick Neate

Where You're At: Notes from the frontline of a hip-hop planet by Patrick Neate (Bloomsbury, June 2004)
A dazzling tour of the global phenomenon that hip hop has become.
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Anna Politkovskaya

Putin's Russia by Anna Politkovskaya (Harvill Press, 2004)
The campaigning journalist explores the state of Russia under President Putin.
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A Dirty War: A Russian reporter in Chechnya by Anna Politkovskaya (Harvill Press, 2001)
A harrowing account of Russia's invasion of Chechnya.
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Simon Singh

Big Bang by Simon Singh (HarperCollins, 2004)
A tour of the history of cosmology.
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Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh (Fourth Estate, 2002)
A surprisingly fascinating account of the solving of a long-standing mathematical puzzle.
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Rebecca Solnit

Hope in the Dark: The never-surrender guide to how the world gets changed by Rebecca Solnit (Canongate Books, June 2005)
A rousing chronicle of what people power has achieved in the past 50 years.
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Rupert Thomson

Divided Kingdom by Rupert Thomson (Bloomsbury, April 2005)
Thomson conjures up a dystopian Britain and charts one boy's travels around the divided land.
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