16 NOVEMBER 2002, page 46

Rupert Christiansen

How embarrassing. The authors of the four books I have most relished this year — Nicola Shulman's elegant monograph A Rage for Rock Gardening (Short Books, £9.99), Virginia......

Anita Brookner

Nothing has pleased me much this year, although the desire to read a well-made book is if anything sharper than ever. Exception is made for The Little Friend by Donna Tartt......

Jonathan Sumption

This has been a year of completing some long-running multi-volume works, filling gaps that have stood for years like missing teeth on my shelves. The 12th volume of the Pilgrim......

Digby Anderson

This year I have experimented with buying books not directly for their author, topic or literary merit but by colour. Green books have turned out to be a great success. One......