Books of the Year
A final selection of the best and worst books of the year, chosen by some of our regular contributors Duncan Fallowell
I love doorstep biographies, the complete wallow, and the best this year is Anton Chekhov by Donald Rayfield (Harper Collins, £25). Its tone is deadpan but the view is total. I'm only halfway through because I keep stopping to re-read the master's short stories or plays, or to dip into Anna Benn and Rosamund Bartlett's highly atmospheric Literary Russia (Picador, £20, £12), a street-by-street gazetteer of what Russian writers did in what flat or house, very close up and packed with off-beat revelations. The combined process will, I hope, last much of the winter and to sustain me in this snowy wonderland will be recipes from The Pudding Club Book (Headline, £14.99) by Keith and Jean Turner with Annette Lynn, which reminds us that the British have the greatest cuisine of 'afters' in the world.
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