The Book Report from the UK

I love the festive season as it allows me the time to do some serious reading and writing. Most importantly, though, I can see what reading I’ve missed during the year and what I have to look forward to in one that’s coming up.

First of all, let’s have a look back to 2007 which seems to be have gone all Potter (but thankfully for the last time) as reports John Dugdale at The Guardian:

Behind the statistics at the top of this year’s chart lies a titanic clash -- between JK Rowling and Amanda Ross, rivals for the title of the book world’s most powerful figure. Rowling’s latest inevitably claimed the first two places, with combined sales of more than 4m. But it’s her final appearance at No 1, unless she reinvents herself as an adult novelist of equal commercial clout. And from No 3 down, the rest of the top 100 shows no erosion of the ability of Ross, the woman behind Richard & Judy's Book Club, to turn books by previously unknown authors into hits.

Among this year’s beneficiaries are Jed Rubenfeld’s period murder mystery (3), a book club choice voted best read by viewers; Kim Edwards (4) and Kate Morton (6), both summer reads; and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (14), Simon Kernick (16), Mark Mills (21) and Jane Fallon (24). Of the top 10 new grown-up novels, six were R&J picks; interestingly, the summer reads performed better overall than the January book club octet, despite the latter group’s longer availability.

Ross's impact extends beyond enriching writers and saving publishers' and booksellers' bacon. Greatly helped by the preponderance of novels in her club's recommendations, fiction still dominates the top 100, with 67 titles compared to 33 non-fiction - a ratio that might amaze recent visitors to bookshops, where Christmas displays overwhelmingly consist of celeb memoirs and cookbooks.

In last year's Rowling-free list, the second- and third-placed books (by Victoria Hislop and Marina Lewycka) were both R&J-backed debuts, and the older generation of novelists seemed to have vanished, as if scared to take on TV-promoted whippersnappers. This time the newcomers' presence is less marked, and veteran storytellers have made a comeback: Maeve Binchy, Jilly Cooper, John Grisham, Joanna Trollope, Frederick Forsyth, Michael Crichton, Danielle Steel, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell.

Things could be very different in 2008. Random House's prolific new signing James Patterson is expected to produce up to eight novels, and as he was acquired expensively from Hachette, his reliable contribution to that group's total (three entries in 2007, at 36, 57 and 70) will simultaneously be eliminated. And Dan Brown might at last send Transworld his next thriller

Meanwhile Olivia Laing at The Observer rejoices with 2008 being a Potter-Free year, and considers that 2008 will be dominated by the return of the iconic British Secret Agent 007:

Oh! What a lovely spring. In the absence of bespectacled boy wizards, the biggest literary thrill of 2008 may well be the return of a tuxedo-clad spy last seen in print in 1966. Bondmania, ignited by the tantalising form of Daniel Craig, is set to gather pace with the first official outing for 007 since Octopussy. To celebrate the centenary of creator Ian Fleming's birth, Sebastian Faulks has been commissioned to take up the tale. Devil May Care (Penguin, out in May) is a loving act of homage that pits the suave secret agent against all the usual Cold War suspects, not to mention the unwelcome spectres of loneliness and old age.

Joining Olivia is Robert McCrum looking at new talent in 2008:

On the surface, ours seems to be a golden age. For new books there's more exposure, and perhaps even more readers, in more formats, than ever before. If the Hollywood writers' strike has any lessons for books, it is that no publisher or agent can afford to be casual about intellectual property. Behind the scenes there are darker mutterings. E-books, digitisation, graphic novels, online bookselling: are these threats or opportunities? Everyone has a different answer. One thing is certain: this is a moment of transition in which old names, old wisdom and old habits will go to the wall.

Among the new names worth keeping an eye on, there's a first novel, a graphic artist, a thriller writer and a promising translation: Jennifer Cody Epstein's The Painter of Shanghai (Penguin), Hannah Berry's Britten and Brulightly (Cape), screenwriter Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 (Simon & Schuster) and burlesque tragi-comedy How The Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Bosnian prizewinner Sasa Stanisic (Orion).

And then there's Nick Harkaway's The Gone Away World (Heinemann), a debut published under a pseudonym, perhaps because Nick Cornwell is really John le Carre's son. A happy marriage of old and new? We shall see.

For my part, I’m personally very pleased to see Roger John Ellory finally hit the big time by being on Richard and Judy’s list for 2008. I have followed his career since his 2003 debut with Candlemoth.

I have my own prediction for next year, as this book just captivated my mind. I feel it will be one of 2008’s surprise bestsellers.

Wishing you happy reading in 2008.