Galaxy ® British Book Awards

The Top Gear presenter and Sunday Times columnist, whose previous outing, The World According to Clarkson, sold 1.4 million copies in paperback, returns with another car-friendly tome – and a lot more besides. His columns, from June 2003 to March 2006, are reproduced in full and demonstrate the extent of Clarkson’s interest and enthusiasm in... well, just about everything in life. If you’ve ever mused on the unfortunate collapse of the British Empire, or wondered why none of the truly great comedians are ever funny in real life, you’ll find yourself nodding in agreement all the way. And then there’s the no-holds-barred approach to all cars, great and small...
Michael Joseph, hardback, £20

The domestic goddess is back – but blink and you could miss her. Featuring ingenious short cuts and essential time-saving tips, Nigella Express is this yummy mummy’s solution to eating well when time is short. Lawson targets the working mother with easy, mouthwatering recipes, for all ages and appetites. From flash-fried steak with white bean mash to banana butterscotch muffins and lunchbox treats, this is a whole new generation of fast food for the busy lives we lead. All are accompanied by the sort of chatty, anecdotal stories from Lawson’s childhood that make her TV appearances so irresistibly watchable. She won Author of the Year at the 2001 British Book Awards, and her books have sold more than five million copies worldwide.
Chatto & Windus, hardback, £25

The book that accompanied the popular BBC TV series. A History of Modern Britain tells the story of Britain since the Second World War, taking the reader through each decade in the second half of the twentieth century. Throughout it all, Britain is a country on the edge – first of invasion, then of bankruptcy, then on the vulnerable front line of the Cold War and later in the world’s media spotlight, with difficult questions to answer on its foreign policy. This best-selling history follows all the political and economic stories, but deals too with comedy, cars, the war against homosexuals, Sixties anarchists, miners, punks and more. Marr also looks to the future, and concludes that “to be born British remains a wonderful stroke of luck”.
Macmillan, hardback, £25

In The Wild Places, Macfarlane travels in both time and space, on an intellectual as well as physical journey. Guided by monks, scientists, philosophers, poets and artists, both living and dead, he explores our changing ideas of the wild. From the cliffs of Cape Wrath, to the holloways of Dorset, the storm-beaches of Norfolk, the saltmarshes and estuaries of Essex, and the moors of Rannoch and the Pennines, his journeys become the conductors of people and cultures, past and present, who have had intense relationships with these places. At once a voyage, an adventure story, an exercise in visionary cartography, and a work of natural history, The Wild Places also tells the story of a friendship and of a loss.
Granta, hardback, £18.99

The sequel to McGregor and Boorman’s best-selling 2004 round-the-world motorbike trip Long Way Round, Long Way Down finds the fellow actors and bike fanatics unable to shake the travel bug. So they set off on a 15,000-mile journey, with two new BMWs loaded up for the trip, from John O’Groats in Scotland to Cape Agulhas on the southern-most trip of South America. In alternating passages, the two men share their thoughts and fears, laughter and pain as they complete their epic journey, riding through spectacular scenery, and seeking to raise awareness of children’s charity UNICEF along the way. Accompanying them was a team from the BBC; the resulting film became amajor six-part series last autumn.
Sphere, hardback, £20