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First things first. This book is big. Very big. 701 pages to be precise, and that’s not even including the 200-odd pages of career stats. Yet the fact that you are even reading this synopsis suggests an interest in Formula One. So, introducing the 1976 F1 Champion…. This thoroughly researched biography – chronicling everything from Hunt’s humble (albeit well financed) beginnings as a Mini Touring Car driver, through to his truculent days at the commentary box microphone – promises not to disappoint. Even if you are not an F1 fan, you may still be interested in reading about Hunt’s all too prolific addiction to alcohol, cannabis and ‘enjoyment’. If that’s not enough, he once decked a fellow driver on live television… - James

This is a fictionalised account of the final days of communism in Romania. McGuiness tells the story of an English Professor who has found himself teaching at a Bucharest university in late 1989. He arrives into a totalitarian communist state led by the brainless Nicolae Ceaucescu and his sinister ‘Securitate’. In 100 days time the Ceaucescus will be dead and Romanians will be caught up in a bloody revolution. This novel tells the story of the months leading up to that day. Having been to Romania several times I found so much I could identify with in this novel about the people and their wit, warmth and cynicism! - Andrew

If Cormac McCarthy suddenly developed a sense of humour, or the Coen Brothers decided to adapt Cervantes’ Don Quixote, The Sisters Brothers is what you might get. Eli Sisters is an unhappy man. He’s unhappy with his new horse, Tub. He’s unhappy about his lack of a wife. But mostly, he’s unhappy with his line of work. With his brother Charlie, he is one half of the notorious Sisters Brothers. At the height of the great Californian Gold Rush, the brothers have been tasked with the assassination of a particular prospector, the wonderfully named Hermann Kermit Warm. Along the way the bickering brothers meet a carousel of strange characters and odd situations, all of which lead Eli to question his sorry lot in life. - Christopher

You may be disappointed if you thought Malcolm Fox, Rankin’s latest protagonist, is a duplicate of Inspector Rebus. Sure he’s middle-aged and grumpy, but he’s teetotal and enjoys his work: he is ‘The Complaints’, policing the police with Internal Affairs. But like Rebus, ‘Foxy’ works a case to the end, which is just as well, since two have simultaneously landed in his lap. A colleague’s credit card details have been logged on a [ahem] questionable website and his sister’s good-for-nothing boyfriend has been found murdered. It wouldn’t be Rankin if the two weren’t linked now would it? - James

In Glamorama, confetti is everywhere. It’s in the streets, at parties, hotel rooms and tracked into freezing cold apartments. Metaphorically referring to confetti as a ‘’frivolous, useless invention’’, Ellis also felt that it was the perfect element to use across the murder scenes, disaster areas and sites of complete holocaust that unfolds across this satirical tale filled with drugs and high-fashion meets terrorist-espionage. Underneath the glazed and superficial exterior of celebrity name-droppings, Glamorama explores themes of political violence, paranoia and fear. -Aida

I don't have this book, but whenever everyone's back is turned you'll find me sneakily browsing it. It's a recent aspiration of mine to become better at cooking fish and seafood, and of all the books we have on the subject this one appeals to me the most. The recipes are simple, but not too simple and the book's full of charming illustrations and mouth-watering photographs. A must for fish lovers! - Adam

You’ve tried them all, right? Wrong! No time like the present… - James

Sarah Moss's disturbing, darkly funny second novel brilliantly conveys the atmosphere of an almost deserted Scottish Island in the cold depths of summer. Practically abandoned by her husband who is off counting Puffins, Research fellow Anna struggles to complete a book for publication and deal with her two young children alone: an insomniac and punishingly clingy toddler and a seven-year-old obsessed with reconstructing catastrophic historical events (the Paddington rail crash and Serbian massacres) through the medium of Lego. Then there is the discovery of a tiny human skeleton buried in the garden one fraught afternoon, and soon afterwards disturbing noises from the attic. This is at once a serious and very funny novel, I picked it up on a word of mouth recommendation and have hardly put it down since. - Heather

I've never thought about who my favourite poet is, but if I did I'd have to consider Frank O'Hara. Writing in the mid-20th century, his poems are concerned with art and modernity, film stars and cocktail bars, all explored with lush lyricism and self-awareness. Have a look at the intensely vulnerable 'Meditations in an Emergency' and the swooning, gorgeous love poem 'Having a Coke With You' to see just how remarkable he was. - Adam

During a sweltering August week in London, bodies with their tongues cut out and replaced by silver spoons start piling up. Whatever DCI Metcalfe is up against, it becomes clear very quickly that there’s not much time to stop it; not enough that the body count keeps rising, but his own less than splendid past is threatening to catch up with him in highly unpleasant, connected ways. I love serial killers with a theme and this one is especially clever and satisfying. I’m generally loathe to invoke the word ‘page-turner’, but Starling’s writing is so tight and to the point that that’s exactly what happens - you just don’t want to put it down. - Julia

The zombie apocalypse has finally happened; this is its chronicle, comprised of first person accounts from survivors both military and civilian. The only thing requiring suspension of disbelief is not even the existence of zombies, but merely the possibility! What makes this book so utterly fantastic and truly spine-chilling is the matter-of-fact tone of its presentation, leaving you wondering at times why you don’t remember some of the events described. You’ll want to read Brooks’ spookily earnest, frighteningly practical Zombie Survival Guide next, and invest in a machete and some self-defence lessons. - Julia

Sand mercilessly rules over a desert village. An unsuspecting entomologist looking for species in the sand is forced to stay with ‘The Woman in the Dunes’, but he will be leaving tomorrow following the storm. Trapped into an existence that involves the relentless shovelling of the sand out from the woman’s home, Niki Jumpei becomes enslaved by the people of the village and lives in the hope he will one day be released. - Stephen

The Corrections tells the story of the Lambert family, the mother of which is desperate to gather her adult children together for one last Christmas before their father succumbs to Parkinson’s. Each chapter focuses on one character, and they’re some of the most interesting, complex characters that I’ve ever read, especially the eldest child Gary, who refuses to admit to his wife and himself that he’s suffering from depression, and their mother Enid, who in her seventies is only just realising she’s wasted her life. The novel is very sad, but it’s so well written that it never becomes melodramatic – it’s a story about what it’s like for ordinary people to live in our times, and it captures the main concerns of our age perfectly. - Adam

Joe Kavalier, having escaped the Nazi occupation of Prague via Lithuania and Japan (with a little escapade with a Golem thrown in) finally gets some rest in New York. His bed fellow is his cousin, Sam Clay: a failed comic artist, but gifted with imagination and a brash charm. Together, the boys write their own superhero, The Escapist! They make their names and their fortunes, but Joe is conflicted. What good can the Escapist do against the prospect of a real war? How can he help his family back in Prague? Chabon’s playful, heartbreaking tale won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. I really felt for the boys, and their rogues’ gallery of supporting characters. I actually lost sleep to lamplight readings, just as I did aged ten, with the exploits of Batman and Spiderman spread in front of me. - Christopher

I have become obsessed with whales since reading this book. I now tell total strangers and colleagues (what I imagine to be) very interesting facts about whales. Some appreciate it more than others. Whales are amazing and mysterious creatures and remain so because we know so little about them. Phillip Hoare conveys his fascination through a history of whales, whaling and whalers, both mythic and factual. He writes with such enthusiasm and love for his subject, it’s hard not to become equally infatuated. I even read Moby Dick to satiate my desire to know more. I highly recommend both books. They both exceeded my expectations. - Rebecca