All I want for Christmas is... Cookery
Nigella Lawson: It says something about the practice (less) and theory (more) of cooking in this country that still, for all our supposed living interest in food, the great bulk of cookery books are still emanating from professional kitchens.
Coffee table books
Lynn Barber: Are there people who go around saying 'My book's bigger than your book? My coffee table's stronger than your coffee table?' I ask this wearily because some of the books I've been sent for review are the size of Stonehenge and the only way of reading them is on the floor.
Science
Robin McKie: He had no possessions, other than a few clothes, and expected his colleagues and friends to provide all his food and lodgings. Paul Hoffman's gloriously gossipy biography of mathematical genius Paul Erdos makes a perfect stocking-filler for anyone with an interest in scientific research and human eccentricity.
Sports
Will Buckley: I blame Dickie Bird. Before his autobiography appeared the number of sports books published was containable. Then Dickie's book sold more than 300,000 and before anyone could think, warehouse upon warehouse of sporting books hit the production line.
Cartoons
Roger Sabin: There was one stand-out graphic novel this year: Posy Simmonds's Gemma Bovery is a tour-de-force of comic storytelling.
Friday Review books of the year Rings of fire
David Horspool samples the year's crop of non-fiction, from Muhammad Ali to the Beats
Grand tales
Alex Clark looks back on a healthy year in fiction
Flower power
Ruth Gorb selects the year's best gardening books
Live to eat
Ian Sansom gorges himself on the best food and drink companions
Finger-licking good
Julia Eccleshare on the best books for children of all ages
By the rivers of Babyland
ith the new NCT Book of Babycare under his arm, Ian Sansom undertakes an incredible journey
Fishy tales
Andrew Motion | Melvyn Bragg | Matt Ridley | Craig Raine | Alex Garland | Emily Perkins | John Mortimer | Mavis Cheek | Jilly Cooper | David Hare | Ludovic Kennedy | Geordie Greig | Zachary Leader
Hours of fun
JG Ballard | Bruce Kent | Penelope Lively | Jon Snow | Esther Freud | Colm Toibin | William Boyd | Tom Paulin | Ann Widdecombe | Fergal Keane | Rose Tremain | Carol Shields | Jonathan Ross
The long and the short of it
Ben Pimlott | Paul Muldoon | Hilary Mantel | Carol Ann Duffy | Ian McEwan | Sebastian Faulks | Genista McIntosh | Trevor Phillips | Alain de Botton | John Tusa | Peter Preston | Nigella Lawson | Jim Crace | Malcolm Bradbury | Justin Cartwright
To Russia with love
Colin Thubron | Craig Brown | Ruth Padel | Julie Burchill | Nick Hornby | Sylvia Brownrigg | Richard Dawkins | Michael Ignatieff | David Lodge | Jeremy Paxman | Jonathan Coe | Alex Clark | David Cesarani | Simon Singh
Observer Christmas books special
So what's it going to be - Beowulf? Harry Potter? What will you be buying for a friend in the hope that you can read it first? Observer contributors and critics share their favourite books.
Christmas books part one
Robert Harris | Salman Rushdie | Simon Jenkins | Fiona Pitt-Kethley | Peter Hall | Jonathan Meades | Ian Hislop | Nigella Lawson | Nicci Gerrard | Michael Ignatieff
Christmas books part two
Adam Mars-Jones | Lewis Wolpert | Anthony Holden | Michael Foot | Peter Conrad | Penelope Fitzgerald | J.G. Ballard | Adam Phillips | Chris Patten | Helen Dunmore
Christmas books part three
Craig Raine | David Hare | Emma Tennant | George Steiner | Jan Morris | A.L. Kennedy | Ian Jack | Misha Glenny | Joan Bakewell | Brenda Maddox
Christmas books part four
Kathy Lette | William Fiennes | Barbara Trapido | Glen Baxter | Kazuo Ishiguro | Stephen Bayley | Cressida Connolly | Melvyn Bragg | Simon Callow | Christopher Frayling
Christmas books part five
Julian Barnes | Paul Bailey | Hermione Lee | Geoffrey Robertson | David Cannadine | Philip Marsden | Philip French | Alan Rusbridger | Stephanie Merritt
