One of the six novels to be shortlisted for the 2002 Booker prize is Rohinton Mistry's Family Matters. The Indian-born author lives in Canada, but his writing is of his birthplace.

One of the growth markets in non-fiction has been the new genre of macro history. Histories of salt, the colour mauve and the Oxford English Dictionary have become bestsellers. Now Fermat's theorem, modern geology and the history of the calendar (my favourite, by David Ewing Duncan) are accessible to ordinary people.

It is a bitter irony that at the same time black Americans were being denied civil rights and were enduring extreme racial hatred at the hands of their countrymen, they were compelled to fight and die for their country.

Goodness isn't a quality widely promoted in our culture. Since western society succumbed to advertising, we've become convinced we're important, significant and deserving of whatever we desire whenever we desire it.

After years of recommendations, I finally acquainted myself first-hand with the work of PD James, courtesy of a recent birthday gift of her new book, Death in Holy Orders. After being introduced to James through this latest offering, I can't wait to come back for more.

Eight years after the sweeping eloquence of The English Patient won the Booker Prize and captured the imagination of filmmaker Anthony Minghella, Michael Ondaatje has published another lyrical tale of human dislocation and betrayal.

In his Booker Prize-winning novel, Amsterdam, Ian McEwan offers one of the most intriguing chapter openers I've ever read. An exquisitely constructed text, Amsterdam is a novella-sized exploration of morality. It is the ultimate baby boomer book, complete with mid-life crises, workplace politics and fear of aging.

One of Britain's most celebrated and prolific modern novelists, Ian McEwan is a frequent prize-winner. His books regularly feature on the Booker Prize shortlist. Atonement was edged out of last year's esteemed prize by Peter Carey's The True History of the Kelly Gang. Choosing one over the other would have been a difficult decision.