Favourite Book of the Year
I was about to follow my usual tradition and select several books in this section and then I realised that from my favourites I could pick one.

• The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan: Percy returns. I have liked Riordan’s other books, but there was just that something extra special when Percy returned in the second part of this new series.

Other Really Good Books

• City of Thieves by David Benioff. Set during the siege of Leningrad. Lev and Kolya are arrested and given an alternative to being executed: Find a dozen eggs.
• Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld. Steampunk and engineered animals creations combine in an impressive alternate story of the start of WWI.
• Snuff by Terry Pratchett. New Discworld!

Surprises of the year
These are not the best books I read this year, but impressive when I did not expect it.

• Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick. Steven’s little brother is diagnosed with leukaemia. The author takes this and makes a really funny book, that still pays respect to the horror of having a seriously ill relative.
• Room by by Emma Donoghue. Told from the PoV of five year old Jack, as his mum tells him that the room he has lived in his whole life is a prison.

Favourite Cover
My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher.
Half Brother, by Kenneth Oppel, would have been the best if they had taken a hint from Michael Grant’s Gone series and had much less text on the cover.

Twicrap Award for Worst Book
Honored Enemy by Raymond E. Feist. Magacian was really good; the author kept writing and this was where I gave up on reading his work.

Question I will be pondering for a while
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. Aka the zombie book. Only I cannot work out why this is being marketed this way, as the zombies are reasonably unimportant and must be putting off a lot of potential readers.

Non-fiction Books of the Year
Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker’s War 1941-1945 by Leo Marks
Whoops!: Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay by John Lanchester

Fiction Books of the Year
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner
Young Samurai (series) by Chris Bradford
Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

With it being a school holiday, the event was being hosted by the South Central Junior Squad and there were more juniors around than is normal for a midweek. The course was fairly good but let down by the map needing an update. I did not concentrate enough and made a number of small mistakes – losing about fifteen minutes in total. Part way round I stopped to help a family find and catch their lost dog.

While at the event I met up with my parents and was able to collect a parcel. Friends had sent me Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book.

Non-fiction Books of the Year
In a category with very few entries it is a tie between Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, by Mark Lynas, and The First Four Minutes by Sir Roger Bannister. Climate change and running.

Best Books of the Year (As always I fail to narrow this down to one book and pick five instead)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn

In response to this pledge a group of fans have created the site Match It For Pratchett, which is looking for fans to pledge money to help match Terry Pratchett’s $1 million (£500,000) donation to Alzheimer’s Research.

Books
Mad Dogs by Robert Muchamore – the latest book from a very good teenage spy series.
The Financial Times Guide to Investing by Glen Arnold – if you are considering, or already have, investments in the UK then you should read this book.
Heat: How We Can Stop the Planet Burning by George Monbiot – a look at how we can reduce carbon emissions by 90% without make major changes in lifestyle.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Joanne Rowling – the end to a fantastic series.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt – intrigue in an exclusive group of students.
Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk – a suitably named book. A haunting collection of linked short stories.

Orienteering
O-Ringen Day 3 – Vifolkavallen – the O-Ringen was my first time orienteering in Sweden and this was the first day when I had a reasonable idea of what exactly I was doing.
Spey2007 Day 4 – Culbin – I really enjoyed the sand dunes of Culbin and am looking forward to getting back later this year.
Warwick City Race – my favourite event of the year. A course that required full concentration for the whole way round.