Off the Page - Current Affairs Books, Comment & Debate

News in brief

O.J.'s confession, Agassi's memoirs and the best book ever: here is a selection of news from the book trade today.

Cart home a gem

This year's Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of 2006 was won by The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification.

Written by Julian Montague, this winner was voted for by the public via theBookseller.com and in the process it beat off competition from Tattoed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan.

Here is a review from Amazon, in case you're wondering...

"One of the most complete and well thought-out works I have ever encountered. Montague's language coupled with his beautiful photography give the lowly carts individual personalities. Refreshing, for an art piece, it never takes itself too seriously. It will change the way you look at the urban environment, and most importantly it's endless fun."

British Book Awards 2007

Book of the year: Conn & Hal Iggulden, The Dangerous Book for Boys

Reader's Digest author of the year: Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

Biography of the year: Peter Kay, The Sound of Laughter

Children's book of the year: Ricky Gervais, Flanimals of the Deep

For a full list of winners click here

An interesting night but with few surprises (when you realised it rewarded the mass-market and TV friendly), however it was good to see Granta coming close in the Richard and Judy best read of the year and suggests that there might be greater variety in future years. One disappointment was that the range of publishers represented was also minimal, with the majority of the awards split between Random House, the Hachette Group and Harper Collins.

Highlights of the night were Peter Kay's and Ricky Gervais' acceptance speeches, along with several low points including the interaction between presenters and celebrities.

An unintentional highlight was when Gervais provoked a foul-mouthed reaction from Richard Madeley by quipping about phone vote scams.