Anna Nicholson Previews: December 2006

This is a quiet time of year for new books to appear as publishers have already sated their customers with their Christmas titles. If books have not been sold in to the shops by late October, they risk missing the rush and being left unpacked in the stockroom. The books I've chosen this month are not obvious Christmas titles but I think they would make good presents nonetheless.

All of the books below will be published in December 2006 or early in the New Year.

I'd like to recommend Solid Air: the Life of John Martyn, by Chris Nickson, as Martyn is one of my favourite singer/songwriters and he's vastly under-rated, (or undersold, then). He's an original with a performing style all of his own: a kind of whispery, slurred, vocal style that's perfect for late-night listening (not to be confused with easy listening...). He also has a hellraiser side, as this book testifies, but that's how we like our rock heroes.

Denise Mina is best known for her crime novels. Here, she teams up with respected artist, Leonardo Manco, and ventures into graphic novel territory with Hellblazer: Empathy is the Enemy. This book carries the warning: adults only, which probably means 18 and over. The genre of the graphic novel is pretty well male-dominated so it's interesting to be seen what Mina's take will be on it.

William McIlvanney's Docherty is being re-issued. Focusing on working-class experience in the West of Scotland, the novel tells the powerful tale of an Ayrshire miner during the Depression. Docherty won McIlvanney the Whitbread prize in 1975 and has become a classic of Scottish literature. This is one of those books that's a must-read for anyone interested in the progression of the Scottish novel: just can't believe it's been over 30 years since it appeared.