Brought to book – can angling finally land the big one?

THIS IS the time of year that publishers reveal their book prize candidates for feckless people like me seeking inspiration for Christmas presents.

We’ve already had the 2010 Booker Prize for literary heavyweights. This competition has produced some memorable novels during its 44 years, although even its most ardent supporters would acknowledge that the winners are not always a bundle of laughs. Almost never in fact.

This year’s selection – the Finkler Question – is a story about “love, loss, male friendship, and exploring what it means to be Jewish today.”