Paul Howard
Night Train by Nick Tosches is a wonderfully rendered account of the dark and brutally foreshortened life of Sonny Liston, once the most feared heavyweight boxer in the world. Sportswriting doesn't come much better than this.
I love giving people The Naked Ape, zoologist Desmond Morris's classic book about human evolution and our relationship to the animal kingdom's other primates. Almost 50 years after it was first published, it's still a jaw-dropping read.
Flashman is the first of George MacDonald Fraser's 12 hysterical/historical novels to feature the eponymous, philandering coward, who is continually mistaken for a hero as he tries to avoid active service in various corners of Queen Victoria's empire.
I, Fatty, Jerry's Stahl's novelisation of the life of Roscoe Arbuckle, the fallen hero of the silent movie era, is described on the jacket as an extraordinary feat of literary ventriloquism. It says it all.
John Updike's Harry Angstrom novels are available in a single volume, Rabbit Angstrom: A Tetralogy. Through this wonderful quartet of books, Updike tells the story of a former school basketball star's struggles through four decades of life.
Me, Cheeta is James Lever's salacious, scandal-filled, spoof Hollywood memoir of Tarzan's chimpanzee.
Malachy Clerkin
What's seldom is wonderful. The best sports books this year are, for once, soccer books. Any or all of the following are worth your time.
I Am Zlatan by Zlatan Ibrahimovic is by far the most entertaining autobiography any footballer has produced in years. Stillness and Speed: My Story by Dennis Bergkamp isn't cut from anything like the same cloth – two more different personalities it would be difficult to imagine – but it's unique in its own philosophical way. And for something completely different again, the wholly unglamorous world of soccer scouts is brilliantly laid out in Michael Calvin's The Nowhere.
Elsewhere, Becoming a Lion by Johnny Sexton is bracing and fascinating in equal measure, while Ronan O'Gara: Unguarded is reliably nonsense- free.
As for a lesser-heralded offering, Tick, Tick, Ten by Gerry Duffy is the story of the inspirational runner's Deca Ironman win last year. A stunning reminder of what the mind can make the body achieve.
Sinead Gleeson
Juan Pablo Villalobos debut, Down the Rabbit Hole, was a no-nonsense take on machinations of Mexican gang life, told from the viewpoint of a young boy, Quesadillas, as it explores poverty and family life. Villalobos's latest book, Quesadillas, is surreal, and not without laughs – the stoner uncle is called Pink Floyd.
There were no shortage of Irish literary debuts out this year, but Anakana Schofield's Malarkey, a take on contemporary Ireland, really stands out. "Our woman" is no typical Irish mammy, but a staggeringly well-drawn protagonist who is mired in grief.
Mohsin Hamid garnered fans for The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is Hamid's exploration of globalisation and poverty is an astute, brisk-paced novel.
Evie Wyld has been nominated as one of the Granta's Best of Young British Novelists. Her second novel, All the Birds Singing, is a taut story, beautifully rendered from one of the best new writers of the past 10 years.
Town and Country – New Irish Short Stories, edited by Kevin Barry, showcases a selection of established writers while being mindful of championing new names. Watch out for Lisa McInerney's clear-eyed account of the tribulations of young love.
Shane Hegarty
If you have a seven- year-old kid (or a grown up) who has already read every Diary of a Wimpy Kid, there are plenty of lookalikes, and some are actually very good.
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, by Stephan Pastis , is a particularly hilarious tale of a kid with his own detective agency and polar bear pal.
David Walliams's books are each quite brilliant, with Roald Dahl-esque set-ups but a voice all of their own. Demon Dentist is the latest, but any of Walliams 'sbook will do.
For readers in the 9-12 bracket, RJ Palacio's Wonder uses a child's disfigurement as a mirror on human behaviour. It's a book your child will read, and talk about.
There's also Patrick Ness's awardwinning modern classic, A Monster Calls . Heartbreak for Christmas? Why not.
And for teenagers looking for a new series, Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave is smart, pacey sci-fi about a young woman on the run from invading aliens.
Even if it’s the kids who get these as a gift, you’d need to be a very nasty grown-up not to enjoy them too.
