Books

Tony Hickey looks at the winners of the 2006 CBI Bisto Book of the Year Awards for Children's Literature

It's hard to take a full 360º turn without seeing a new football book or a photo of a metatarsal. Much has been made of the similarities between Paul Gascoigne and Wayne Rooney – a sobering thought for Rooney should he spend this summer's World Cup on the bench.

David Mitchell has proven to be a writer of supernatural talents. Now, he turns his attention to the theme of childhood in his latest novel, Black Swan Green. Edward O'Hare meets the Cork-based author

Book Notes finally had a look at the Sony Reader, the electronic hand-held device that the company is gambling on taking the world by storm, similar to the iPod.

Al Gore has taken his campaign against climate change, with which he toured America, and turned its words and pictures into a book and a movie – both called An Inconvenient Truth. With passionate warnings and pictures, Gore, his movies and the book may just push awareness of global warming to new heights. By Michiko Kakutani

Guardians of Power is a must-read for anyone who consumes media. Not only does it identify inaccurate reporting, it explains the influences at work on journalists and media outlets. David Manning reviews the book and puts the Irish media under the microscope

Set between the former Soviet Union and London, DBC Pierre's latest offering is fabulously manic but, as Sophie Harrison writes, it lacks the qualities that made Vernon God Little a Booker Prize-winning read

Book Notes is conflicted. Can Ryan Tubridy's ability to drive us to distraction within seconds of 9.04 each morning still allow us to voice grudging admiration for the man?

Mondays at Gaj's traces the lives of the eclectic women who founded the Irish Women's Liberation Movement. Gaj's was the Baggot Street restaurant where the IWLM met every Monday night. Rosita Sweetman was one of the sisters, albeit a little one

This new collection of essays from the editor of the New Yorker is divided into five parts, to account for David Remnick's aray of interests. From politics to media, to writers, to boxing. Remnick aims to reveal those who are reluctant to disclose themselves. He does so with class. By Pete Hamill