BOOKS & BOOKMEN
n AT THE British Book Awards, aka the Nibbies – a notoriously interminable evening “celebrating books and the people behind them ” – Percival Everett did the double of Author of the Year and Book of the Year (for James), and the award for debut fiction was won by Asako Yuzuki’s Butter.
You could be forgiven for assuming the latter was a shoo-in, since the bestselling Japanese tale of a (possibly) serial killer chef was proclaimed Waterstones’ Book of the Year 2024 (all-genres, all-authors) nearly six months ago. (London book-buyers may recall that a gigantic version of the Friesian cow on its cover floated surreally above the tills at Waterstones’ Piccadilly megastore at Christmas.)