Ladies first

    The category winners for the 2012 Costa Book Awards have been announced and they are:

Novel: Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Biography: Dotter of Her Father's Eyes by Mary and Bryan Talbot

First Novel: The Innocents by Francesca Segal

Poetry: The Overhaul by Kathleen Jamie

Children's Book: Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

    The overall winner will be chosen on 29th. January (last year it was Andrew Miller's Pure).

    Any thoughts on these? I had to put aside Bring up the Bodies when deadline reading called, but I have nothing but admiration for Hilary Mantel. Of the others, I've read and enjoyed Francesca Segal's contemporary version of Edith Wharton's The Age Of Innocence (it sparked a 'reading habits' post but didn't get a full review one), and Sally Gardner is astonishingly creative (see this post on The Double Shadow, for example).