Big surprise for me was jamie olivers book, jamie at home. I really really didnt like the bloke, but some of the recipes he did on the programme and the ones in the book are really good. I'm still not overly impressed by him but I will be buying the next jamie at home book.

Floyd - his books are always good, his one on india - in my mind - is second only to Mahadur Jaffery in terms of authentisity, and an interesting read also. I'm slowly building up the complete collection.

My 1973 copy of the joy of cooking, has all the basic recipes in it you could ever want including loads of good info about food - the meat cuts etc. Cost me a £1 and its been a great source of recipes over time.

Gotta second the The Women's Institute books, got a good collection of them, cheap to buy, good recipes, brilliant no mess no frills easy to cook good food.

Thumbs down to woldgang puck, overly complicated recipes, some hard to find ingredients, a book done more to impress people with how good he is rather then to be used - a coffee table book if you will.