Arts review of 2017: Allan Massie on the year in books

There is no league table for Books of the Year – any attempt to draw one up is absurd – so the sensible thing is to note briefly a number of books one hopes readers may enjoy. (I’ll omit some of the good Scottish books I’ve reviewed because these reviews were re-printed in our 24-page Scottish Books 2017 supplement last week, which I daresay many readers will have kept rather than throwing out.)