Books can open up new worlds, so make sure you have a few close by this year. Here's what team YP's bookshelf is looking like in 2015
Watch out, huge ship about
This year I am really looking forward to reading How to Avoid Huge Ships by Captain John W. Trimmer. I read a great review of it last summer, but as we are so busy in the YP office, I just haven't had time to check it out.
I think it will prove particularly useful for anyone living in Hong Kong, as Victoria Harbour is one of the deepest in the world, so we get a lot of huge ships passing through. The city is also known for being rather crowded, so avoiding these ships is a pretty essential skill if you ask me.
Lucy Christie, Sub-editor
Hordes of information
As I'm always looking for new titles about Genghis Khan, I'm awaiting Frank McLynn's Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy. You might think the story of the Mongol conqueror is "old news", but as that area of the world becomes more open to the West, we keep on discovering new views and accounts of this great man.
Susan Ramsay, Editor
Living the dream
I'm most looking forward to Kazuo Ishiguro's new novel, The Buried Giant. The British author is a famously slow writer; it has been 10 years since he released his last novel, Never Let Me Go. But his books are always worth the wait. His writing is dreamlike and wistful - the perfect way to escape from reality for a few hours.
David Bartram, Sub-editor
From beyond the grave
Bryce Courtenay is one of my favourite authors. He was born in South Africa and later moved to Australia, where he became the country's favourite author. He didn't write his first novel (The Power of One) until he was 56. But once he started, he produced almost a book a year until he died of stomach cancer in 2012, aged 79. That's 20 books in 21 years!
The Silver Moon was published after his death, when his fans thought there would be no more Courtenay books. It is a compilation of short stories and insights on life, death, and writing, many of which were penned during his final months. Bryce Courtenay is, to date, the one author whose way with words can make me laugh out loud or cry onto his pages. I'm sure The Silver Moon will be no exception.
Heidi Yeung, Web Sub-editor
Mystery measurements
I'm eagerly waiting on a Christmas present that was delayed in shipping. It's House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski. I'm waiting for the actual book instead of the e-reader version because I've heard there are all kinds of weird graphs and pictures and codes in the print copy.
It's a story about a family who moves into a new house. Everything's normal at first, but when they take measurements of their new home, they discover that the inside is slightly bigger than the outside. Weird things are about to happen ...
Sam Gusway, Sub-editor
Retelling the classics
As a massive fan of both Jane Austen and Alexander McCall Smith (author of the delightful Botswana-set No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency), I cannot wait for Emma: A Modern Retelling. It is the latest instalment of The Austen Project, a series of books written by current authors who take the original Austen stories and rewrite them in a modern setting.
It's particularly exciting, as this year marks the 200th anniversary of Emma. The new books show how relevant Austen's stories still are, two centuries on. And they tell us that, essentially, people don't change.
I was also really excited to hear that a companion piece to one of the best books I read last year is being released. A God in Ruins is a follow-up to Life After Life, a story which examines what we'd do differently if we had the chance to start our lives over, time after time.
Karly Cox, Deputy editor
A real-life thriller
I'm looking forward to No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the Surveillance State. Snowden was a big name in 2013, in our city, the US, and around the world. So of course I want to read about the details of the biggest-ever national security leak, especially when it's written by Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist who met Snowden when he first fled to Hong Kong.
Plus, the book comes in a Kindle version, so I can totally read it on my way to work.