BOOKS: THE year's most anxiously awaited book doesn't fail to deliver.

The Beatles Anthology (Weidenfeld) covers ground already featured by countless Fab Four books, their early lives and their spectacular journey into the heart of popular culture but this is different because it is all in their own words.

It has been written by surviving band members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr and also features memories of road manager Neil Aspinall, producer George Martin and spokesman Derek Taylor.

Interwoven with these are the recollections of John Lennon from interviews he gave before he died.

The book also has a year by year account from their formation to their break-up in 1970.

David Beckham (Hodder), written by the man himself, also covers the same ground as countless books and articles but this time there is not much new.

Anyone looking for an insight into the goldfish bowl life of one of the most photographed men on the planet is going to be disappointed.

There are few new nuggets of gossip on life in the spotlight with Posh and Brooklyn and the conclusion, that he is still an ordinary bloke, is just what you'd expect from such an authorised tome.