QUEUING FOR BEGINNERS

Joe Moran (Profile, £14.99)

Taking his inspiration from the Mass-Observation surveys of the 1930s to 1950s, Moran's "alternative history of post-war Britain" is a quirky and entertaining examination of the rituals of daily life.

Structured chronologically around a single day in the life of a prototypical office worker in early 21st-century Britain, each of the 16 chapters stands in its own right as a beguiling think-piece on the meaning of the mundane.

From eating breakfast and commuting to work, checking your inbox and nipping out for a crafty fag, to stopping off for a pint after work before slobbing out on the sofa for an evening's television - these are activities you might think banal beyond more than cursory consideration, but which on further reflection turn out to be surprisingly interesting.

In fact, everything in Moran's world is laden with significance and governed by norms and expectations, from the social etiquette of choosing a seat on a train, to the clutter on your desk and what it says about your personality.

As for the title, next time you're stuck in a lunchtime queue at the bank, take a moment to ponder whether your presence there is a symbol of national decline, or something quintessentially British. Or is it simply a British variation on pre-unification East Germany's socialist waiting associations'?

For me, the chapter on ready meals conclusively revealed why I always feel guilty buying a Bird's Eye'-type frozen dinner (marketed at poorer shoppers, located furthest from the supermarket entrance), but never when I opt for a cook-chilled affair (basically the same stuff, but marketed to food-conscious busy professionals and hence near the entrance).

Throughout, nostalgia lovers of a certain age will relish the evocative portrayal of 1970s Britain, with its Watney's Red Barrel, Brentford Nylons, I-Spy books and three channels on the TV.

David Bowes