For the first time, bookstores in London are aggressively discounting best-sellers in the run-up to Christmas. A price war with supermarkets has forced shops to slash the prices of their most popular titles.

According to Nicholas Clee, editor of The Bookseller magazine, "Discounting has become more intense because of cut-throat competition on the high street. The supermarkets started it but chains like Waterstone's and Ottakar's have to follow them - nobody wants to be undercut."

In the UK, quirky books are the big sellers this Christmas. Lynne Truss’ Eats, Shoots And Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation and The Idler magazine's 50 Crap Towns, an expose of Britain's worst places to live, are both doing well.

The top cookery book is Paul Hartley's Marmite Cookbook and the most popular gardening book is Sarah Ford's 50 Ways To Kill A Slug. In Waterstone's, Bill Bryson's top seller A Short History Of Nearly Everything is on sale at £10 - half its recommended price.