Finest, however, is Evie Wyld's All the Birds, Singing (Jonathan Cape), a book so beautifully written, so alive, so nail-bitingly suspenseful, that at points this reader felt as if the oxygen might be thinning.
But Smith's failure to make a major impact in Europe - the finest moment probably being the home-and-away defeat of Leeds United in 1992, later missing out on a Champions League final place by one point - led to the clamour for something new.
What Carver has done is invite his abusers to sample some finest Darjeeling.
In that context, it is perhaps wisest to view the past week's events as a bit of sport in the finest traditions of a paper that, for more than four decades, has delighted in defying the critics of its daily serving of nipples.
The Cupping Room is one of the finest examples of local caffeine culture: it offers several espresso blends but just one type of "milk-based espresso drink" – meaning those in search of coffee adulterated with chocolate or other additives will need to look elsewhere.
Kennedy was regarded as one of Britain's finest orators in recent years and was nicknamed "Chat Show Charlie" in light of his easy manner on television that once saw him chair an edition of Have I Got News for You.
No3 was not the Portuguese's finest, bundling over the line in the closing stages, but they all count 27 Real Madrid 3-0 Celta Vigo, La Liga, 6 December 2014 Ronaldo opened the scoring by converting a penalty that he had won, sending Sergio Álvarez the wrong way on 36 minutes.
She is one of the finest film actors of this or any era, with the most Oscar nominations, and the most beatific smile.
That rather went out of the window yesterday, as Mark Cavendish – one of the finest athletes this country has to offer, and also one of just four home riders on the start line in Leeds – skittered into Simon Gerrans and hit the deck in Harrogate with his mum watching on.
Comparing the need to prioritise a safer planet above an extra cappuccino on the way to work wasn't her finest hour; even in this part of London.
We spent a blissful, greedy day winding in and out of many of the area's finest, sharing just the one plate of tacos or dividing a burrito (still a mammoth meal) in each.
