You can write only expression into ng-click. 
  The ngClick directive allows you to specify custom behavior when an element is clicked.
But you can write:
<a ng-click="( (navigation.book = book) && bookSvc.showBook(book))" href="#{{book.id}}">{{book.title}}</a>
In this case navigation.book gets book content.
Demo Fiddle 
Reference
We have several options here to invoke navigation.book = book
What's happen if we will write:
ng-click="( bookSvc.showBook(book) && (navigation.book = book))"
In this case if (seems like bookSvc is a service) bookSvc.showBook(book) returns nothing or false, the navigation.book = book will never execute.
Demo 2 Fiddle
But if bookSvc.showBook(book) returns true the navigation.book = book will be invoked.
Demo 3 Fiddle