Dancing for the Avatar
Sort by:
Best Book of 1928: Quicksand
Lucy Ives
Lucy Ives argues that Nella Larsen – author of ‘terse, obsessively observed fiction’ – penned the best book of 1928.
Don’t Look at Me Like That
Diana Athill
‘When I was at school I used to think that everyone disliked me, and it wasn’t far from true.’
Best Book of 2014: H is for Hawk
Chigozie Obioma
Chigozie Obioma on Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk, the best book of 2014.
Best book of 2015: The Argonauts
Lucia Osborne-Crowley
Lucia Osborne-Crowley on why The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson is the best book of 2015.
Best Book of 1993: The Smell of Apples
Magogodi oaMphela Makhene
Magogodi oaMphela Makhene on Mark Behr’s The Smell of Apples.
Best Book of 1963: The Group
Julia Armfield
‘Cigarettes, lorgnons, eggs benedict, cocktails mixed with maple syrup, long spills down Lanvin suits.’ Julia Armfield on why Mary McCarthy’s The Group is the best book of 1963.
Best Book of 1962: The Pumpkin Eater
Nicole Flattery
Nicole Flattery on why Penelope Mortimer’s The Pumpkin Eater is the best book of 1962.
Best Book of 1952: The Palm-Wine Drinkard
Sandra Newman
Sandra Newman on why Amos Tutuola’s The Palm-Wine Drinkard is the best book of 1952.
Just As It Was
Lucy Scholes
‘Unnatural is as fitting a term as any to describe the life Athill went on to lead, in that the choices she makes continually push against the conventions of her upbringing, class and gender. ’
Best Book of 2001: Natural Goodness
Julian Baggini
Julian Baggini on why Philippa Foot’s Natural Goodness is the best book of 2001.
Best Book of 1937: Busman’s Honeymoon
Caroline Crampton
Caroline Crampton on why Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers is the best book of 1937.
The Hypocrites
Mehdi Tavana Okasi
‘Inshallah, one day I will return your every kindness.’ What does it mean to be American in Mehdi Tavana Okasi’s new story.
Best Book of 2005: Everything Good Will Come
’Pemi Aguda
’Pemi Aguda on Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come, the best book of 2005.
Best Book of 1944: Transit
Lauren Aimee Curtis
Lauren Aimee Curtis on why Transit by Anna Seghers is the best book of 1944.
In Broad Daylight
Johanna Ekström
Johanna Ekström on memory and assault. Translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles.
Best Book of 2009: I Am Not Sidney Poitier
Will Ashon
Will Ashon on why I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett is the best book of 2009.
Best Book of 1989: A House with Four Rooms
Esther Rutter
Esther Rutter on why A House with Four Rooms by Rumer Godden is the best book of 1989.
Best Book of 1993: To Live
Jianan Qian
Jianan Qian on why Yu Hua’s To Live is the best book of 1993.
Open Day
Benjamin Markovits
‘You can be sad and angry, you don’t have to choose, she told him.’
A new short story from one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists.
Best Book of 1982: The Years of Lyndon Johnson
Beth Gardiner
Beth Gardiner on why volume one of Robert Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson series is the best book of 1982.
Mushroom
Rob Doyle
Foraging for the infamous liberty cap mushroom in Dublin.
‘At the root of my interest in both drugs and art was the longing for an encounter with otherness.’
Eleventh of October
Davide Enia
‘Many people – many nations – can find themselves believing, more or less consciously, that...
On Europe | Peter Stamm
Peter Stamm
Peter Stamm on the Swiss referendum to join the EU. Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann.
The Strange Story of the World
Chigozie Obioma
‘Mama leaving home with my brother Folu was the last straw, the final stage in the process of Papa’s descent into that great darkness.’ New fiction from Chigozie Obioma.
Glimpses of a totally different system
William Ghosh
‘This old circuit, which had been partly dormant, connected to an earlier memory. It was warm and fizzy and sharp. Then he stepped away, and the current was broken.’
A Language of Figs
Sema Kaygusuz
Sema Kaygusuz on the inheritances of genocide and historical memory, and what her own grandmother, a survivor of the Dersim Massacre in Turkey, taught her about life and language.
Introduction
Sigrid Rausing
‘Somewhere in-between is the truth. Somewhere in-between is the story, or at least the European story.’
The Taste of the Feeling
Peter Mishler
‘Shy yet contemptible object / in an unleaking vial collected.’
Maly Trostinets
Joseph Leo Koerner
‘It was also mainly Viennese Jews who, between 6 May and 10 October 1942, were murdered in Maly Trostinets. Tens of thousands of Jews from elsewhere died there too, together with Soviet soldiers, Belarusian citizens, both Jewish and Christian, and partisans.’
Our Home Is Mortal Too
Katherine Angel
Katherine Angel on Stromae and Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium.
