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Arithmetic on the Frontier
Declan Walsh
‘These days the tempest of Taliban violence ripping across the frontier has shaken Peshawar to its core.’
Best Book of 1480: MS Egerton 1821
Elvia Wilk
‘The original owners of many devotional books kissed, licked, rubbed, scratched at, and cried upon their pages.’ Elvia Wilk on the best book of 1480.
Best Book of 1926: Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel
Sun Yisheng
His is a force more penetrative than all the bogus machismo of Hemingway.
Best Book of 1930: The Man Without Qualities
Elaine L. Wang
Elaine L. Wang on the best book of 1930: The Man Without Qualities.
Best Book of 1970: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
Callan Wink
Why Michael Ondaatje's The Collected Works of Billy the Kid is the best book of 1970.
Best Book of 1984: Amalgamemnon
Joanna Walsh
Joanna Walsh on why Christine Brooke-Rose's Amalgamemnon is the best book of 1984.
Best Book of 1987: The Door
Hannah Williams
‘Szabó offers a veneration of the rituals of the everyday, for how pride in what we do, in how we give to others, can elevate us.’ Hannah Williams on The Door by Magda Szabó, the best book of 1987.
Best Book of 1999: Ai’s Vice
Jillian Weise
‘I love Ai’s work because it gives me permission and reminds me that poetry invented fiction. I needed that in 1999 and I need it today.’
Best Book of 2010: Mr Chartwell, by Rebecca Hunt
Emma Jane Unsworth
‘Hunt writes with brio, the visceral often blooming into the mystical.’
Best Book of 2012: Unmastered: A Book on Desire, Most Difficult to Tell, by Katherine Angel
Rebecca Watson
Rebecca Watson on the best book of 2012: Unmastered, by Katherine Angel.
