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The Agony and Ecstasy of Escape
Will Boast
Will Boast on how Bernini's Apollo and Daphne helped him write his latest novel
Best Book of 2011: Kingdom Animalia
Nell Boeschenstein
‘As the title suggests, this is a book about the family of animals, the family of man, and the family of family.’
A Few Words about Fake Breasts
Nell Boeschenstein
‘You repeat this over and over. You pinch your nipples harder. Then harder and harder still. You twist them. You dare them to say Mercy. You stare into your own eyes that are watching you from the mirror.’
A Summer of Japanese Literature
Dan Bradley
From manga to crime fiction, contemporary literature to Nobel-Prize-winning classics, here are ten works of Japanese literature worth spending your summer on
Best Book of 2009: William Vollmann’s Imperial
Sam Byers
Sam Byers on why William Vollmann’s Imperial is the best book of 2009
Karl Kraus and Veza
Elias Canetti
‘It was natural that the rumors about both these people should reach me at the same time; they came from the same source, from which everything new for me came at that time.’
Best Book of 1919: The Years Between by Rudyard Kipling
Robert Chandler
Robert Chandler on why The Years Between by Rudyard Kipling is the best book of 1919
The Farmer’s Son
John Connell
‘I’m twenty-nine and I’ve never delivered a calf myself. But that’s all about to change’
On Coyotes
Diane Cook
‘There is something about the presence of coyotes that makes any place feel wilder than it is.’
The Falconer and the Hawks
Ben Crane
‘A fine balance of precision and coiled unsparing instinct, all contained within a gossamer skein of feather, skin, muscle and bone.’
Best Book of 1953/1994: Trans-Atlantyk
Jennifer Croft
‘The most Polish novel of the twentieth century was written in Argentina and published in France.’