Explore Essays and memoir
Sort by:
Sort by:
Best Book of 1947: Call Me Ishmael by Charles Olson
Chris Power
Chris Power on the Best Book of 1947: Call Me Ishmael by Charles Olson.
Best Book of 1949: The Thief’s Journal
Holly Pester
‘To read it is to feel the alternative tempo in the rude repetitions of the thief who loves to steal.’
Best Book of 1950: A Natural History of Trees by Donald Culross Peattie
James Pogue
‘Now more than ever environmentalists need to remember what it’s like to write for that real world.’
Best Book of 1955: Pedro Páramo
Louise Stern
Louise Stern on why Pedro Páramo is the best book of 1955.
Best Book of 1966: Season of Migration to the North
Ayşegül Savaş
‘Of course, literature cannot be separated from its flesh of language and form. Nor can its tangible subject explain why it moves its reader, through the subtleties of language, or the shadowy geographies that it leaves to the imagination.’
Best Book of 1969: Pricksongs & Descants
Lisa Taddeo
Lisa Taddeo on why Robert Coover’s Pricksongs & Descants is the best book of 1969.
Best Book of 1970: Moominvalley in November
Aleksi Pöyry
‘This is a book I always return to for its melancholy tone, warm humour and psychological insight.’
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 1990: Anecdotes of Modern Art
Natalie Shapero
‘If I tell you a book is an encyclopedic and fast-paced tour of the interrelationship of making art and being in pain, need I say more?’
Best Book of 1993: To Live
Jianan Qian
Jianan Qian on why Yu Hua’s To Live is the best book of 1993.
Best Book of 1994: The Land of Green Plums by Herta Müller
Eliza Robertson
‘You'd have to have lived through that bleakness. You'd have to know with your body, your hands, your eyes, your mouth, the weight of that fear – how it’s not strictly describable.’
