Explore Essays and memoir
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Ghachar Ghochar
Vivek Shanbhag
‘That single moment’s intensity hasn’t been matched in my life before or since. A woman who I didn’t know has chosen to accept me, in body and mind.’
Mother’s House
Raja Shehadeh
‘It was her last service, last sacrifice, to a husband who required so much from her throughout their life together. But we could not succeed.’
Bad Luck, Britain
Fredrik Sjöberg
‘It was a wonderful day of high summer in the Stockholm archipelago.’
Best Book of 1901: The Octopus
Rob Magnuson Smith
Rob Magnuson Smith on why Frank Norris' The Octopus is the best book of 1901.
Best Book of 1955: Pedro Páramo
Louise Stern
Louise Stern on why Pedro Páramo is the best book of 1955.
Breach Candy
Samanth Subramanian
‘There are clubs like the Breach Candy Club all over the Indian subcontinent: relics of the Raj, institutions that were set up as bolt-holes for the British, where they could retreat to row or swim or play cricket or race horses.’
Budapest 2015
Wojciech Tochman
‘To the delight of the little kids, who had seen a good deal of killing in their lives, a middle-aged man blew soap bubbles.’
Life and Breasts
Ludmila Ulitskaya
‘Death is here, by our side, and we can make no witty Nabokovian jokes about it.’
Hotel Haunting
Joanna Walsh
‘There was a time in my life when I lived in hotels. Around this time, the time I did not spend in hotels was time I did not live.’
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 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.
A Thousand Splendid Stuns
Morwari Zafar
‘More important than anything else that fateful year was the life-defining transcendence of Peter Gabriel.’
