Interviewer
Thea Lenarduzzi
Interviews by Thea Lenarduzzi
Katie Kitamura on Marriage (and Divorce) in Literature
Love and marriage may go together like a horse and carriage, but what happens when the horses are spooked and the whole procession is run off the road? Katie Kitamura, whose new novel A Separation charts the disastrous—and tragic—failure of a marriage, considers some of literature’s most heartfelt accounts of relationship failure
Kayla Rae Whitaker on Stories about Women Artists
Kayla Rae Whitaker composes an ode to ‘women who make things’, from wooden dolls to indie music, and post-modern triptychs to the best candy bar you’ll ever taste. These are tales about what happens when the muse becomes the artist
The Best ‘Anti-Memoirs’, recommended by Yiyun Li
Yiyun Li, author of Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, on the sheer messiness of life, the irrelevance of ‘I’, and why brutal honesty is often the truest way to capture the people we love the most
Max Porter on the Books That Shaped Him
Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers, on the books that have taken him from childhood to adulthood, the deepening shadow of nuclear war, and why he’ll always be on his knees in front of Emily Dickinson
Books on the Real Greece, recommended by Christos Chomenidis
Greek myths are not all classical tales of heroes and tempestuous gods. Here, the novelist Christos Chomenidis chooses five books that get to the heart of what it really means to hail from Greece, and why it’s hard to live in the wake of the Ancients.
Best Poetry of 2016, recommended by Helen Mort
It may not have been a good year for many things, but 2016 was a great year for poetry. British poet Helen Mort talks us through her favourite new poetry collections.
The Best Psychological Novels, recommended by Salley Vickers
The stories we tell ourselves affect our decision-making in profound ways, says psychotherapist turned bestselling author Salley Vickers. Here, she recommends five novels that delve into the psychology of the self—and of society.
The Best Italian Crime Fiction, recommended by Massimo Carlotto
Journalists are no longer able to properly investigate organised crime in modern Italy — leaving it to crime fiction writers to pick up the slack, says the acclaimed Italian novelist, Massimo Carlotto. Here he chooses five noir novels that explore the reality of Italian corruption in highly original ways.
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1
La Bibliothèque invisible
by Stéphane Mahieu -
2
Mirabiblia: Catalogo ragionato di libri introvabili
by Paolo Albani & Paolo della Bella -
3
La vida y las opiniones del caballero Tristram Shandy
by Laurence Sterne, translated by Javier Marías -
4
Nueva Enciclopedia
by Alberto Savinio -
5
The Afternoon of Mr. Andesmas
by Marguerite Duras
Enrique Vila-Matas discute Los libros que le influyeron
Enrique Vila-Matas discute Los libros que le influyeron
‘Me gusta mostrar cierta moderación cuando se trata de inventar cosas …’ El escritor español Enrique Vila-Matas discute la importancia del riesgo en la escritura, la ‘crisis de la novela’, y cinco libros que han influenciado su propia escritura