Review: The Essential Emily Dickinson (selected by Joyce Carol Oates)

Strange, precise and elusive poetry.

Review: Things I Don’t Want To Know by Deborah Levy

Deborah Levy concisely summarises what makes her own writing so compelling.

Review: China Room by Sunjeev Sahota

A slight but full novel set in 1920s and 1990s Punjab.

Review: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

There’s something haunted and occult about this otherwise godly classic.

Review: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

A potent depiction of friendship.

Review: Winepress by Gabriela Mistral (translated by Ursula K. Le Guin)

Poetry that is elemental, grief-stricken, unearthly.

Review: The Other Half Of You by Michael Mohammad Ahmad

A bracing read about modern masculinity.

Review: The Mermaid Of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

A fish-out-of-water tale that becomes something stranger.

Review: Moby Dick by Herman Melville

It’s about whales.

Review: The Wild Iris by Louise Glück

Poetry that forces clarity upon you about the cruelty and wonder of being alive.