Verso Books of the Year in the Times Literary Supplement, the Evening Standard and the Sunday Express
The Times Literary Supplement asked sixty-five writers about their books of the year ...
Paul Griffiths:
Not wearily, but freshly and brightly, Alain Badiou takes up from Nietzsche, Adorno and Lacoue-Labarthe the philosophers' debate with the old magician of Bayreuth in his Five Lessons on Wagner (Verso). Badiou's is an un-Wagnerian Wagner, a composer of ambiguities and silences, of suffering and (his own word) heartbreak a composer still with lessons for the music of today.
David Bromwich:
A selection of Gideon Levy's dissident columns for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, The Punishment of Gaza (Verso), recalls the three-week onslaught that began in December 2008 and ended in January 2009. One thousand three hundred Palestinians and thirteen Israelis were killed while Europe watched and an American President who stood for "hope" said nothing.
Graham Robb:
Eric Hazan's passionate and erudite perambulation, L'Invention de Paris, which appeared in English translation this year [The Invention of Paris] (Verso). Hazan's Paris is the city of Baudelaire and Balzac.
Keith Miller:
Owen Hatherley's recent A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain (Verso) is an excellent vademecum for the disgruntled urban flâneur.
Visit the Times Literary Supplement to read some of the feature.
The Sunday Express asked "their favourite celebs" what books they hope to receive for Christmas:
Miranda Hart:
I would like to receive something like A People's History of the World by Chris Harman (Verso, £12.99) as I have finally, at the embarrassingly late age of 37, started being interested in everything I didn't concentrate on at school, so I want to educate myself. History is a good start, I imagine."
The Evening Standard asks "which books appealed the most this year?"
Peter Tatchell:
I loved The Pope Is Not Gay! by Angelo Quattrocchi (Verso, £8.99). No great intellectual tome, but a quirky, amusing read, which deservedly ruffled the Vatican. As the author wickedly reveals, Benedict XVI has reinvented Papal high camp.
Visit the Evening Standard to read the full feature.
