The Best Essays & Criticism Books

Updated 2026-07-25 · 30 books

Editorial introduction coming soon.

1. 1

   Hard to Love

   Briallen Hopper

   LoveFriendshipInterpersonal relations
2. 2

   Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told?

   Jenny Diski

   Really Determines SuccessEssays (single author)English essays
3. 3

   Bamboo

   William Boyd

   CultuurgeschiedenisBoydWilliam
4. 4

   Kicking Off

   Sarah Shephard

   Women athletesSociology: sport & leisureHistory of sport
5. 5

   A Thousand Plateaus

   Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari

   PhilosophyPostmodernismPsychoanalysis
6. 6

   100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers

   Mike Ollerton

   MathematicsStudy And Teaching (Secondary)Computer-Assisted Instruction
7. 7

   The Little Book Of Sequencing Skills

   Keri Finlayson

   Thought and thinkingStudy and teaching (Elementary)Pattern perception
8. 8

   THE BOOK OF INDIAN ESSAYS [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] [Hardcover] Arvind Krishna Mehrotra [Hardcover] Arvind Krishna Mehrotra [Hardcover] Arvind Krishna Mehrotra [Hardcover] Arvind Krishna Mehrotra [Hardcover] [H

   Arvind Krishna Mehrotra

   Essays
9. 9

   Caste Away

   Na Vanamamalai, Joshua Gnanaselvan

   EssaysSocial history
10. 10

    Calypso

    David Sedaris, Aurora Ballester

    Biography & MemoirAgingMortality
11. 11

    Happy-Go-Lucky

    David Sedaris

    Biography & MemoirAmerican wit and humorFamily & Relationships
12. 12

    Best of Me

    David Sedaris

    Biography & MemoirAmerican literatureHumor
13. 13

    World of Wonders

    Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Fumi Nakamura

    EssaysZoologyAnimals
14. 14

    Art Matters

    Neil Gaiman, Chris Riddell, Montse Meneses Vilar

    EssaysOriginalityCreative ability
15. 15

    Inciting Joy

    Ross Gay

    Essays
16. 16

    Book of Delights

    Ross Gay

    EssaysEssays (single author)Life
17. 17

    The Book of Delights

    Ross Gay

    EssaysEssays (single author)Life
18. 18

    Hunger

    Roxane Gay

    EssaysBiographyAfrican American women
19. 19

    Opinions

    Roxane Gay

    Essays
20. 20

    Story Smuggler

    Georgi Gospodinov

    EssaysSlavic philology
21. 21

    Mothers, Fathers, and Others

    Siri Hustvedt, Aurora Echevarría Pérez

    Essays
22. 22

    American Beast

    Jill Lepore

    Essays
23. 23

    Critical Hits

    Carmen Maria Machado, J. Robert Lennon

    Essays
24. 24

    Memoir of My Former Self

    Hilary Mantel

    EssaysEnglish literature
25. 25

    All Things Are Too Small

    Becca Rothfeld

    Essays
26. 26

    Exophony

    Yoko Tawada, Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda

    Essays
27. 27

    Christopher Nolan

    Dan Jolin

    Essays
28. 28

    James Cameron

    Dan Jolin

    Essays
29. 29

    TCM Imports

    Alicia Malone

    EssaysLiterature
30. 30

    Wes Anderson All the Films

    Christophe Narbonne

    Essays

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