Best books . . . chosen by Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney, the Nobel Prize
Seamus Heaney, the Nobel Prize–winning Irish poet, chooses a book from each of his six decades, beginning with the 1940s. Heaney’s latest book of poetry is District and Circle.
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (Scholastic, $4) One of the first books I owned, brought by Santa Claus. The story of David Balfour’s adventures after he “took the key from his father’s house for the last time” still entrances.
Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence (Dover, $4) Lawrence’s early masterpiece overwhelmed me in my late teens: the novel as a book of life, an introduction to the son and lover in oneself and an interrogation of them.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lupercal by Ted Hughes (out of print) When I took it off the shelf in a public library at the age of 23, I came alive to poetry and my experience came alive to me as if I were a battery being charged.
The Bog People by P.V. Glob (New York Review, $17) Glob was an archaeologist with the imagination of a poet. In this account of bodies found in the bogs of northern Europe, the dead walk out of their museums into the mystery of their Iron Age lives and sacrificial deaths. My Christmas present to myself in 1969.
Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam (Modern Library, $23) One of the greatest books about the vocation of poetry: a fierce computing of what it cost the author and her husband, the doomed Osip Mandelstam, to maintain “inner freedom” in the terror world of Stalin’s Soviet Union. Dantesque in its readiness to mete out punishment and praise.
New and Collected Poems by Czeslaw
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Milosz (Ecco, $20) Lithuanian-born, Polish speaking, orchestral in his language, stretched—as he once said—“between politics and transcendence,” Milosz was one of the great poets of the 20th century.
Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell (Vintage, $13) This was my first encounter with Mankell’s faintly depressive fast-foodie detective, Kurt Wallander. I went immediately on a binge read.
-
Is method acting falling out of fashion?
Talking Points The divisive technique has its detractors, though it has also wrought quite a few Oscar-winning performances
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
'There is a lot riding on the deal for both sides'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Pharaoh's tomb discovered for first time in 100 years
Speed Read This is the first burial chamber of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun in 1922
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Tessa Bailey's 6 favorite books for hopeless romantics
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Lyla Sage, Sally Thorne, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Pagan Kennedy's 6 favorite books that inspire resistance
Feature The author recommends works by Patrick Radden Keefe, Margaret Atwood, and more
By The Week US Published
-
John Sayles' 6 favorite works that left a lasting impression
Feature The Oscar-nominated screenwriter recommends works by William Faulkner, Carson McCullers, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Jojo Moyes' 6 favorite books with strong female characters
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Lisa Taddeo, Claire Keegan, and more
By The Week US Last updated
-
Stacy Horn's 6 favorite works that explore the spectrum of evil
Feature The author recommends works by Kazuo Ishiguro, Anthony Doerr, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Samantha Harvey's 6 favorite books that redefine how we see the world
Feature The Booker Prize-winning author recommends works by Marilynne Robinson, George Eliot, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Alan Cumming's 6 favorite works with resilient characters
Feature The award-winning stage and screen actor recommends works by Douglas Stuart, Alasdair Gray, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Shahnaz Habib's 6 favorite books that explore different cultures
Feature The essayist and translator recommends works by Vivek Shanbhag, Adania Shibli, and more
By The Week US Published