It's reassuring to know that in a culture permeated with mediocrity and mindless trash, there are still people creating serious and thoughtful work and the means still exist of transmitting this work to its audience. Sadly though, having worked my way through this volume there is nothing which sticks out positively in the memory. The strongest reaction was created by Kathleen Jamie's piece recounting visits to a pathology lab in order to draw attention to the fact that "nature" is not just fields, trees and fluffy lambs but also encompasses the germs, viruses and organisms which ultimately bring out our individual demise. Unfortunately, being one of those squeamish types who cannot even watch medical dramas on TV, I couldn't even bring myself to read that piece in its entirety. Other essays that I did complete have failed to leave their mark. ( )

Normally I just like to note who wrote the interesting stories in a Granta, so I can come back to any particularly interesting authors. This issue was much more journalistic that usual - to the extent that I think Lydia Peelle's story was the only fiction. It was pretty good too, as was the whole issue, but there wasn't much to note on follow-ups. ( )