I believe some HN readers enjoy reading good essays, especially since PG is one of the notable essayists (in my own opinion, at least).<p>I'm not from an English-speaking culture and English-speaking world still seems very foreign to me, so I don't know where to start looking for modern Borgeses. I've ran against one or two of them, like PG or Eco, but it definitely does not help me to see a big picture.<p>Maybe there is some magazine with reviews of new essays and authors, or even some books with essays (like a Hofstadter's one (not GEB)), or a blog, or you can just give me a few names. I love good essays, and they seem very valuable for me in this age of lame bloggers, but I need your help to dive in. Thank you<p>As you can see, I don't even know where such kind of question will be appropriate
Perhaps you could tell us what you are interested in? There is at least one noteworthy publication in each field.<p>For general reading of good, longer pieces I can recommend: New York Review of Books (not only a book review magazine), Foreign Affairs (although I don't agree with their interventionist political stance), The Atlantic (popular with HN readers) and Harper's. I'm sure that you would find something in interesting in each of these, but again, please post what your particular interests are.
I'm a big fan of Venkatesh Rao - <a href="http://www.ribbonfarm.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.ribbonfarm.com</a>. I find PG's essays interesting, but I don't think they're that notable (which is just my opinion).
If you want a comprehensive anthology of great essays, try: Phillip Lopate, ed., "The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present." <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/book/103559/the-art-of-the-personal-essay-by-phillip-lopate/9780385423397/" rel="nofollow">http://www.randomhouse.com/book/103559/the-art-of-the-person...</a>
George Orwell is one obvious suggestion, and I think he lives up to his reputation. "Shooting an Elephant", "A Hanging" and "The Spike" come to mind right away.<p>Slightly less obvious, I'm a big fan of Philip Gourevitch. He's somewhere between a reporter and an essayist. A lot of his essays appeared in <i>The New Yorker</i>, and a group of them on Rwanda eventually became a book <i>We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families</i>. That is outstanding non-fiction writing.