TODAY: In 1731, Daniel DeFoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, which is second only to the Bible in its number of translations, dies.
- “Perhaps most of us would be better off if we did not drink tea or coffee.” When coffee truthers W. O. Atwater and Frederick Winslow Taylor tried to destroy America’s mornings. | Lit Hub
- Elizabeth F. Thompson details Syria’s doomed struggle for independence after WWI. | Lit Hub
- ON THE VBC: On Sheltering, Emma Straub on writing a true-to-life novel that now feels like fantasy • Alia Volz discusses writing as healing, on Personal Space. | Lit Hub
- “The experience of teaching about disaster in disaster, distanced but strangely intimate, reminds me of what teaching can be.” Jane Costlow on learning at a distance during a pandemic. | Lit Hub
- A reading list for unpacking a messy world: Bethany Saltman recommends five memoirs with passion. | Lit Hub
- “I am, as we all are, terrified of not being able to breathe. It’s the most primal fear.” On balancing panic and relief in a pandemic. | Lit Hub
- Patrick Cockburn on the rise and fall of ISIS, and what comes next. | Lit Hub
- Stephen King’s If It Bleeds, Sebastian Barry’s A Thousand Moons, and Madeleine L’Engle’s The Moment of Tenderness all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks
- Molly Odintz recommends 14 crime books set during plagues, contagions, and outbreaks. | CrimeReads
- “Master Holbein? Bring your drawing. The king’s face. Let me see.” On Hilary Mantel and Tudor art. | Apollo Magazine
- “American history is littered with big man myths, but most of the powerful change in this country happens when communities take care of each other.” Kawai Strong Washburn on his debut novel Sharks in the Time of Saviors. | BOMB
- Among the many literary institutions threatened by coronavirus closures is A Good Used Book, a vintage book pop-up in Los Angeles. | Los Angeles Times
- Benjamin Taylor remembers the many, many hours he spent with Philip Roth over the last 20 years. | The Atlantic
- On guerrilla archiving and activist Marion Stokes, who was inspired by “a democratic, unbiased impulse to provide people with all sides of the story.” | Los Angeles Review of Books
- Carolyn Forché speaks about her first poetry collection in nearly 20 years. | The Nation
Now is exactly the right time to start reading your cookbooks start to finish. | Bon Appetit
Also on Lit Hub: Shahidha Bari on the pleasures and politics of what we wear • A poem by Philip Metres • Read a story by Nora Nadjarian from Europa28: Writing by Women on the Future of Europe.
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