Lit Hub Daily: April 8, 2021

• Nothing but love for a writer’s-blocked, anxious Jane Austen: here’s an illustrated look at the literary icon’s fallow five years in Bath. | Lit Hub

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• A physician turns to J.M. Coetzee’s Michael K, “one of the great characters of modern literature who knows solitude,” to better understand his own patient, “Mr. S.” | Lit Hub

• How Leonora Carrington’s self-portrait—specifically, the mysterious blur—helped Michaela Carter break through her fears about fictionalizing the infamous artist. | Lit Hub Art

• “We can see that the system of mass incarceration isn’t merely flawed or broken but is operating as it was designed.” Victoria Law on the historical inevitably of the modern prison system. | Lit Hub Politics

• Birding while Black, an overheated planet, and more: Amy Brady has your April climate readings. | Lit Hub Climate Change

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• The third volume of The Lord of the Rings was almost delayed so Tolkien could include a (thorough) glossary of all the invented words—and other anecdotes about the linguistic-obsessed writer. | Lit Hub

• “I don’t think this discussion about grabbing the reader is really about attention spans. I think it’s about art, about storytelling itself, the value and care one takes to craft an invitation for a reader to enter a story.” Donna Freitas on the craft lessons writers can learn from YA. | Lit Hub Craft

• Alexandra Kleeman on Helen Oyeyemi’s Peaces, Helen Phillips on Jeff VanderMeer’s Hummingbird Salamander, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks

• Olivia Rutigliano ranks the 100 best, worst, and strangest Sherlock Holmes portrayals of all time. | CrimeReads

• “It took so much labor, not only on behalf of me, but also of my family and of my village, to get here.” Doreen St. Félix profiles Amanda Gorman. | Vogue

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• Fair warning: Ling Ma on her favorite foods will make you hungry. | Entropy 

• In a time of overwhelming anxiety and uncertainty, is philosophical thought failing us? | Full Stop

• What is the “voice” of the internet? A.E. Osworth has a good idea. | The Rumpus

• Douglas Stuart is a writer who isn’t afraid to call out the patriarchy. | LA Times

• The top 10 most-challenged books of 2020 included a number of anti-racist titles, according to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. | The Root

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• Granta has compiled a list of the best young Spanish-language novelists that includes Carlos Fonseca, Cristina Morales, Diego Zúñiga, and more than 20 others. | Granta

• Flynn Berry on the hidden history of women in the IRA. | CrimeReads

Also on Lit Hub: Ed Simon on Pittsburgh, the Paris of Appalachia • Morgan Jerkins recommends books that capture Black motherhood • Read from Nasim Marashi’s newly translated novel, I’ll Be Strong for You (trans. Poupeh Missaghi)