Lit Hub Daily: August 13, 2021

•  People are getting a lot better (or worse) at insults: Jason Guriel traces the evolution of the baroque burn, from “Turdsworth” to “Tru-Anon.” | Lit Hub

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• The case for community: After achieving The Dream of becoming a full-time writer, Mike Gayle found himself missing the camaraderie of office life. | Lit Hub

• “The ratchetdemic educator understands that true knowledge is not given; it is discovered.” Christopher Emdin reimagines a school system designed for students who have been denied power. | Lit Hub Teaching

• Why Willa C. Richards set her novel in 1991 Milwaukee—what some call “the Dahmer summer”—and how that era speaks to a history of police misconduct and ineptitude. | Lit Hub History

• Marc Ribot makes the case for really, really loud music. | Lit Hub Music

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• Naomi Hirahara talks historical fiction, the weight of the past, and post-internment Japanese-American life, interviewed by Désirée Zamorano. | CrimeReads

• New titles from Leila Slimani, Said Sayrafiezadeh, Alaa Al-Aswany, and Charlie English all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks

• “I can’t be sure, but I think my heart is getting stronger, hard as the heart of the Olympians I serve in this land that is going up in smoke.” Read a new story by Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi. | Platform

• Considering the origins and outcomes of the “writer’s vagary”—“the solitary book in a well-known novelist’s oeuvre that deviates from a well-trodden path.” | Times Literary Supplement

• “Horror is one of the only genres that allows for a constantly evolving interplay of the factual and fantastical.” Danielle Binks on how women writers have shaped the horror genre. | The Guardian

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• LaTanya McQueen discusses her new novel, denied birthrights, Southern legacies of horror, and plantation weddings. | Shondaland

• Exploring the recent trend of the “Instagram novel.” | The New Republic

• An argument in favor of adults reading middle grade books. | Book Riot

• Adam Harris recounts the history of historically Black colleges and the importance of federal investment. | Inside Higher Ed

Also on Lit Hub: On the early hoop dreams of Giannis Antetokounmpo, one of the world’s best basketball players • A reading list that captures the enduring appeal of fictional sisters • Read a story from Zen Cho’s latest collection, Spirits Abroad