Lit Hub Daily: August 27, 2019

• “What is wanted of a reviewer is much the same as what is wanted by the reviewer.” Mary-Kay Wilmers on the language of book criticism. | Lit Hub
• In praise of the high school English teacher: introducing a new column by Nick Ripatrazone. | Lit Hub
• “Tarot shares a fundamental aspiration with writing—to articulate the complexity of human experience.” Alexander Chee, Laurie Filipelli, and more on writers and tarot. | Lit Hub
• Susan Harlan makes a compelling case for the end-of-summer joy of reading by a motel pool. | Lit Hub
• “Mr. Roosevelt is not greatly interested in the national game nor has he ever been.” On Teddy Roosevelt’s hatred of baseball. | Lit Hub
• “It was an especially painful dark night of the soul that brought me to the Buddha’s feet.” When a mental heath activist confronts her own inner turmoil. | Lit Hub
• Beirut Hellfire Society author Rawi Hage recommends five great books about Beirut. | Book Marks
• Luc Sante on Jean-Patrick Manchette’s Nada, a classic caper novel with a revolutionary message. | CrimeReads
• The Association of American Publishers, on behalf of seven major book publishers, is suing Audible for a new captions feature that transcribes the text of narrated readings, citing copyright infringement. | Geek
• “Tradition said Mount Qaf, invisible on any map, was at the centre of this world”: Elif Shafak on the mythical Turkish mountain that inspired her to “render the invisible more visible” through storytelling. | The Guardian
• “Books may look the same wherever you buy them, but that doesn’t mean that the lowest price is the best value.” Amazon (bad) is moving in on Nashville’s Parnassus Books (very, very good). | The New York Times
• “There is always the understanding that the “other world” where the adventure takes place must be left behind; the goal is to return home, wherever home may be.” Natasha Boyd on the structure and uses of the wondertale. | LARB
• From Doris Lessing to Oyinkan Braithwaite: Read an African history of the Booker Prize. | Brittle Paper
• Legendary book cover designer Peter Mendelsund on writing his first novel—and designing the cover for it, of course. | SPINE
• “Nobody would try to pop a cyst with a Kindle or prop open a window with a phone”: On the less frequently touted virtues of physical books. | The New Yorker

Also on Lit Hub: On So Many Damn Books, Benjamin Dreyer talks writing what you know (at long last) • What Germany can (and can’t) teach America about reparations and evil • Talking about the pain and anxiety of menstruation • Read an excerpt from Cara Wall’s debut novel The Dearly Beloved.