Lit Hub Daily: August 9, 2022

TODAY: In 1922, English poet, novelist, and librarian Philip Larkin is born.   

• Christina Lamb on the remarkable life of war correspondent Virginia Cowles, whose “encounters with all the key players have led some to describe her as the Forrest Gump of journalism.” | Lit Hub Biography

• A little Mick Jagger, a little Beaver Cleaver: How Creedence Clearwater Revival, “the Boy Scouts of rock and roll,” took California by storm. | Lit Hub Music

• Bernadette Jiwa reflects on the women who paid with their lives in pre-abortion Ireland. | Lit Hub Politics

• This month’s Lit Hub Asks: 5 Writers, 7 Questions, No Wrong Answers features Nick Drnaso, Meng Jin, Adam Levin, Lynne Tillman, and LaToya Watkins. | Lit Hub Questionnaire

• “A wine writer who couldn’t smell, let alone taste? Who would ever trust me?” Alice Feiring on her brush with Covid. | Lit Hub

• Amanda Jayatissa on thrillers set at weddings. | CrimeReads

• David McCullough—Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Harry S. Truman and John Adams—has died at 89. | The New York Times

• “It’s a wonderful story. It’s like a party. MY HUSBAND BIT INTO A DONUT AND THERE WAS A TOOTH INSIDE.” Sabrina Orah Mark shares a wild experience. | Astra Magazine

• “The bookseller sometimes has more credibility than the professor precisely because she knows what people actually want to buy—and what books are worth buying.” On the social good of bookstores. | The New Yorker

• Heather O’Neill on what horror films understand about pregnancy. | Catapult

• What’s behind the success of BookTok star and author Colleen Hoover? | Slate

• “I wanted the bookstore that did everything I didn’t have.” Patrick Kern talks about opening a queer bookstore in Washington, D.C. | Washingtonian

• Addison Rizer recommends nonfiction books about going to therapy. | Book Riot

Also on Lit Hub: Belinda Huijuan Tang on re-learning Chinese • New poetry from Charles Simic • Read from Adam Levin’s latest novel, Mount Chicago

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