- Alex Lockwood on the Gustave Flaubert novel-that-wasn’t, “an encyclopedic panorama of human stupidity” that surely inspired the likes of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. | Lit Hub
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The new Fifth Siren podcast recommends books about the past, present, and looming future of Venice. | Lit Hub Reading Lists
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“When you’re a young girl, trying to process what your gender means to the world, this is an incredibly tempting milieu.” Rachel Kapelke-Dale considers the toxic dream of the ballerina. | Lit Hub
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A constellation of stars: Jennifer Clements muses on the new film adaptation of her 2014 novel, Prayers for the Stolen. | Lit Hub Film
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Joan Didion, Rachel Kushner, Hanif Abdurraqib, Ann Patchett, and Jenny Diski all feature among the Best Reviewed Essay Collections of 2021. | Book Marks
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The best true crime books of 2021, featuring works from Elon Green, Audrey Clare Farley, Mikita Brottman, and more. | CrimeReads
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Kylie Warner considers Shirley Hazzard’s stories of the hypocrisies of bureaucratic culture. | The Point
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“Poetry out of testimony.” Vivian Gornick on the power and popularity of personal narrative. | The Yale Review
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Amanda Gorman breaks down her writing habits. | Bustle
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“It feels extremely gratifying and fulfilling to now be the person who’s created something, rather than a piece of someone else’s vision.” Emily Ratajkowski on her essay collection, literary inspirations, and patriarchal standards. | Vice
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On the life and literary career of Harriet the Spy creator Louise Fitzhugh. | The New Yorker
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Francesca Wade on Gertrude Stein’s lesser-known notebooks, which gave “fresh insight into Stein’s private struggles with friendships, lovers, and her own identity.” | The Times Literary Supplement
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Who were Shakespeare’s female editors? | The Guardian
Also on Lit Hub: David Kirby on writing the unknowable • Mike Roe on the shows (and memes) that followed 30 Rock • Read from Lisa Harding’s latest novel, Bright Burning Things
