Lit Hub Daily: December 18, 2023

• Say hello to the ten most popular Lit Hub stories of the year (which definitely proves that readers like to read). | Lit Hub

• “Kennedy tethered himself to Bond and, in particular, the Bond as embodied by Sean Connery.” Stanley Schtinter on John F. Kennedy’s last movie: From Russia with Love. | Lit Hub History

• The best, strangest, and darkest noir of the year. | CrimeReads

• “The bombs are still falling, my heart breaks every day.” Sally Rooney and Isabella Hammad discuss the Israel-Palestine conflict. | The Guardian

• Jessica Winter considers the splendor of wordless picture books. | The New Yorker

• Carolyn Dever on the British Library’s attempts to recover from a massive cyberattack | Public Books

• Ed Pavlić explores how the Birmingham bombing radicalized James Baldwin. | Boston Review

• “Refaat did not just impart knowledge; he offered a glimpse of hope, a respite from the relentless pressures of Gaza.” Jehad Abusalim remembers his teacher, Refaat Alareer. | The Nation

Also on Lit Hub: Sakiru Adebayo on the diasporization of African literature • On creative intentionality and subverting the trauma plot • On the transformative experience of listening to audiobooks while ill