TODAY: In 1776, Thomas Paine published his first “American Crisis” essay, writing: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
- Our favorite books of the year: Lit Hub staff picks for 2017. | Literary Hub
- Emily Wilson on why she gave Homer a contemporary voice in her new translation of The Odyssey. | Literary Hub
- How a fixation on craft can get in the way of a good poem. | Literary Hub
- Raina Sainath on the Palestinian children’s book that’s become a target for boycott and censorship. | Literary Hub
- Joan Didion, Carmen Maria Machado, and more: The best-reviewed essay and short story collections of 2017. | Book Marks
- “We are already surrounded by machines that demonstrate a complete lack of insight, we just call them corporations.” Ted Chiang on what will truly bring about the apocalypse (capitalism). | BuzzFeed
- From Durga Chew-Bose to Jenny Zhang, the 10 best queer and feminist books of 2017 (and five more under-the-radar options). | Autostraddle, Broadly
- You can add the end of the world to the ever-growing and endlessly confusing list of what teens like. | NPR
- “Perhaps that desire to be the hero of a quest is what motivates novelists to write the ‘lost book’ novels.” Why we love to read about rediscovered manuscripts. | Signature
- No point of view = no story. Peter Selgin on the deadliest writing sin. | Jane Friedman
- “Cat Person” author Kristen Roupenian is poised to make a ton of money, and we’re not sorry about it. | The Guardian
- “She reserved the right, and the ability, to be what she peculiarly was—not what she ought to be.” On the fiction of Mary McCarthy. | Commonweal
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