Lit Hub Daily: February 12, 2020

• “Does a country fall into fascism the way a person falls in love? Or, more accurately, in hate?” Arundhati Roy on the role of the writer in a time of rising nationalism. | Lit Hub Politics
• “If we came back from the Black Plague, it seems like we could come back from anything.” Amber Sparks on escaping into books about the Middle Ages. | Lit Hub
• Are you there, God? It’s me, cutaway gags. An incomplete survey of Judy Blume references in pop culture. | Lit Hub
• When memory gets lost in history: Sarisha Kurup on mapping private loss over public tragedy. | Lit Hub Memoir
• Doomed gentry! Decaying manors! Porridge! Hannah Rothschild recommends seven books that “exemplify the long and glorious tradition of British Social Satires.” | Lit Hub
• Books that blur lines between the living and dead: Jess Kidd’s on her favorite ghost stories. | Lit Hub Art
• What the Obamas’ portraits reveal about the changing American art canon. | Lit Hub
• Radha Vatsal on the forgotten history of “Fearless Peerless Pearl” and the brief heyday of silent movie action heroines. | CrimeReads
• In honor of her 82nd birthday, a look back at three of Judy Blume’s most iconic books. | Book Marks
• “What most tangibly binds these writers together… is a sense of solidarity in fighting for and maintaining their place in this breakthrough period.” On the swell of Asian American voices in the literary mainstream. | Gen
• Multi-million dollar book deals for former members of the Trump administration are a worrying trend in the publishing industry. | Vox
• “A woman who meets the world with intensity is a woman who endures lashes of shame and disapproval, from within as well as without.” Read an excerpt from Rachel Vorona Cote’s Too Much. | Bookforum
• 20,000 square feet of wizardry: The Harry Potter flagship store is set to open beside the Flatiron building in New York City next month. | National Retail Federation
• Did you know Jeopardy! All-Star Ken Jennings has written 12 books? Some of his literary tastes these days include Bernardine Evaristo, Patricia Highsmith, and more. | Seattle Times
• If you like your books with a whiff of exclusivity, check out these under-the-radar (and members-only) New York City libraries. | Wall Street Journal

Also on Lit Hub: P Carl on his father’s material afterlife • Read an excerpt from Andrew Krivak’s new novel The Bear.