Lit Hub Daily: July 19, 2019

• In honor of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, some lunar perspectives: What if we had gotten stuck up there? • A poet and a novelist discuss the literary allure of outer space • Gaze upon some heroic (and very good) space dogs • On Gemini, the human spaceflight program that made Apollo possible • Read an excerpt from Johan Harstad’s novel Buzz Aldrin, What Happened to You in All the Confusion? | Lit Hub
• “[Grief] was taking away far too much, but it wasn’t only taking away. It was also giving me back my true self.” Margaret Renkl on writing through extreme grief. | Lit Hub
• Neil Nyren on Patricia Moyes, heir to the Golden Age of Mystery, and her many satisfying and ingeniously plotted novels. | CrimeReads
• Colson Whitehead’s harrowing new novel, George Takei’s graphic memoir of internment, and the story of the lost schoolgirls of Boko Haram all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks
• There are dozens of books about podcasts, and podcasts about podcasts—how to start one or why you shouldn’t. Does the “podcast industrial complex” benefit hosts more than their audiences? | The New York Times
• A collection of classic moon poems to read on the 50th anniversary of the first crewed moon landing this weekend. | Poets
• “It’s just hard to imagine we’re ever going to live in a world where war is not right around the corner.” Richard Russo on toxic masculinity, destiny, and the inevitability of war. | Time
• After raising £180,000, the Charles Dickens Museum in London has purchased a portrait of the young author that had been lost for more than 130 years. | The Guardian
• “Even if we accept the idea that we all (or most of us) want to become clearer and more interesting writers, is grammar truly the key to such improvements?” Jonathan Russell Clark is against style guides—sort of. | Vulture
• Good news for under-prepared travelers: a number of airport bookstores have a “read and return” program that will give you a 50% refund on a book purchased at one of their stores within six months. | Lifehacker
• “Poetry tells a different story than history does.” Read an interview with Carolyn Forché. | Ploughshares

Also on Lit Hub: 40 writer’s writers readers should read • An interview with D.C.’s newest book store, Solid State Books • Read an excerpt from David Szalay’s new novel Turbulence.