Lit Hub Daily: November 15, 2019

• “Anonymous sources make it impossible for tyrannical powers to entirely shape the media around their narratives.” John Freeman on the power of the whistleblower. | Lit Hub
• “Through their actions they are able to change the very fabric of reality.” On the unpublished ending of Picnic at Hanging Rock, and other mysteries. | Lit Hub
• Between pasturelands and progress: Sarah Wagner on the many lives of Lexington, Kentucky. | Lit Hub
• “It’s a French tradition to ask writers to chronicle a reign.” On America, the French magazine attempting to explain the Trump Era. | Lit Hub
• What do you so when your writers’ block is the result of a family curse? (Practice literary witchcraft, of course.) | Lit Hub
• Trapped between high society and the freak show: the sad, grotesque life of “Baboon Lady” Julia Pastrana. | Lit Hub
• “Crime is the literature of outsiders.” Gabino Iglesias on how the new Latin noir moves between borders, languages, and cultures. | CrimeReads
• Michael Crichton’s posthumous Andromeda sequel, Lydia Davis’ collected essays, and a biography of Carrie Fisher all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks
• Researchers have developed an “electronic nose” to help determine which old books are most in need of preservation. We always knew that old book smell was good for something. | Martha Stewart
• “Kendall randomly reading a book that is so specific to the online literary world is a signifier of her connection to a more imperiled creative class, one that she can learn about beside a pool in France.” Darcie Wilder on being read—publicly—by Kendall Jenner. | The Outline
• Two jurors on the Nobel committee relied on a discredited conspiracy theory about the Bosnia war to defend Peter Handke’s work. | The Intercept
• Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood are among 260 authors who signed a letter to India’s prime minister Modi calling on him to restore citizenship to Aatish Taseer, a journalist who has been critical of Modi’s government. | The Guardian
• Yet another reason to love libraries: borrowing books is the greenest way to read. | Treehugger
• Chef and Momofuku founder David Chang is writing a memoir about his relationship to his mental health. | Eater
• Thought about Scotland lately? No? Well here’s your chance, with 10 lovely Scottish locations that inspired the settings of well-known novels. | The Scotsman

Also on Lit Hub: What does it mean to be designated a City of Literature? • Lit Hub Recommends • Read from Patrick Modiano’s Family Record (trans. Mark Polizzotti).