- Haruki Murakami cops to his long-standing avoidance of modern and contemporary Japanese fiction, and then proceeds to write an awful lot of interesting things about it… | Lit Hub
- Just in time for gourd season, it’s our highly scientific, exhaustively curated, unironically ULTIMATE fall books preview. | Lit Hub
- Lur Alghurabi on finding unlikely houses of worship as a modern Muslim. | Lit Hub
- Carol Anderson: how the GOP is culling millions of registered voters—mostly young, poor, and/or minority voters—from the rolls. | Lit Hub
- Obviously it’s what’s on the inside that counts, but Jane Mount’s illustrations of some of the world’s most striking libraries make a strong case for outer beauty. | Lit Hub
- Daniel Mason, the author of The Winter Soldier, shares his 5 favorite books about doctors. | Book Marks
- Tod Goldberg on Ice Cube, the early days of NWA, Elmore Leonard, Sam Spade, and all the unexpected convergence points from a life of crime fiction and gangster rap. | CrimeReads
- “We’re seeing the emergence of a new type of redemption story: that of the white supremacist turned antiracist crusader.” Wes Enzinna on a wave of memoirs by repentant extremists. | The New York Times
- “When someone undeserving is praised too loudly, this, too, abets creativity.” Hua Hsu on artistically productive beef, from 1980s hip-hop to the Nobel Prize in Literature. | Lapham’s Quarterly
- Proof the internet is good for something: a viral video of an adorable Scottish grandmother reading The Wonky Donkey has created “massive demand” for the book worldwide. | The Guardian
- “I can’t believe it’s still here. I didn’t expect this.” Maris Kriezman visits Atlantic City to talk to Sarah Weinman about her true-crime debut, The Real Lolita. | Vulture
- From To Kill a Mockingbird to 1984: the books everyone lies about reading. | Reader’s Digest
- “A squalling baby must have been an eruption of anarchy in lives that were otherwise characterized by restraint and irony.” New short fiction by Tessa Hadley. | The New Yorker
- Do you want to feel how it feels . . . to hold a book of Kate Bush lyrics in your hands? Soon you’ll be able to, with an introduction by David Mitchell to boot. | Pitchfork
Also on Lit Hub: Interview with Cape Town’s Book Lounge ∙ The Lit Hub Author Questionnaire ∙ Read from The Winter Soldier