TODAY: In 1756, Benedikte Naubert, a German writer who published anonymously more than 50 historical novels, is born.
- “It was refreshing to see these women own their desire and act on it, even if that included murder.” Kassandra Montag on the mythic Icelandic women that taught her to write blunt, unabashed characters. | Lit Hub
- “Fear is a prolonged argument with the world”: Brandon Taylor on what it is to grow up afraid. | Lit Hub
- On Eric Garner, Jean-Michel Basquiat and police brutality as American tradition. | Lit Hub
- What does it mean when we call a movie “universal”? Simon Han on The Farewell and moving toward “diverse diversity.” | Lit Hub
- Tom Roston describes September 10, 2001 at Windows on the World, the restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center. | Lit Hub
- In anticipation of the 2020s, here are some books from the 1920s worth reading now. | Lit Hub
- This month, the Lit Hub staff recommends reading Nell Zink and Susan Steinberg, watching Scooby-Doo, and playing Santana in the office. | Lit Hub
- New titles from Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, and Lucy Ellmann all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks
- Eleni Theodoropoulos on gothic storytelling and the 50th anniversary of Scooby Doo. | CrimeReads
- “I don’t perceive this statement as consolation any longer.” Camille T. Dungy on rejecting “there are no words” and reaching for the language of extreme loss. | Emergence
- What happens when a “literary imagination” is brought into the realm of British politics? Perhaps the creation of writer-politicians who prioritize ego above the common good. | Wall Street Journal
- Need help planning your literary road trip through California deserts? Here are six things you shouldn’t miss (concrete dinosaurs and nature sanctuaries included). | Los Angeles Times
- “I’m not denying that the novel is very much a portrait of its era, of IRA bombs and miners’ strikes and electricity cuts, but I found the broader malaise that underlies these specifics uncannily familiar.” Lucy Scholes on The Ice Age, Margaret Drabble’s 40 year old Brexit novel. | The Paris Review
- Good news for publishers: the resale of e-books has been ruled illegal in the EU. | Publishers Weekly
- “Believe all women? Women schwomen—I don’t think you should believe all anything.” (Is Margaret Atwood about to be canceled?) | People
- John Green and the Poetry Foundation are teaming up to get people excited about poetry with a YouTube series called Ours Poetica—which, we can all agree, is a solid pun. | Chicago Tribune
Also on Lit Hub: Dickens, Thoreau, and more on their love of fishing • On attempting to deal with addiction through books • Read a story from Chika Unigwe’s collection Better Never Than Late.
