TODAY: In 1818, Lord Byron writes to Thomas Moore, telling him he has completed the first Canto of Don Juan. (When he died in 1824, Byron had completed 16 cantos, leaving an unfinished 17th canto — productive!)
- Like all glorious codifications of divine mysteries, it has to do with love: on the anniversary of Italo Calvino’s death, read Mary McCarthy’s 1981 review of If on a winter’s night a traveler. | Book Marks
- “We consent to the wrong life in small ways, less by what we say than what we don’t.” Kathleen Alcott on intimacy, breakups, and the significance of a shared meal. | The Guardian
- 22 tarot card-book pairings to consider, “whether you believe in the mystical power of tarot or if you’re just smitten with its aesthetics.” | Signature
- “To sort, Solomon-like, through someone else’s story in books is a responsibility not to be taken lightly.” On packing up a mother’s library after she has died. | The Millions
- “It’s a form of media that is available to nearly everyone.” How feminists in Indonesia are using zines to communicate their cause. | Broadly
- Sheila Heti on the short fictions of Fleur Jaeggy, which “attempt to be in concert with some mysterious void.” | The New Yorker
- “I am tired / so I wife myself. / Down here / the boys are theoretical.” A poem by Morgan Parker. | Shondaland
- “I try to avoid writing in my favorite time period by assembling—is there any way I can make this sound more dignified?—tableaux of found objects from within my own house.” Ann Beattie’s procrastination routine. | The Paris Review
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