Lit Hub Daily: September 30, 2021

TODAY: In 1868, the first volume of Little Women is published by the Roberts Brothers.  

• “The challenges the Census Bureau faces are not about the science of data collection but are instead about storytelling, about the effort to tell the story of America that Americans themselves cannot tell.” Benjamin Morris reveals life as an enumerator. | Lit Hub Politics

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• A solar system of ice and fire: Natalie Starkey on the mysteries of space volcanoes. | Lit Hub Space!

• “If you determine to abandon me, I will be doubly ambitious.” How to deal with rejection (and get revenge) like Edgar Allan Poe. | Lit Hub History

• October’s new and noteworthy nonfiction features the late David Graeber’s history of humanity, a guidebook to smell, and playfully absurd essays about non-human organisms. | Lit Hub Reading Lists

• Ani Gjika is the winner of the Restless Books 2021 Prize for New Immigrant Writing. Read an excerpt of her winning memoir, By Its Right Name. | Lit Hub

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• Don’t miss these 17 great titles out in paperback this October. | Lit Hub

• Begrudging, ashamed, polite, irate: Omar Mouallem reflects on the push and pull of his Muslim identity. | Lit Hub Religion

• Erin Somers on Jonathan Franzen’s Crossroads, James Wood on Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks

• Deborah Tuerkheimer considers Rose McGowan, Harvey Weinstein, and why we doubt accusers while protecting abusers. | Lit Hub Politics

• Christopher Hilliard on British obscenity laws and the trial of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. | CrimeReads

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• Law-breaking animals, mystery illnesses, and a history of the heart all feature among September’s best reviewed science, technology, and nature books. | Book Marks

• Richard Powers discusses the inspiration behind his new book, ornithology, and the possibilities of alien life. | Rain Taxi

• Hanif Abdurraqib breaks down the legacy of Soul Train. | NPR

• “There’s something wonderfully defiant about the way she dumped English, like a child asserting that he no longer plans to wear shoes.” On Jhumpa Lahiri’s turn toward Italian. | LARB

• Meghan O’Gieblyn considers the natural language processing algorithm GPT-3, and the meaning of meaning. | n+1

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• Sarah Shin and Grace M. Cho talk about ghosts, transgenerational mourning, and communal cooking. | Granta

• John Warner defends the “big, splashy,” Sally Rooney-style book promotion. | Chicago Tribune

• Where did Tracy K. Smith find hope in the last year? “I felt that I could clearly see there were people in my community that I felt capable of helping and advocating for.” | TIME

Also on Lit Hub: Virtual book events to stream in October • A poem by Kevin Young • From Theo Ellsworth’s illustrated adaption of Jeff VanderMeer’s story “Secret Life”  

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