TODAY: In 1962, Danish writer Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke, best known as Isak Dinesen and author of Out of Africa and the story “Babette’s Feast,” dies.
- The excruciating playlist designed to inflict untraceable physical and psychological damage on detainees at Guantánamo Bay. | Lit Hub
- On cataplexy, the sleep disorder commonly triggered by a joke (or possible by hearing the tragic love story of two lost spirits in the second circle of hell). | Lit Hub
- “A plan—any plan, from anyone—seemed preferable to being set loose on the cold seas just to wait.” What happens when a ship sinks in the North Atlantic. | Lit Hub
- Today in specific and delightful reading lists: 10 great feminist lesbian sci-fi books from the ‘70s. | Lit Hub
- From dinosaur capers to the dehumanizing effects Silicon Valley has had on contemporary workplace culture (cool, thanks guys), it’s our fall nonfiction preview: science & technology edition. | Lit Hub
- “Perfect couples are just a perfect illusion.” Kaira Rouda looks at the vicious intimacies and eternal appeal of the marriage thriller, and recommends seven recent additions to the genre. | CrimeReads
- Gary Shteyngart’s Trumpian satire, Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ chronicle of her childhood, John Kerry’s extra memoir, and more all feature among our Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks
- “To me, the hard-boiled detective story is almost like a sonnet.” Jonathan Lethem on returning to the genre that gave him his start. | Vulture
- The forgotten epic poem John Quincy Adams wrote two years after losing his presidential reelection bid to Andrew Jackson. | Lapham’s Quarterly
- “There were no heart-to-hearts. Sally underwent no psychological examinations; nor did she see a therapist. There was only Before, and After.” Read an excerpt from Sarah Weinman’s The Real Lolita. | The Cut
- “In the basement of our old brick building without air conditioning, where teachers handed out ice chips at the hot start of the school year, Mr. Cheatham had built a creative paradise for learning.” Sarah Smarsh on the teacher who changed her life—and made her a writer. | The Guardian
- 20 years after its original publication, Ron Charles considers Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese?, “one of the most unlikely bestsellers in American publishing.” | Washington Post
- “Whether we’re reading or listening to a text, our minds occasionally wander.” Audiobooks and reading go head to head once more. | TIME
- Why finding a literary agent is like dating: “It’s ultimately about finding not the best person but the best fit.” | Electric Literature
Also on Lit Hub: Poetry in contemporary Palestine ∙ Lit Hub staff recommendations ∙ Read from Ultraviolet
