Lit Hub Weekly: August 3 - 7, 2020

• POV shifts and moral dilemmas on Red Headed Stranger: Odie Lindsey on learning to write from Willie Nelson and one of the greatest albums of the 1970s. | Lit Hub Craft
• Maya Alexandri on navigating the dual nightmare of an opioid epidemic and a global pandemic as an EMT. | Lit Hub Health
• “We are in a nightmare, and have been for a long time. But nightmares, like pandemics, eventually end.” Dr. Terrence Holt on information overload (and distortion). | Lit Hub Politics
• Kaitlyn Greenidge on Raven Leilani, Rumaan Alam on Lorrie Moore, Walter Isaacson on the life of a Klansman, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks
• Alex Pavesi on the joys of mystery fiction’s most enduring tropes. | CrimeReads
• Yukio Mishima was a Japanese imperial apologist, a nominee for the 1968 Nobel Prize in Literature, and one of the most divisive figures in 20th-century Japan. A spate of new translations is bringing his work to the West. | Metropolis Japan
• Milan Kundera will donate his archive to his hometown library, in Brno. | Expats Cz
• “I’ve come to think my mother liked horror because she was a civil rights activist. There was something about it that was therapeutic.” On the new wave of Black horror storytellers. | Vanity Fair
• “Violence is more than just a word or even an attack. Violence is atmospheric.” Brad Evans and Fatima Bhutto in conversation. | LARB
• Time to vote for the Not the Booker Prize shortlist. | The Guardian
• While in-person rare book exhibitions remain out of reach, here’s a collection of historic UK books you can explore online. | Fine Books Magazine
• “In America, he is the soft boy, an aesthete, thoughtful and gently manipulative. In England, he is the sad boy, poetic and lachrymose. He is the beta narcissist in clinical terms. He is the male Madame Bovary in literary ones.” Merve Emre on “the longing man.” | The Point
• “It costs time and money to access a lot of true and important information, while a lot of bullshit is completely free.” On the struggle to democratize knowledge. | Current Affairs
• In the early 20th century, southern Black communities built thousands of schools to improve education and literacy. | JSTOR Daily
• “We need to learn how to have heroes without revering them, learning, instead, to cherish something else entirely.” Gabrielle Bellot on adoration and loss. | Forge
• “Trump held up a mirror to American society, and it reflected back a grotesque image that many had refused to see.” Ibram X. Kendi wonders if we’ve reached the end of America’s denial of racism. | The Atlantic
• Erika Hayasaki hears from one of the last remaining survivors of the atomic bomb about her “unequivocal pursuit: a nuclear weapon–free world.” | Narratively
• An upcoming book by Brian Bowen Smith will tell the visual story of America as it faces the pandemic. | Los Angeles Times
• “As long as this country has existed people have had an appetite for crime stories.” Sarah Weinman on reimagining true crime. | Jezebel
• For Ottessa Mosfegh, art is “an expression of God within ourselves. It’s a transmission of our spirit.” | The Nation

Also on Lit Hub:

Jeet Heer on the complex origins of Little Orphan Annie • Amy Brady recommends five new books that tackle the climate crisis • Emily Temple on how to begin your Steven Millhauser obsession • Joy Williams remembers Brad Watson • A taxonomy of nonfiction: Karen Babine on the peculiarities of genre, form, and more • Sophy Roberts offers some advice on packing for Siberia • On deceptive ravens, bluffing shrimp, and other bullshit artists of the natural world • Ligaya Mishan on the view of the climate crisis from Hawai’i • Episode two of the Mighty SONG Writers, with jazz pianist Marcus Roberts • Recommended August reading from Lit Hub staff and contributors • Morgan Jerkins on telling the story of her family • We need to treat artists as workers, not decorations • Laura Lippman on the (non-)journey to eating what she wants, when she wants • It takes many voices to find the truth: John Freeman on the anthology as social movement •  Letter to a daughter who will wear two masks: Jasmon Drain on what is covered and hidden • Maggie Levantovskaya on Flannery O’Connor’s chronic illness and chronic racism • Five great audiobooks by Black women • How similar are the hot, historic summers of 2020 and 1968? • Barry Lopez on natural landscapes, metaphorical living, and Warlpiri identity • Bradley Garrett on the hard work of prepping for the end of the world in Paradise Valley • Rónán Hession on the quest for kindness in fiction

Best of Book Marks:

From the archives: the first reviews of every Toni Morrison novel • Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, Daphne du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn, Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, and more rapid-fire book recs from Erin Morgenstern • Caroline Leavitt recommends five books about love—and fame—interrupted, from The World According to Garp to An American Marriage • Judy Blume’s Superfudge, Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, and more rapid-fire book recs from Shaun Hamill •  Raven Leilani’s Luster, Akwaeke Emezi’s The Death of Vivek Oji, and Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week

New on CrimeReads:

10 crime and mystery novels to check out this August • Lisa Morton and Leslie Klinger introduce us to the weird women of 19th century horror and their cutting-edge tales of terror • Elsa Hart recommends 9 mysteries featuring collections • Catherine Ryan Howard says it’s time to demystify serial killers • Olivia Rutigliano rounds up the 35 most iconic caper films—and ranks them • Laura Lippman opens up about parenting, aging, and exploring her dark, twisted imagination • Poppy Gee on small town mysteries across the globe • Crime and the City heads to Dublin • Susanna Lee on the Continental Op and the Great Depression • Susanna Calkins on the mystery plays of Gangland Chicago