Lit Hub Weekly: February 11 - 15, 2019

• Ottessa Moshfegh profiles ”the spiritual hero of [her] novel, and [her] only idol,” Whoopi Goldberg. | Garage
• Toni Morrison on Beloved in an excerpt from her new book, The Source of Self-Regard. | Shondaland
• Just because we love you: here are some beautiful book covers published between 1820 and 1914. | Public Domain Review
• “Woolf and three other members of the emerging Bloomsbury group played a hoax on the H.M.S. Dreadnought by impersonating the emperor of Abyssinia and his retinue.” Kevin Young on the time Virginia Woolf wore blackface. | The New Yorker
• “Maybe they are a gateway for talking to children about America’s colonialist history.  Or maybe not.” Is it time to put down the Little House books? | Smithsonian Mag
• The spoken word president: Jimmy Carter quietly won has third Grammy on Sunday for the audiobook recording of Faith: A Journey for All. | Los Angeles Times
• “Apologies to Barthes, but the author didn’t die, she became the text”: Why have so many “tragic” literary hoaxes been successful? | The Outline
• Linger, loaf, laze, lounge, lollygag, dawdle, amble, saunter, meander, putter, dillydally, mosey: Ross Gay on the pure delight of loitering. | The Paris Review
• “The average income for a romance writer has tripled in the digital age.” On the (booming) business of romance novels. | JSTOR
• On the amazing wrongness of the “fact” that “Eskimos have 50 words for snow.” | Popula
• How did Valentine become the patron of love? Geoffrey Chaucer had more than a little to do with it. | History Extra
• “I think Edward is probably the most literary person with carpentry experience since Jesus Christ.” Meet the literary agent who represents famous writers and also builds them bookshelves. | T Magazine
• Why is the phrase “a novel” still so ubiquitous on book covers? | Vox
• Betty Ballantine, inventor of the modern paperback and co-founder of Bantam and Ballantine Books, has died at 99. | USA Today
• “I mistook it for mine.” Jake Malooley—one of the journalists Jill Abramson plagiarized in her new book, Merchants of Truth—interviewed her about it. | Rolling Stone

Also on Lit Hub:

The books that mattered most to David Bowie, bibliophile • Ten specialty bookstores that are definitely worth a visit (particularly if you like magic or the ocean or cars) • Devoney Looser wonders what Jane Austen would choose in the end, sense or sensibility • Sophie MacKintosh on the shared language of sisterhood • A dispatch from the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering • How to teach English with a music video: on Kate Bush’s radical interpretation of Wuthering Heights • 11 literary pickup lines (nearly) guaranteed to get you a date • What will social networks look like after the internet? • A brief history of western writers’ obsession with the tiger • On the intoxicating alchemy of pottery • Beneath the streets of Paris, in search of the cataphiles • On the complexities of book tour travel as a non-binary author • “I joke sometimes that every white person who reads me thinks they’re the only white person who reads me.” Leonard Pitts, Jr. on the challenges of writing for white people • A poem from C.D. Wright’s final book, Casting Deep Shade • On the complicated choices of memoir writing • A love letter to lovers of Outlander • Yiyun Li: “We actually have to live through these characters and feel their feelings, so nothing is made up” • What does it mean to call an idea American? • On literary minimalism • “You don’t know anything,” and other writing advice from Toni Morrison • From book festivals to breathtaking natural beauty to damn fine cups of coffee, five reasons a writer should move to Brisbane (immediately) • “We want people who love to read, walk through the door and feel, oh here’s my tribe.” The Center for Fiction is opening in Brooklyn, so prepare to make yourself at home

Best of Book Marks:

New on CrimeReads:

Lucy Foley on Agatha Christie’s radical choice to put crimes in the hands of ordinary people • Hester Young re-reads five mysteries from her childhood to see which ones (if any) are still acceptable today • CrimeReads espionage enthusiast Molly Odintz takes a tour of the new KGB Spy Museum • Dwyer Murphy, resident romantic, rounds up 14 romantic comedies that may, in fact, be crime films •  Renee Knight on using the shifting power dynamics of employer/employee relationships to tell compelling stories• “Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness.” Georges Simenon’s 10 most cynical quotes, in honor of his birthday last week • Lee Goldberg on bringing a lost pulp writer back into print • “So what is this book? The simplest answer is: It’s a Donald Westlake novel.” Levi Stahl on how a recent reissue showcases Westlake’s lighter side. • Historical crime writer Rhys Bowen looks at the many works of fiction to reckon with the Great War • Author and former detective David Swinson on the books he returns to, time and time again • Matthew Turbeville shows us how to use crime fiction to help get over a broken heart • Here’s a tour of the most absurd red flags in literature, because on Valentine’s Day, we all want to think we can spot a bad thing from a mile away • Read an excerpt from Gary Phillips’ new graphic novel of black artists, FBI propagandists, and 1950s New York City • Robert Feiseler examines the immediate aftermath of the Up Stairs Lounge fire in 1973 New Orleans • Argentinian writer Mariana Dimópulos on silence, structure, and the art of suspense