- Scribner is bracing for a flood of Gatsby fanfic when the book enters the public domain in two years; And Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, Virginia Woolf’s Jacob’s Room, and William Carlos Williams’ The Great American Novel are among the works that entered the public domain on January 1. | Jezebel, Hyperallergic
- “I feel like you can really get away with putting a lot of your opinions—if you wanted to—in a novel.” Read a profile of Sally Rooney. | The New Yorker
- The presumption of glamour, a complete lack of managing editors, and “Don De-lee-lo”: Sloane Crosley on Hollywood’s misconceptions about the publishing industry. | The New York Times
- Poetry recommendations from the new editor of the Yale Review: Meghan O’Rourke’s favorite collections of 2018. | Vulture
- “At the most basic level, belatedly reading these books constitutes a form of vindicated investment.” Geoff Dyer on the books he finally got around to reading in 2018. | The Guardian
- Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a massive hit—and is now officially the highest single-week grossing American play in Broadway history. | Variety
- “A poem exists between pages of paper, bound by its own internal logic. A lyric arrives from the wider world, laden with decades of meaning and remembered melody”: when song lyrics become literature. | New Statesman
- In honor of the 20th anniversary of You’ve Got Mail, a Nora Ephron reading list. | Longreads
- “A pale imitation of our actual self”: What the Upanishads, ancient Sanskrit texts, tell us about avatars and virtual reality. | Aeon
- Edoardo Ballerini, the English language narrator of Knausgaard’s My Struggle, discusses the audiobook boom. | The Guardian
- Edgar Hilsenrath, a German-Jewish novelist who wrote satirical autobiographical novels about his experience of Nazi persecution, has died at 92. | The New York Times
- “From story to story, one feels a sustained longing for independence.” Revisiting Alice Munro’s debut, Dance of the Happy Shades, 50 years after its publication. | The Atlantic
- “Warner Brothers hired Faulkner in July of 1942 at $300 per week. His first gig was the Charles de Gaulle story.” On Faulkner’s forgotten de Gaulle biopic. | JSTOR
- The Lolita conundrum: On enjoying fiction (potentially) inspired by horrific events. | The New Inquiry
- “Never constant, sometimes beautiful, always brimming with the potential for grotesquerie and grandeur alike.” Gabrielle Bellot on James Baldwin’s Harlem. | NYRB
Also on Lit Hub:
“All the people you could have been haunt the bookstore alongside the person you could still become.” On walking into a bookstore in your forties vs. your twenties • An argument for the universal wearing of beards, courtesy Victorian tastemaker Thomas S. Gowing • Honor Moore on finishing the book and conjuring her mother • “I’m not sure what age is normal for a kid to worry that you’ve derailed your parents’ dreams.” Adam Nemett on growing up with an artist for a father • What to read while recovering from top surgery: Davey Davis on the books that arrived at exactly the right moment • “Watch closely. This is how Black writers live.” Toward an expanded canon of Black literature • Reading feminist futurism in the age of the “female” virtual assistant • A reading list to address your mounting dread: six essential texts by women on climate change • When privilege confronts its past: Angela Morales on the Mexican-American dream • “The evil of banality does not deserve my feelings.” Ece Temelkuran talks to Leland de la Durantaye • When American artists tried to start a television revolution
Best of Book Marks:
In case you missed ’em, a round-up of the Best Reviewed Books of 2018 • From Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights to Wayetu Moore’s She Would Be King, the vital stories of the Transnational Literature Series • This week in Secrets of the Book Critics: Michael Schaub on Joan Didion, Victoria Patterson, and ’90s sitcoms over prestige dramas • The enduring enigma of Jean Toomer, Joyce Carol Oates channels Margaret Atwood, and more Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week • Sex robots, Henry VIII, a tribe of whalers, and more all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week
New on CrimeReads:
How a drug-addicted art critic created the perfect sleuth for the Jazz Age • Five fictional felines crime fans will love, as recommended by Clea Simon • The CrimeReads editors round up their more anticipated picks for January • Lyndsay Faye, our resident Sherlockian scholar, rounds up the past year in Sherlockiana ahead of Holmes’ birthday this weekend • Spies in the Speakeasy: Tessa Lunney takes us on a tour through the 1920s in crime fiction • “Beneath the ground, there are all kinds of secrets lurking.” Sara Blaedel on the lure of the small-town mystery • Our favorite CrimeReads stories of 2018 • A look back at the CrimeReads editors’ favorite fictional excerpts of the past year • Looking to start the year with a fresh dose of paranoia? Lisa Levy rounds up five great psychological thrillers out this month • How to get away with murder (sibling rivalry edition), and more true crime advice from true crime expert Tori Telfer • Move over, Victorians! Catherine Lloyd on why Regency England is the perfect setting for mysteries
