- “Well-loved books stay the same even as so much else changes.” Why we re-read books from our childhoods—and what they can teach us about ourselves. | The Atlantic
- “Read more; make friends.” Networking advice for the antisocial writer. | Electric Literature
- “It’s a divided, demented little book, riven by dueling desires for penance and self-promotion—as confused, perhaps, as Leo himself.” Emily Harnett on the literary legacy of nuclear physicist Leo Szilard, who helped create the atomic bomb, and who tried to stop it. | Hazlitt
- “I’ve joked with friends that I might put my Ouija board on it and see what happens.” Buying Sylvia Plath’s table at auction. | Harriet
- “It is, to me, the fundamental desire of a writer to understand the terrain in which they write.” Arundhati Roy and Viet Thanh Nguyen in conversation. | Los Angeles Review of Books
- How many books have you read this year? On Goodreads and “the crushing weight of literary FOMO.” | WIRED
- “It is like reading the best kind of philosophy—steely, searching, brisk.” Lorrie Moore on Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy. | New York Review of Books
- “I imagine the weight of her trauma in my palm, opaque and heavy.” Crystal Hana Kim on her grandmother. | The Paris Review
- Have you been feeling constantly beset by existential dread? You’re not alone! Barnes & Noble says sales of books related to anxiety are through the roof. | CNBC
- “Write fast, edit slow” and other advice from productivity experts about how to write a book without losing your mind. | The Atlantic
- Oh you love murder? Me too!” Alice Bolin on true crime’s ethical dilemma. | Vulture
- “All my life, I have felt like a minor character, and I do not mind.” Lillian Li interviews Min Jin Lee. | Asian American Writers Workshop
- “A Room on the Garden Side,” a semi-autobiographical Ernest Hemingway short story written in 1956, has just been published for the first time. | The New York Times
- Norah Lange, chiefly remembered as a muse to Borges despite being an award-winning poet and novelist herself, will finally have one of her books, People in the Room, translated into English. | The Guardian
- Je suis la jeune fille! Why we continue to learn French, even though it’s basically useless. | LARB
Also on Lit Hub: Everybody’s favorite literary one-hit wonder? A compendium of strong opinions about Wuthering Heights, from famous writers to first reviews • Kristen Arnett gives you the dos and don’ts of supporting your local library • Was poet Forugh Farrokhzad Iran’s “most notorious woman”? Jasmin Darznik on the writer who gave her hope • A history of violence: Paula Saunders examines the parallel lines of history and home • Charlotte Strick on how Rachel Cusk’s Outline Trilogy got those iconic covers • Katharine Kilalea on the most dangerous building in South Africa • Good boys: the indisputably best dogs in (contemporary) literature • “My family was a series of hushed rages behind shut doors.” Brandon Taylor on grieving for a mother he never fully knew • Terry Tempest Williams talks to Paul Holdengraber about beauty, survival, and the twinned realities of joy and sorrow • Breaking up the boys club: On women in the rare book trade • From Knut Hamsun to Tarka the Otter, literary fascists of the 1930s, great and small • When writing is your job, researching trauma can be a serious a workplace hazard • So, what if we tried plutonium? On the problems of powering an artificial heart • On the ongoing struggle to get Americans to read writing in translation • The Summer of 68: on the Vietnam War deserters who sought asylum in Sweden • Do violent revolutions invite dictators? Former vice president Sergio Ramirez on the ongoing crisis in Nicaragua • The Lit Hub staff’s favorite stories from July • “Write a sentence as clean as a bone.” And other intense bits of writing advice from James Baldwin
Best of Book Marks: “Read Jane Eyre, but burn Wuthering Heights”: on the occasion of her 200th birthday we looked back on the first fiery reviews of Emily Brontë’s gothic masterpiece • The Strange Case of Dr. Couney author Dawn Raffel spoke to Jane Ciabattari about five carnivalesque literary classics, from The Devil in the White City to World’s Fair • This week in Secrets of the Book Critics: Tor.com’s Leah Schnelbach on Oreo, The Moviegoer, and the contemporary relevance of genre • Lorrie Moore on Rachel Cusk, Garrard Conley on Confessions of the Fox, and more Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week • Havana hauntings, Christian cults, and American addictions all feature among our Best Reviewed Books of the Week
New on CrimeReads: “This was a neighborhood crime, a tribal crime, a family crime.” Ninety years later, Nina Barrett looks for the truth about Leopold and Loeb • Literary spies, Hollywood shenanigans, menacing megachurches, and doomed college reunions: 9 crime novels not to miss this August • Wendi Corsi-Staub on our enduring fascination with the Manson family, and what to read after Helter Skelter • Wendy Walker recommends 12 crime books that capture the quiet menace of suburban enclaves • Christopher Huang examines how the disruptions of World War I gave rise to the careful rules of golden-era, traditional mysteries • J. Kingston Pierce on the strange history and lurid, distinctive, beautiful pulp art of Dell mapbacks • August’s hottest new action thrillers, recommended by Ryan Steck, aka The Real Book Spy • Sebastian Rotella and Alex Segura discuss immigration, exile, and writing crime fiction across cultures and languages • Adam Lebor on making sense of Budapest through crime fiction, after decades of reporting on Eastern Europe • Yassin Adnan on storytelling traditions, scandal, and bringing crime fiction to Marrakech, Morocco’s “Joyful City” • Congratulations to Mia P. Manansala, this year’s winner of the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for emerging writers of color, awarded by Sisters in Crime • Jim Ruland on coming to love crime fiction through Black Lizard reissues and the works of Jim Thompson
