- “Once a woman enters a royal family, every aspect and function of her body becomes a site of proprietary fantasy.” Margo Jefferson on Meghan Markle. | The Guardian
- “In many cases, the confidence men have is not particularly warranted.” Why are so few letters to the editor written by women? | The Atlantic
- Esther Kim on the literature of the Korean diaspora and three Korean modernists you should know. | Words Without Borders
- “West calls his struggle the right to be a ‘free thinker,’ and he is, indeed, championing a kind of freedom—a white freedom.” Ta-Nehisi Coates on Kanye West in the Age of Trump. | The Atlantic
- N.K, Jemisin, Curtis Sittenfeld, and 9 other authors recommend bookstores worth traveling for. | Lonely Planet
- Barnes & Noble may have once been the villain, but now the big bookstore chain may be in need of saving too. | The Outline, The New York Times
- “Resources in my aspiring-comedian tool kit include a strange immunity to shame and a willingness to expose my thoughts and behavior to utter strangers.” Michelle Tea on starting stand-up at 46. | Lenny
- “The effect is something like an absurd and endless syllabus, constantly updating to remind you of ways you might flunk as a moral being.” Lauren Oyler against “necessary” art. | The New York Times Magazine
- “Schulz’s literary legacy is fractured; absence lies at its heart.” Nathan Goldman on the Jewish writer Bruno Schulz, murdered by a Gestapo officer in 1942, and the radical potential of diaspora. | The New Inquiry
- “[It] may not have been the best postmodern novel ever written, but it was, despite stiff competition, perhaps the longest.” Marissa Brostoff on The X-Files. | n+1
- “So I’m freaking out. I’m thinking, What do I do? How am I going to have an addiction and have a baby?” Jennifer Egan on the children—and the moms—of the American opioid epidemic. | New York Times Magazine
- “The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is its own perfect thing, and Lord preserve me, I think I love it every bit as much as I love Jesus’ Son.” J. Robert Lennon on Denis Johnson, his literary legacy, and his magical posthumous work. | The Nation
- “What you give up in control, you gain in collaboration.” Stephanie Danler on the differences between writing a novel and its TV adaption. | Vulture
- “What is our place in a conversation that pulls us in with one hand and pushes us out with the other?” Katie Heaney on her ambivalence about motherhood—and all the motherhood books—as a queer woman | BuzzFeed Reader
- Looking back at (MORE), a unique journalism review of the 1970s that made the press “more self-aware, more self-critical, more flexible, and better able to rethink its best practices in the face of its own failure.” | CJR
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What do Margaret Atwood, John Irving, Edna O’Brien, and Roxane Gay have in common? They’re all featured in our roundup of the first reviews of every Toni Morrison novel • In the first installment of a brand new series, legendary travel author Paul Theroux suggests 5 books to take on the road • National Book Critics Circle board member Anjali Enjeti talks about Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry and Porochista Khakpour’s fearless criticism • Hanif Abdurraqib on Zora Neale Hurston’s posthumously published Barracoon, Jia Tolentino on Melissa Broder’s The Pisces, and more Book Reviews You Need to Read This Week • A dark WWII fairytale from Michael Ondaatje, a tender true crime tale, a rediscovered slave narrative, and more all feature among our Best Reviewed Books of the Week
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From gothic suspense to globetrotting spies, 9 debut crime novels to discover this spring • 10 mysteries that strike the perfect balance of story and history • 10 psychological thrillers that explore the fears and ambivalences of motherhood • Otto Penzler charts the long, tortured history of the hard-boiled novel • A journey through the world of police procedurals, from Georges Simenon, to Michael Connelly, to Louise Penny • May 3, 1960: the day the world discovered America’s spy program • Celebrating noir’s greatest outsiders, from Parker to Gravedigger Jones • Araminta Hall on silenced women, the psychological thriller, and subverting the male gaze • Alex Segura provides a tour of Miami noir, from Carl Hiaasen to Carolina Garcia-Aguilera • From Psycho to Idaho, 8 of crime fiction’s most terrifying mothers
