Lit Hub Weekly: November 15 – 19, 2021

• Amy Leach wants you to lighten up—here’s her reading list for finding joy in irrelevance. | Lit Hub Reading Lists

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• “I don’t want to live like weasels; I have too many necessities. But I do want to live like sled dogs.” Blair Braverman in praise of mushing. | Lit Hub Sports

• Jeremy Dauber traces the pipeline from the first web comics to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. | Lit Hub Comics

• “My parents never got The Office. They were mortified by it, all of the awkwardness and the tension.” The cast and creators of the beloved sitcom weigh in on the cringiest episodes. | Lit Hub TV

• The 1619 Project, Patricia Highsmith’s diaries, and a Neal Stephenson cli-fi thriller all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks

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• Read an early draft of the story that would become Patricia Highsmith’s Carol (The Price of Salt). | CrimeReads

• Why the literary community should recognize the legacy of Graywolf Press and the work of Fiona McCrae. | Chicago Tribune

• Vivian Gornick reconsiders Elizabeth Hardwick. | The New Republic

• “The last two years I have become a symbol, whether a symbol for people who like me and respect my work or a symbol for people who revile me and hate my work.” Nikole Hannah-Jones on reactions to the 1619 Project. | Los Angeles Times

• When writing about real people in historical fiction, what are the consequences of taking artistic liberties? | Writer’s Digest

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• Who was Beatrix Potter? Illustrator Joana Avillez explores. | The New York Times

• “None of us are really alone in how we endure our losses.” Chuck Palahniuk on tackling difficult topics in writing. | Pop Matters

• Isaac Fitzgerald takes a stroll in the French Quarter with Morgan Parker. | Walk It Off

• “Now I am reacquainted with myself as a writer, which is to say that I am reacquainted with myself.” Naomi Jackson reflects on finding a way through a mental health crisis. | Harper’s

• Celebrating the legacy of books editor Petra Mayer. | NPR

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• “What I want to do is be able to criticize the system that I live in.” Larissa Pham talks to Emily Ratajkowski. | The Nation

• How librarians are dealing with calls for book bans. | Time

• “I’m just trying to work on being transparent for people, because I do sense that we intimidate ourselves out of our own destinies, I think, a lot.” Saeed Jones on the challenges of writing about yourself for public consumption. | Very Fine Day

• Dina Gachman revisits Motel of the Mysteries, a 1970s children’s book about a 41st-century archeologist trying to make sense of an America buried beneath trash. | Vox

• “That is what we focus on: our right to exist.” Three Brazilian authors discuss the necessity of Afrofuturism. | Remezcla

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• Lincoln Michel returns to the ongoing MFA debate, “a stand-in for whatever trend in literature someone dislikes.” | Counter Craft

Also on Lit Hub:

On Elizabeth Hardwick’s “starving artist” years • What Philip Larkin can teach us about finding our “poetic voice” • How did Dostoevsky become Dostoevsky under the rule of Czar Nicholas? • Finding a new spark of creativity with Liana Finck • A close reading of a QAnon cultist’s conspiracy manifesto • Behind-the-scenes photographs of Spike Lee’s School Daze • Masha Rumer on the history, myths, and benefits of bilingualism • Five Asian diasporic writers on the possibilities of flash fiction • How Lincoln broke the constitutional compact in order to save it • Tyler Barton muses on putting together a story collection • On Gus Van Sant’s controversial post-Columbine film • Is it possible to write about women lost to history without using them for our own ends? • Behind that iconic image of Elvis and B.B. King • How literary portrayals of farming have evolved in the shadow of climate change •  Anton Hur on the joy of translating Sang Young Park • How Picasso built the foundation for the Surrealist movement • On Wole Soyinka’s 1975 play, Death and the King’s Horseman • When Philhellenism was in vogue • Ethan Joella on growing up with Browseabout Books • James Holland on the challenges of fighting inside a tank • Finding folklore in the Laguna de Doña Juana • Gayle Jessup White on tracing her family history back to Monticello • An archeologist looks to the history and science of societal collapse • How Christian leaders framed the Crusades as an act of love • Charles Finch chronicles the early days of the pandemic • Meeting Willem de Kooning in his paint-splashed New York loft • Roosevelt Montás reflects on first encountering Saint Augustine’s Confessions • Priya Fielding-Singh investigates dietary acculturation in immigrant households • Ross Frylinck relives an encounter with a great white shark • Gary Shteyngart’s tried-and-true method for writing a novel fast! • Charles Booth on borrowing that costume from Bram Stoker’s Dracula • Bobby Duffy on what it means to have happiness as a goal