- The rise of the Great American Conspiracy: Renata Salecl, Jonathan Berman, and Tea Krulos talk anti-vaxxers, QAnon, incels and more. | Lit Hub Politics
- “You face a lot of rejection. Why wouldn’t you be depressed?” Hilary Mantel on how writers learn to trust themselves. | Lit Hub Craft and Advice
- Nicholas McDowell on John Milton, the Gunpowder Plot, and the poet who laughed at Purgatory. | Lit Hub History
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October’s best reviewed books: history and politics; memoirs and biographies; science, technology, and nature. | Book Marks
- Which scary books should you pair with scary movies this Halloweekend? Rachel Harrison has some ideas. | CrimeReads
- “When I think back to those early conversations, it’s hard to deny my overconfidence.” Read an excerpt from President Obama’s intensely anticipated memoir. | The New Yorker
- “I wouldn’t allow myself to believe I was writing a book, because it was too intimidating.” Douglas Stuart on his celebrated debut Shuggie Bain. | The New York Times
- “So, here we are, in this unspeakable mess . . . and we know very well that things can get worse. But if things could only get worse, we would all have been dead millennia ago.” Deborah Eisenberg would like you to vote. | NYRB
- Instead of picking a new release for her book club this month, Oprah has picked seven—all books she turns to for “comfort, beauty, inspiration, reassurance,” from Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now to Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. | O
- “Some of this shit is for chess people; he is a Sherlock Holmes who pops clues into his mouth for the sheer oral sensation.” Patricia Lockwood on Vladimir Nabokov’s novels, interviews, and opinions. | LRB
- “It was the most stressful thing I’ve ever been through.” Children’s book author Suzanne Selfors on buying a bookstore a month before the pandemic lockdown began. | The Seattle Times
- “In France, even a century later, to see those who had the audacity to dare turned into an image of those who had the shrewdness to submit feels like a defeat.” On the very French fight over moving Rimbaud and Verlaine into the Pantheon. | The New Yorker
- “I found it difficult not to wonder: What exactly had she been afraid of?” Valeria Luiselli on the photographs of Dorothea Lange. | NYRB
- The call to diversify the publishing industry was made loudly and clearly earlier this summer. What are insiders doing to make sure this isn’t just a fad? | The New York Times
- “The status quo signals that certain lives are worthy of being transformed into literature regardless of how prosaic and boring they may be, while others are not.” Tope Folarin asks what it means that there are so few Black writers of autofiction—at least according to the critics. | The New Republic
- Jess Bergman on Susan Taubes and her recently republished Divorcing, “a compendium of severance: not just a wife from her husband, but a family from their homeland, and a people from their God.” | Jewish Currents
- Daniel Menaker, editor, writer, and “one of the funniest people in publishing,” has died at the age of 79. | LA Times
- Legendary NYC bookstore The Strand called for help and book lovers answered—but they (and others like them) really shouldn’t have to. | The New York Times, Slate
- Now seems like a great time to read Muriel Spark’s ghost stories. | Ploughshares
- Prepare for winter by stocking up on the longest book series out there. | Book Riot
Also on Lit Hub:
Michiko Kakutani on why we love books • Shirley Jackson, soothing as ever, in a letter to a young reader • Talking to Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris about The Lost Spells • 50 of the best apocalypse novels ever written • Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian, calling it like they see it • Fran Lebowitz on the glamorous worlds of Camilla McGrath • On Sylvia Plath’s creative breakthrough at the Yaddo Artists’ Colony • Life advice from a mythic Slavic witch? • Emily Van Duyne considers a monumental new biography of the Sylvia Plath • Duncan Wu on the poetic appeal of our very best friends: dogs • Sonya Bilocerkowycz on what it’s like to jaywalk in a dictatorship, at home and abroad • Madelaine Lucas on rituals of home and return in Marilynne Robinson • Paola Ramos profiles the work of young environmental justice activists • Mark Polizzoti on Patrick Modiano’s literary career that comprises a “single work” • Scott James recommends five books to help us understand the rise of Trump that have nothing to do with Trump • Tommy Orange on vulnerability, and familial love • Allison Wood talks to Luna Adler about what a memoir can do • When a Marilyn Monroe met Richard Avedon • Peter Mishler talks to the poet Pamela Sneed • What we still don’t know about the Cuban missile crisis • Kate Bernheimer on the melancholy at the heart of a beloved children’s classic • On the 19th-century food writer who embraced gluttony as a virtue • Inside the spare and extravagant homes of six iconic writers • Riding in cars with John Ashbery • We could all use a Leonard Woolf right about now • Christina Baker Kline and Bonnie Friedman in conversation about a classic of literary craft, Writing Past Dark • Lulu Dewey nearly loses it working as a tech writer in Silicon Valley • Monica Youn, poet and frontline defender of democracy • Lily Wachowski on confronting fascism at the ballot box… and in the streets • Tyler Malone explores the dark, cinematic world of eco-horror • Lucile Scott on pandemic weddings and rules for witches • Myléne Dressler on what ghost stories mean in 2020 • Claire Cronin on writers and their many hauntings • A brief history of bones • Somebody had to do it: 50 Draculas, ranked
Best of Book Marks:
Indie booksellers from around the country rave about their favorite reads • 10 terrifying 21st century novels for Halloween • A classic review of Dracula • Sarah Shun-lien Bynum on William Faulkner’s transporting language and Mary Gaitskill’s greatest sex scene • Scott James recommends five books to help us understand the rise of Trump that have nothing to do with Trump, from A Civil Action to Where the Crawdads Sing • Max Seeck on Animal Farm, A Little Life, and hating The Master and Margarita • Joshua Ferris on Jess Walter, Ron Charles on Bryan Washington, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week • Carey Mulligan, Andy Serkis, David Attenborough, and Sutton Foster lend their voices to some of October’s best audiobooks • New titles from Jess Walter, Bryan Washington, Martin Amis, and Evan Osnos all feature among the best reviewed books of the week
New on CrimeReads:
Max Seeck explores the most haunting settings in crime fiction • Stephen Spotswood with a crime lover’s guide to classic radio mysteries • Travel the world from home with these international crime novels out in October • Western noir: an unlikely combination, but it works. Nick Kolakowski explains why • My First Thriller: Rick Pullen interviews Scott Turow • Elizabeth Hand on outsiders, punks, and subcultures, interviewed by Lisa Levy • Olivia Rutigliano celebrates Arsenic and Old Lace as a perfect Halloween film • Nicci French on the pantheon of prison fiction • Evie Green looks at 7 novels featuring imaginary friends • 9 fictional haunted houses that aren’t actually houses, from Matthew Lyons
