Lit Hub Daily August 24, 2021
TODAY: In 1899, Jorge Luis Borges is born in Buenos Aires.
Wondering what to read first during the upcoming season of books and plenty? There’s a flowchart for that. | Lit Hub
An unofficial ranking of publishing colophons, those totemic images on the spines of our books that hint at the personalities within. | Lit Hub
Top of the (New Books Tuesday) morning to you! | Lit Hub
Jonathan Walker on JRR Tolkien’s “eucatastrophe,” or the difference between the Christ story and the Avengers Endgame. | Lit Hub Criticism
Robert S. Levine on the failed promise of Andrew Johnson, not only a racist but “a racist who believed strongly that he cared about Black people.” | Lit Hub History
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers talks to Jane Ciabattari about writing place, recycling work, and the notion of the “strong Black woman.” | Lit Hub
“Agonizing, Terrible, Possessed.” A 1966 review of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. | Book Marks
Amber Garza celebrates the mind-bending thrillers of Sophie Hannah. | CrimeReads
WATCH: Sergey Young on the science and ethics of living to 200 · Amy Wallen on the complicated role of memory in memoir. | Lit Hub Virtual Book Channel
Alexandra Brodsky considers why police officers overestimate the prevalence of false rape reports. | Lit Hub
Louise Penny discusses crafting a mystery set in the time of COVID-19. | Lit Hub Merve Emre considers The Inseparables, Simone de Beauvoir’s lost novel of friendship and queer love, which “posits separateness as love’s aesthetic and ethical essence.” | The New Yorker
“More generally, you have to bark up a lot of wrong trees to get to the right tree.” Joshua Henkin on the tricky process of character development, sprawling family stories, and teaching MFA students. | The Rumpus
“I hope readers get a chance to think through how to tend and care for their beloveds and their communities through language as a site or as a beginning place for action.” Sreshtha Sen in conversation with Carlina Duan. | The Margins
Read this rediscovered interview with Jorge Luis Borges. | LARB
“These are spy novels, but there is a strong case to be made for them being romance novels as well.” Rosa Lyster on the strange marriage of John le Carré’s George and Ann Smiley. | Gawker
Myriam J.A. Chancy recommends books to help readers understand the complex history of Haiti. | NPR
An upcoming book by Paul McCartney will reveal lyrics to an unrecorded Beatles song. | The Guardian
In this stunning follow-up to Hollow Kingdom, the animal kingdom’s “favorite apocalyptic hero” is back with a renewed sense of hope for humanity, ready to take on a world ravaged by a viral pandemic (Helen Macdonald). Start reading now.
NEW ON LIT HUB RADIO
Meng Jin reads an excerpt from her story “In the Event,” on Storybound. * What does it mean to be a “horse girl”? This week on Literary Disco. * Cey Adams and Janette Beckman discuss being heard through graffiti art, on Big Table.
ALSO ON LITERARY HUB
WHY I BIKED AROUND THE COUNTRY TO HUMANIZE CLIMATE CHANGE
Devi Lockwood on the power of deep listening. |