TODAY: In 1763, French Enlightenment poet Louis Racine dies.
- “Much of what has been created to give purpose to lonely, empty hours will not be seen by future generations—the muffins eaten, the gardens remodeled or abandoned. Words on the page, though, have longevity.” Anne Youngson considers pandemic hobbies and writing fiction. | Lit Hub
- What it’s like to record a 29-hour audiobook with President Obama (hint: there are fist bumps). | Lit Hub
- After growing up in a don’t ask family, Liese O’Halloran Schwarz wrote a novel about family secrets—and then finally dug into her own. | Lit Hub
- Pam Mandel talks to Sari Botton about the travel memoir she never expected to write. | Lit Hub Virtual Book Channel
- Ben Hopkins talks to Jane Ciabattari about telling a story in a 90-minute film versus a 600-page book… and also his favorite gothic cathedrals. | Lit Hub
- Maurice Chammah on what journalists can learn from reading fiction (plus, his reading list). | Lit Hub
- “We preserve these places so people can enjoy them, but the protection turns them into attraction.” Todd Robert Petersen on National Parks and that weird monolith that showed up in a Utah canyon. | Lit Hub Nature
- Fashionistas in Ghana, old soldiers in Italy, and medical malfeasance in Denmark: the best international crime novels out in January. | CrimeReads
- “Books aren’t holy, and declaring in capitalized, weirdly baroque curse words that you don’t like certain popular or well-regarded ones isn’t particularly scandalous or interesting.” Against the never-ending Classics Discourse. | Jezebel
- Michael Lewis’ next book is “a superhero story” about the (still very much unfolding) pandemic. | The New York Times
- “Soon the novel became more than an escape—it was a world in which the emotional resonances of our new lives were embodied in a story we could recognize, something we could name.” On reading Piranesi while recovering from Covid. | Electric Literature
- Lucy Scholes on Irende Handl’s forgotten bestseller The Sioux and its sequel, “two of the maddest novels” she’s ever encountered. | The Paris Review
- For English translators working on Afro-diasporic literature: here’s a list of helpful resources. | Words Without Borders
- “Sometimes I just open a book and the sentences convince me: You have to translate this book.” Anton Hur on the books that choose their translators. | Asymptote
- “I’m going to put this in my fucking book.” Charlie Lee interviews Lauren Oyler. | Soft Punk Mag
Also on Lit Hub: The Astrology Book Club • Congresswoman Barbara Lee remembers her mentor, Shirley Chisholm • Read from Elvira Navarro’s newly translated collection, Rabbit Island.