TODAY: In 1806, poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning is born.
- “Words, for the first time ever, were more predictable than my business career.” Isabel Yap on the surprising lessons she learned—about writing, and life—at Harvard Business School. | Lit Hub
- Gabriel Weisz Carrington reflects on his mother Leonora Carrington’s newly discovered tarot, which is “endowed with a subliminal iconography, a window opening to a performance of the marvelous.” | Lit Hub
- Michael Moss on how the trillion-dollar processed food industry manipulates our instinctual desires. | Lit Hub Food
- “Portnoy’s descriptions of the parenting he was subject to, how it was rooted in the family’s identity as part of a religious minority, bore striking resemblance to what I’d written about in my teenage journals.” Huda Awan makes a case for the universality of Portnoy’s Complaint. | Lit Hub Criticism
- James Wood on Kazuo Ishiguro, Charles Yu on Stephen King, Christian Lorentzen on Philip Roth, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks
- “How can one cover—let alone judge—what one refuses to see? What one is institutionally mandated to ignore?” Parul Sehgal considers the New York Times Book Review at 125. | The New York Times
- Alexander Chee on recognizing pieces of himself in Minari. | Gen
- On the similar lives and work of Susan Taubes and Clarice Lispector, who both “hid from the press, deliberately endowing themselves with a secretive aura.” | LARB
- Considering the “radical tenderness” of Olga Tokarczuk. | The Yale Review
- “The intimacy of translation is also a practice of close listening that passes, in different ways, through the body.” Heather Cleary on how a self-curated playlist helped with the translation of American Delirium. | Words Without Borders
- “Like Kamala Harris, I am a dougla.” Celeste Mohammed on Kamala Harris’s West Indian heritage and the history of the one-drop rule. | The Common
- Melissa Febos considers the word “loose.” | The Paris Review
- “I was aiming for something much smaller than a vow of poverty, and was finding that small thing hard enough.” Ann Patchett on getting rid of objects. | The New Yorker
- “In the end, a writer survives only if there’s wisdom in their work.” Vivian Gornick talks to Emily Gould. | Bookforum
- On the psychology of grief, fandom, and fanfiction. | Vox
- It’s time to stop publishing Dr. Seuss’ racist images, and the decision “should not shock anyone who’s been following discussions about Dr. Seuss in particular or children’s literature in general.” | Washington Post
- “If your platform isn’t your passion, you’re going to tumble off it into an empty void that will suck the joy and comfort from your writing.” Courtney Maum recommends focusing on joy, not follower count. | Medium
- “From the novel’s opening, race is slippery, uneasy and unstable.” Brit Bennett on Nella Larsen’s Passing. | T Magazine
- “Black women writers don’t have to write to the white male gaze in the art we create.” Tamara Winfrey-Harris and Deesha Philyaw discuss the evolution of Black women’s stories. | Bitch Media
- “Walking around my city, lines from The Plague kept appearing, like the fat buds of flowers, the cold, golden light, the lukewarm wind.” On Camus, the pandemic, and weather. | The Point
Also on Lit Hub:
Ijeoma Oluo on the dangers of white male mediocrity • What to read this month based on your astrology sign • Kim Echlin on writing fiction that bears witness • The historic rise of women street photographers • Claudio Lomnitz on reclaiming family history • A roundtable on making hard choices in a writing career • The kind of antagonist that every story needs • (Almost) every cultural reference in Pretend It’s a City • Isabel Allende on literary ambition • A brief history of statistical manipulation • Carol Edgarian in conversation with Ann Beattie • The story of Pan Am’s first Black stewardesses • Courtney Zoffness on the parental challenge of a child’s anxiety • Hari Ziyad recommends books about Black boyhood • Anne Lamott on her internal creative partner • A reading list of women obsessing over women in fiction • Jennifer Ryan describes weaving WWII history and a family heirloom • Edward Carey talks to Alexander Chee about rewriting a myth • Pia Araneta tracks the ways we talk in the COVID era • What is Northern Gothic literature? • How to write a novel when you can’t visualize scenes • On the modern boom of Latin music • Six books with the best kid narrators • Your March climate change readings • How Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant designed their domestic space • Ai Weiwei in conversation • Dealing with chronic pain as a writer • Kate Hope Day on how to keep a novel alive • An interview with Melville House • Ida B. Wells’ mission to bring to light the truth of lynching • Kliph Nesteroff recommends five books for understanding Native American comedy • Olivia Campbell on the long history of silencing woman in science
Best of Book Marks:
“Ishiguro brings into sharp focus those left behind in the wake of societal change”: Lori Feathers on the novels of Kazuo Ishiguro • Dhalgren, The Twits, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and more rapid-fire book recs from poet and translator Ted Dodson • On his birthday, the first reviews of every Gabriel García Márquez novel • Bless Me, Ultima, The Jungle, Thy Neighbor’s Wife, and more rapid-fire book recs from Noé Álvarez • Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Committed, and Stephen King’s Later all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week
New on CrimeReads:
10 new crime novels, mysteries, and thrillers to check out this March • “Crime and the City” visits Trinidad and Tobago, a small island nation with a powerful literary history • Alexandra Andrews on the great, mixed-up literary tradition of imposters and doppelgangers • Loren D. Estleman on the art of using real historical figures to craft thrilling narratives for readers • Nicole Glover rethinks the role of police in mysteries • Luke Poling on the roots of Boston noir • Sara Paretsky on Dorothy B. Hughes and the meaning of noir • Heather Martin on the mostly unknown history of Lee Child’s letters to the editor of the New York Times • Deanna Raybourn on six historical scandals and the novels that bring them alive • Hard science fiction is still overwhelmingly white, but things are finally starting to improve, says S.B. Divya