TODAY: In 1920, the first run of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise sells out, three days after publication.
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A look at Anton Chekhov’s beloved summer home in Ukraine, a “repository of hope” under threat amid Putin’s invasion. | Lit Hub
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“If fiction writing is the big game, journaling is lifting weights and running laps, or whatever it is athletes do.” Kate Folk describes how journaling has become a “shadow side” of her writing practice. | Lit Hub
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15 new books to help you recharge this week. | The Hub
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How does words evolve over time? | Lit Hub Language
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“Even my dearest friend saw me, on some level, as a pig rolling in a shit pile of free time.” Aimée Lutkin on the tensions between friends with kids and friends without. | Lit Hub
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Bored by your own memoir? Take Maude Newton’s advice for following the flame of your interest. | Lit Hub Craft
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New titles from Emily St. John Mandel, Rebecca Roanhorse, and Janelle Monáe all feature among April’s best sci-fi and fantasy books. | Book Marks
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The best new nonfiction crime titles of February and March. | CrimeReads
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A lesson from book bans past: When the Kern County, CA Board of Supervisors banned The Grapes of Wrath. | JSTOR Daily
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“The secret of the Western is that its mythology nurtures a queer fantasy, hiding in plain sight.” Damon Ross Young on the toxic masculinity and spectral homosexuality of the Western. | Public Books
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Margaret Atwood talks to Ezra Klein about storytelling, the Bible, and The Handmaid’s Tale. | The New York Times
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“Amazon will never be the same as sitting on the carpet in some under-trafficked aisle and reading your first Sweet Valley High.” Alexandra Lange digs into the great mall bookstore renaissance. | Bloomberg CityLab
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Masha Rumer connects with ex-Soviet immigrants who are “watching their fraught histories replay before their eyes” in Ukraine. | LARB
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“I believe that writing books about our experiences can save lives.” Corinne Segal talks to Sara Henning about poetry, trauma, and the language of grief. | Poetry Foundation
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What are the best audiobook subscription services? | Book Riot
Also on Lit Hub: The 12 best book covers of March • On the tumultuous marriage of Miriam Leslie and Willie Wilde • Read from Irene Solà’s newly translated novel, When I Sing, Mountains Dance (tr. Mara Faye Lethem)