Literary Hub - Lit Hub Weekly: January 4 - 8, 2021

Lit Hub Weekly
January 4 - 8, 2021

TODAY: In 1908, Simone de Beauvoir is born in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France.

The Capitol Insurrection was no surprise—some readings on what happened, and how we got here: Rebecca Solnit on the natural culmination of white supremacist identity politics; and on the straight line from Al Qaeda to QAnon • Timothy Denevi, in the crowd with QAnon as Trump calls for a coup • David Zucchino on the Wilmington insurrection of 1898 • Liesl Schillinger on the dark magnetism of Donald Trump • Chaya Bhuvaneswar on the madness of King Trump and the 25th Amendment • A roundtable on the white power resurgence • Darryl Pickney on the American tradition of anti-Black vigilantism. | Lit Hub Politics
Much remains uncertain about the year ahead, but at least we know the books will be great! Here are 228 of our most anticipated. | Lit Hub Lists
Demanding poltergeists, foul-mouthed Ouija boards, and more tales of the 19th century American Spiritualist boom. | Lit Hub History
Ron Charles on a Gatsby prequel, Danez Smith on a queer Black love story, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks
The most anticipated crime books of 2021: all the mysteries, thrillers, and crime novels you need to get through the year ahead. | CrimeReads
“Each time, I have found shocks of recognition on the page, but they are always new ones, never the ones I was remembering.” Jenny Offill on a lifetime of rereading Mrs. Dalloway. | The New Yorker
The past year has been one of reckoning for France's largely white, scandal-plagued publishing industry. | The New York Times
“The literary equivalent of falling down an internet rabbit hole”: Why Charles Portis’ Masters of Atlantis is the perfect book for the QAnon age. | Slate
George Saunders discusses his affinity for Russian short stories, his distaste for social media, and the allure of the doorstopper. | The Guardian
Nearly a year on, Lila Shapiro goes deep on t he American Dirt debacle, and what it says about the publishing industry. | Vulture
“It was a difficult year for everybody but in terms of my job, I absolutely had a brilliant year.” How the coronavirus crisis made one librarian's work even better. | The Bookseller
Was 2020 the year of the villainous white mother in fiction? | Vulture
“What Love & Basketball gets right is the truth of competitive basketball as an act of physical intimacy.” Read the first installment of Han if Abdurraqib’s new column about the golden age of basketball movies. | The Paris Review
New York Times best-selling author Eric Jerome Dickey, whose novels chronicled "the more tender realities of Black life," has died at 59. | Essence
“Ease does not necessarily make the finished product any less great.” On Dolly Pa rton’s songcraft. | Bookforum
“How often in my life have I wanted to crest on the edge of pure sensation, seeking out the shape of something so big it could obliterate me?” Larissa Pham on running. | Granta
A latter-day pandemic reading recommendation: Colson Whitehead’s Zone One, which “dumps a bucket of ice water over those who dare to hang on to hope.” | Electric Literature
Gaze upon some beautiful, optical illusion-forward book covers that prove… books can be deceiving (sorry). | Spine
Revisiting the twists, turns, and quirks of the life of O. Henry. | Book Riot
“I don’t think I’ve ever personally known a man or woman who was so loved by so many.” Bob Shacochis remembers his friend, Barry Lopez. | Outside

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ALSO THIS WEEK ON LITERARY HUB

Has the Parent Plot supplanted the Marriage Plot? Peter Ho Davies reflects on the new coming-of-age moment • Daniel Simpson goes deep into the chakras, an oft-misunderstood aspect of yoga • Lore Segal grapples with the perennial question, "Where do you get your ideas?" • On teaching a bird to fly • Nuala O'Connor considers the interior life of Nora Joyce • Randon Billings Noble on the tricky business of rendering epiphanies in nonfiction • Danielle McLaughlin on what goes into a writers notebook • Devon Price examines the “Laziness Lie” at the heart of the American myth • Koa Beck: Why don’t advertisers target queer women? • Camilla Pang on wave patterns as personality types • A poem by Kaveh Akbar • Arthur Miller on the surreal, ideological violence underlying the 1968 Democratic Convention • The early women pioneers of trail hiking • Watching Cuties, teaching Lolita, and examining moral panic • How to build an antiracist workshop • Andrew Blauner considers the enduring lessons of “Peanuts” • Daniel Lieberman has some ideas on how to make exercise more fun • Tom Vanderbilt learns to sing in his fifties • English teacher Heather Clark about creating spaces for creativity, even amid a pandemic • The quotidien uses of the fourth dimension, revealed!

START READING NOW

THE BEST OF BOOK MARKS

A new Andy Weir space thriller, the latest in Martha Wells' Murderbot series, and an epic West African fantasy all feature among the most anticipated sci-fi and fantasy books of 2021 • A Little Life, The Second Sex, 10:04, and more rapid-fire book recs from Follow Me to Ground author Sue Rainsford • From the archives: a classic review of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God • Frog and Toad, Rebecca, Beloved, and more rapid-fire book recs from Jenn Shapland • New titles from Robert Jones Jr., Eley Williams, Peter Ho Davies, and Gretel Ehrlich all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week

More Than a Body by Lindsay and Lexie Kite

NEW ON CRIMEREADS

Stacie Murphy traces the history of NYC through 10 historical novels • 10 novels you should read this January • Oliva Rutigliano rounds up 10 classic crime novels now entering the public domain • David Masciotra on Hemingway’s revealing (and very political) only crime novel • Sabina Stent on Hollywoodland, the best neo-noir you probably haven’t seen • Zach Vasquez on noir fiction that explores the narrative of racial passing • Craig Pittman on an icon of Cuban-American Miami crime writing • Rachel Hawkins looks at the many retellings of Jane Eyre • Jon Lellenberg revisits Arthur Conan Doyle’s science fiction classic, The Lost World • Crime and the City heads to Rio

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Lit Hub Daily: January 8, 2021

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Lit Hub Daily: January 4, 2021

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