Literary Hub - Lit Hub Weekly: September 20-24, 2021

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Lit Hub Weekly

Jay Gabler tells a long, sad story of failed sci-fi adaptations and wonders if the new Foundation series, based on Isaac Asimov’s trilogy, will finally break the curse. | Lit Hub TV

“We had death threats. The kids were told that they were never going to get into college.” Dave Zirin on the first high school team to take a knee. | Lit Hub Sports

The difference between a specter and a poster boy: Comparing the textual interpretations of The Midnight Library and The Bell Jar. | Lit Hub Criticism

Nancy Goldstone recounts the precocious early years of Marie Antoinette, before marriage to Louis XVI. | Lit Hub History

Richard Powers’ Bewilderment, Rabih Alameddine’s The Wrong End of the Telescope, and Amia Srinivasan’s The Right to Sex all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week. | Book Marks

“What makes a story universal is its specificity.” Jesse Kellerman on what we write about when we write about Berkeley. | CrimeReads

Dig into the history of bookmobiles with these photos from The New York Times’ archive. | The New York Times

“These stories have survived the centuries because of their enduring appeal to something fundamental about our human nature.” On the pleasures of mythological reimaginings. | Esquire

Here are 75 queer and feminist books to read this fall. | Autostraddle

Take a tour of Haruki Murakami’s accidental novelty T-shirt collection. | The New Yorker

“Even those villains who appear hellbent on saving the natural world do so with an all-consuming destructive fervor.” A case for Swamp Thing as great climate fiction. | Gawker

The Black Film Archive is bringing a renewed focus to stories of cinema’s Black artists throughout history. | Los Angeles Times

Alexander Chee considers the legacy of E.M. Forster and his novel Maurice. | The New Republic

“His emotional authority often gets left out of the nutshell version of his legacy.” Elaine Blair on Hemingway as a writer’s writer. | NYRB

Phoebe Robinson writes about the journey to launching her own imprint and the ever-changing publishing landscape. | EW

Take a walk through Ramona Quimby’s Portland. | The Seattle Times

Melissa Lozada-Oliva talks about the importance of poetry, “one of the last things that reminds us that we are alive.” | The Creative Independent

The Pew Research Center dives into the demographics of people who say they don’t read books. | Pew Research Center

Is the rise of “influencer publishing” good for books? | The New Statesman

“There are many fine writers of literary fiction, maybe too many… but only one world’s richest lady.” Considering the novels of MacKenzie Bezos in the (all-consuming) context of her proximity to Amazon. | The Paris Review

Incarcerated writers reflect on the mental, physical, and emotional toll the pandemic has taken. | The Drift

In which Ruth Ozeki breaks our hearts and bowls us over • Yiyun Li takes ten writing lessons from War and Peace • An illustrated collection of very honest book covers • Dan O’Brien on the mistake no dialogue writer should ever make • On Robert Indiana’s LOVE-hate relationship with the sculpture that made him a star • When Tennessee Williams reached out to an embattled Truman Capote • Lincoln Michel in praise of genre labels • How Michael Sayman became known as “the Boy Genius of Apple” •  Seeking ourselves in the Divine Comedy • Meet Berthe Weill, the groundbreaking art dealer who made a name for Picasso • When Vincent Van Gogh “landed in Paris like a meteor” • How emotions like grief physically change the heart • Laura Davis on being an old(ish) mother • Eileen Myles follows Joan Mitchell’s path through New York City • Farah Jasmine Griffin considers Black love and her parents’ enduring marriage • How did we end up with the lazy stoner stereotype? • On Bessie Smith’s bewitching blues and nuanced legacy • Telling family stories is one thing, but “how does one begin to tell silence?” • When Buckingham Palace stopped hosting debutante parties (and panic ensued) • Do fictional critiques of the wealthy ever really work? • Why it matters that the literary world lacks critical distance around Philip Roth • Leigh Cowart on the centuries-long success of sadomasochistic books • Behind the scenes of the Grey’s Anatomy writers’ room • Tales from a decade of bookstore events • How the iconic late-night TV character Elvira came to be

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