TODAY: In 1891, Caresse Crosby, co-founder of the Black Sun Press and “literary godmother to the Lost Generation of expatriate writers in Paris,” is born.
- Deborah Williams on Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country, Miranda July, and “women of a certain age.” | Lit Hub Criticism
- “It’s not a job for the faint of heart, or the impatient. But for those of us with brains that crave this kind of work, it is bliss.” Gemma Tizzard breaks down the challenges (and rewards) of researching for historical fiction. | Lit Hub Craft
- On how Edith Wharton rewrote her own childhood: “Pussy Jones’s mother, Lucretia, was particularly harsh, forbidding her daughter from any discussion of money, sex…and, worst of all, banning her from reading novels.” | Lit Hub Biography
- Han Kang’s We Do Not Part, Kristen Martin’s The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow, and The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant all feature among the best reviewed books of the week. | Book Marks
- Alison Wood Brooks explains why we should all be telling more jokes. | Lit Hub Science
- “Coming out of the freeway tunnel in Santa Monica is a transformation.” Read from Lou Mathews’ novel in stories, Hollywoodski. | Lit Hub Fiction
- Jessica Riskin considers a new book by Robert M. Sapolsky and the science of free will. | New York Review of Books
- Imani Perry recommends four experimental histories of Black life. | The New Yorker
- “The gothic flavor of Blackwood’s fiction stemmed from childhood, where great privilege curdled with deprivation.” Isabella Trimboli revisits two books by Caroline Blackwood. | The Nation
- Mia Ruf talks to Charlotte Mandell about translating Paul Valéry. | Asymptote
- Anthropologist Kirsten Bell explores the power and complexity of laughter. | Sapiens
- The Supreme Court will hear a case from parents who want to opt their kids out of reading books with queer themes. | Them
