Lit Hub Weekly: April 27 - May 1, 2020

• A night on the frontlines in the middle of a pandemic: EMT Maya Alexandri on dealing with the fallout of Covid-19. | Lit Hub: Life in a Pandemic
• Vijay Seshadri examines the historical forces that shaped T.S. Eliot, perennial enigma. | Lit Hub Literary Criticism
• Marc Petitjean sets out to unravel the mystery of his father’s love affair with Frida Kahlo. | Lit Hub Biography
• Colm Tóibín on the letters of Elizabeth Hardwick and Robert Lowell, Nadja Spiegelman on the life and career of Virginie Despentes, and more of the Reviews You Need to Read This Week. | Book Marks
• Congratulations to the2020 Edgar Award winners! | CrimeReads
• Legendary Irish poet Eavan Boland has died at the age of 75. Read her recent poem, “Eviction.” | | RTE, The New Yorker
• “Boccaccio remains one of the most articulate and thoughtful eyewitnesses to a society living with a pandemic.” So, what would he have to say about COVID-19? | Boston Review
• A new documentary peeks inside the world of rare books and the people who sell them. | The Economist
• The pandemic is changing the way people buy books—and it’s not all bad news. | Wired
• Indie bookstores are finding creative ways to stay alive, from curbside pickups to literary care packages and more. | Bloomberg
• “Like everyone else on planet earth, we are thinking nonstop about the future.” Maira Kalman reports from quarantine. | The Paris Review
• On the gloriously bizarre novelist Charles Portis, author of True Grit, who “understands that weirdness begins at home.” | The Ringer
• Simone de Beauvoir’s novel The Inseparables—which she abandoned when Sartre dismissed it—will be published for the first time in 2021. | The New York Times
• Yearning for the hush of the stacks? Here are seven gorgeous libraries you can explore from home. | Atlas Obscura
• During another long, unprecedented event, World War II, book clubs were essential for some Britons in staving off boredom. | The Conversation
• “Inside the temple, visitors cannot know, cherries are blooming.” Marie Mutsuki Mockett on reading Basho with her ten-year-old. | The Paris Review
• In the latest entry to the After Decameron project, in which artists and writers add to an ongoing collective story, Artun Özgüner examines the things we leave behind: gloves, masks, cigarette butts and all. | Open Space
• “Ironically, I already felt like I was in quarantine.”Fellows of the Fine Arts Work Center report from life in Provincetown during the coronavirus pandemic. | Los Angeles Times
• “Barbed and spurred, poems catch in your chest; they get stuck in your head like songs.” Or, why now is the perfect time to memorize a poem. | The Cut
• The experience of the translators of Dan Brown’s fourth novel was so extraordinary that it inspired a film—the French thriller Les Traducteurs. | The Guardian

Also on Lit Hub:

20 writers offer up one joy and one worry of this moment in pandemic, including Ada Limón, Eduardo C. Corral, Tyehimba Jess, and more • On Frances Burney and the birth of “chick lit” • Rufi Thorpe on the narrative role of the bystander • Matt Gallagher breaks down the mechanics of Robert Stone’s political writings • A poem by Paul Auster • James Tate Hill recommends five debut novels to listen to while you stay at home • Joanna Hershon on what theater taught her about scene, character, and rejection • Wendy Liu: Wall Street’s problem is Silicon Valley’s too • Why are we obsessed with writers’ houses? • Lessons from Erasmo Hernandez Leon, Fidel Castro’s private chef • Lee Durkee: two novels, two global catastrophes, two decades apart • Rishi Reddi presents a reading list for the coronavirus era • Fowzia Karimi on the “pulsing threshold between the written word and the picture” • Natalie Carnes on what Saint Augustine’s Confessions got wrong about women and motherhood • Nick Kowalcyzk on discovering the truth of his parentage • Elizabeth Kadetsky on the memoir in essays: a reading list • Greil Marcus on The Great Gatsby as a blues fable of the Great Depression • Gabriela Wiener writes from the midst of coronavirus in Madrid • On the 1930s antifascist writing of Dorothy Thompson, who understood that demagogic leaders can gain power anywhere, anytime • Tomasz Jedrowski on writing the story of Polish queerness • Lucas Iberico Lozada on newly-translated Latin American stories defy colonial myths • Maddie Crum looks at the internet novel • Gill Hornby on Cassandra, the lesser known Austen sister • How Virginia Woolf and Susan Sontag looked at photos of violence • 150+ books recommended by the university press community • Stephan Haff on storytelling, bravery, and teaching Don Quixote to kids • Here’s round six of our personalized quarantine book recommendations

Best of Book Marks:

New on CrimeReads:

Nominees for the Edgars weigh in on the state of crime writing in 2020 (Read Part 1) (Read Part 2) • Imogen Kealey introduces us to Nancy Wake: socialite, spy, and the most decorated heroine of WWII • Mark Hodder on Sexton Blake, once Britain’s most popular detective • Crime and the City heads to Tokyo, where storms rage under a calm surface • Kate White recommends 10 unforgettable thrillers about memory loss • Kay Hooper would like to remind us that crows are not bad omens • Graphic Content: Alex Segura interviews the legendary Ed Brubaker • Dean Jobb delves into the bizarre newspaper hoax that nearly ruined Lizzie Borden (again) • Christina Dalcher on family life and the dystopian thriller • Read an exclusive excerpt from John Grisham’s latest legal thriller