Don’t shortchange short novels: Kenneth C. Davis on his year of reading briefly (and excellently). | Lit Hub Criticism
“The mere idea of this movie fills me with a kind of dread.” Ken Gordon is very skeptical about Noah Baumbach’s upcoming adaptation of Don DeLillo’s White Noise. | Lit Hub Film & TV
10 new books to keep you company over your holiday weekend. | The Hub
How to gain a gazillion followers online… according to the editor of the Taco Bell Quarterly. | Lit Hub Craft & Advice
When LEGO, the enemy of barefoot parents everywhere, turned the fall of the Berlin Wall into an epic ad campaign. | Lit Hub History
Eric Alterman considers how the six-day war transformed American Jews’ relationship to Israel. | Lit Hub Religion
CrimeReads Editor-in-Chief Dwyer Murphy with a guide to the best obscure John le Carre adaptations to watch this weekend. | CrimeReads
“It was through rewriting that she was able to imagine not only the darkest possible futures, but how to survive within them.” E. Alex Jung on the spectacular life of Octavia Butler. | Vulture
“The fact of his persistence—no, not just his persistence, his amplification in the face of adversity, it is a reminder that there is no obligation to quit.” Bryan VanDyke’s ode to Percy Shelley. | The Millions
Rubén Degollado offers craft and career advice: “Without that first small press editor believing in my first book, I don’t know if I would have had enough courage to submit The Family Izquierdo again.” | The Rumpus
Exploring the bibliomania of 19th-century New York City. | Lapham’s Quarterly
After a federal judge blocked Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster, the deal is on the verge of collapse. | The New York Times
Patti Smith talks about her latest book of photography. | NPR