On Grief and Growing Up in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The following essay is adapted from a keynote address given at the Association for the Study of Buffy+’s 11th Biennial Slayage Conference on July 10, 2026. In case it needs to be said, this essay…
Category: Books
Why I Hiked the Appalachian Trail Twice—30 Years Apart
It might be the simplest thing I’ve ever done. Which is not to say the easiest, because I…
Book Review: ‘The Book of Chuck,’ by Charmaine Wilkerson
In “The Book of Chuck,” clairvoyance is a terrible inheritance.…
Book Review: ‘Range,’ by Dorthe Nors
In “Range,” by the Danish writer Dorthe Nors, a misfit astrophysicist lives alone in the wilderness, struggling to…
Now Amazon is destroying rare books to train its AI.
Per a 404 Media report published this morning, Amazon, that evil empire, “is buying massive quantities of books,…
Lit Hub Daily: August 17, 2026
What did Jodi Picoult decide she needed to commemorate turning 60 and writing 30 novels? A tattoo. |…
Why Thoreau and Walden Resonate With Chinese Youth
When I translated Walden in 2012, I was not a Thoreau scholar. I was an immigrant chasing the…
Reinventing the Slave Narrative: Ishmael Reed on Flight to Canada at 50
I was fourteen when my interest in history began. I placed third in Buffalo’s citywide Richmond Speaking Contest.…
After Six Decades and Thirty Novels Jodi Picoult Was Missing One Thing: A Tattoo
I didn’t care about turning forty. When fifty rolled around, I celebrated. At 55, my neighbor took a…
On Good Fat, Bad Fat, and the Problems With BMI
Today, the terms “obese” and “overweight” have precise medical definitions based on how much someone weighs relative to…