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 was hurting from the first minute, and kept hurting through every minute after. Cramps racked my legs.…
Category: Books
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…
Book Review: ‘Dèy,’ by Edwidge Danticat
In Edwidge Danticat’s new novel, “Dèy,” a Haitian American mother in Miami experiences the numbing aftershocks of a…