TODAY: In 1934, Carl Sagan is born.

• Jaydra Johnson on the intersections of literature, classism, and what it means to be called white trash. | Lit Hub Memoir
• “It flattens all queer art into the nebulous category of ‘pornography.’” Project 2025 is going to have devastating effects on our freedom to read the books we want to read. | Lit Hub Politics
• Maris Kreizman finds a few silver linings among recent book trends. | Lit Hub Criticism
• A brief history of everyone’s favorite four letter word: “That fuck is at the same time one of the most notorious, popular, and emotive words in the language makes it all the more fascinating…” | Lit Hub History
• “Some of this is the brilliantly honed shtick of a standup comedian. Some of it is Parker being an alcoholic.” Sloane Crosley on Dorothy Parker as a master of the literary takedown. | The New Yorker
• “I lost thirty members of my extended family in one airstrike… This shadow, which is the part of me that remained in Gaza, has bled seas of black blood.” What poet Mosab Abu Toha wants you to know about life in Gaza. | Electric Literature
• So, who’s really writing those celebrity novels? Sophie Vershbow talks to some of the ghostwriters and agents behind the books. | Vulture
• “I am sure that my sense of form was essentially shaped by the months of working at Bach’s strict forms.” Rosemarie Waldrop reflects on her (not literary) influences. | The MIT Press Reader
• On the challenges of operating a radical bookstore in Miami. | Jewish Currents
• “I was like ‘Well, if these people get to express their point of view, I guess we should be allowed to express ours.’ And that was to me a big part of deciding to start the magazine.” The editors of World War III Illustrated on the anthology’s 45-year history. | The Comics Journal
• Sarah Bair dives into the personal-pan-pizza-full history of Book It! | The New York Times
• “The civilians in Gaza are not just being filmed; they are filming themselves. In this way, Americans see and hear from those on the infernal end of their own government’s weapons.” Zoë Hu on the evolution of the American war correspondent. | The Baffler
• “Because Laguna Beach drew inspiration from the grammars of cinema rather than earlier reality television, it does away with key conventions that privilege plot and character development over aesthetics.” Revisiting a reality phenomenon 20 years later. | Public Books
• “It can feel like there will never be any escape. The only one available to me as a writer is to tell the truth of this moment, over and over again, as it shifts and changes.” Kaitlyn Greenidge reflects on writing through a new reality. | Harper’s Bazaar
• Lia Galván Lisker recommends ten great contemporary Mexican novels, all written and translated by women. | Words Without Borders
• “In his love for Austen’s work, we glimpse a Darwin less often discussed: one with a deep reverence for beauty, aesthetics and the arts.” On Jane Austen, Charles Darwin, and the nature of beauty. | Aeon
• “[W]hat happened…is far worse than what happened in 2016. This time it isn’t an aberration. Trump is now the ultimate Republican insider.” Mark Krotov on the election. | n+1
• “On impulse, I picked up my old college copy of King Lear and looked through it for the scene of Lear raving at the storm.” Lynn Steger Strong on hurricane season reading. | The New Yorker
• Fintan O’Toole on why “disinhibition” describes the state of American politics. | New York Review of Books

Also on Lit Hub:

Lit Hub Editor in Chief Jonny Diamond on the importance of mutual aid • The grave risk to LGBTQ rights across America • how we, the people, can build a better future • Contemporary urban transformation in New York City • Yvonne Conza talks to A.M. Homes • Finding inspiration in the timeless wisdom of children’s books • The best book covers of October • Rosalind Fox Solomon remembers her creative mentor (and ex-husband) • Sleuthing for answers at a Nancy Drew convention • Jonathan Rosenbaum revisits his review of Gravity’s Rainbow • How R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe found camaraderie at art school • How Nathaniel S. Butler built a career capturing basketball’s greatest moments on film • Why writers and translators should meditate • Proust’s letters, translated by Lydia Davis • Glory Edim on Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry • A sea bean’s long, briny journey to germination • How a mass extinction event paved the way for dinosaurs • Honor Moore on motherhood as a choice, not a destiny • How Dylan Thomas made the avant-garde sexy • Is protest a form of creative expression? • 5 book reviews you need to read this week • Illness and death through the lens of autocorrect • Breeding, studying, and bonding with chickens • What if the Covid safety net had been a starting point for change? • Tim Robey remembers Babe: Pig In the City •  How Miranda July, George Saunders, and more think about not-writing • Eric Olson talks to Neal Stephenson • Christopher Cox examines Woodrow Wilson’s relationship with his first wife