“I’m amazed at our human capacity to adapt to the unbearable. Almost anything can seem normal if it’s inflicted on us long enough.”
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Exilium Vita Est: The Island Home of Victor Hugo
Emma Jacobs takes us on an illustrated journey of Hugo’s writing life in exile on Guernsey, where he completed Les Misérables.
‘Hue’s Hue’: Katy Kelleher’s Column on Color
“Tyrian purple was a difficult color to manufacture. Thousands of snails were required to create a single ounce of dye.”
Remembering Daniel Johnston
This outsider musician made music sound new again to everyone who listened.
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Greg Jaffe, Justine van der Leun, Diana Moskovitz, Katy Vine, and Brian VanHooker.
The Art of Losing Friends and Alienating People
Laura Lippman, admittedly a rotten friend, is bummed by the ways in which friendships end as one gets older.
“The Anger of Women is an Earth-shattering Thing”: Lidia Yuknavitch on Resisting the Hero Narrative and the Body as a Generator of Stories.
“I’m going to say a blasphemous thing, which is we are so fucking done with the hero’s journey. It has been to our peril.”
On Keeping a Notebook: A Reading List
In this reading list, Jeanne Bonner ruminates on the joys of writing by hand and keeping a notebook.
I’m 72. So What?
Catherine Texier pushes back against society’s dated ideas about older women, claiming her place among those who are determined to remain vibrant and relevant in the last decades of their lives.
The Big Bear Reading List
The elusive bear is a thing of fascination, and writers have a lot to say about them.

