Apologies for the lack of book reviews this week. I took an online gaming-induced vacation. Book reviews will resume on Tuesday.
- Constance Grady takes a hard look at the rightwing fight to ban books and critical race theory. (Vox)
- Walker Caplan reports on a new effort to figure out how much lost medieval literature existed using the “unseen species model,” repurposed from biology research. (LitHub)
- Rachel Leishman recounts what happened after some dweeb on Twitter said that people shouldn’t bring books to bars. (The Mary Sue)
- River H. Kero thinks you should annotate while you read. (Book Riot)
- Muizz Akhtar writes in praise of The Left Hand of Darkness and what it can teach us about friendship. (Vox)
- Dr. Guy Leschziner talks with a synesthete who can taste words. (LitHub)

That last article on synesthesia paired with taste sensation was fascinating. I had no idea! I know some people who have color synesthesia- paired with letters and numbers- and yes for them, the color pairing is always the same. And the comments following that piece on reading books in bars was great. Going to share.