Footnotes, February 2022: Book links from around the web

At The Reading List, we’re trainspotters when it comes to interesting book links, and here are a number that caught our eye.

Book expert shares a list of a few books about the situation in Russia and Ukraine.
Britney Spears has signed a massive $15 million publishing deal with Simon & Schuster. She’s going to be writing Scandi noir. We kid, we kid. It’s a memoir, of course.
An ode to the lost art of browsing – that pre-digital pastime that sparks inspiring mental detours.
When Joseph Stalin died, he had 72 unreturned library books on his packed shelves. He claimed to read 500 pages a day, including fiction, drama and poetry. The new book Stalin’s Library tests the thesis that reading fiction signals moral virtue.
Toshio Mori – the man who endured internment camps and overcame discrimination to become the first Japanese American to publish a book of fiction.
Why are publishers so cagey about the numbers of books they sell? John Scalzi explains.
Ever wondered how hard cover books are made? Here’s a cool article from the NY Times following Marlon James’s Moon Witch, Spider King through the printing process.
Find out about the most valuable books in existence – including a 100-year-old signed copy of Ulysses worth more than a house.
Index, history of.
The American literary world is confused as to whether Fuccboi, the debut novel by 30-year-old Sean Thor Conroe, which received a six-figure advance, is the best novel ever, or a piece of crap.
Too busy and important to keep up with the LRB’s latest snooty ramblings? Us too, us too. Luckily, it now offers many of its articles as podcasts, often read by the author.
For when you do have a spare moment, an interview with Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk on her new novel, her magnum opus, now available in English: The Books of Jacob.