LitHub asked designers for their favourite book covers of 2019.
Category: Art/Design
Last Lion of Albion
I just had this fantasy that all of the lions killed would be just waiting somewhere, biding their time. [And] all those businessmen like Elon Musk and Donald Trump—who have bought everything already…I mean, I’m sure there are people that have deeds to Mars and are thinking about trashing this planet and they’re going to go to this other planet where the poor people aren’t—I hope all the lions are waiting there. And when they go down the stairs in their space machines the lions just devour them.
Neko Case talking with Thao Nguyen on Song Exploder about the wonderfully peculiar revenge fantasy powering “Last Lion of Albion.”
Illustration: Lobke van Aar
Campion.
“The most powerful experiences we have as humans are a combination of psyche, love and erotica, which can really lock you in an extraordinarily powerful way to experiences beyond what you know and beyond what you can control,” says Campion. “If you look back at those moments, they are often powerful awakenings, way beyond your comfort zone. There’s a sort of calling against decorum, against what’s best.”
Jane Campion, reflecting on her films, Wuthering Heights, and passion.
Fleabag.
People make mistakes.
La La Land.
We are every possibility until we choose one.
Love.
My homage to Mickey and Gus. I found the story of two people attempting to be vulnerable deeply moving and the ideal antidote to these deeply cynical times. Liner note: the triangle/circle motif comes from the 12-step sobriety chips. Bonus: Phone background
On art.
“I love the idea of “problematic.” Problematic art isn’t bad art, it’s art that has problems. “Problematic” is an idea that lets us lower the cost of acknowledging and fixing bad and wicked things in our world. Without “problematic,” all you have is “bad” and “good,” and that means that any stain on a piece of art that moved you, improved you, opened your horizons and lifted you up is a disqualifier — being virtuous means that you have to reject the art because of its irredeemable sins.”
Cory Doctorow, reflecting on Molly Ringwald’s essay about John Hughes, #metoo, and how the implications of art change over time.
Arrival.
An exercise in extreme reduction.
LiT.
Scottish writer Hope Whitmore wants what Scarlett Johansson’s Charlotte had in Lost in Translation, and it’s a lovely bag of wants:
I want to sing Brass in Pocket on karaoke in a baby-pink wig. I want the freedom of an unknown city; a small girl anonymous amid the crowds under the neon billboards. I want to steal Bill Murray’s jacket and return it to him with tears in my eyes in a hotel foyer, and all of this in the intimate soft focus of an Aaton camera. I want to figure stuff out and I want everything to be OK.
Michael Brown.
I came across Michael Brown’s autopsy report a few years ago and was flattened by its bleak summary of a man’s life. This piece attempts to reverse those feelings. #blacklivesmatter
Modern English 
