“I am happy, but in debt … I have no job. My [U.S.] visa is out of order. There may be a war. But I have an epithalamion to write and cannot worry much.” A journal W. H. Auden kept in 1939, believed lost, has been found. (Not sure where; details are vague.) It will go to auction next month.

Meet the “grand impresario of American etymologists” and his “unique self-published journal, Comments on Etymology.”

David Hare is adapting Behind the Beautiful Forevers for the London stage.

Reading the stoop books of Brooklyn.

Speaking of the borough of kings: a topless book club.