Today in Bookish and Literary History, November 7

1668 Crusoe undertakes his near-fatal circumnavigation of the island.

1722 The Conscious Lovers by Richard Steele premieres in London (UK)

2019 The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

Giovanna is searching for her reflection in two kindred cities that fear and detest one another: Naples of the heights, which assumes a mask of refinement, and Naples of the depths, a place of excess and vulgarity. She moves from one to the other in search of the truth, but neither city seems to offer answers or escape.

2023 A Grandmother Begins the Story by Michelle Porter

A powerfully funning and moving story told not just by five generations of Métis women, but also by the land, the bison that surround them, and two utterly captivating dogs.

2023 Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park

In 1919, far-flung patriots establish the Korean Provisional Government to protest the Japanese occupation of their country. This government-in-exile proves mostly symbolic, though, and after Japan’s defeat in World War II, the KPG dissolves and civil war erupts, resulting in the tragic North-South split that remains today.

• Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
• Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize