This week on the bookish internet

• Kelly Jensen explains the latest in the battle between publishers and librarians. (Book Riot)
• Elif Batuman writes in praise of The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton. (New York Times)
• Lila Shapiro explores the question of writing characters from a different background, then asked authors how they write diversely. (Vulture)
• Laura Spinney discusses the history of constructed languages, which I find endlessly fascinating. (Slate)
• Aatif Rashid examines the long shadow of Othello and racial relations in literature. (LitHub)
• Meg Fry profiles a bookbindery that’s been in a family for three generations. (ROI)
• I adore weird questions. I wait in hope for weird questions every time I sit down at the reference desk. So how could I not love this round up of odd questions asked at the New York Public Library? (LitHub)
  • Also, Patience and Fortitude are back! (New York Public Library)