This week on the bookish internet

• Connie Pan has some advice for answering the dreaded question, “What’s your favorite book?” (Book Riot)
• Neha Patel writes in praise of works of investigative journalism. (Book Riot)
• Speaking of investigative journalism, a team of journalists take an in-depth look at the ripple effects of book challenges and censorship in north Texas. (ProPublica)
• Molly Templeton reflects on the curious experience of reading a “sad banger.” (Tor)
• Alexa Schmitt Bugler has theories about why some of us can’t get enough of grimdark fantasy. (LitHub)
• Meanwhile, Ana Valens would like to get rid of gendercide stories–or at least the problematic ones that have been written to date. (The Mary Sue)
• Isaac Bulter writes in praise of Iris Murdoch. (Slate)
• A happy library story! Genevieve Glatsky reports on efforts by readers and librarians to preserve the knowledge of the Kankuamo people in Atánquez, Colombia. (The Guardian)
• Alejandro Varela reminds readers not to conflate protagonists with their creators and points out that this is an ongoing problem for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors. Seriously, why do people do this? (LitHub)
• This week in censorship news, gathered by the good people of Book Riot.