Eileen Myles talks music at Largehearted Boy.

• “I did not want to write something “positive” about Detroit. No writer should ever set out to do such a thing. But I did want to reflect a different sort of truth. I did want to get as far away from voyeurism as possible.” –Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about writing about Detroit.

• At Slate, Dave Weigel explores conservative dislike of trains.

• In today’s Tournament of Books matchup, Jennifer Weiner looks at Emma Donoghue’s Room and Marcy Dermansky’s Bad Marie and makes some sharp observations on fictional depictions of motherhood.

• Two takes on night no.1 of Blake Butler’s marathon There Is No Year reading: one from Electric Literature, the other at the Olive Reader.

• Looking back at the life and work of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Broder, who passed away today.