A closer look at the beautiful design for a book about a New York gang war in the 1960s. . . . Apparently, Ambrose Bierce didn’t have much time for Oscar Wilde, calling him, among other things, a “gawky gowk” and a “dunghill he-hen.” Ouch? . . . Julie Peakman writes about the 18th century, and “how prostitutes, courtesans and ladies with injured reputations took up the pen in retaliation.” . . . The Booker prize has announced this year’s longlist of 13 finalists. . . . A Q&A with Stephen Elliott about his upcoming book The Adderall Diaries, part memoir and part true-crime book. (”Most true-crime books are disappointing, of course. But most books are disappointing.”) . . . Andrew Seal considers a few excerpts from an interview with Jonathan Franzen. . . . Ed Park writes about the “invisible library,” the collection of made-up authors and books that appear in real books: “In Raymond Chandler’s posthumously published notebooks, we find 36 unused titles, from ‘The Man With the Shredded Ear’ to ‘The Black-Eyed Blonde,’ as well as reference to Aaron Klopstein, author of such books as ‘Cat Hairs in the Custard’ and ‘Twenty Inches of Monkey’ (a title derived from a catalog listing monkeys for vivisection at a dollar per inch).”