Books & Reading

How do you find time to read so much?

This is the single question I get asked the most. In short, reading is my favorite hobby, my HSP escape, my introvert coping strategy of choice, and lots of fun for a person who loves to—in the words of Emily Dickinson—dwell in possibility. My specific tips and strategies are here.

Can you give me personalized book recommendation?

I get A TON of requests for personalized book recommendations. I wish I could personally respond to them all but it would be my full-time job. (I’m not kidding.) To help readers scratch that readerly itch, we used to post reader recommendation requests on our What Should I Read Next Instagram account so your fellow readers could load you up with book recs. From travel destinations to life circumstances, you can find all of the past requests in this handy index.

How do you find good book deals?

My team and I regularly share great book deals—mostly ebook, but sometimes audio and paper books—on the MMD deals page. Either I get lucky or somebody tells me. Sometimes I stumble on them, sometimes authors and publishers email me, sometimes readers let me know. We curate our list of sale titles with WSIRN listeners and MMD readers in mind. You can find those listed on the site or sign up to get an email digest.

How do you get your books, and how do you buy books without blowing your budget?

Because I hate clutter and I live near a library, I borrow many of my books. Here’s how I decide what to buy and what to borrow. This hasn’t always been the case, but these days I also receive plenty of complimentary advanced copies from publishers.

How can I get Advanced Review Copies for myself?

The short version: I recommend you ask nicely, build relationships with publishers, and say thank you. Writing thoughtful reviews doesn’t hurt. And definitely check out Netgalley—it’s easier and less costly for publishers to share digital galleys than physical ones.

For a more detailed response, we devoted a one-hour session to this topic as part of our Summer of Experts in the MMD Book Club. This session, called “How to Get Your Hands on Advanced Review Copies,” is available for members to watch anytime.

Tell me about your books!

I’ve written five books. The first is Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything, and it’s for any reader who wants to explore just what it is that makes you uniquely YOU—and why that matters. The second is my book for book lovers, a pretty little hardcover called I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life. The third is called Don’t Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life.

I had a lot of fun creating My Reading Life: A Book Journal for book lovers. My most recent release is My Reading Adventures: A Book Journal for Kids. This companion journal will be fun for the kids in your life (target age range: 8-12). The process of journaling, the activities, and book lists will support them as they grow into even more adventurous and eager readers.

What is Quick Lit?

It’s a monthly post (typically on the 15th) where I share short reviews of what I’ve been reading lately, and invite my fellow readers to do the same. In the comments, you can link to a blog post, an Instagram post, or simply write a few notes about what you’ve been reading lately. Check out the latest Quick Lit post here.

Modern Mrs Darcy

Why is this blog called Modern Mrs Darcy?

It’s a riff on Pride and Prejudice, and Elizabeth Bennet’s married name. I like the name because it captures what I like to do here: explore the intersection of the timeless and the timely. But am not Mrs. Darcy, nor do I play her on the internet. You can learn more about me here.

I’d love to see you in person. How can I find out about your events and travel schedule?

I’d love to see you, too! Please check out my event schedule here.

I heard you had a newsletter?

Yes! More on that here. This is the place where I share personal stories, and highlights of what I’ve been working on, like this favorite example.

What is the MMD Book Club?

This is the place where we are learning to read better, together, through community, classes, and conversation. Each month we read and discuss a core monthly book selection, plus one or more optional book flight picks, plus enjoy classes and discussions that help us build the skills of the reading life. More on that below.

What is the difference between the What Should I Read Next Patreon community and the MMD Book Club?

Both groups abound in bookish enthusiasm and community. Our What Should I Read Next patreon community is podcast-centered: we share peeks behind the scenes, bonus episodes, and outtakes and commentary about the show. We also invite our members to influence future episodes with their suggestions and poll and survey responses.

The MMD Book Club is the place where we are learning to read better, together. We host community, classes, and conversation in that place, as well as purposefully seek to build the skills of the reading life, whether that means learning to choose good books for our own enjoyment, exploring different methods of book journaling, learning to write better reviews or request Advanced Review Copies from publishers, or make reading resolutions for the New Year.

Podcast

How can I be a guest on What Should I Read Next?

The majority of our guests are what our listeners have come to call “regular readers”—people who aren’t authors or publishing professionals, but who simply love to read, and are willing to talk about their reading life with me (as a whole bunch of their fellow readers listen in). If you’re interested in coming on the show, please fill out the guest application form here.

When we choose guests for the show, we are striving to feature a huge range of readers; we’re looking for variety in book loves and hates, life circumstances, age and experience, geography and ethnicity.

More podcast FAQs.

Bookstores

What are your favorite bookstores?

Choosing favorites is so hard! Of course I have great affection for my local, Carmichael’s Bookstore. I’ve also blogged about my favorite indies: check out 6 favorite independent bookstoresWhat’s your favorite independent bookstore?My bookstore tour of NYC, and My favorite indie bookstores.

I also wrote about some favorites from book tour—as well as what I learned about bookstores and their personalities—in my post 10 things I learned on book tour.

I’m traveling soon. Can you recommend a bookstore I should visit?

Sometimes I can, but I only know about a fraction of the great indies! Let me tell you what do when I travel: I use the great indie bookstore locator tool on Indiebound.org. Click here to check it out.

Miscellaneous

What’s your personality type?

Ah, you’re singing my song. In fact, I wrote a book about my exploration of (obsession with) various personality typing systems. If you just want to know my type, I’m an INFP, an Enneagram type 9, and an HSP.

What’s that lipstick you were wearing on Instagram?

I get a surprising number of questions about my lipstick. I’m usually wearing one of the same three bold colors I’ve been wearing for yearsNars matte lip pencil in CruellaSephora cream lip stain in Vintage Rosewood (41), or Bobbi Brown lip color in Rose Berry (26).

I’m coming to Louisville. What should I do while I’m there?

Yay! I’m excited you’re coming to visit my town. I wrote a whole blog post about that right here.

I’m thinking of starting a blog. Can you give me some tips? Is it too late to start a blog?

Go for it! My favorite blogging tips are from sports talk radio. And you are not late.

What’s that chocolate cake you’re always talking about? 

It’s amazing, inspired by a book, and it’s right here.

3 comments

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  1. Rhonda Hayes says:

    Hi! I was wondering what type of cataloging you use so you don’t buy multiples of books you already have. I use the BookBuddy app for iphone where the barcode is scanned, but was wondering if you had other suggestions you liked. Love the blog and thanks!

  2. Lesa Patterson-Kinsey says:

    I love your recommendations and use your booklists regularly to find my next books. However, I find the ads across the bottom of your website frustrating. While I understand the need for ads and really don’t mind the ones on the side. But the one at the bottom makes it hard to read your content. It pops up and changes ads so it’s very distracting and there’s no way to get rid of it. It covers so much of your content space.

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