I was surprised when my husband told me that outdoor retailer REI has had a campaign the last few years to #OptOutside on Black Friday. They don’t open their stores, at all. I’m taking inspiration from them today: I’d rather be reading, and decorating the tree, and making Chex Mix with my kids than shopping. I walked to one local shop earlier this morning, and have a few online purchases I’d like to make, but today my big plans are decorating, coffee, and books.
If you want to do some shopping–gift giving or otherwise–or score a great bookish deal, we are running a sale in the MMD shop.
For the first time ever, classes are on sale for $10 each.
You can take these classes on your schedule, and watch and replay as many times as you’d like. We’ve gotten terrific feedback on all three, and know that each class can make a real difference in your reading life, whether you start today or in the new year. Choose the one that most grabs you, or snatch up all three while they’re cheap.
Journal sale
Our fabulous Leuchtturm journals are buy one, get one half off with the code BOOKMAIL. These are my very favorite journals, whether you use yours for your to-do list, deep thoughts, bullet journal, or reading log.
It’s Black Friday every day
If you’re looking for something to read, we curate a list of the best ebook and Kindle deals almost every day. You can get the latest hand-curated deals emailed to you every day by signing up right here.
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As you can see below, today’s deals are particularly good (no surprise). I hope you find something great to read at a great price. (We post deals every day right here, and recommend you subscribe to the deals email for updates.)
PLEASE NOTE: Amazon says we can’t include prices on our site, but we assure you these prices are solid. (We curate based on U.S. prices; international readers can follow these steps to find deals that will always be valid in their region.) Click here to see all prices in one place, or click through the buy button on each book for details.
I read this one in a day because I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. The wife chooses to quit her high-powered job in order to accompany her husband to Luxembourg for his. Because she has time to kill, she begins to analyze her current life, and the lives of the handful of people she knows in Luxembourg, through the lens of her old profession. She's shocked by what she sees. More info →
This endearing classic begins when one woman reads an advertisement for a small tumble-down medieval castle addressed to “Those Who Appreciate Wistaria and Sunshine.” She is suddenly struck by desire on this dreary, dripping day and finds a partner-in-travel to get away for a month. The two friends seek out two strangers to make a party of four women—one young, one old, two somewhere in the middle. As they travel to the Italian castle and spend the month finding out what they have in common, they find they are all unhappy with the life they find themselves leading. It's no spoiler to tell you: they come into their own. More info →
From Publishers Weekly: "Sherlock Holmes takes on a young, female apprentice in this delightful and well-wrought addition to the master detective's casework." More info →
The publisher calls this "a powerfully emotional and beautifully written story of heartbreaking loss and undying love." For fans of Nicholas Sparks, Robert James Waller, and Richard Paul Evans. More info →
From the author of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Young Jane Young. From the publisher: "Is it possible to grow up while getting younger? Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It's quiet and peaceful. You can't get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere's museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe's psychiatric practice. Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. And now that she's dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn't want with a grandmother she has only just met. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one?" More info →
Featured as favorites in What Should I Read Next episodes 163 and 188. Kimmerer combines her training as a botanist with her perspective as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, showing readers how each plant, animal, and ecosystem provides us with lessons and gifts. Combining folklore, stories, and scientific studies, Kimmerer urges us to pay attention, be grateful, and take responsibility for our natural world. More info →
Libro.fm is running a sale on several titles this month. They're my go-to for audiobooks these days; read more about Libro.fm here. No membership required for most sale prices, including this one. The ebook is not on sale. The story begins in 1960s Maine, where an indigenous family has come from Nova Scotia to pick berries as they do every summer. But their lives are irrevocably changed when 4-year-old Ruthie disappears from the edge of the berry field; her 6-year-old brother Joe was the last one to see her, and he will carry guilt over his disappearance for the rest of his life. The story is narrated in turn by an adult Joe and a New England woman named Norma, whose childhood was marked by a chilly household atmosphere, strange recurring dreams, and a persistent sense of unbelonging. The reader will put together the pieces long before Norma does: it's impossible not to root for Norma and Joe as they strive to first understand, and then accept and find forgiveness for the devastations they endured in their youth. This novel is hard in many ways (take note of the obvious content warnings and others that are less obvious but real), and yet it's also a moving and gentle exploration of family, identity, grief, and healing. More info →
Libro.fm is running a sale on several titles this month. They're my go-to for audiobooks these days; read more about Libro.fm here. No membership required for most sale prices, including this one. The ebook is not on sale. The audio version, narrated by Jane Oppenheimer, was an excellent choice for this first person story. Edi and Ashley have been best friends their entire lives—more than four decades—and now, three years after her ovarian cancer diagnosis, Edi is ceasing treatments and entering hospice care. It's gutting: Edi's dying too young, in pain, and making impossible decisions like how to say goodbye to her 7-year-old son. Ash is desperately trying to hide her grief from her friend, but it's making itself felt in big and small ways. It's all so hard to read. But this novel is also filled with so much life and humor. For while Edi's suburban hospice may be filled with the dying, it is also still filled with life, and with forty years of memories from an exceptional, joy-filled, through-thick-and-thin friendship. More info →
I just recommended this plotty British thriller to Tara on episode 425 of WSIRN ("We're all mood readers"). In the opening pages, a woman falls to her death from a London skyscraper. Another woman on the scene is arrested for her murder. As readers, we're convinced the suspect must be innocent. And yet as the investigation proceeds, it becomes clear to the detective on the case—and to us as readers—that she's hiding something. She seems to be protecting someone, but we don't know who, or why. As the story progresses and the timeline expands, we slowly come to understand what really happened, and more importantly, why. I listened to the audio version, narrated by Annabel Scholey. Whispersync narration available. More info →
I love Katherine Center's fun, easy-reading, relatable novels. Center excels at writing books that feel like fluffy chick lit—and then you find yourself thinking about them for days, because her themes run much deeper than you realized on the first pass. More info →
Man’s Search For Meaning by Victor Frankl is in my top five most important books of all time. Read this book if you are coping with a never ending trial. Read this book if you are in the middle of a crisis. Read this book if you are grieving. Read this book if you tend to worry about what might happen in the future. Read this book before you need it. Then, read it again once a year for good measure. Collect copies to give to people who are facing any of the above. Happiness comes and goes. What we really need and want is to find is meaning in life and in suffering. In the age of Freud, Frankl, a psychiatrist, parted ways with his hero and developed logotherapy to treat the suicidal teens in his care. He discovered that if these teens could be taught to find meaning in their suffering and meaning in life, they could get well. This was in Austria in the 1930’s. A Jew, he was given the opportunity to leave because of his renown. But he couldn’t take his parents and family so he refused to go. When he and his entire family were divided and sent to different Concentration Camps he was sent to Auschwitz where his theory was tested in unimaginable circumstances, amid suffering and loss. After being liberated, he spent the rest of his life caring for survivors. With all that, this is a hopeful book. It reminds us to be less focused on fleeting personal happiness, and dedicate ourselves to living life with meaning and purpose, in the ordinary and extraordinary.
Clicked this post so fast that I almost broke my computer! Love all these suggestions! Have read a few, heard of a few, and adding a few to my list. Bookmarking this post to remember it all 🙂
I remember reading Reading People: How Seeing the World through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything by Anne Bogel and it was really interesting especially for my psychology background. I ended up buying a few things for Black Friday especially a few books that I wanted. I am going to be looking into the other books that you mentioned because they had great plots. Thanks for the recommendations!
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5 comments
Man’s Search For Meaning by Victor Frankl is in my top five most important books of all time. Read this book if you are coping with a never ending trial. Read this book if you are in the middle of a crisis. Read this book if you are grieving. Read this book if you tend to worry about what might happen in the future. Read this book before you need it. Then, read it again once a year for good measure. Collect copies to give to people who are facing any of the above. Happiness comes and goes. What we really need and want is to find is meaning in life and in suffering. In the age of Freud, Frankl, a psychiatrist, parted ways with his hero and developed logotherapy to treat the suicidal teens in his care. He discovered that if these teens could be taught to find meaning in their suffering and meaning in life, they could get well. This was in Austria in the 1930’s. A Jew, he was given the opportunity to leave because of his renown. But he couldn’t take his parents and family so he refused to go. When he and his entire family were divided and sent to different Concentration Camps he was sent to Auschwitz where his theory was tested in unimaginable circumstances, amid suffering and loss. After being liberated, he spent the rest of his life caring for survivors. With all that, this is a hopeful book. It reminds us to be less focused on fleeting personal happiness, and dedicate ourselves to living life with meaning and purpose, in the ordinary and extraordinary.
I have heard so much about this book and just have not gotten around to getting it. Your recommendation has made me determined to get it. Thank you.
Clicked this post so fast that I almost broke my computer! Love all these suggestions! Have read a few, heard of a few, and adding a few to my list. Bookmarking this post to remember it all 🙂
x Sofia
http://www.thecozie.co
All of these recommendations are fabulous! I saved almost all of these books to my Goodreads list!
I remember reading Reading People: How Seeing the World through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything by Anne Bogel and it was really interesting especially for my psychology background. I ended up buying a few things for Black Friday especially a few books that I wanted. I am going to be looking into the other books that you mentioned because they had great plots. Thanks for the recommendations!