How’s your weekend shaping up? I’m feeling both invigorated and spent after yesterday’s Summer Reading Guide festivities. The 2026 Guide—our 15th annual!—is now out in the world and ready to deliver Immediate Readerly Gratification to readers everywhere. (More on that below; no Quick Lit today as this week has been all SRG, all the time.) For the days ahead, I’m personally excited to choose a new audiobook to go with my weekend walking and laundry, see a show with my kid, and spend a little time generally lounging about.
I hope you have something to look forward to these next few days, and that this collection of interesting reads and favorite things helps ease you into that weekend frame of mind.
2026 Summer Reading Guide + new merch
The 2026 Modern Mrs Darcy Summer Reading Guide is here! The 2026 reading retreat-themed edition includes 35 great new summer titles (publishing April to August) I’ve read every word of and can vouch for, related backlist selections, and more. Get your very own 2026 digital Guide + Unboxing replay access right here!
For the physical, hold-in-your-hand Guide (a separate item): on top of the preorders, we ordered several hundred extra copies of the print (think: magazine) Guides but they’re quickly being spoken for. (Those ship out today.) For my fellow minimalists and decision haters, the 2026 Minimalist Summer Reading Guide is up on the blog. This year’s Minimalist Guide includes six great titles and it’s completely free and available to all. Happy summer reading!
Related: we added new merch to the MMD shop! We’re currently taking pre-orders for our MMD Sorority Sweatshirt. Our Comfort Colors sweatshirts are available in the colors Blue Jean and Crimson, size S–3XL. We also have a new Book Boss hat in green!
My favorite finds from around the web:
I offer gift links for articles whenever possible (you may still need to create an account with the publication); if there’s no gift link and you’re not a subscriber, check to see if your library carries the publication or use a bookmarking service.
This Bookstore Gets Good Mileage. (New York Times gift link) “Saint Rita’s Amazing Traveling Bookstore Textual Apothecary (its name painted on the sides and back of the van) is a vehicle for the cross-pollination of people and conversation. That’s what has evolved since Collins, now 74, began imagining her retirement dream more than a decade ago — not just selling high quality, inexpensive books, but setting her love of people, places and the wonders of a good read all in motion together.”
A moment that changed me: I saw my first total solar eclipse – and its beauty shook me to my core. (The Guardian) “As often happens when I set up my telescope in a public space, people flock to it. Many were gathered to witness the spectacle, all talking about the wonder of the universe and the imminent eclipse. I knew the theory, but I was not ready for the experience.”
Advice for Life: Timeless Wisdom from 5 Iconic Graduation Speeches. (Happy on Purpose) “Work is a rubber ball, effortless is a myth, you worship what you sit next to, and more!”
The Positive Toxicity of Book Reviews. (Dear Head of Mine) “Critics in professional and non-professionalized spaces (like this one) must stop catering to the “is it good or bad?” binary that’s easy to slip into, but unpack what makes a book interesting.”
I Want to Live Like Costco People. (Taste) “It’s my belief that every Costco shopper has a certain item or two they’re compelled to purchase on each visit—I think it’s very likely you, while reading this, are nodding your head and thinking about your own nonnegotiable Costco pickup right now.”
Get ready for a reading retreat. (What Should I Read Next?) This week MMD Book Club community manager Ginger Horton joins me on the podcast to talk about this year’s 15th Summer Reading Guide.
Personal Memoir: It’s More Intimate on Audiobook. (Kirkus) “There’s something special about hearing someone’s life story being told to you. A memoir feels that much more intimate on audio, whether it’s a slice of life or a celebrity tell-all.”
This is 88: Sandra Butler Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire. (Oldster Magazine) “My 80s have been one of the most generative and exhilarating decades of my life.”
I Visited the Real-life Homes Behind Beloved Childhood Books—and Found a New Way to Read Them. (Travel + Leisure) “Last summer, I visited the small towns in which Wilder, Alcott, and Lovelace grew up, where their childhood homes are still preserved. At each stop, I met adults like me for whom the stories had meant so much, and young children reading them for the first time.”
Bourbon Slush, Burgoo, and My Search for a Kentucky Identity. (Food & Wine) I live in Louisville, so of course I was intrigued—but I think you might be, too? “In my untraveled youth, it’d never occurred to me that people from all over the country didn’t know the heady pleasures of a cocoa-dusted bourbon ball at a holiday party, a communal crock of beer cheese on the counter at a tavern, or the gravy-lashed abandon of a Hot Brown.”
How Elizabeth Strout Gets Inside People’s Minds. (Time) “For Strout, fiction is the place where human mysteries can be safely explained.”
My Flower Bouquets Typically Wilt in 3 Days, But This Clever Addition Kept Them Fresh for a Full Week. (The Kitchn) “Florists describe the same pattern again and again. Once flowers are cut, their lifespan depends on how well the stems can keep taking in clean water.” Psst—the winner is flower food, and this link also includes a DIY recipe.
250 for 250 Booklist. (Brooklyn Public Library) “Brooklyn Public Library is celebrating our country’s 250th anniversary the best way we know how: with a thoughtful, surprising, irresistible booklist. This all-ages list is a deep dive on the stories, voices and moments that shaped America.”
The Beauty of Bonsai Styles. (Longwood Gardens) Bonsai Weekend is coming up soon at my local botanical garden: this post answers many of the questions I find myself asking every year. “In nature, trees grow in a variety of styles—consider the upright style of a redwood tree versus the cascading foliage of a willow tree, for example. The way in which a tree grows is often determined by their environment, and as a bonsai artist, I look to honor that environment, and the way in which that tree would grow in nature, when determining how to shape and style a bonsai.”
Don’t miss these posts:
14 recommended reads for those traveling to Greece. For anyone planning a trip to Greece or looking for some armchair travel.
20 interesting recipes to make for dinner with boneless skinless chicken breasts. In case you’re in need of dinner inspiration.
Immerse yourself in these 20 full cast recording audiobooks. Full cast recording audiobooks are the modern equivalent of a radio play, except no one has to wait to listen to the next installment.
Have a great weekend!
