Links I love

What are you up to this weekend? I’m excited to get outside in the last of the 70-degree sunny days we expect to have for a while (maybe not till next year?) before the cold and rain arrives on Sunday. Around here, we’re also getting ready to welcome a houseguest and prepping for Halloween, which is kind of a big deal in my neighborhood.

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.

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.

Writers Are Making Millions Selling Short Stories to Hollywood. (New York Times gift link) “When the author Nicholas Binge finished writing his short story ‘Understudy,’ he did not submit it to a magazine or publish it in a collection. Instead, he shipped it straight to Hollywood.” I had no idea.

12 novels featuring cats in honor of National Cat Day. (MMD) Team member Leigh shares some of her favorite novels featuring felines.

My family enjoyed this Minnesota Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup this week. (Avidly Ravenous) Thanks to Janean for the recipe! I still have half a pound of wild rice left and would welcome your favorite recipes in comments.

The Variety Bag Has Ruined Halloween. (Atlantic gift link) “The industrial consolidation has turned Halloween candy into an anonymous murk. That mix probably pleases every trick-or-treater a little, but it also risks making every house’s offering essentially identical.” I also appreciated the reflections on how and why Halloween has changed overall since 1970 or so.

6 of the Best Book Retreats in the United States. (Mental Floss) My kind of getaway.

Sending a Silly Meme Is an Act of Love. (Atlantic gift link) “Clicking ‘Share’ on a funny Instagram post is hardly on the level of inviting a friend to dinner, as bids for connection go. But neither is it nothing. At minimum, it’s a way of checking in and reminding someone of your relationship.”

Inside the chicest publisher on earth. (Financial Times) “Today, “Fitzcarraldo Editions has become a hallmark for a generation…. It specialises in contemporary literary fiction and long-form essays, seeking out work that is determinedly ‘innovative, imaginative, ambitious’, broadly kept at a 50-50 split between English language and literature in translation.”

Go Full-Size. (Pre-Meal: The Newsletter by Will Guidara) “More broadly, I want to look for more opportunities to make small gestures with outsized impacts. Where else can I spend a little more money or invest a little more effort to create disproportionate joy?”

Shirley Jackson, Literary Genius Revisited. (Dear Head of Mine) “For all of the exterior trappings of horror—haunted houses, poisonings, apocalyptic backdrops—they are stories about the people, about the psychology of society, more than they are about trying to manufacture scares.”

Ina Garten’s Favorite Store-Bought Shortcuts. (Real Simple) On the new cookbook Simply Ina: “Paging through the book, I was surprised—but excited!—to discover more store-bought ingredients than I’ve seen in her prior volumes.” Store-bought stuffs include canned baked beans, frozen mashed Trader Joe’s sweet potatoes, canned gravy, and more.

How—and Why—to Cull Your Book Collection. (Literary Hub) “The most important rule in book collecting is to make sure that the ones that are thoroughly underlined and marked up, the ones you found truly revelatory, are easily accessible.”

I’m a big fan of my Lake poplin pajamas that I’ve had for years, but they’re on the pricey side. I was delighted to stumble across these similar Old Navy ones that deliver a lot of bang for the buck.

How to Make 4:30pm Darkness Feel Cozy, Not Depressing. (Open House) “Life is made up of our daily routines and the more we can curate them without letting them slip away, the better and more enriched our lives become.” An actual evening timeline including Hurricane Hour, Dinner by Candlelight, and The Nook.

American Bookseller CEO Allison Hill on the Coming Supply Chain Disruptions. (BookWeb) “This perfect storm will rival 2020’s supply chain disruption.” This short message is aimed at booksellers, but if you’re interested in the myriad factors that impact when books show up at your local bookstore, take a peek.

I miss the restaurant pager. (Salon) “The trouble isn’t that every digital convenience is destined to malfunction. Plenty work exactly as advertised. It’s that we’ve become so accustomed to conducting ordinary life through our phones that we rarely stop to consider whether they’re necessary to the transaction in the first place.” This goes beyond the restaurant pager: if you’ve ever lamented how much of life is now conducted through our phones, you might enjoy this one.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich is the MMD Book Club November 2026 selection. We’ll chat without the author on November 5 to set the stage for this delightful and dreadful book about books.

Don’t miss these posts:

Editions worth collecting and gifting. These book collections have earned a spot on your shelves.

7 spooky (not scary) short story collections. These short story collections will get you in the mood for Halloween without keeping you awake all night!

9 books celebrating Diné (Navajo) authors and stories. A literary quest to explore the cultural and environmental richness of the Navajo Nation.

Have a great weekend!