On Monday I wrote a post about not freaking out when things go wrong, and then had a whole-life meltdown on Wednesday when I went to the grocery without my wallet and the waiting room without my book. It took me half an hour to recognize and appreciate the irony. That’s the kind of week it’s been. (Send coffee? Also: YAY FRIDAY.)
My favorite finds from around the web:
• 11 of the most instagrammable bookshops in the world.
• What to do when your reader is broken. “Reading fatigue happens for any number of reasons. For me it manifests either in avoiding books altogether or abandoning them within a page or two. So I just have to pat that pretty cover and say, ‘It’s not you, it’s me.'”
• We need to talk about kids and smartphones.
• How Jane Austen’s Emma changed the face of fiction.
Favorite instagram:
This beauty from my all books, all the time account What Should I Read Next: “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.” (Click here to follow me @whatshouldireadnext.)
For Louisville area readers:
My friend Sarah Bessey is in town this weekend; she’s speaking at my St Matthews area church, the evening of Sunday, October 15, at 6pm. This event is free and open to the public; the first time I personally walked through the doors of this church was for a similar event many years ago. (That time it was Rachel Held Evans at the podium.)
Tickets are required for seating purposes, but are available free, much like events at the public library. Get yours here.
For Charlotte area readers (and those who love a good road trip):
I’ll be at the Nester’s second annual Nest Fest next weekend in Midland, North Carolina, twenty minutes east of Charlotte. I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out at Myquillyn’s before but never when 50 vendors, food trucks, great music, and 1000 guests were there, too—and I can’t wait. I’ll be one of ten-ish authors hanging out and signing (and selling) books from noon to 1:30.
Nest Fest is Saturday, October 21 from 10 to 5. Get your tickets here.
On the blog
One year ago: My bookstore tour of NYC.
Two years ago: 8 paradoxes of creative people.
Three years ago: How to make a book page pumpkin.
Four years ago: Miracles are everywhere if you have eyes to see them.
Five years ago: In which my 7-year-old tells me how I should live my life. (And how you should live yours.)
Six years ago: Change your physical world, change your life (with a $26 giant whiteboard tutorial).
On the podcast
This week: I talked to Keith about science fiction and it was so much fun. Listen in here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
One year ago: I talked to bookseller and bookish kindred spirit Annie Jones about her crazy unlikely path to bookstore ownership, her love of dysfunctional family literature, and how meeting readers and authors in person changes the way you experience a book. It’s a good one. Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have a great weekend!
12 comments
Those Penguin paperbacks are so pretty. I have a bunch, too.
My favorites, though, are the old hardbacks, bought second-hand.
I would very much like some of those old hardbacks for my own shelves.
Oh, kids and their devices. Which feels like a losing battle because the school system almost expects you to send your 8-year-old to school with a tablet or some other device to aid in their own education. (Yes, this is for real.) My oldest child, who has ADHD, gets so hyper-focused on “screens” that I’ve finally cut it off a few weeks ago, worrying about his developing brain and his inability to find non-screen related interests that keep him engaged. He’s now only allowed video games on the weekend, with just a bit of television after dinner each night. The way the world is now, we can’t avoid screens completely, but I’m trying to show him there are other activities worthy of his time, too. I have to say, this kid is reading now more than ever (which of course, makes me super happy) so it’s paying off.
We’re not yet at the social media stage of life, but as someone who quit Facebook last year and feel it’s one of the best things I’ve done for myself, I’ll probably encourage both of my boys not to use it at all if they can avoid it. Teens these days are not doing enough to protect their own privacy – probably because they’re not mature enough yet to understand how valuable privacy is – so we have to teach them that stuff is important.
Totally agree with you about how school makes it hard to be screen-free. I’ve said no to smartphones and personal devices at home but our HS hands out iPads. All the work is done and submitted electronically now. It makes it really hard to know when someone is actually doing homework and when they are watching YouTube. However, I will say the school has them locked down fairly well and tightly monitors them. But many of the teachers use YouTube so that’s not blocked and has become a major time suck for my kids.
Oh man, that She Reads link is so timely right now. My “reader” is definitely broken, and I can’t even get into the books I was super excited to read. I’ve been slowly dipping into the audiobook version of an old favorite as a way to deal, and that seems to be helping, but I’m also anxious to get out of this funk and start tackling Mount TBR again.
I agree about needing to talk about our kids and devices. It is so hard. My kids own devices and use them but not like others, so I feel good. But really I don’t. I am struggling with a child and her depression, getting help, keeping her engaged, and trying to provide for everyone in my life. I worry I failed her because I tried to limit access to devices, but we did not exclude them from our lives. And I also recognize that so many factors go into her, what do I call it, diagnosis. I just really appreciate the discussion here. Thanks.
Oooh – I want to go back and listen to the Annie Jones podcast! That was before I started listening, but I did start listening to HER podcast on your recommendation. And she’s become my #1 book guru. I love dysfunctional family lit as well and I currently have a 100% success rate on her recommendations (Standard Deviation, Rabbit Cake, Little Fires Everywhere) and have a couple new releases coming up that she put on my radar.
I’m going to go back and listen too! I love listening to Annie and Chris on From the Front Porch. I’ve gotten so many good recommendations. I’ve decided to buy my books from The Bookshelf from now on, and to become a patron of their show on Patreon.
Loved that article about EMMA. Thanks for sharing!
Hi, Anne and readers. Has anyone heard of or done the Abundant Mama Project? I’m really struggling as an HSP stay at home mom, and I’m looking for some very very practical coping mechanisms when you can’t walk away from a little one or convince them to stop talking for 30 minutes. 😉 But I just stumbled across this class via Google so I’d like a recommendation before shelling out that much money.
I haven’t, but have you heard my Abundant Mama podcast episode about HSPs? http://www.abundantmama.com/discovering-you-are-a-highly-sensitive-mom/
Also you may already know this but it might be worth repeating that there’s a chapter about highly sensitive people in my new book Reading People, and all of Elaine Aron’s highly sensitive children resources are quite good.
I have read The highly sensitive person and highly sensitive child which was informative but did not include suggestions for daily practice. I’ll check out the podcast. And Reading People is next on my list (after the gifts of imperfection). I’ve never read much about personality types, but all of a sudden, I am very intrigued. Thank you for these resources! Have a great weekend.