Happy Friday, friends. This morning I’m enjoying sweatshirt weather for the first time in MONTHS, and it feels great. Around here we’re spending the weekend shelving books, seeing friends, and cheering on kids at cross country meets.
I also need to decide what to read next. I’m debating whether to start this spring 2020 novel or to plunge forward with a stack of upcoming fall releases. If you have thoughts, let me know in comments?
I hope your weekend is just what you need, and I hope you enjoy these interesting reads and fun things to get you started.
My favorite finds from around the web:
- 10 strategies to read more books. Great tips!
- Authors Get Real About Going on a Book Tour…From Their Living Rooms. Very relatable. Our MMD solution was Stay At Home Book Tour.
- With Theaters Still Closed, 136-Year-Old ‘Playbill’ Does A Quick Online Pivot. What a great way to innovate!
- I wouldn’t have looked twice at this baked eggplant and orzo with mozzarella recipe if my daughter wasn’t currently eating vegetarian, but I’m so glad I didn’t miss out because it was DELICIOUS.
- 5 Ways To Think About Social Injustice Through Crime Fiction. Great piece from Alyssa Cole.
- Thanks to the skincare enthusiasts who recommended this fun and inexpensive face mask variety pack. (I got mine from Grove, a company I love.)
- Inside the Writer’s Studio Episode #67: Modern Mrs. Darcy/Charlie Lovett (Escaping Dreamland). Charlie Lovett was our guest author at the MMD Book Club Retreat and it was such a great conversation that he asked if he could share it on his podcast. Enjoy!
- 20 Basic Life Skills Your Teenager Should Have. A helpful list.
- Attention, Reading Challengers: Booker Prize 2020: Four debuts make shortlist as Hilary Mantel misses out. Related: this week’s guest on WSIRN episode 251 delves into her complicated feelings about literary awards.
- New favorite t-shirt: the slub texture makes it sturdier and more blouse-like, and it feels so good on. (Get 15% off your first order when you use the promo code READ at checkout.)
- Oliver Burkeman’s last column: the eight secrets to a (fairly) fulfilled life. Lots of wisdom here.
- Great to see Don’t Overthink It included on Libro.fm’s #Uplift: Positive Books list!
- Welcome to Your Bland New World. Brand vs. bland as the new trend.
Reading People turns three!
Tomorrow is the third anniversary of my first book Reading People: How Seeing the World through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything!
“This was a timely, eye opening dive into personality types. I saw myself, my family members, and my friends in these pages which made it an even more valuable read.” – @mrsteachersreading
Get your copy wherever books are sold, or order signed copies from my local indie Carmichael’s Bookstore. (Specify “signed copy” in order comments.)
Don’t miss these posts:
- 20 books everyone will be talking about this fall. A fun look back.
- 12 favorite episodes of What Should I Read Next. This was hard to narrow down!
- 4 female authors worth binge reading. I love when you find a new author and immediately want to read everything they’ve written.
Have a great weekend!
25 comments
Hi! The teenager 20 skills is a great reminder of what we need to teach our kids. Thank you for sharing the links & blog posts. You & your team make me smarter.❤️❤️❤️
I don’t feel qualified to tell you what you read next, but I immediately added Valentine to my Kindle Wish List after I read the reviews — it sounds amazing!
I loved Valentine – a five star read for me!
You do bangs well!
Happy book birthday! Wow!!
Valentine is sad/gritty, but very good and beautifully written.
Hope you have a fabulous weekend!
I second all of this. Excellent read.
I’m reading Valentine right now, half-way through, and I echo Heather’s comment!
Valentine was my first BOTM club pick and I loved it. Not an easy read but the way the female characters in particular respond and grow made it ultimately hopeful. There was one side plot line that bugged me but I think the problem was me (major HSP!) not the book. Also, this book is so atmospheric, and as an ultimate moody reader, I suggest starting on a hot day. Or at least brew some tea and sit in a sunny spot. My vote is don’t miss Valentine!
I have been recommending Valentine since it was a read with Jenna pick. A stunning novel. The women characters are so well defined as is the setting . This is a powerful literature not some frothy feel good novel. I can’t wait for Wetmore’s next novel. I think she is following up on one of the women
Hi Anne!
Happy Book Birthdays!
Great to read your picks and suggestions, as always.
I’ve got Valentine on the shelf, and will be reading it soon.
Given what this year has been like, and the deep and hard personal and societal work so many of us have left to do, I’d say jump on into your Fall releases, like a pile of leaves! (Ah, sweatshirt weather….)
Then, when you feel like you can take a breath and dig into what sounds like a beautiful and deep novel dealing with class, race, gender, culture, and violence, you’ll have Valentine ready to go. (I just finished taking a summer reads and a Lager Queen of Minnesota kind of break, and am now ready to start back into something meaty.)
You’ll know what you feel like, just as we all know to trust your advice on what we should read next.
Let us know what you decide!
Have a great weekend, and thank you for so many wonderful suggestions!
Happy book anniversaries!
I started Charming as a Verb this morning and it kept me turning the pages until the kids woke up. Thank you for recommending it during your fall book preview! Can’t wait to finish it later today. (Also read Neanderthal Seeks Human while sick yesterday and loved it. It was the perfect smart and sweet bookish medicine so thank you for recommending that series, too!)
I think often of a favorite read of mine from several years ago that I’m wondering has ever been on your radar: The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski. It’s so touching, engaging and magical. A really unique story–I just loved it! I’d love to know if you’ve ever read it?
That Eggplant with Orzo dish might be my favorite recipe of Deb’s, and I cook so much from her repertoire that “Smitten Kitchen for the win” is a regular phrase in our house.
I don’t have any advice on Valentine vs fall TBR stack, haven’t read that one! (Not what you asked, but I did finish How the Penguins Saved Veronica and loved it!)
I wouldn’t have looked twice at any eggplant recipe, thank you! Anything Smitten Kitchen offers and we’ve tried we have enjoyed. Love how she writes as well. Her cookbooks are fun to read even if cooking isn’t a joy for the reader.
And happy book birthdays!
Hope we all have a great weekend.
Have you already read “Jack” from Marilynne Robinson? I am curious to know your opinion.
Anne, it’s a definite yes on Valentine!! So good-strong writing; shifting narrators; issues of social justice; classicism. The story has an incredible sense of place: you are hot, sweaty, gritty just reading the book. I think what I loved most was the story was told by a shifting, varied group of women who we all strong, bad asses (in their own ways)! Trigger warning for sexual assault ( I am not even sure how to write that. Can it not trigger someone just giving the trigger warning?) Anyway…I would include this in my top reads of year so far!
I’ve been hanging onto Valentine like a special occasion outfit, waiting for just the right time. Why?! Let’s do it, Anne!
Valentine is one of my favorite reads of the year. I initially resisted because it starts out with a sexual assault; however, the women that author Elizabeth Wetmore creates are worth spending some time with. I thought about them for weeks after closing the book. Highly recommend.
I love my collection of Playbills, I am glad they are pivoting during Covid..
The Slub t-shirt looks great, do you know how transparent the white t-shirt is?
After seeing all the recommendations for Valentine, I am moving it to the top of my TBR list!
Even though Valentine came out in spring, it definitely feels like a fall read. Please let us know what you do end up choosing.
I’m reading Hamnet right now and I’m really enjoying it. Good luck with such great options!!!!
The list for teens was a super useful read and Oliver Burkeman’s column was encouraging. It will be useful, too, if I implement the items!
Hamnet is my favorite book of 2020.
I DNFd Valentine back in the Spring, but reading all these comments I may have to give it another shot. I think it was too dark to give me what I needed during the early, scary days of the pandemic. It would typically be my type of book.
I know you use affiliate links (and way too many of them) but I wonder if you get paid from companies to feature and promote links in your weekly round-up?
“New favorite t-shirt: the slub texture makes it sturdier and more blouse-like, and it feels so good on. (Get 15% off your first order when you use the promo code READ at checkout.)