a lifestyle blog for book lovers

What’s happening this weekend? I know I’ve said it before, but this weekend we really are pulling out the Christmas tree (the earliest we ever have), and we’re planning to watch The Social Dilemma. (Anything I should know?)

My favorite finds from around the web:

  • Cookbooks Help Me Escape These Days. “The best cookbooks are so much more than recipe collections — they’re oral histories, documentaries, time capsules, love letters, geopolitical texts, nature guides.”
  • Last weekend I stumbled upon my next book over on Goodreads. My Reading Life: A Book Journal will be out September 7, 2021. A small something to look forward to in the new year. More details to come!

Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist!

Wow! I’m incredibly honored Don’t Overthink It made it to the final round of the Goodreads Choice Awards. Thank you, readers. This is your last chance to vote for your favorites! The winners will be announced December 8.

Don’t miss these posts:

Have a great weekend!

18 comments

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  1. Janna Steele says:

    Thank you so much for finding the Anne poster. I just bought it. It truly is perfect for 2020- and for today. My daughter’s “Plan B” wedding was supposed to be tonight… They are married (10-person family home ceremony in June) and all is well… but today, I am a bit “rumpled in spirit.”

  2. Linda Latimer says:

    I have 6 grandchildren with oldest at 4 years old. They are amazing at sitting and listening to books. I have to say that our oldest (4) loves all of the old Berenstain Bears books that we had while raising our four children. We collected a couple hundred or so books while raising our children in the eighties and nineties. I am looking for new ideas of books for birthday and christmas for this age group. Any ideas?

  3. Alison says:

    I really enjoyed the links to your old posts on getting outside during the winter and 20 winter books!
    We recently got a puppy who needs to get energy out. Hoping he’ll be the extra push I need to make getting outside in the winter a priority.
    Also, I already have 3 of the books on your winter recommendations on my nightstand. So excited to read them this winter!

  4. Cheryl Cyrus says:

    The Social Dilemma is great and something I’ve been talking about for a long time. Everyone needs to watch it, especially how it is affecting our kids and people in general.

  5. Denise says:

    I’m not a Lifetime or Hallmark holiday movie watcher. But I want to recommend a fun (and a little more adult!) Netflix limited series from last year: Home For Christmas. It was filmed in Norway and is dubbed in English. The setting is marvelous, and the story sweet and sexy. Just what this single girl needs . . . and I want to go to Norway for Christmas someday!

  6. Suzy says:

    I’m very interested in your Book Journal coming out!! But I hope it won’t have the plain green cover that Goodreads showed….that’s only temporary, right? Something fabulous is in the cards?? I hope so. I loved the cover on I’d Rather Be Reading.

  7. Jayme says:

    I watched the Social Dilemma and as a HSP it freaked me out.

    BUT I think there’s a good conversation to be had about how the documentary itself was produced, scripted and designed by the very people who figured out how to use social media technology to manipulate our viewpoints. The nuance of that underlying dilemma is actually fascinating. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks. Do we trust the information and perspective of the people who have told us they know exactly how to manage and maintain our personal perspectives? It reminds me of that poison scene in The Princess Bride. We’re trying to figure out which cup is poisoned, meanwhile it all is and the people who poisoned it are technically immune, even when they admit to everything they’ve done.

  8. Tierney says:

    The Social Dilemma was a solid “meh” for me. It seemed like a wasted opportunity. Every single person decrying social media made their initial fortune from it. Easy to critique from a place of now-established financial security. In addition, approximately half of the “documentary” is wasted on a faux-family drama of all the evils that occur with too much scrolling. It was like an 80s just-say-no-to-drugs ad combined with a Lifetime movie. It was interesting to see where Vincent Kartheiser has ended up post-Mad Men, I guess.

  9. Jill Elliott says:

    Anne, I’ve been a member of your bookclub for about 3 months. I wanted to tell you how much I love your “Links I Love. “ You have great articles and tell about fun movies to watch. I also love your Book Lovers Gift Guides!! I always look forward to one if your posts!! Thank you so much!!

  10. Nicea Demers says:

    Social Dilemma does share how social media is using us, the people, as the product to “market”. However, the concern about social media came about after Trump won 2016 and the Dem’s alleged that Trump has used social media to spread misinformation to win. NOT TRUE. Trump did strategically use social media to get his message out. That is why we see Twitter, Youtube and facebook now censoring anything they deem “not true” which is really cover for “anything that does not line up with their ideology. You will see at the end of the documentary the very liberal ideology that the producers espouse.

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